DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-081, June 2, 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] ** ANGOLA. R. Nacional, 4950, May 26 0300, Portuguese pops, ballads. News at hourtop, announcements, talk. \\ 11955.8; both fair. Also heard at 2315 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA/PIRATE. 11423.83-LSB, R. Bosques 2250-0157* May 22-23, in LSB mode, and again at *0205-0218+, hrd thanks to the notice of Jorge García (RPI) in SAFS-List. Pgm consist of lot of only argentine folk music & pops, including the song "No llores por mi Argentina" (Do not cry for me Argentina). ID as ``Estás sintonizando a Radio Bosques, desde Dominico, Avellaneda, en la Provincia de Buenos Aires, República Argentina" & "En su fx de 6802 y 14687 y 11424 tx el RAL Radiodifusión Argentina Libre, desde Avellaneda, Provincia de Buenos Aires, República Argentina". When they return to AM mode, the exact freq. was 11424. Its phone number announced is: 1550199793 (country code & city are: 54-11+) and its e-mail: tamana@emocion.net.ar For reports write to: Calle Magdalena Nr. 34, 1874-Villa Dominico, B.A. Argentina. Do not mention the name Radio Bosques on the envelope. Please note that RAL Radiodifusion Argentina Libre is only a slogan from Radio Bosques, its true name is BOSQUES. Operator name is: Mr. Alejandro García. Thanks to Jorge García for the original tip (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Same, May 24 0113-0227 Heard initially with just audible signal with gradually improvement to about 0157 after which it gradually deteriorated to 0227 tune-out. Program consisted of nice ranchera style of music to pop orchestra melodies, intermixed with comments in SS by male speaker. Managed to catch 'Radio Argentina Libre' (@0120) 0139 into a test loop with voice over music announcements. Kept repeating ``transmide de la Radio Bosques desde Domincio, potentica...`` [sic], gave some sort of schedule (possible numbers for telephone), hrd the frequencies of 6802 & 11425 and power output. Back into another broadcast at 0148 with reception still in LSB. Signal peaked about 0210. Best heard on the NRD using LSB ESCC [sic] detection. Thanks to Nicolás Éramo for pointing this one out! (Ed Kusalík, Alberta, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BAHAMAS. On 94.9 from 1157 to 1119 [sic] EDT June 2 heard station calling itself "More 94". Caribbean-accented MC with female studio guests taking calls. No ID at TOH. Any assistance gratefully appreciated (Charles Bernth, location unknown, WTFDA via DXLD) Nassau, Bahamas (Rick Shaftan, ibid.) ** BELARUS`. R. Minsk, 7210, May 26 *0200-0230 is, English news, commentary, local music, good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not daily ** CAMBODIA [non]. CLANDESTINE CAMBODIA, 15724.90 kHz, Radio LV of Khmer Krom [sic], 1400 June 1, feminine voices, music 45444 (Hugo López C, CE3TIB - R-5000, Santiago, CHILE, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Supposedly Fridays only; first confirmation tho hardly a definite ID. If it`s 100 Hz off, it couldn`t be DTK site, right? (gh) ** CANADA. RCI`s new technical schedule can be found at http://www.rcinet.ca/Scripts/default.asp?l=en Scroll down and look on the right side under "What's new?" (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, June 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Even more reason for the demand for less CBC domestic programming on RCI and more in-house RCI produced programming. This new re- organization of RCI will see RCI reporting and answering to Radio- Canada, the French domestic radio network of the CBC. Radio-Canada, the French national headquarters of the CBC, based here in Montreal, has long been known to be a hot-bed for Quebec nationalism. Now this new reporting structure will have Canada's international voice reporting to Radio-Canada? Is the government really aware of what sort of Pandora's box it is about to open? The Heritage Department maintains that it wants to keep an arms-length relationship with RCI. It seems determined to keep RCI from becoming a mouthpiece of the Canadian government. They could very well be accomplishing that, but perhaps, more dangerously, by Radio-Canada in Montreal acting as its administrator. These are some of the underlying stories in these recent RCI developments. It should become more and more apparent that RCI truly needs to be a totally separate entity from the CBC, and domestic broadcasting. I don't know what it is going to take to make the Government in Ottawa make that a reality. Perhaps if Canadians, domestically, want total Canadian news, presented in a straight- forward, simplified manner, they should be listening to RCI produced newscasts, as opposed to what we are being presented with domestically....but don't forget to tell them that they can't do it on weekends anymore! Business hours only, please. And, finally, to Daniel, whatever you are hearing on RCI, or anywhere else, Quebec is still Canada, and does not need to be treated separately (Sheldon Harvey, QU, June 1, swprograms via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. CLANDESTINE from CIS to CHINA. I took a listen to the frequency on 12075 at 2200 on 31.5.01. The ID is either "Fang Guang Ming Dian Tai" (Propagate brightness radio) or "Da Guang Ming Dian Tai" (Great Brightness radio). It is essentially WFDR with a change of name. The broadcast announces only 15.44 MHz as its frequency. I checked 15440 as well and found the 15440 to be clearer than 12075 although they are both jammed. The contents of the broadcast is similar to WFDR. Interestingly, the falundafaradio website still used the WFDR name. The real audio version of the broadcast also uses WFDR, but the contents are the same, i.e. political propaganda. The 'religious' side of the movement is only dealt with in the first 15 minutes of the broadcast. The rest of the broadcast contains allegations of police brutality. There are some problems involving the audio (as opposed to transmission quality) during certain portions of the broadcast such that some parts of it cannot be heard well. As an aside, FLG may already have narrowcasted in English. I was reading the local Chinese paper here some months ago which carried an advertisement on a talk organised by the local FLG branch. the talk was in Mandarin, but it promises English translation if you bring along your FM radio and have it tuned to one of the 2 FM frequencies listed (in the 105-106 range). I presumed that this is done through wireless microphones on site. Such advertisements were common after PRC started coming down on FLG but they became muted after they held an illegal gathering at a park here and some of the members were arrested and brought to court on charges of obstructing policemen who had advised them to disperse. Unlike in the US where liberals would protest at such attempts to restruct rights of assembly, the reaction here is somewhat different. Many of us (that includes myself) are outraged that a foreign organisation, consisting mostly of foreigners had dared carry out such political activities in public in blatant disregard of the law. The local FLG had since distanced themselves from the Accuseds, but the damage to their reputation is done. I do not know whether arrest of their followers in Singapore and their conviction in court received any attention on WFDR. I also read in the Chinese papers (about the same time that CNR-8 started to air its multi-language programs) that the station (which I presumed to be CNR-8) was set up to counter separatist propaganda from RFA, Voice of Free Tibet and Radio Free Uighuristan which the reports says broadcast from Kazakhstan. Have you or anybody heard Free Uiguristan?? I think the report was from the French News agency AFP (Richard Lam, Singapore, May 31, Cumbre DX via DXLD) I took a listen to 12075 again last night. Now the signal was again very good and the programme was rather well heard over the jamming. The spurious signal had drifted further to 12145v and there was a second spur at 12215v. On 15440 I heard jamming only. The strong and steady signal on 12075 seems to exclude any site east of Novosibirsk. The spurs and the somewhat muffled audio point to KAZ, TJK and ARM as the most likely transmitter locations. The fluttery signal a couple of days ago may have been a test from a site more to the east. The station name is given repeatedly at the opening of the transmission (still no TDP promo), but I think only a native Chinese will be able to tell what it actually is. On the other hand, Falun Dafa was mentioned repeatedly within the programme, which is also very similar to what we used to hear from Falun Dafa. A possible explanation could be that WFDR for diplomatic reasons had to call the station something else in order to be accepted as a customer by the MCCBN [CIS SW relay broker agency -gh] (Olle Alm, Sweden, May 30, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 5974.78, Radio Auténtica (tentative) 0840 June 1, Religious preacher, // 2nd harmonic on 11949.57 at 0845. Also heard a faint carrier on 17924.34 (x3?) Strong signal with splatter from above (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO. R. Congo, 4765 reactivated, tnx to WOR tip, May 26 2210- 2303* French talk, Afro-pops, French pops, ID, abrupt s/off without NA. Weak at tune-in but improved to good level by 2245. Also heard May 28 at 0433 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. [Rfpi-announce] The Far Right Radio Review Returns! "If you thought Nazism died with Hitler, think again. In 'The Beast Reawakens,' journalist Martin A. Lee documents the revival of fascist ideals from the wake of the Second World War to the recent violent incidents in Europe and America." - from the jacket of "The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists." The Far Right Radio Review returns with an interview with Martin A. Lee, co-founder of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) and author of "The Beast Reawakens." In this program, host James Latham explores with author Lee the threads that tie the Nazi old guard to the fascist movement in the United States today. Airtimes (UT/GMT): Saturday, 2030 on 15.050 MHz AM and 21.815 MHz (USB) Sunday, 0230 on 15.050 AM & 7.445 (USB) Sunday, 0830 on 15.050 AM & 7.445 (USB) Sunday, 1430 on 15.050 AM & 21.815 (USB) This program will also be available shortly at the RFPI website in RealAudio at http://www.rfpi.org/progdesc/frrr-pd.html RFPI info@rfpi.org http://www.rfpi.org (RFPI June 1 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 12110 Netsaner Radio(?) This one is clearly via the CIS, but I did not note any quirks that could reveal the site. Very good signal (Olle Alm, Sweden, May 29, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Cheers, from Scandinavian Weekend Radio! We are soon on the air and our updated program schedule (some programme adds and FREQUENCY CHANGES on 25 mb has been done) [?? I looked and still on 11690 alternating with 11720 -gh] can be found from our web-pages http://www.swradio.net/ and in Message Board (Messulauta)/ Programs there. We will have three TESTPERIODS for our new 48 mb transmitter and new antenna construction as well. Here is the schedule of our tests on Saturday 2nd of June 2001. ALL TIMES ARE IN LOCAL FINNISH SUMMERTIME (UTC+3 hours) 00:30-01:00 6170 kHz and 01.00-01.30 5990 kHz 08.00-08.30 6170 kHz and 08.30-09.00 5990 kHz 21.00-22.00 6170 kHz We wish you can receive our test transmissions with good audibility! All reports from our test transmissions (as well from our normal 25 mb) are highly appreciated. Please tell us if you can hear us. You can take direct contact by sending SMS massages to our phonenumber +358 400 995 559, write message to our guestbook or message board, send E-mail or snail mail. We will meet on 25 and 48 meters after a while, Scandinavian Weekend Radio P.S.: And don`t forget our "Waiting for The Hot Summer"- Competition (Alpo Heinonen, Rovaniemi, Finland, http://personal.inet.fi/koti/alpo.heinonen/ NRD 525, "A weak voice from the Finnish Arctic Circle", DX LISTENING DIGEST) Too late ** HONDURAS. HRMI, 5010 suppressed carrier USB, May 26 0330-0420* Spanish religious programming. ID, religious music. Not heard past several weeks; now heard again with fair to good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I assume you mean REDUCED carrier USB. If any carrier can be detected, it is reduced. If no carrier, suppressed (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. Please note that there are lot of errors on the official AIR site http://www.allindiaradio.com which lists the external services. In most cases the timings of latest changes are given in IST rather than UTC while the rest of the sked is in UTC. Uptodate info on AIR can be got from my site http://www.bcdx.qrzindia.net 73 (Jose Jacob, India, EDXP via DXLD) Dear Glenn, With ref to AIR transmission on 10330, I would like to clarify that 4 stations transmit the same programs simultaneously on this channel. The program is called VIVIDH BHARATHI (Entertainment Channel). No individual identifications are given. The programs originate from Mumbai and via satellite is caught and relayed by other stations. I noted your earlier comment on music coming on my site and it has since been deleted. 73 (Jose Jacob, India, June 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is a very unusual situation on 10330, with four transmitter sites going simultaneously. No doubt the audio is closely synchronized since they are all taking the same satellite feed. But I would think there would be lots of selective fading as the four transmitters interfere with each other, especially if the frequencies are not absolutely zero-beat. Wonder if in the closer target area (inside India?) they can be perceived to interfere with each other; and what kind of antenna configuration each uses, possibly to minimise interaxion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. R. Barabari, 7480v: [via javaradio Sweden] May 28 1701 talk in Farsi by woman, weak signal. ID by man at 1704 followed by mentions of Tehran. Then long talk by man and woman as they alternated talking. Two nice slow IDs at 1614. Signal hadn`t really improved. No jamming I could detect, but program seemed like a pretty polished production. Judged as a clanny based on Iranian government`s rather hostile response as printed up in the Tehran Times a few weeks back (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. MOLDOVA? 7480, Payam-e Doost [via javaradio Sweden]. Others are calling this a clanny, but I am not so sure. If a Baha`i program to Iran is a clanny, then why wouldn`t a jammed FEBC program to Vietnam not be considered a clandestine? May 28 1757 strong test tones. 1800 talk by woman when I thought I heard an ID. This continued until 1814 tune out. Music played in the background the entire time. No jamming I could detect, slick production and clean audio (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** IRAQ. Live video and audio streams of Iraqi Satellite Channel TV and the Main Programme of Republic of Iraq Radio are now available on the internet, at http://www.iraqtv.ws Note that the "ws" top level domain indicates that the website was registered in Samoa! Click your way to the Interval Signals Archive at http://www.intervalsignals.com - identify that mystery station! Regards, (Dave Kernick, June 1, hard-core-dx via DXLD) It is my understanding that some of the smaller Pacific nations have sold use of their TLDs to commercial enterprises, examples are .nu (Niue) and .to (Tonga). I still don't know if any of these operations are actually sited in these places or not. The IP for this website is in the 62.84.70.0 range and the entire 62/8 netblock is assigned to RIPE (reseaux IP European). The trace from me to there goes through NYC into Teleglobe.net, through one site in the .lb domain and appears to end up in Europe, though the last hops don`t resolve to names. This is a logical place for this site. I did some more poking around and found that the IP for this website is in a block of 32 numbers assigned to Fiberlink Networks Lebanon, Australia St. Sakhra Bldg first floor, Beirut and the contact is Imad Tarabay (Bob Foxworth, FL, June 2, ibid.) ** ISRAEL. Galei Zahal, 15785, May 28 0315-0435+. Hebrew talk, local pops, folk music; 0400 news. 15785 on earlier than usual. In the past 15785 did not s/on until 0700. 6973 heard earlier in the evening around 0100 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. JJY Special QSL folder, sent for reception report of last SW transmission. The photograph of the old JJY QSL card is pictured in the QSL folder and a message "Thank you for joining us for 61 years" is written. Verification signer is N. Kurihara, Japan Standard Time Group Leader. I received the folder in 71 days for Japanese report with 50 yen stamps (Kazutoshi Ogino, Japan, Cumbre DX May 30 via DXLD) 8000, JJY, Standard Frequency and Time signal station, Received 3 Special full data fold-over QSLs for their last week of operation (March 28, 29 and 30 reception dates). Front cover has station information including opening and closing dates and images of QSLs from some QSLs from previous years. Inside is full data and signed by what appears to be "N. Kwihara" (?). Top half of inside foldover reads "Thank you for joining us for 61 years" and "Thank you for your reception on our Short-wave transmission JJY. We confirm your reception report as follows" \ I sent 3 reception reports along with a cassette tape, US$3, and souvenir postcards (Lee Silvi, Mentor Ohio, June 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. CLANDESTINE from BULGARIA to IRAQ. 9960, Radio Forward from 1500 May 30 had what appears to be faked CIS pips. The audio level varied widely during the pips period, like a loose connection, and that has been typical of the Bulgarian txers (Olle Alm, Sweden, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Some Bulgarian DXers have reported this as being from Armenia (Hans Johnson, May 31, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. CLANDESTINE from RUSSIA to KURDISTAN. 15770, V. of Mesopotamia: This one is clearly from Samara with a rather buzzy carrier and strong signal (Olle Alm, Sweden, May 29, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LESOTHO. The former BBC transmitter on 1197 kHz is now carrying WYFR programmes at night. I have heard it here in Rio de Janeiro, last night, at 2210-2300, with good signal, English phone-in. The weird thing is that at 2300 the program in Italian ("Radio Famiglia") starts. Just wondering how many Italian speaking listeners they do have there... bye, (Rocco Cotroneo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, mwdx via DXLD) That`s Merlin for you ** LIBYA. V. of Africa, 17725: Best bet to hear English news from Libya is now only at 2032-2040. Fair and in the clear May 27. Libya covered by Moscow in unID language during check at 1730-1800+, with Moscow dominating the frequency. Libya with English news heard at 2234-2342, but poor, and very weak under a strong WYFR (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Orthodox broadcast frequencies reported | Text of report by Voice of Russia "DX Club" web site on 1 June Moscow/Novosibirsk: Moscow`s Orthodox radio station Radonezh is now being rebroadcast in Novosibirsk. Programmes go out every day at 1300-1600 [gmt] on 1287 kHz, our colleague, Igor Yaremenko, who lives in Novosibirsk, reports. On the subject of Orthodox broadcasting, the Golos Pravoslaviya [Voice of Orthodoxy] radio station has announced that it is using an additional frequency - 11900 kHz - for its Wednesday broadcasts at 1500-1600. This was reported by e-mail by Vasiliy Gulyayev in Astrakhan. Source: Voice of Russia web site, Moscow, in Russian 1 Jun 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Kamchatka fishermen`s radio frequency reported | Text of report by Voice of Russia "DX Club" web site on 1 June Russia, Far East: The Kamchatka Rybatskaya [Fishermen's Kamchatka] radio station is broadcasting in Russian at 2300-2400 [gmt] on 5910, 7365 and 11980 kHz via a transmitter in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. Source: Voice of Russia web site, Moscow, in Russian 1 Jun 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SIERRA LEONE. Re: Where are the DX reports of this one?? [UNAMSIL 6140 as in DXLD 1-080] (gh) Hi Glenn, I checked the fq tonight after R Finland's s/off at 2000 when the fq was free, but there wasn`t even a het heard. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, June 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVENIA. Hard on the heels of my remark that Slovenia makes no effort to broadcast on SW, a listener in India writes to this week`s VOA Communications World; he must know something we don`t and I hope Kim will pursue the answer: (gh) In an e-mail with the subject ``musings on shortwave,`` Rajiv Thind in Jalandhar City, India, takes inventory of recent setbacks for shortwave... Shortwave radio is the best way of accessing the voices of the [sic:] tiniest countries, and knowing about their culture. I have managed to receive signals from North Korea, Vietnam, Armenia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Uzbekistan, New Zealand, Swaziland, Kuwait, South Africa, Mongolia, Taiwan, Singapore, and many others (VOA Communications World June 2 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. The name of the FS SCE [foreign service?] of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation seems to be now RADIO SRI LANKA, heard with quite good reception on 9770 kHz with nx in EE 15 UT. Don`t say it has been the same name since [I started?] my DX-hobby 1969! R SRI LANKA is using this frequency and 15425 kHz 1230-1600 UT in EE. Unfortunately the latter freq. was totally destroyed by DW in Russian via Wertachtal, Germany at 1500. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, hard-core-dx June 1 via DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. Heard on June 1st: From tuning in at 2330-2400 s/off on 11525. Talks about the Dalai Lama and Falun Gong. Program not in RFA format (jingles etc.) Could this have been the Voice Of Tibet? (Silvain Domen, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC WS "Reply" from P.M. Blair's Office The following is a reply from Prime Minister Blair`s Office as an acknowledgment of my letter that I wrote to him regarding the cessation of BBC WS broadcasts to N. America. The acknowledgment I received appears much like an automated E-mail acknowledgment. The transcription of the letter follows: [Start] 10 Downing Street London SW1A 2AA (From the Direct Communications Unit) 25 May 2001 The Prime Minister has asked me to thank you for your recent letter. Mr. Blair receives many thousands of letters each week and hopes you will understand that, as the matter you raise is the responsibility of the Department for Culture Media and Sport, he has asked that you letter be forwarded to that Department so that they may reply to you on his behalf. Yours sincerely, Miss L. D. Phoolchand [End] (via Scott Medlin, Cleveland, Tennessee, June 1, DXLD) Re: DXLD 1-079: I called my source, who is not in direct contact with Groothues; their information about him comes from people at the BBC. However, this person suggests trying this e-mail address: fritz.groothues@bbc.co.uk My source does not have Groothues` specific office phone number, but suggests that the Strategy and Public Policy office can likely be reached through the regular Bush House switchboard at +44 20 7240 3456. If people wish to write to him, I think the recent postal problems in London have been ironed out. They can try: Mr. Fritz Groothues, Director, Strategy and Public Policy, BBC World Service, Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH, United Kingdom (Marie Lamb, NY, May 28, Cumbre DX via DXLD) According to tonight`s Write On, the BBC is getting a massive amount of complaints about its plans regarding North America. Some of the examples read tonight were quite sarcastic toward Mr. Byford`s performance the prior week. One expressed surprise that Mr. Byford couldn`t understand that listeners wanted to listen to a radio station on their radios, not on their computers (John A. Figliozzi, swprograms June 1 via DXLD) I taped Write On at 0330 UT Sat June 2 on 5975, but the reception was only fair, and it turned out my patch cord had a bad connexion producing a big hum. So I brought up the same latest show (there at least for now) in a few seconds ondemand via the very last item at the bottom of http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sitemap and heard it loud and clear (tho the first few seconds were missing on the file). Thank goodness for modern technology... (Glenn Hauser, devil`s advocate) I just sent off e-mails to the following groups in North America who might have something to say about BBC cutting us off: British in America- information for British ex-pats in North America http://www.britishinamerica.com The Monarchist League of Canada http://www.monarchist.ca Union Jack- a U.S. based national monthly British newspaper http://www.ujnews.com The British Weekly- published in Venice, CA, no website given The British-American Business Council http://www.babc.org/ The British and Commonwealth Society of North America, no website given We`ll see if these groups have anything to say about this. I`ll keep everyone posted. You might enjoy checking out some of these sites as well. And a couple more: The British Council Canada http://www.ca.britishcouncil.org Canada-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce http://www.canada-uk.org (Sheldon Harvey, swprograms June 2 via DXLD) Something major has happened here, perhaps as a result of Kim`s feature on Communications World where we talked about the research we had done on the Canadian stations carrying BBC. Everything has been updated. I just checked the Canadian listings again. All the old stations which were listed are gone, and everything that is there matches what I found in my research. Looks like BBC is following our moves and trying to do damage control. Just did a little more checking on this updated page. Someone was told to burn the midnight oil to get this updated quickly, I think. A number of the states are out of alphabetical order. There is also one glaring error. If you click on "Washington", you get DC, not the state of Washington. All the stations which I had already found which had dropped BBC programming have been deleted from the list. Someone obviously was told to get this updated quickly before people started asking embarrassing questions. It will be interesting to see how quickly the couple of errors I have just pointed out here get corrected! This could backfire on BBC as well, because now it very clearly shows just how limited the amount of programming is really available on the majority of the domestic outlets. Prior to this exercise, you actually had to go to the station to see what you were able to hear. A very strange and surprising development (Sheldon Harvey, June 2, swprograms via DXLD) Well, they`re off to a great start in the very first entry with a frequency called ``10.8`` so does Anchorage really have a 24h BBC relay on VLF, or any F? :: Anchorage KASH-AM 10.8 ALL 0:00 AM - 0:00 AM 24 hours per day (gh, DXLD) Potential embarrassments [in forms of address to British officials] can be avoided by first checking: http://www.debretts.co.uk/people/address.php (Tim Manwell, IN, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. INTRO: Arlene Francis, a popular American stage and screen actress, and radio and television celebrity who for many years had her own program on the Voice of America - died Thursday. With a report on her life, here is Dan Noble. ACT 1: "NEW YORK, NEW YORK THEME" (0:15) TEXT: That's the way Arlene Francis opened the VOA program she hosted during the 1970s and early 1980s. Arlene Francis Kazanjian was born on October 20, 1907, the daughter of Armenian immigrants. Her father was a portrait photographer. Growing up in Boston she once said that she started out with one goal: She wanted to be a serious actress. She made her screen debut in the 1932 film "Murders in the Rue Morgue." Later films included "Stage Door Canteen" in 1943, "All My Sons," in 1948, and "One, Two, Three" produced in 1963. She also appeared in several Broadway productions, including a role as a Spanish beauty in George Abbott's 1936 play "All That Glitters." In 1938 she starred on Broadway with Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton in the Mercury Theater production of "Danton`s Death." But, her greatest successes were in radio and television. From 1950 to 1975 she was a regular on the popular quiz program "What's My Line?" where panelists tried to come up with the occupations of the guests. From 1960 until 1984, Arlene Francis had a daily radio interview program. Her long running weekend program on the Voice of America was produced in New York by Dee Wills. ACT: DEE WILLS (0:22) "I guess the most important thing is her philosophy of life. Life was the best party she was ever invited to. She certainly was in love with life. My first impression of Arlene was that she was so warm and friendly and happy. She had a wonderful sense of humor. You just felt like you knew her for a long time." TEXT: Actor Martin Gabel, Arlene Francis` husband died in 1986. Six years ago she left New York, moving to a retirement home in San Francisco to be near her son. In her later years, she suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Arlene Francis died at the age of 93. (VOA script via Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. RFE/RL 50 years of RFE/RL - see http://www.rferl.org/50years/ (David Walcutt, RFE/RL, May 27, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. KCRW previews: "The Politics of Culture," Wednesdays at 2:30 pm [PDT; 2130 UT]: June 6 * Radio Stations, Record Labels, and Indie Promoters, Oh My! Is the music biz crooked or just playing the same ol' game? Join KCRW's Music Director, Nic Harcourt, in conversation with Salon senior writer Eric Boehlert, and industry insiders to get the low down on who's really behind the big radio curtain. Check out archived editions of POC, including "Elements of Journalism," "Home to War," and Michael Deaver on our website at. . . http://www.kcrw.com/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl?tmplt_type=program&show_code=pc (KCRW weekly newsletter via gh, DXLD) KCRW has a good strip of thought-provoking shows weekdays at 2130 UT; such as Left, Right and Center, on Tuesdays; Elvis Mitchell interviews about cinema, Fridays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 2479.98, WGVA - Geneva, N.Y. (presumed) (harmonic 2 x 1240), 0920-1000 June 1, Art Bell network program to 0930, into local news, ads for the Seneca Lake, N.Y. region. Mostly poor signal with occasional fair peaks (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. From All Access music group June 1, 2001: Three major market stations on 1500 AM get FCC approval for a mutual interference deal that will allow the stations to serve parts of their metros that were problematic in the past, according to M STREET DAILY. News WTOP-A/WASHINGTON, Talk KSTP-A/ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS, and Religion WLQV-A/DETROIT will gain local coverage and lose some skywave territory to interference under the deal, with WTOP's northwest suburban signal (MONTGOMERY COUNTY), KSTP's southeastern signal (towards southwestern WISCONSIN), and WLQV's always severely directional night coverage (boosted to 10 kW) will benefit from the approved changes (Brock WH6SZ Whaley, Decatur, GA June 1, "Atlanta hamfest tomorrow", DX LISTENING DIGEST) -A specifies AM, I guess (gh) ** U S A. KMJ-580-FRESNO: It was interesting to read that many Californians cannot receive KMJ any more since the power boost. KMJ was always a powerhouse 5 kW nondirexional as they were the first on 580 in the West in the 20s. I don`t know when they went to 5 kW, but driving South on I-5, you could hear KMJ North of Redding to about LA. An excellent signal through the valley. Well, I checked the new U3 50 kW pattern and I found they moved the site from West of Fresno (25 km) to East of Fresno (45 km) and the pattern is a balloon or tear shaped pattern aimed at the coast, with basically nothing going North, East, or South. No wonder the listeners are complaining. I doubt if they reach Stockton or Bakersfield! They now have 4 towers. Apparently to bull the advertisers selling them "50,000 watts"! They don`t care about the listeners as it looks like 80-90% of the area they used to cover is gone now. Unbelievable! I don`t really care, as they run the same talk junk everyone else does, but at one time they were good personality MOR, one of the "Bee" stations. I cannot hear them up here tonight. Not a peep as far as I can tell. They might be buried in the jumble, but no much signal there. KRSA-AK is better now; KMJ used to QRM even off the Northern wire, but not any more. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, June 1, IRCA via DXLD) This is all just an educated guess on my part but maybe the 50 kW is actually to overcome office buildings acting as Faraday boxes, noise from computers, etc within their market area. A bonus to pointing the pattern at San José might be to get the Silicon Valley commuters that bought houses out in Patterson, Los Baños, etc (what normal working family can afford to pay $700K for a house in San José) and drive SR 152. Living out there, they probably get the Fresno Bee and go shopping in businesses that advertise on KMJ. I`ve also been reading that newer antenna designs are designed to cut down on skywave (wasted energy!!!) In any case, reception here in Davis is about the same. KFXD comes in a little easier at night; that`s about it (Rich Toebe, Davis CA, ibid.) ** U S A. Hi Glenn, I thought I'd bring you up to date on the WCLV and the MASSIVE radio station switch that is going to happen here in Cleveland during the next few weeks. It appears that WCLV-FM will switch frequencies (from 95.5 to 104.9), but will still air classical music. In their agreement with (Salem Communications?), they will also acquire the 1420 AM frequency (Now WHK). The AM will be called WCLV-AM 1420 and will continue "The music of your life format" (Hurray!). WHK will move to 1220 and continue to broadcast religious programming when WKNR now on 1220 moves to 850. Confused? I sure the heck am!! It appears that Bill Randle (as well known, or more so, in Cleveland than Alan Freed was in his heyday) will not continue his show (he plans to go into full time law practice). Bill talks a lot about the time he spent in Oklahoma, BTW. On Sunday June 3rd, I plan on simulcasting Bill Randle's entire 6 hour show dedicated to The Big Band Sound of Glenn Miller on my live 365 server (details at http://www.n1dk.com.) It begins at 1600 UT (12 Noon EDT). I know it's too late to announce, but just in case you were a Glenn Miller fan. He does the show live on 850-AM WRMR in Cleveland (They do not web cast on the Internet). 73, (Dave Kirby N1DK, http://www.n1dk.com June 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Below is the latest article from The Cleveland Plain Dealer: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Classic pop radio will stay alive here 06/01/01 By CLINT O'CONNOR Score one for seniors. The recent announcement that Salem Communications was dumping its pop standards radio station, WRMR AM/850, brought the company a flood of angry phone calls, letters and e-mails from longtime listeners, many age 60 and older. Someone listened. The format of WRMR will remain on the air, albeit under a new banner: WCLV AM/1420, beginning July 3. "It's too important a format to just let it die," said Richard Marschner, general manager of WCLV FM/95.5. "We thought we owed it to the format's listeners and advertisers to keep it alive," he said. Cleveland Classical Radio, owner of the new WCLV AM, announced yesterday that it will acquire the WRMR format from Salem. The new station will become part of the most radical frequency- switching in the history of Cleveland radio, with six stations changing dial positions in the next five weeks. WCLV`s classical music format was already set to relinquish 95.5 and simulcast on both FM 104.9 and AM 1420. FM 104.9 is currently KISS- FM, which has not announced where it`s moving, and the AM frequency belongs to WHK, which is moving to AM 1220. But yesterday WCLV announced that instead of merely simulcasting its classical format, it would turn the AM into a new version of WRMR. "It`s a good fit for us," Marschner said. "We're going to call it Classical FM and Classic Pop AM.' " WRMR's format of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Doris Day, Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey will expand to include more classic standards of Cole Porter and George Gershwin, as well as Broadway show tunes. "There was a huge outcry," said Errol Dengler, market manager for Salem, the Camarillo, Calif.-based company that owns five Cleveland- area stations. "This is a very loyal audience, loyal to that music. I`m very happy about this." The outcry began May 17 when Salem announced it was moving sports- talk WKNR AM/1220 to the stronger signal of WRMR`s AM/850. Although there are some weak-signal Greater Cleveland stations playing ballads and big bands, the move would have meant the end of the so-called "Music of Your Life" format, featured on WRMR since 1988. In addition to complaining to Salem, several listeners had called their representatives in Washington; others tried the Federal Communications Commission. "I contacted the FCC," said Frankie Mullec, 81, a retired musician in Wickliffe. "They said there wasn`t anything they could do about it. It was out of their control." Mullec, a big Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman fan, was happy to hear a WRMR-like station will still be around. "I`m real glad they could save it." WCLV AM will inherit WRMR`s musical library and some equipment for a nominal, undisclosed fee. It is not known what will happen to WRMR`s eight full-time employees, including on-air personalities Bill Randle, Carl Reese, Ted Hallaman and Jim Davis. "We just signed the agreement, so we haven`t contacted anyone yet," said Bob Conrad, founder and president of WCLV. But Dengler said, "It looks like there won`t be anybody losing their job." Conrad has now helped save radio homes for two forms of music. He orchestrated a creative deal last November to keep classical music on Cleveland's airwaves by forming the WCLV Foundation, a consortium of Cleveland Classical Radio, the Cleveland Foundation and Media Inc. The consortium will own WCLV FM and share profits with five local arts organizations. The deal called for Cleveland Classical Radio to maintain sole ownership of the AM sister station. "Some people say this format is dying out because the fans are dying off," Conrad said. "I disagree. Swing is having a real upsurge. This is music that transcends time. The people who grew up with Bach aren`t around anymore either." Copyright 2001 cleveland.com Online. All Rights Reserved. (via N1DK via DXLD) As I recall, the original plan some months ago was that WCLV classical would need the additional AM frequency, which would be upgraded somehow, to approach the present coverage of the higher- powered FM frequency it is about to relinquish for a lower-powered one. Note that some venerable 3-letter calls, WHK, will be maintained, tho with a loathsome format, on a venerable onetime clear-channel frequency, 1220, which will always be `WGAR` to us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [clandestine]. United Patriot Radio: 3260-USB, 0200-0250+ 5/29 Steve talking about resisting illegal arrests, armed resistance. Did long tirade about Jews being offspring of the devil per Bible`s John chapter 8. Dared ADL and FCC to come get him. Jews not the real jews...israelites...caucasians...bolsheviks killed white-russian christians. You are either pro-christ or anti-christ... Anti- christians should be shipped out of country. Played "Onward Christian Soldiers" hymn in middle of show. Said 800 watts, antenna can do 2 kW maximum. Steve will put up a more powerful antenna for 6900 next week in expectation of a 5 kW transmitter he is to receive (Larry Russell, MI, MARE, via DXLD) ** VIETNAM/USA. Police paper criticizes US "propaganda" | Text of report by Vietnamese police weekly Cong An Nhan Dan on 25 May While conducting the "peaceful evolution" scheme to undermine socialism in general and Vietnam in particular, the hostile forces headed by the United States have used propaganda as a major tool in all places and at all times. The United States has always boasted about the propaganda principles that it strictly follows, namely "truthfulness, objectivity, and fairness." In fact all these fine words have superficial value and the tool that it uses is really despicable and dangerous. A Mexican scholar who recently conducted an investigation on the truthfulness of the US information agencies in Latin America has come to this conclusion: "They are inaccurate, irresponsible and bent on distorting the truth." To prove his point, the scholar relates to the tricks that the US usually employs, for example "it makes an unimportant issue seem extremely important, turns various sporadic and unrelated incidents into one compact phenomenon that does not exist, and uses illusory motives and measures instead of real plans. The US is also an expert at combining real reports with fabricated information so as to stir up unfounded fear, apprehension, hope, and to appease the targeted population whenever it sees the need." The Voice of America is an expert at turning black into white, making false political accusations with the intention of stirring up disunity, and causing confusion between right and wrong. By using these weapons VOA undermines the countries that it terms stubborn and rebellious. The information that this agency disseminates includes some fabrication and some distorted truth, which serve their objective of inciting disorder. Its main objective is to keep socialist countries, including Vietnam in a constant state of political and social turmoil. They blow incidents out of proportion to incite dissension and disunity and undermine us from the inside. We must remain alert to their taking advantage of the shortcomings of our officials in their state management duties and exploiting, through a remote-control system that they have painstakingly set up, our internal problems such as religious or ethnic issues in their scheme of causing instability and undermining our party and regime. The hostile forces, with the United States at the helm, have been using these tricks to cause political upheavals in many regions and countries. The US is continuing with its plan of "peaceful evolution" against Vietnam. It is obvious that the hostile forces and the US have been using their mass media and propaganda system to undermine other countries. Their action goes against the ethics of the information profession even though they have been raising the banners of "freedom of speech and freedom of information" while trying to deceive and manipulate other countries. Let us be vigilant against their plot. Source: Cong An Nhan Dan, Hanoi, in Vietnamese 25 May 01 pp 1, 2 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. R. Christian V., 4965, May 26 0210-0257* US contemporary Christian music, gospel music. Short 1-4 minute English religious radio-dramas and religious messages. IDs. Good signal. Best in ECSS- LSB due to noise on high side (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FROM THE EDITOR: I am having to put ``[sic]`` all too often. A great many obvious (?) mistakes I clean up before or after original publication, but sometimes I can`t figure out what was really meant, or wish to make clear that the original source made the mistake. Even I am not perfect, but I do know how to spell Saskatchewan. Why don`t people take a few seconds to proofread their own work before sending? And if you don`t speak e.g. Spanish, hesitate to mis- transcribe what you heard (gh) ###