DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-078, May 27, 2001 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. For restrixions and searchable 2001, 2000 contents archive see} http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid.html [NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn] ** AUSTRALIA. 2310, VL8A, Alice Springs, May 25, 1940-1950, English talk heard // 2325 and 2485. SINPO 25333 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. Suite aux rumeurs de fermeture de Radio Autriche Internationale, Lucien Giordani (journaliste au service français) a déclaré ne pas y croire. Ses dires se basent sur des informations qu'il a pu obtenir mais aussi sur un sentiment personnel. Toutefois, il faudra attendre la loi qui sera votée en août pour en savoir plus. Il est cependant certain que le gouvernement ne financera plus RÖI à compter du 1er janvier prochain. C'est l'ORF, la maison mère, qui décidera si RÖI continuera à émettre en ondes courtes (Radio Autriche Internationale - 20 mai 2001 -- les informations sont issues de http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jm.aubier via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5990, R Senado, Brasília, DF, May 24, 25 & 26, 2245-0203*, Back on the air - ex 6190, Portuguese talks, frequent IDs, talks and reports from the Senate, jingles, guitar music and romantic songs "Música brasiliera". Thanks for the tips from Célio Romais and Samuel Cassio in Brazil. 44444 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. Eurosonor R. at 1600 with good signal on 6900 (SINPO 44444) with mx, ID, web email by YL in German. Also on 20700 (6900 x 3) with SINPO 25542 (Roberto Scaglione - south Italy, BCL.News.IT via hard-core-dx via DXLD) From 03-06-2001 on, Eurosonor Radio will leave the frequency 6900 kc/s. The transmissions will take place then on 9980 kc/s. The transmission time will be unchanged. Your reception reports are welcome and will be verified now by a new Eurosonor Radio QSL-card (BCL.News.IT via hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** CAMBODIA [non]. Re: V. of Khmer Krom Radio: Checking 1430 15725 or anywhere near that area -- no joy. Impossible for me to miss it if they are on. Maybe still not ready to start up. Is it from DTK? No way my Log Periodic and R71 can miss it from Sri Lanka!!! (Victor Goonetilleke, SWBC May 26 via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re: drastic cuts at RCI: Geez...to paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan, "First, we kill all the accountants!" Who was asleep here? RCI got a huge funding increase, most of which they earmarked for transmitter improvements. Then, they took what was left and started to create again some new in-house productions. As recently as a few months ago, RCI Director Bob O'Reilly was talking about further increasing in-house production and reducing reliance on CBC product. Now, all of a sudden, there`s a budget shortfall? It doesn`t seem to me that there should have been any surprises. All of the costs one year out were entirely knowable, right? The BBC`s not alone. There`s lots of questions to be answered by RCI, too (John Figliozzi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) HI Glenn I sent this to RCI. I think we should all send similar to BBC/SwissRadio/ORF?etc etc ----------------------------- I have been an active shortwave listener for over 20 years and I am shocked, saddened and devastated by the short-sighted, ill-advised decision by the Canadian (and some other like minded) governments to slash their international presence on shortwave radio. There seems to be some fallacy that with Internet, satellite and local domestic relays, H.F. is redundant and you can save a few $100k or so per year by cutting it... Really? Let`s look at some facts: Local relays via VHF or MW are one method of reaching listeners, but of course only in those countries with free and open media and governments friendly to your own. Do you really think Saddam would have welcomed VOA/BBC/RCI delivering their message on local Iraqi/Kuwaiti TXers during the Gulf war? Did not Boris Yeltsin comment that he kept in touch with what was happening in his own country via BBC on a portable shortwave radio during the upheaval that saw him become leader in that country? So when the next trouble spot brews, where will we be? Anyway, we in Australia are a friendly country to Canada, and there is no Satellite nor MW/VHF RCI service here! How can it be cheaper to set up lots of relays then a few well planned out and designed HF Txers! Let us not forget that a large part of the world does NOT live in climate controlled homes with satellite and internet capabilities. The majority, I would venture, live in 2nd or 3rd world conditions, where they do not have TV and internet, but almost every home or village in these places would have a radio, and nearly all with shortwave built in. They all have shortwave because in tropical climates, shortwave ARE the local broadcast bands due to atmospherics making MW unusable. So most cheap portable radios are built with shortwave. They cannot afford TV or internet or satellites (and lots DON`T WANT THEM!), many are tribal or nomadic. However it would seem that these people do not count any more, and we do not care if they hear news of the world or just their own local media (governments?) propaganda. After all, they are not CONSUMERS, are they? Internet Radio? It`s a farce and does not work. Do you know of anyone who actually sits and listens to radio via internet? It works, in theory.... Unless you have a very highspeed broadband connection, the signal audio quality varies from only just listenable to digital garble. And if your computer is slow or busy doing something else, the audio deteriorates even more. It`s great if you have highspeed access, new highspeed PC and high quality speakers and soundcard etc., lovely for those with high incomes in other words. Sorry to the other 95% of the world, we don`t want to know you. The audio on shortwave can be affected by static, sure, but nowhere near as often or as dramatically as Internet buffering and packet loss related audio breakup. Besides, who wants to sit in front of PC tying up your phone line just to hear the radio? I have radios! everyone has radios. We know how to use them. So your beancounters have told you listeners are declining? Perhaps a better focus on programming would bring them back. Give people something to listen to and they will turn on. If your news, features and music sounds like every other radio station in the world, then no one will bother listening. When I tune to Radio Canada, it`s because I want to hear about Canada, I can read about the Mid-East crisis and major world news anywhere. I can hear US/UK top 40 music anywhere. What I want to know is what's happening in Canada: the items that are making your local newspapers but will never make the Australian media. While there is a place for you to give some coverage of international events, I believe the emphasis should be on "life and culture in Canada". Which is why "I'm Mad as hell and I'm not gunna take it!" (to quote Network). Radio Canada was in my top 5 stations to listen to because it did tell me about your country, but now, with the cuts there will be less time for these insights and it will become another station which repeats the same headlines as every other station. PLEASE REALISE YOU ARE MAKING A DREADFUL MISTAKE! Regards (Jem Cullen, VK2JEM, Sydney, Australia, May 28, to RCI, cc to DXLD) I`m afraid this may fall on deaf ears, as RCI has not even tried to reach Australia on SW for many years (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA/AZERBAIJAN. Re: Azeri radio? Don't propagate well from CFRO 102.7 [from website schedule:] Saturdays 4-5 pm Azerbaijan Odlar Yurdu Radio Join us for the great music from the Azeri land of fire. Also follow Azeri news, history, culture, interviews and much, much more. (Azeri Language.) Schedule URL: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/cfro/coopsche.html (Daniel Say, Simon Fraser University, BC, May 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ah, yes, a station I have enjoyed and visited whilst in Vancouver. Says it is on lots of cable systems, but evidently no webcast (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI`s weekly program previews can be found at this URL, which I suggest you bookmark: http://www.rfpi.org/update.html Someone reported that RFPI`s German show, `Blickwinkel` had disappeared, but I happened to hear RFPI in German at 0333 UT Sunday May 27 on 15049, translating James Latham`s remarks about hate radio (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. DX Partyline`s 40th anniversary is May 29, to be celebrated on the June 2 show with Allen Graham interviewing many of the previous hosts; and a special QSL card will be available (DXPL May 26 via DXLD) Congratulations! ** GERMANY. In case you wonder about the mentioned silence of Wilsdruff 1044: This was no scheduled break but a transmitter failure, which was fixed not until 9 AM on Friday. Indeed the matter will be further clarified, this is not Hoyerswerda 999, which was repeatedly off air during whole weekends and nobody cared about this. (Thursday was a legal holiday in Germany.) Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. I am just now (26th May 22:30 UTC) listening to Radio Marabu, Germany on 6210,15 kHz with very strong signal. Thanks for Glen[n] Hauser for this info in his pages.... (Alpo Heinonen, Rovaniemi, Finland http://personal.inet.fi/koti/alpo.heinonen/ NRD 525 +250 meters "LW" to 60 degrees "A weak voice from the Finnish Arctic Circle", hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. RRI Makassar on 4754 kHz was absent on May 15-17, 2001 and instead of 4754, 9553 kHz was heard until 1600 on May 16 and 17, 2001 (Atsunori Ishida, JAPAN, Jembatan DX via DXLD) New RRI Jakarta network is as follows: 1. Programa 1 (PRO-1), ex. Prog. Ibukota 1 -- the program's format doesn't change. Freq. on FM 99.8 MHz and FM 89.1 MHz 2. Programa 2 (PRO-2), ex. Prog. Ibukota 2 -- the program's format doesn't change. Freq. on FM 105.1 MHz (sometimes relayed by SW 9680 kHz) 3. Programa 3 (PRO-3), ex. Prog. Nasional 1 -- the program's format doesn't change (news, talks, and entertainment). Freq. on FM 104.1 MHz; MW 1332 kHz; SW 9565; 9630; 11760; 11860; 15125 kHz 4. Programa 4 (PRO-4), ex. Prog. Nasional 1 {sic} -- the program's format is the culture broadcast (including religions) and sports. Freq. FM 94.95 MHz; MW 999 kHz; SW 4775 kHz. 5. Programa 5 (PRO-5), ex. Prog. Nasional 2 -- the program's format doesn't change (education and information). Freq. FM 93.2 MHz; MW 1215 kHz; SW 9680; 11750; 11885 kHz (Akbar Indra Gunawan, INDONESIA, Jembatan DX May 27 via DXLD) ** MALTA. The closure of Playa de Pals reminds me of the Malta site of Deutsche Welle (3 x 250 kW shortwave plus 600 kW mediumwave on 1557), which was shut down about five years ago. In 1996 or 1997 a visitor found the site bolted and seemingly untouched, but since then I saw no more reports about its fate (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. Hi all, I just heard (1918-2000 UT) RTM Rabat in Arabic on 14942 kHz (2x7471) // 15345 kHz. On 15345 kHz I noticed a satellite delay, so this is a different transmitting site. vy 73 de (Jürgen Lohuis, Germany 26.05.2001, harmonics@yahoogroups.com via DXLD) 7471 would be the transmitter acting as a jammer against the Polisario station; see WESTERN SAHARA (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. I seldom have much luck with Europirates, but tuning up from RFPI May 27 at 0336 found a good signal on 15070 with pop music; 0357 long announcement mentioned Alfa Lima International, and again at 0359. Really good modulation level on this one -– R. Cairo and numerous other `pro` SW stations should emulate! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 7325, New R. Adygeya, Maykop, Resp. Adygeya, May 25, *1700-1800*, on the air Mon & Fri in Adegeyan. Also reported to broadcast in Arabic and Turkish, but today all was in Adygeyan! 1700 Regional anthem, ID, ann, local classical music, hymn and Balalaika, 1707 talks and songs until closing ann 1758 and short folkmusic, 1800 A few seconds relay of news from Moscow then abrupt cut off the relay from Krasnodar transmitter! 33443 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 17266, Murmansk R (USB), May 25, *0800-0810, New relay, Russian time ann, ID: "Murmanska Radiyo", temperatures, news, ID, phone number, 0807 touristic adv. from Spain, ad for record shop; followed 0810-0900* by relay of Radiostantsiya Atlantika with ID and Russian pop songs. Thanks to Robertas Petraitis in Lithuania for the tips. 45544 Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [et al.]. CYRILLIC NAMES TO BE REGISTERED ON THE INTERNET. The Hong Kong company Regtime.net announced on 18 May that it will register in Cyrillic Russian names, including domain names, for the Internet, Interfax reported ("RFE/RL Newsline," 21 May via RFE/RL Media Matters via DXLD) ** SPAIN/USA. When reading the indeed rather surprising news about the shut-down of Playa de Pals (by the way, I dimly remember that the site was already off air for a period years ago?) I immediately suspected that IBB will throw in other sites instead, and yes: Since 1100 Radio Liberty Russian service is on air as usual on 15205 from elsewhere; some audio/modulation characteristics suggests Tanger- Briech as origin. The IBB operational schedule, updated today at 0440, still shows Playa de Pals; find below the entries I extracted from this file. Provided that Playa de Pals was running full schedule straight until yesterday 0800 the very last transmissions were RFE Serbocroatian on 9555 from 0730 and Radio Liberty in Russian on 15130 from 0600. In the end no transmissions originated from this site between 0800 and 1100, so 0800 was a natural deadline. So it seems that the shut-down of Playa de Pals will have no serious consequences for the RFE/RL and VoA audiences (perhaps they will miss not any frequency at all), but it is nevertheless interesting that IBB kept the shut-down secret until it was done, preventing me from taping the final carrier-down. I consider this sentence as clue to the actual reason for the secretiveness: "The U.S. Government will honor its commitments to each of the Pals Transmitting Station`s employees by providing fair and equitable treatment in accordance with Spanish labor law." Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9760 0100 0200 RL RL-7 KA PAL 05 063 7245 0200 0300 RL RL-1 RU PAL 02 052 9805 0200 0330 RL RL10 TA PAL 05 063 6000 0200 0400 RL RL-1 RU PAL 04 044 9520 0200 0400 RL RL-1 RU PAL 03 063 9560 0300 0400 RL RL-7 UK PAL 01 052 M-F 7245 0300 0400 RL RL-7 UK PAL 02 052 M-F 7245 0400 0500 VOA G UKRA PAL 02 052 9560 0400 0500 VOA G UKRA PAL 01 052 11725 0400 0500 RL RL-1 RU PAL 05 052 11885 0400 0600 RL RL-1 RU PAL 06 041 7245 0500 0600 RL RL-7 UK PAL 02 052 M-F 9555 0500 0600 RL RL-7 UK PAL 01 052 M-F 15130 0600 0800 RL RL-1 RU PAL 05 052 9555 0730 0800 RFE RL-8 SC PAL 03 063 15205 1100 1300 RL RL-1 RU PAL 04 052 Thu 15205 1100 1300 RL RL-1 RU PAL 05 063 F-W 11795 1300 1330 RFE RL-8 SC PAL 01 063 15190 1300 1330 RFE RL-8 SC PAL 03 063 15215 1300 1400 VOA D RUSS PAL 05 052 15215 1400 1700 RL RL-1 RU PAL 05 052 11895 1500 1600 RL RL-1 RU PAL 01 041 11995 1500 1600 RL RL-8 TB PAL 02 052 15370 1500 1630 RL RL10 TA PAL 03 063 11815 1500 1700 RL RL-1 RU PAL 06 041 9660 1600 1630 VOA E ALBA PAL 04 063 11905 1600 1630 VOA E ALBA PAL 01 063 9615 1700 1800 VOA D RUSS PAL 01 041 9855 1700 1800 RL RL-7 UK PAL 04 063 11825 1700 1800 RL RL-9 UZ PAL 02 063 11895 1700 1800 RL RL-7 UK PAL 03 063 15370 1700 1800 VOA D RUSS PAL 05 052 9615 1800 1900 VOA D RUSS PAL 01 041 15325 1800 1900 RFE RL-6 RO PAL 05 063 M-F 9625 1830 1900 RFE RL-8 SC PAL 06 063 11895 1830 1900 RFE RL-8 SC PAL 03 063 11865 1900 2030 RL RL-4 BR PAL 02 041 9705 1930 2000 VOA E SERB PAL 01 063 9595 2000 2100 VOA G UKRA PAL 05 041 9705 2000 2100 RL RL-1 RU PAL 01 063 15125 2000 2100 RFE RL-8 SC PAL 06 063 9520 2000 0100 RL RL-1 RU PAL 03 052 9665 2100 2300 RL RL-1 RU PAL 01 063 5955 2100 0100 RL RL-1 RU PAL 04 044 9625 2300 0000 RL RL-7 KA PAL 01 063 7120 2300 0100 RL RL-1 RU PAL 02 044 (via Kai Ludwig, DXLD) Re: That`s the way to do it! Cut off all those former Soviet SWLs abruptly without a chance to mount a protest campaign! ... (gh, DXLD) ********************************** Not exactly! In my sadness I failed to note that all programs transmitted from Playa de Pals were moved to other sites; with very few exceptions on the same frequencies (Dan Ferguson SWBC@topica.com via DXLD) Here the results of another quick check of former Pals-frequencies around 1530 May 26, a horrible amount of local noise was all but not helpful: 11815 (RL Ru.): Up, no obvious delay compared with Woofferton 9520 11895 (RL Ru.): Up, pronounced delay behind 9520 11995 (RL Tatar-Bashkir): Something on this frequency, not sure if // Lampertheim 9580 15215 (RL Ru): Something on this frequency, not sure if // 9520 15370 (RL Tajik): Up, about two seconds ahead of Kavala 9790. Later: Check at 1605: 11905 up // 15245 (Morocco), 9660 no signal detectable. Check at 1835: 9615 up, a satellite hop ahead of 7220 (Holzkirchen); 9625 up, two seconds behind 15245 (Morocco); 11895 unid. carrier; 15325 no signal detectable. Check at 1935: 9705 up // 11875 (Morocco), 11865 up // 9750 (Woofferton). Check at 2025: 9520 up // 7220 (Holzkirchen, severely disturbed by co-channel Turkey), 9595 up // 15255 (Morocco, severely disturbed by co-channel Romania), 9705 up // 7220, 15125 unid. carrier. Note: 9520 and 9705 seemingly from the same site (identical propagation and audio). Check at 2110: All 5955, 9520 and 9665 up in //, no noticeable audio delays. Result for the time being: Most if not all of the former Pals-outlets are still on air from elsewhere, after 2000 perhaps all from the same site (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. 18105.07, R Exterior España 1750 27 May. 17850 and 17595 mixing to produce this spur (separation of 255 kHz). Both these frequencies are //, but there is an audio delay, presumably to balance energy consumption at the transmitting site. It is the weaker fundamental, 17595 which is directly // to the mixing product on 18105 (David Hodgson, TN, harmonics@yahoogroups.com via DXLD) ** SVALBARD. In addition to the July DX pedition, JW0PK will be active 31 May to 9 June (Al Arcângelo, Brazil, radioescutas via DXLD) ** U K. Glenn: Listen to the realaudio on the BBC ending shortwave to North America, interview with the head of Grundig in the US about the development: http://marketplace.org/shows/2001/05/23_mpp.html (Charlie Harlich, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Starts at 18:50 into the 29 minute program; also we hear from Bill Oliver, NASWA (gh, DXLD) By my calculations, that still leaves a few hours of BBC in our part of the world, most notably 15360 from 0500 to 1030 as well as 9740 from 1100 to 1600, both of which are easy catches. Maybe this isn`t as much "doom and gloom" as it appeared at first sight (Clint Felmingham, SW Australia via DXLD) I see the BBC Web site has finally caught up with what we've been talking about here for nearly three weeks :-) One of Mark Byford's statements at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/010518_byford.shtml is particularly interesting: he says "We know that our listeners have migrated away from shortwave". Which is in direct contradiction to evidence provided by Sony, Grundig and others. One wonders just how the BBC "knows" what nobody else in the industry apparently does (Andy Sennitt, Holland, swprograms via DXLD) Subject: Whitewashing with Bullshit Re: Write On this evening on the BBCWS Full marks for the program`s host for asking the tough questions and not settling for pat answers from Mr. Byford. Having said that, Mr. Byford refused to directly address the questions and, incredibly at one point, professed ignorance about the Sirius and XM services requiring a subscription charge. One would think that he would have at least been adequately briefed before appearing on the program. He refused to address the needs of those who don`t have Internet and downplayed to the point of dismissing the fact that only news is largely available from FM rebroadcasters. He repeatedly refused to acknowledge that some listeners would be abandoned even after admitting that some would not have access to the alternatives he continually touted. Unbelievably, he offered a classically circular argument by claiming that most listeners listened via FM, acknowledged that for the most part news was all they got there, then tried to argue that this was all they wanted. To add insult to injury, he appeared to be telling listeners that if they wanted to hear more BBC than was offered by FM rebroadcasters, then they should put pressure on those partners to carry more BBC. Sorry, Mark, I`m not buying. Your lack of respect for the views of your listeners will not be rewarded by me carrying your water. What I demand most from the BBC is honesty and your performance tonight calls into question whether the BBC any longer deserves the trust and loyalty of its listeners. It`s not a one way street running in the BBC`s direction only. Glad to see Ralph`s questions were posed; sorry to hear that Mr. Byford refused to confront them honestly. I was not at all impressed nor persuaded by Mr. Byford`s answers. As you can read, all he succeeded in doing is to frustrate me further and engender my anger (John Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) To some extent, we have been willing to "carry their water" by being "volunteer publicists", running SWL festivals, writing monthly columns, and helping to organize e-groups. Heck, every message anyone has posted here touting this BBCWS program, pasting the frequency schedule, etc. has been carrying their water and doing their work. Other broadcasters, like HCJB, RNW, Radio Sweden, and RFPI (among others) have taken the initiative to use E-mail to publicize their efforts; the BBCWS came late to this game with their lamely-run "On Air Network" with sporadic information. I wonder if Mr. Byford was whitewashing with ignorance as much as with BS. Without some sort of "mole" to help us understand how the decision was made, it`s tough to speculate. Quite often in layered management structures, it`s the intermediaries filtering the data that lead to bad -- but rational -- decisions by more senior managers. An amusing sidenote -- as others have mentioned, there`s a new FAQ on the BBCWS website with subject matter for us North Americans. One link on the FAQ page leads to the "Waveguide" program - oh oh, darn, that program was cancelled. Somewhat ironic that they cancelled the program that was their link to their audience regarding media developments. I believe the timing here in North America may well be sooner than 10 years out. However, it`s most certainly not *now* that these alternative means capable of user-selectable content are feasible. As I`ve said before, the Internet is still experimental, and the dot- gone companies are examples of failed experiments as we all figure out what the Internet is good for, how to make it as accessible as a utility, and how to value it. I have been trying to come up with a term that`s more accurate to describe what we do, if SWLing no longer cuts it exclusively. "FBL" -- Foreign Broadcast Listening ["monitoring" sounds too technical] might be a useable acronym. (Richard Cuff, ibid.) You may listen to the latest edition of Write On via: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sitemap/pop_writeon.shtml (John Figliozzi and Ralph Brandi, swprograms via DXLD) I happened to turn on the radio just in time to hear this. Absolutely astounding performance by an absolutely spineless weasel. Mr. Byford deserves an Academy Award for doubletalk. I kept expecting to hear "We had to destroy the BBCWS to save it." – (Evan Morris, ibid.) So now it`s 1.2 million SW listeners. Thanks to Ralph for catching Write-On host's mention of 1.2 million shortwave listeners in the United States. But where did THAT come from? Until now, the numbers revealed here and there by BBCWS executives, broadcasters, and e-mail responses more or less fit into place. I would be grateful if SW Programs readers would respond here with any audience numbers they have heard or read from BBCWS. For example, the 2.3 million was mentioned in one context as being the audience for BBC via FM rebroadcasters in the United States. If that's the case, 2.3 million is 88% of 2,600,000. And so we extrapolate: 100% 2,600,000 All BBCWS listeners in the USA 88% 2,300,000 All listening via FM 59% 1,534,000 Listening via FM exclusively 29% 766,666 Listening via SW and FM 12% 312,000 Listening via SW exclusively The 312,000 would correspond with Mark Byford's claim of 300,000 shortwave listeners, except that he didn`t include those who listen via FM plus shortwave. The 312,000 is a subset of the 766,666, so they can't be added. But if the 2,600,000 is all of North America, not just USA, it's back to the magic ball calculator. I asked a friend in the BBC research office if the 2.3 million is past-week or past-year. He said all such questions had to be referred to the head of audience research of BBCWS. So far I haven't heard back, so in the meantime, I'll have to say: 2.3 million listened to BBCWS during the past whatever. It may be that the 1.2 million listened to BBC on shortwave during the past year rather than the past week. Or the past whatever. So please submit your clues so that we can continue to piece this puzzle together. Of course, it would be in the interest of BBC's all-important credibility if it would give us an unfragmented account of its audience numbers in the United States (Kim Elliott, ibid., speaking for ke and not for voa.gov) Kim, Here's one place where BBC World Service audience numbers are mentioned (these I assume include ALL listening methods that were available at the time, which prompts the question, "when was the BBC WS first available on the web?"): http://www.vaxxine.com/master-control/BBC/chapters/Langhour.html ... info said to be from BBC WS Annual Review 1994/1995, including this: Americas, ANY LANGUAGE: 8 million Americas, ENGLISH: 5.5 million (Note, I understand that in 2000 these population figures apply, millions: N. America 306 S. America 344 C. America 136 Caribbean I think is around 36 million, and Pacific area around 31 million. The 1994/1995 figures will be slightly smaller.) Also, an interview from 1991, at the same web site: http://www.vaxxine.com/master-control/BBC/chapters/Williams.html ...indicates "about 2 million audience in the United States." I assume that must be FM and shortwave, as I doubt the BBC WS was available on internet in 1991. ALSO note that the article indicates that the 1991 figures may very well be inflated, due to the Gulf War crisis: "A feature of our audience is that it goes up whenever there's [...] a world crisis. The Gulf crisis produced an immense upsurge in audiences." While I haven`t done any analysis, a cursory look at all the various numbers we`ve seen doesn`t appear to prove there is any particular drop-off in SW listening. There are, of course, some NEW listeners on the internet. I have a suspicion that most shortwave listeners continue with shortwave, mainly due to the observation that "old habits die hard." (In fact, I'm just about to look at one of the other computers in the house to see about getting it set up with better speakers and the latest Realaudio player, and maybe some way to pipe the sound to other rooms? hmm.) It`s easy to see that the biggest number of listeners are on FM. Anyone who sets their radio to one of the PBS stations carrying WS in any of around 300 cities in N. America would be bound to hear it on occasion. ALSO, I recall seeing some message recently, somewhere, indicating that Grundig and Sony are selling more SW radios to N. America nowadays than they did a few years ago. I believe that may have been from someone at R. Nederland or other European SW BC station. Also, I have noticed a lot more ads in magazines from Grundig, just in the last couple years. For example, Scientific American now has monthly full-page ads for various of their radios. The Economist magazine has been getting quite a few-- it's a weekly. Christian Science Monitor has recently had full-page ads. One final thought here-- I have seen no comments yet about the marketing synergy that BBC WS loses dropping SW broadcasts from their delivery "mix." (Geoff White, May 27, swprograms via DXLD) To: BBC World Service worldservice.letters@bbc.co.uk Subject: A Message from Mark Byford It was with great anger that I received, over SW, the news that your Shortwave World Service will be changing its name. That should naturally follow when, beginning on July 1st, you will be "focusing your delivery in English to North America on [...] FM and MW, together with 24 hour online audio output". This I *now* gather formally on http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/010518_byford.shtml I imagine it`ll henceforth be called "3/4 of World Service". It`s amazing how the doublespeak in this "message" failed to simply say "discontinuing SW service to North America ". I wrote "now", because although I have access to the Internet, as you can see, and have Real Player Plus 8, and Media Player 6.4 and Quick Time 4, and a sound card and loudspeakers, I rarely make use of these to listen to the BBC, preferring to do it on the good old radio. The only exception is my listening to Sports Roundup on demand, and that's only due to the BBC's having castrated that program, in terms of actual broadcasts, running time and even cutting out its signature tune, in order to fit in more promos. Being in Toronto, I also have no access to BBC on FM or MW. Doesn`t the BBC care about the colonies any more? With people like Mark Byford and other bean counters at the head of this once great organization, there's no point in being polite and offering up well thought reasons as to why this purely financial decision is wrong, such as that the BBC has even been using inexpensive transmitting facilities in eastern Canada. If smaller countries with a lot less pretense to being World class broadcasting powers have the means to broadcast to North America, why doesn't the BBC? The end result, regardless of your demographics, is that your service will become even more elitist and, in my case, will certainly predispose me even more against you than your native English language newsreaders who constantly demonstrate being so ignorant of foreign languages (C. Coimbra, Toronto, Canada, May 27 to worldservice.letters@bbc.co.uk cc to DXLD) I hope that other International Broadcasters will consider filling in the gap. I would spend the time I would have spent listening to the BBC to their newscasts and programmes on shortwave instead. In fact I have been so disgusted that I find myself listening to the BBC even less these days since all this came about. They didn`t even have the courtesy to let their listeners know until other media sources were contacted first. It is really sad the way they went about this. A couple of months ago they advertised their On-Air Magazine. I subscribed; now I won`t have any use for it at all. I contacted several electronics and department stores, even a car dealership that is supposed to carry XM radios. The ironic thing is that no one`s heard of it nor has it in stock. It is too bad that there is such greed in the hearts of corporations today, not to take into consideration the people that have loyally supported them in the past (M. Scheer, swprograms via DXLD) One question...who is Mr. Byford's boss and what is HIS ADDRESS, OFFICE PHONE NUMBER, FAX NUMBER AND E-MAIL????? (Maryanne Kehoe, swprograms May 26 via DXLD) Byford`s boss is Greg Dyke, Director General of the BBC. He works out of Broadcasting House rather than Bush House. I was not able to find a fax number specifically for Broadcasting House or for Mr. Dyke in particular, but the radio side of the BBC, which is presumably a rather large fax center with the ability to forward properly, can be reached at +44 (0)20 7580 7725. E-mail at the BBC is generally of the form first.last@bbc.co.uk so Mr. Dyke can presumably be e-mailed at greg.dyke@bbc.co.uk Or rather, his secretary can be e-mailed at that address. He`s probably got a private address so his mailbox isn`t filled with missives by irate audience members preventing him from getting his real work done. Or, more likely, he just has his secretary filter out the junk and print out the important stuff. I missed the airing to North America. I should probably stay up until the 0745 airing to Africa rather than listening to the on-demand copy that`s posted at the (well-hidden) WriteOn page by Saturday morning :-) If anyone wants to read the entire letter containing the questions of mine that I understand were posed to and dodged by Mr. Byford, it`s posted to my web site at http://www.brandi.org/ralph/bbc_open_letter.html (Ralph Brand, ibid.) After speaking with Mr. Franklin (BBC Consul in Philly) yesterday, I remain convinced the more effective approach is to harass the FCO, not the BBC. I wonder how much influence Dyke has over Byford anyway. In February of 1999 I spent about an hour on the phone with Jonathan Marks as preparation for my forum at the Winterfest. Jonathan stated that the Internet brought a different audience to RNW than shortwave -- one that wasn`t familiar with RNW beforehand. Comparing those comments to those of Mr. Byford suggests, again, a flawed analysis: It`s not that the BBC's audience has necessarily migrated away from shortwave, it's that these other delivery methods have opened the BBC up to new audiences they didn`t reach before. One would think that the BBC would be more interested in *maximizing* their audience by using whatever delivery means achieve those ends. Instead, sadly, the BBC seems to want to *minimize* its transmission dollars per listener. As I mused a few days ago, shortwave will probably come out worse than other delivery methods since those other methods put financial burdens on the consumer. To some extent, we have been willing to "carry their water" by being "volunteer publicists", running SWL festivals, writing monthly columns, and helping to organize e-groups. Heck, every message anyone has posted here touting this BBCWS program, pasting the frequency schedule, etc. has been carrying their water and doing their work. (Richard Cuff, ibid.) I think the key words, Rich, are "to some extent". Maybe you would let me add to that "where warranted". The BBC`s approach to its audience here (or at least Byford`s description of it) can only be described as manipulative and disrespectful. With the immense and growing budgets to which the BBCWS has access, and the manner in which it has blown a good part of it on several arguably specious efforts (the seven stream idea for one and huge salary increases granted to management imports from the commercial sector for another), it`s hard to argue that saving a little over $700,000US is adequate reason for the July 1 cessation. Then it trots out Mr. Byford who, through his performance on Write On and his history as WS Director (see Ralph`s earlier posts as an historical reminder), appears to be wholly uninformed and ill-suited to the task of running the WS. Heck, if the measurement methods used and the numbers they produce bear out this decision, then let`s have them -- all of them! There are no "trade secrets" here...who in the hell would their competition be? I don`t think these things can be said about other stations we sometimes attempt to help in the manner you described. And I`ve never heard an official from any other station say, in effect, "Hey, wanna continue to hear us? Put pressure on other stations (arguably running competing programming) to carry us instead of their own stuff." Not a workable plan, IMHO, and I'm not playing. If they want to reach us, they should stay where they are until they find something to replace it. They don`t have that; and they`re not willing to admit it. If I didn`t respect the efforts put forth by RA and RNZI, I couldn`t do what I`m doing for them. I don`t respect the BBC's approach here, so I can`t help them. (BTW, that's a personal decision; anyone else`s mileage could vary.) (John Figliozzi, ibid.) Hi Glenn, This in today`s Daily Telegraph. (Mike Barraclough, May 26) ISSUE 2192 Saturday 26 May 2001 BBC 'voice to world' cuts back broadcasts By Tom Leonard, Media Correspondent THE BBC`s World Service - for decades Britain`s voice to the world - will no longer be broadcast to many parts of the globe - in a switch to the internet. From July 1, the BBC will shut down its short-wave transmitters broadcasting to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Listeners will instead have to access the World Service on the internet or listen to a limited service which is rebroadcast on FM by local stations. The move ends a tradition stretching back to 1932 when the Empire Service, as it was then called, first went on air, punctuating each hour with the familiar signature "This is London" and providing many listeners with their first live voice from a distant land. The BBC is expecting that its decision, which will save the corporation £500,000 a year, will be hotly opposed by many listeners. It is likely to prove unpopular with those who either do not have access to the internet or resent having to pay the equivalent of local telephone call rates when they want to listen to the radio. While internet use is very cheap in America, in countries such as Fiji, users have to pay for a long distance call simply to log on. Meanwhile, rebroadcasts of the service via local radio stations are patchy. While some stations broadcast up to eight hours a day, others provide just a few minutes of the service or air it only after midnight. The BBC insisted yesterday that it was not pulling out of any countries but simply adapting to changing listening habits. While the vast majority of its 153 million listeners still hear it on short wave, listeners in more developed countries were migrating from short wave on to the internet and the better reception it offered, it said. In the United States 2.5 million people listen to rebroadcasts on FM and 1.5 million listen online, compared to one million on short wave. Jerry Timmins, the head of the World Service's Americas region, said: "A lot of people listen on short wave because they`re short-wave enthusiasts, others because they want to hear more. We care a lot about our listeners. This isn`t an easy decision but the reality is that people are changing the way they listen to us." He emphasised that in areas of the world where listeners relied on short-wave radio, the BBC was continuing to invest in the medium. Dr Tom Williamson, a listener in Ontario, Canada, said that he was "appalled" by the move, which he claimed would deprive foreign listeners of a rare source of accurate news and also weaken Britain`s international reputation. He said: "Over the last half century the BBC has established a unique reputation and world status as leader in news broadcasting and analysis. To throw this away is quite incredible." He described the BBC`s suggestion that listeners either use the internet or FM rebroadcasts as "ridiculous". He said: "There is only one station in Toronto which gives 10 minutes of BBC news at 8 am. Here in Peterborough I have never heard the BBC rebroadcast." Short wave is a more expensive medium than the internet, a fact which explains why some global broadcasters are also making the switch. Voice of America, the World Service`s US rival, has already ended its short-wave broadcasts to Central Europe, once a key target for its ideological message. [sic] The World Service, whose audience rose last year by two million, is funded by the taxpayer through a grant from the Foreign Office. The grant was recently increased by £64 million over the next three years on top of the present budget of £175 million a year. (via Mike Barraclough, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I've decided the World Service shortwave cuts don`t have much to do with money. The BBC World Service budget is about 175 million pounds a year, and growing at around 4 percent a year. World Service saves less than 1 million pounds a year by cutting shortwave to N. America and Pacific. So you see, they are saving less than 1 percent of a budget that is growing each year by about EIGHT TIMES what they are "saving" each year. I don`t think money is the real issue. But, I`m not sure what is. Possibly it`s sheer stupidity (Geoff White, GA, swprograms via DXLD) Re: DXLD 1-076: While it may indeed be a good idea for Canadians to exercise their right to submit a humble petition to the Queen on the subject of the BBC cuts, they should not spoil their case by committing the solecism of addressing their sovereign as a mere run-of the-mill Royal Highness, but should use the correct form due to a monarch. Her Majesty's loyal subject, (Chris Greenway, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UNITED NATIONS [non]. Assunto: R Nações Unidas em Português Recebi hoje uma mensagem sobre a instalação de um serviço específico em português da Rádio das Nações Unidas. A princípio, trata-se de netmídia, apenas material gravado para audição na rede, mas posteriormente, quem sabe, possamos contar com alguma coisa em OC, via algum órgão governamental? Vale conferir: http://www.un.org/av/radio/portuguese 73, (Denis Zoqbi, May 25, radioescutas via DXLD) Não vale conferir o site das NU, dizendo nada do seu serviço em ondas curtas, que existe já há um ano+! Acha-se em http://wwwstud.uni-leipzig.de/~pge98crf/index_e.html 1700 1715 MF UN UN Radio E 6125/AFS(also Port.) 17595/G-s 21490/AFS 1725 1745 MF UN UN Radio A 6125/AFS 1730 1745 MF UN UN Radio F/P 15495/G-s (only F) 17735/ASC Sem citar a hora certa para (5 minutos?) em português. Investiguem... 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, radioescutas via DXLD) ** U S A [clandestine]. Subject: 3.260 UPR Freq/Power update From: "Golden Delicious" ryoupu8@yahoo.com Date: 5/26/01 12:19 PM Central Daylight Time Forum: rec.radio.shortwave Was monitoring Col. Steve on 3.260 United Patriot Radio last evening. For those who don't know, United Patriot Radio is a self-declared "free" radio station operating from Eastern Kentucky on the shortwave frequency of 6.900 MHz (day) and 3.260 (night). Programming is "Patriot / Freeman / Sovereign Citizen" oriented. This station is also the new de-facto broadcast outlet for the Militia Movement in the United States. Some say it's a Clandestine. Other say it's a Pirate. Whatever the flavor, the station is certainly the most curious transmitter on the dial since the days when the legendary Wolfman Jack was broadcasting into the USA from Mexico or the late Rev. Carl McIntire took his ship "Radio Liberty" off of the New Jersey coastal limits to broadcast, sans licence, in the 1960's. Col. Steve said two pending changes with the station are in the works. The first being operations on the freq of 3.260 USB will be terminated sometime around the 1st weekend in June. Reason is the onset of Summer thunderstorm season and the resultant high level of atmospheric (storm) QRN, all operations will soon be on 6.900 USB only. Second, Steve reported that his "3 Kilowatt Rock Crusher" amplifier should be up and running shortly, thus the new transmitter power of 3000 Watts on 6.900 USB will allow for greater coverage of UPR. Some of the station's "staff" apparently made the trip to the 2001 Dayton Hamvention, and managed to obtain the balance of components necessary to complete the proposed 3.0 KW power amplifier. Hope that UPR has a small air conditioner and duct-work in place to cool that thing! Finally, information on 6.900 UPR radio now appears to be being hosted on the PBN web page which is at http://www.pbn.4mg.com There is also an extensive write up on the station in the new issue of Monitoring Times (via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** VATICAN. the BBCM schedule for Radio Vatican shows a certain frequency as "5.885-v". In fact this frequency is by no means variable; instead the carrier is stable on 5883, not by error but intentionally. Nominal channel is 5880 but Radio Vatican transmits on 5883 instead to escape the slop of the BBC channel 5875. By the way, the HFCC file shows that this outlet originates in the 0225-0440 and 1000-1710 periods not from Santa Maria di Galeria but instead from a transmitter within Vatican City; the antenna (a log.-periodic) is occasionally pictured in publications about Radio Vatican. Furthermore also 4005 originates from Vatican City, if on air at all (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. This morning (MAY 26) I heard Radio Táchira on 4830 again after longer time of absence. Tuned in at 0315 UT, LA songs with sporadic announcements. Anthem of Estado Táchira at 0350, then into LA songs again. At that time the signal was already very weak (our local Sunrise is 0304 UT). Carrier still on at 0405. No signal on 4980 kHz (Ecos del Torbes). GOOD DX, (Karel Honzik, the Czech Republic (Czechia) Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 7471.21, RASD, May 26 2140 YL with talks in AR, Signal S9+20, carrier drifting upwards (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Are you sure it was this and not the Moroccan jammer, q.v.? (gh) ###