DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-16, January 27, 2000 EDITED BY GLENN HAUSER {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages} [a few typos in the original version have now been corrected here only] ** CANADA. Previews of our favorite RCI music programs this weekend: GLOBAL VILLAGE: Host Jowi Taylor has reports from a multicultural festival in Ghent, a tribute to the late great Tarig Abubakar, and a look at the grim future facing musicians in Serbia, Saturday night at 7:05 (6:05 AT, 6:35 NT) on CBC Radio One. [RCI UT Sun Jan 30 0005 on 5960, 9755) ROOTS & WINGS: Host Philly Markowitz revisits some of her favourite artists who FINALLY have their music available in Canada, including Turkish pop diva Sezen Aksu. Also, heart-stoppingly beautiful new music from June Tabor, the Grande Dame of British folk music. And cross-cultural oddities, including Asian throat singing combined with Bavarian yodelling... Sunday evening at 5:05 (5:35 NT) on CBC Radio Two. [RCI UT Mon Jan 31 0005 on 5960, 9755] (CBC Hotsheets via gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. [Re: Salmaniw`s non-report of this] Glenn, reception of Minurca on 5900 is quite possible here in the weak signal Pacific Northwest under rare propagation conditions. Last fall I spent quite a bit of time chasing Minurca, only to find that each evening I was listening to Bulgaria's various services on 5900 (0100-0600 variously Spanish, Russian, Bulgarian and Turkish). One evening I got exceptional propagation conditions. Sango (never heard it before but it sounds African)! African music and a woman in the middle of the broadcast with "You are listening to Radio Minurca". Fortunately I had the MD running. I shipped a taped report off to David and received back a special letter, as well as the usual QSL card. See attachments -- 125 Watts! PS HF1000A, SE-3, DSP-599ZX, and a EWE Antenna with special matching circuits. Nothing on the 175 foot longwire or dipoles. (Don Nelson, Beaverton OR, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thank you very much for your reception report. I don`t usually type a reply, as we receive so many letters, and I am the only person here who speaks English, however your case is different! I’m so pleased to hear that we have been picked up on 5900 on the NW coast of the US. 5900 is targeted to the NW part of the CAR, with significant coverage of northern Cameroun as well. The female voice you heard was our announcer Fernande Francoise Sackanot [?]. The 125w transmitter which sent our signal to you is a MICOM, sitting in our newsroom at Camp Beal, UNHQ Bangui. The MICOM is not designed for continuous transmission; it’s made for two-way radio communication on a local network. We adapted it for emergency use after our 20 kW stopped sending. Radio MINURCA is working on a plan to continue broadcasting once the UN mission leaves the CAR. Departure is scheduled for Feb. 15, 2000. Nothing is certain yet, but things are looking rather positive. All the best, (David Smith, Director, Radio MINURCA, Dec 6, to Donald W. Nelson, OR, on letterhead of MINURCA = Mission des Nations Unies en Republique Centrafricaine from jpg retyped by gh) Printed on the card was this address: radmin@intnet.cf (DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI`s 25930-USB seemed to be missing around 2230 UT Jan 27; WFLA was propagating OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. For the A00 season, HCJB is considering making a DST shift in its service to Europe for the first time, to keep it at same local time. Present 1900-2200 will remain on 17660, but morning 0700- 0900 is expected to shift from 9780 to 15550. Listeners` comments about the possible time shift and the viability of the frequencies are requested by Allen Graham, English Section to english@hcjb.org.ec (British DX Club via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. External radio to broadcast in French, Spanish, Italian. Text of report by Hungarian radio on 26th January: The editorial department of external broadcasts will relaunch programmes in Spanish, French and Italian. This has become important because of NATO accession and our country's expected EU entry. [No date given, but evidently sometime this year -gh] Source: (Hungarian Radio, Budapest, in Hungarian 2100 gmt 26 Jan 00 via BBC Monitoring, excerpted by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Well Glenn, Just had a hunt for Indonesia. I was unable to hear any signal on 15149.825 kHz. So I tried the frequency you gave on this week`s WOR, and at just before 1900 I was hearing VOI with the usual music (my receiver reads it as anyway) on 11784.820 (WJ HF1000A, 55 ft long wire with MLB). Signal was poor, but was able to make out the music fine. Dr. Scott's splattering was the stinker hearing VOI, trashing the band from his signal on 11775. DW covers 11785 at 2000 killing any chance hearing the 2000 hour in English. Go back to 15149.825 VOI, was much better !! Later: Humm, That splattering almost sounds like it's coming from WEWN on 11875?? Having a hard time hunting it down, sure sounds nasty. Regards, (David Zantow Janesville, WI, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Around 2045 all I could hear on 11785 was the splatter from Anguilla (gh) ** JAPAN [non]. Greetings, Bill Westenhaver wants you to know about a story on The Age [Melbourne]. Personal message: I can certainly remember the Guru singing on his programmes on Radio Moscow World Service. How a cult dumped its guru By MICHAEL MILLETT Jan 28 2000 01:47:31 The Aum Supreme Truth cult is prepared to disown its founder, Shoko Asahara, and implicate him in deadly crimes in order to survive. URL: http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000128/A49762-2000Jan27.html (see long story, via Bill Westenhaver, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Glenn, KCYI became top 40 / rhythmic music; they are going after KJ-103 number 1 rating (Bill Eckart, OK, Jan 27 with these extracts via radiosurfer: Radio and Records Headlines ----------------------------- stunting continues at CITADEL Jazz outlet KCYI (THE CITY 97.9)/OKLAHOMA CITY! Look for a format flip on THURSDAY (1/27). ---- Posted Thursday, January 27 1:33 PM EST, 2000 by jford@radiosurfer.com: KCYI/OKLAHOMA CITY has flipped from Jazz to Top 40/Rhythmic as of 6:45a (CT) calling itself WILD 97-DOT-9 (via radiosurfer) I was awake at 1200 UT when the computer gave a nice legal ID, including for a channel 296 translator in Moore on the opposite side of OKC. Thought my alarm was set for 1240 to catch zero-minute at 1245, but slept through this momentous event! After 1300 heard new regular format for the first and last time, deriding ``tired old KJ- 103`` and promising to be ``commercial-free`` itself --- but for how long? (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. ¡¡¡¡ URGENTE !!!! Estimados amigos: A partir del próximo martes Primero de febrero, de 21.30 a 22.00 hora UTC, La Voz de Rusia reinicia sus emisiones hacia España. Será sólo media hora, pero, como se dice, peor es nada. Aún no tengo la información en relación a las frecuencias, pero en cuanto disopnga de ellas se las comunico por esta misma vía. Aprovecho de agradecer a nuestros oyentes españoles, quienes constantemente continuaron escribiendonos y escuchando nuestras emisiones hacia América Latina, sacrificando horas de sueño. Creo que ese sacrificio, se ve recompensado con esta noticia. Aún no tengo la información oficial sobre las frecuencias, pero cuando me las entreguen se las comunicaré inmediatamente. Saludos amigos. Pancho Rodríguez, Programa "Frecuencia RM", "LA VOZ DE RUSIA" E-mail: pcortes@orc.ru frecrm@hotmail.com letters@vor.ru (via Antonio Madrid, ADXB, Noticias DX Jan 27 via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [VOR is resuming Spanish to Spain Tue Feb 1 for half an hour only, at 2130 UT, frequencies not yet known. Faithful listeners who have sacrificed hours of sleep to hear the Latin American service are now recompensed – summary by gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST] ** SIERRA LEONE. 3316, SLBS; Goderich (presumed), Jan. 26, 1802-1822, Male talk in vernacular, short piece of music, followed by (what sounded like) a radioplay. Then music with children singing. I believe this is a re-activation. Haven't heard them for quite some time, not have I seen any reports of this station recently. 23332 (Mark Veldhuis, Netherlands, hard-core-dx via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. New factional radio station reported in Mogadishu. Text of report by Somali newspaper ``Xog-Ogaal`` on 16th January A new radio station reportedly belonging to Husayn Haji Bod, one of the Mogadishu faction leaders, was heard in the city last evening and the evening before. It was test broadcasting on the 49 metre band. Mogadishu is already home to several radio stations, such as Voice of Somali Pacification, which supports Uthman Hasan Ali Ato, and HornAfric. Pro-Husayn Muhammad Aydid radio, Voice of the Somali People, which has been off air for a long time because of technical problems, is now back on air after undergoing refurbishment. Voice of Alhu-Sunna Waljamaa is still off air. (Source: ``Xog-Ogaal``, Mogadishu, in Somali 16 Jan 00 via BBC Monitoring) In Somali terms, I think ``49 mb`` could well mean the favourite 6.7-6.9 MHz area (gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. Our current clasher on 15685, the clandestine V. of Tibet, has a good website in English, with up-to-date news, and contact info at http://www.vot.org (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K O G B A N I [non?]. [Cf. DXLD 00-14] More info on Earth One, from interview with its head on RN Media Network Jan 27: Plans to launch in March, serving Africa, with Merlin partnership. Commercially supported, 30 percent music programming already produced. Patron is Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and other backers include Sir Peter Ustinov, and Trevor Bayliss (notes by gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Estimado Don Guillermo, Un placer y gusto en recibir sus informaciones del mes de Enero, a lo cual le damos las gracias. Aprovecho apenas unos minutos, ya que he tenido muchísimo trabajo esta semana para decirle, - que el próximo Sábado 29 de Enero en el programa dx de La Voz de los Estados Unidos de América, su conductor Héctor Velazquez Mejía, me hará una entrevista. El mismo saldrá al aire alrededor de las - 23:15 UTC por lo menos en los 9.515 KHz ya que - ellos utilizan otras frecuencias. Sin más reciba un fuerte abrazo. Su amigo venezolano, (Jorge García Rangel. Barinas, Venezuela, 27 de enero) [Jorge will be interviewed on this Saturday`s DX program in Spanish on VOA, around 2315 on 9515 and others] (DX LISTENING DIGEST) THIS DAY`S LANGUAGE / GEOGRAPHY LESSON The <50 Most Widely Spoken Languages in the World From page 639 of the Time Almanac 2000, countries where some of these are spoken, we extract the ones you may not have expected. The original info is somewhat general and subjective, based on general estimates by the Summer Institute of Linguistics, but these countries have enough speakers to make the list along with the original or obvious ones. In most cases there is no former colonial connexion, but rather migration in substantial numbers. The languages are in descending order, and I have omitted those with no surprises. Chinese Mandarin South Africa English Eritrea, Ethiopia, Israel, Somalia, Suriname Bengali Singapore Hindi South Africa, Uganda Portuguese France Russian China, Israel, Mongolia Japanese Singapore German, Standard Bolivia, Kazakstan, Paraguay Javanese Malaysia, Singapore Korean Singapore, Thailand Vietnamese China Telugu Singapore Chinese Cantonese Costa Rica, Panama Tamil Mauritius, Singapore, South Africa Turkish Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Uzbekistan Urdu Afghanistan, Mauritius, South Africa, Thailand Gujarati Kenya, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe Polish Israel, Romania Ukrainian Poland, Slovakia Italian Croatia, France, Slovenia Chinese Hakka Panama, Suriname Panjabi Eastern Kenya, Singapore Romanian Hungary, Israel, Serbia & Montenegro, Ukraine Bhojpuri Mauritius, Nepal Azerbaijani South Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Turkey Farsi Western Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Tajikistan, UAE Burmese Bangladesh Serbo-Croatian Slovakia Thai Singapore Dutch France Sindhi Afghanistan, Singapore (extracted by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###