DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-133, September 24, 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] ** AFGHANISTAN. Voice of Sharia, 7080, 1433 Not heard but presumed jammed SIO very strong (Costa Constantinides, Limassol, Cyprus, Sept 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN. Listen to 2.33 minutes an English news bulletin from V. of Shariah, recorded Sept 21 in Pakistan: http://www.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/rnw/medianetwork/voiceofshariya.rm (Media Network, Sept 24 via DXLD) Lots of distortion, QRM (gh) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Saturday`s Times carried the following piece by Media Reporter Adam Sherwin which was not posted on their Internet Site, only mention I have seen of the psychological operations unit: BBC SAYS IT WILL BE OBJECTIVE ON NEWS The BBC World Service has insisted it would not become a "propaganda tool" of the West despite demands for pro-Taleban voices to be banned from services broadcasting to Afghanistan. Strategists see the battle for information as key to winning over moderate Afghan opinion during any military campaign. Radio Shariat, the state run Taleban station which pumps out anti- Western rhetoric, is likely to be high on US target lists. With no independent newspapers, the World Service and Voice of America stations are the only alternative sources of information and both are monitored closely by the Taleban. While the radio stations protest their independence, British and American forces are both skilled in employing propaganda techniques. At Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, officials said a "psychological operations" unit is being drawn from the 9000 special operations troops on standby. The unit would use broadcasts and drop leaflets to communicate with civilians if Afghanistan is invaded. The World Service is expanding its transmissions to Afghanistan and the surrounding region to offer an information "lifeline" to the area's diverse ethnic groups. But the BBC said its broadcasts in Arabic, Pashto, Persian and Urdu will maintain the service's reputation for impartiality, whatever action is taken. Mark Byford, World Service director, said: "We will not operate as a propaganda tool for military action. The reason we are trusted is because of our values - independence, accuracy and objectivity. The World Service could play a crucial role. It is listened to by six in every ten head of households in Afghanistan, and its broadcasts have already irritated the Taleban. Kate Clark, a reporter, was ejected from the country for her report on the destruction of Buddhist temples (via Mike Barraclough, England, Sept 24, DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Locally Based Radio Program Serves Afghan Community Immigrant Omar Khatab's broadcasts feature native-language news, commentary and call-in talk shows on homeland. By KIMI YOSHINO Times Staff Writer September 23 2001 The pouches under Omar Khatab's puffy eyes are from pure fatigue. His voice is weak, his speech slow. Twenty minutes is all he needs. Time for meditation and quiet, time to close his eyes. Then, he says, as if willing it so, "I'll be fine." Khatab, 46, runs one of the country's longest-running Afghan radio programs. Operating out of studios in Orange and Canoga Park, he buys time on the airwaves in Southern California, Toronto and Washington, D.C., for his weekly show, Radio Payame Afghan. In Northern California, home to the nation's largest Afghan emigre community, he broadcasts around the clock.... Full story: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-092301radio.story (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Somewhat related to the terrorist attacks is this story from Australia on September 11th, before the disasters occurred. Agence France Presse reported that officials of the Australian town of Kununurra are concerned that a new protestant evangelical shortwave station to transmit from that town would make Kununurra vulnerable to an attack from Muslim extremists. The station will be operated by HCJB and will transmit a Christian message to East, South, and Central Asia. Mike Moore of HCJB pointed out that there has been evangelical shortwave broadcasting to these areas for many years, without incident (Kim Elliott, VOA Communicatinos World Sept 22 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Re DXLD 1-132: Dear Björn, Verification by proxy is nothing new, it happens all the time, it`s just that we are not always aware of it. I think Andy deserves our heartfelt gratitude. 73, (Henrik Klemetz, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Dear Henrik, I agree totally with you, it is not the first time it is possible to verify something of the past who will never come back again, so our deep thanks to Andy for his kind offer. Best regards (Dario Monferini, Play-DX-Italy, ibid.) Mission QSL When I received my QSL from Radio Ayopaya in Independencia (Cochabamba) it was a great thrill to me. As far as known it is the first in the world from this station. But the story beyond it is still more astonishing. First a ``simple`` e-mail from director Jorge Aquino (both email and postal addresses are already presented on the list), thanking me for my report of reception, telling how proud and surprised they were to be heard that far away. And also promising a ``official`` QSL and more information later. (You`ve read that before from different stations, haven`t you?) But there it was. About four weeks later two new emails - one with a ``certificate`` with all QSL-information, one extensive information ``brochure`` of Radio Ayopaya that is probably the station transmitting from the highest place in the world! The shortwave transmitter is homemade, putting 1 kW out in the air on ``official`` 3344 kHz. To get my report of reception to Radio Ayopaya (when it could finally be identified through Rogildo in Bolivia), I contacted my Swedish wellknown DX-friend Henrik Klemetz, and also the people beyond the project in Germany through their homepage, and got some addresses that eventually gave the result above. Henrik also contacted Andy Schmid (``Pennant museum``) who was on his way to Bolivia, and asked him if he could get some information on the station. Also Rogildo in Bolivia participated to collect more information. With the help of the address from Rogildo, Andy and Rogildo also could find (not easy though) the house of director Jorge Aquino in Cochabamba and met him. By the way, he spoke some German and also had a German helper. Jorge Aquino knew nothing about listeners reports, but Rogildo told him about those, and he also helped him with a ``formula`` to handle them. Jorge Aquino also invited Rogildo to visit them at the station, five hours away in bus on bumpy roads. Henrik Klemetz also tells me that he didn`t get any answer himself on his email to Jorge Aquino, neither did Samuel Cássio in Brasil, when he tried to help Henrik to collect information on the station. But I was the lucky one this time. To get the correct address, and get a letter through all the way to the recipient in a case like this, is a real thriller. Then to have a reply posted and safely get all the way back... It´s not ``just`` to put the letter in the mailbox. With the help of email, the possibility to get an answer is increasing. But still, you have to have lots of luck. And in this case also the kind help of people around the world on ``Mission QSL to Jan Edh`` (and I hope others to come after me...). Thank you all! Best regards (Jan Edh, Hudiksvall, Sweden (DX-ing in Fredriksfors), Sept 24, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) No doubt it is a lot of fun and ultimately satisfying to pursue QSLs like this. However, the truth is, ALL QSLs, proxy or not, are nothing more than souvenirs, not legal documents. If truth were known, far too many of them are `automatic` without a thorough checking of details, and even so, the details can be presented fraudulently through any number of means. So why bother? The time and money spent pursuing them could be spent much more productively, e.g., even more DX-listening. That said, it is certainly fine to develop personal contacts with stations, if one has a genuine interest in the station and its programming, not merely ultimately to extract a QSL (gh, DXLD) Hi Björn and others, thank you for your prompt reaction and your opinion. Please allow me to answer with a question: Is the QSL card, I received for my reception report during my station visit (I had a copy of my very old report with me) in your eyes a "real" confirmation???? The director read the report and I am sure, he could not decide whether all the details of my quite old reception report were correct or not. If you write, a recorded ID might have been produced anywhere in the world, I of course agree. But also written programme details might have been copied from any sources in the world, couldn't they? When I asked to fill out the QSL, I also saw one letter from a German DXer on the desk; it was 3 years old and I offerd the service, to bring also that QSL to Germany, to save for him the postage fees, what he immediately accepted. The German DXer meanwhile was very happy for that service!! Then the director showed me a box, full of reception reports, some even with cassettes. He took out one - I think it was from Mr. Nielsen from Denmark - and took the cassette into a stereo cassette recorder. You can easily imagine that nearly nothing could be understood, coming out of the stereo loudspeakers. Nevertheless he was quite happy, having received it several years ago. The director himself, he never would reply to reception reports, maybe he would sign them, but nothing else. And the person in the station, that had promised to do the correspondence, had no time or no interest. Well, he filled out two more QSLs for hobby colleagues and then he asked me to help to fill out some more. After some time he gave me the remaining signed cards and asked me to do that work after my return. So we stopped QSLing and decided to have a beer together in a nearby restaurant. If a secretary or a volunteer, working for some days in a station, will send the QSLs, it surely would be accepted? On the other hand, a stamped and signed PPC is not accepted in several Scandinavian countries. But what's the difference, if I have the same text on a postcard or on a letter with station logo and have it then stamped and signed. In some cases the secretaries, who did not know anything about DXing and our requests, asked me, what to write and I showed them a fitting text. Maybe also those QSLs are no "real" QSLs???? But it's not my intention to start a big discussion, I only wanted to help some few DXers, to get a Radio Norte QSL, if they can present a reception report. Besides that, I received one duplicated very very old and beautiful pennant of that station. If anybody is interested to swap it for other radio pennant, please send me your offers. 73s, (Andy Schmid, Sept 24, Pennant Museum, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Olá Dexistas! Transcrevo aqui, breve carta confirmatória da Radio Mineira do Sul: "Prezado Irineu, Muito nos alegra saber que nossa Rádio chega a levar seu sinal em pontos tão distantes de nós e ainda de pessoas como voce que têm a grata preocupação de nos dar conta disso. Há poucos dias recebemos uma carta de Itajaí - S.C. com as mesmas informações. Logo logo, estaremos chegando com o sinal melhor ainda, pois estamos em fase de mudança de válvulas (mais possantes) e alargamento de faixa. Dentro de mais ou menos quinze dias tudo estará pronto. Agradecida, envio grande abraço." Eliana Martins (Gerente Geral). Esta carta confirmatória chegou uma semana depois que enviei o Informe, demonstrando o carinho que têm as pequenas emissoras desse imenso interior brasileiro. 1190 Radio Mineira do Sul. VS: Eliana Martins QTH: Rua Tenente Viotti, 131 - Cep: 37460-000 Passa Quatro - M.G. (Irineu Cardoso (Botucatu- S.P.) Zenith R7000 / Sony ICF7600G / Transglobe B-481-3 LongWire 20m. / LDZ 40, radioescutas Sept 24 via DXLD) Trata-se da emissão armónica nos 2380, ou mesmo em 1190? 73, (G. Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Olá Hauser, Na tarde de 05/09/2001 (2000-2200 UTC) a Mineira do Sul apareceu primeiramente nos 2380 kHz, quando eu utilizava o Sony 7600G e LW 20m. Ao ouvir a ID da emissora, percebí a harmônica e botei em operação simultânea o Zenith Royal 7000, com a Loop DZ de 40 cm. de aresta. Aí tive a grata satisfação de ouví-la pelos dois receptores, estando este último, em banda de broadcasting com o ponteiro analógico próximo aos 1190 kHz. Alias, eu tenho notado que, dos meus três receptores (Sony 7600g, Philco Transglobe e Zenith R7000) o Zenith parece que foi feito para a loop e vice versa. Costumo dizer que dentre os três, é ele quem fica realmente turbinado, quando em conjunto com a loop. Os experts em rádio poderiam comentar alguma coisa. Forte 73 (Irineu Cardoso, Botucatu - S.P., ibid.) ** CHINA. Qinghai People's Broadcasting Station. Date of Issue: 19- Sep-2001 14:25. Last Modified : 11-Sep-2001 09:28. Identification: "Qinghai Renmin Guangbo Diantai". Terrestrial frequencies have not been confirmed. Languages: Mandarin. Address: 96 Kunlun Lu, Xining, Qinghai 810001. Tel: +86 (0) 971 6144083. Sat: 100.5 E Asiasat 2 3713 H MPEG-2 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 0000-0600 Daily 0.666 0.711 0.909 3.950 6.260 9.780 0100-0105 News 0200-0205 News 0300-0305 News 0400-0430 News 0925-1505 Daily 0.666 0.711 0.909 3.950 6.260 9.780 0925-0930 Sign-on and Programme preview 1030-1100 News (provincial news hook-up) 1300-1305 News 1500-1505 News 1505 Sign-off 2220-2359 Daily 0.666 0.711 0.909 3.950 6.260 2220-2225 Sign-on and Programme preview 2230-2300 News (relay of CPBS news and press review) 2300-2330 666 Morning News --------------------------------------------------------------------- (© BBC Monitoring Sept 24 condensed for DXLD) ** CONGO DR. New 100 kW SW transmitter arrives | Text of report by Congolese TV from Kinshasa on 20 September The chairman of the interim management committee of the Congolese National Radio and Television [RTNC], Mr (?François Tufu Kambonze), this afternoon received a 100-kW shortwave radio transmitter. The transmitter, which was donated thanks to the relentless efforts of the communication minister, will be able to cover almost the entire DRC. The technical director of the national radio station explains. [Technical director] It is a 100 kW shortwave radio transmitter that we have been expecting a long time ago, a very long time ago. Indeed, the transmitter had been ready to be forwarded here since around 1980, but it took a long time because of the paperwork, the constraints, and the necessary requirements. In those days, no solution had been found to all these issues. But, now thanks to the efforts of the government and the information department, the transmitter has finally arrived. [end recording] Source: RTNC TV, Kinshasa, in French 1900 gmt 20 Sep 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI seems much closer to 15050 than 15049, Sept 24 at 1255, but now it`s less separable from the China/Taiwan clash on 15050, with nothing on 15060 this date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ESTONIA. Information from Tartu Pereraadio by phone: The relay of R. Novaya Zhizhn` (Magadan-Moscow) on 1035 kHz in Tartu is only a temporary arrangement for testing purposes. Tartu Pereraadio is the license owner for this frequency and is conducting the relay for testing a 50 kW Harris transmitter which they have installed at their new transmitting center near Tartu. The antenna system consists of two masts of 145 and ~100m, providing a hypercardioid pattern with a main beam towards Russia. Photos of the masts can be found on the web: http://www.geocities.com/computerbasicsmodesto/Estonia/2000Title.html Next year, Pereraadio is expecting to install a 100 kW transmitter at the same site; the present 50 kW transmitter will then be used as backup. Pereraadio will provide Russian language religious programmes on 1035 kHz around the clock; regular broadcasts are expected to start in about a month. Originally, the station was planning to use 612 kHz, but has changed to 1035 kHz in order to prevent interference with R. Baltic Waves in Vilnius, Lithuania on the same frequency (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Sept 24, MWDX via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. R. Fana, 6940, heard until 1858* UT Sept 24 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Re DXLD 1-132: I don't know how RFI are generating a profit. There are occasional advertisements on the French service, and they do get meager subscription revenue from some satellite subscribers. Assuming they get to keep the $1 per month from U.S. Dish Network subscribers, that would only provide about $12,000 in revenue per year (Mike Cooper, GA, Sept 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DW has started a new broadcast for its Urdu, Dari & Pashtu services due to recent Afghan conflict effective from 21st September. Details are: Urdu 1800-1830 9440, 12045, 15200 Dari 1830-1845 9440, 12045, 15200 Pashtu 1845-1900 9440, 12045, 15200 Thanks & regards, (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, Sept 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very hot information from Mr. Wolfgang Brennecke of Deutsche Welle's receiving station in neighboring Bockhacken: Deutsche Welle has added the following broadcasts: 1800-1830 in Urdu 1830-1845 in Dari 1845- 1900 in Pashto all on 12045 via Wertachtal, 15200 via Wertachtal, 9440 via Novosibirsk, all transmitters with 500 kW. 9440 kHz added as of today, Monday Sep 24. Best wishes from Wuppertal vy 55 + 73 (Manfred Reiff, Germany, via Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. Para los amigos que no hayan trabajado a GROENLANDIA, hay una buena oportunidad el próximo mes para hacerlo durante el 2001 CQ WW CONTEST: The 2001 CQ WW Contest. http://cqww.com/2001rules.htm Phone: October 27-28 CW: November 24-25 Starts 0000 GMT Saturday Ends 2400 GMT Sunday XP1AB Operará durante el concurso desde Groenlandia, aunque es un Radio Club Danés. Así es que hay posibilidades de trabajarlos, para mayores informes dirijanse a la siguiente dirección: http://www.qsl.net/xp1ab/ (FMRE Bulletin Sept 21 via DXLD) ** HAWAII. Something I saw mentioned on another list made me take a detailed look at Hawaii. It seems that they have a very large number of shared AM transmitter sites. I suspect that is because real estate is at such a premium there. Taking a quick glance at the coordinates I found 7 apparent shared AM sites. Three of these sites place a total of 11 AM stations within 2 miles of one another! What an engineering and intermod nightmare that must be!! It looks like 590, 830, 990, and 1460 are all at one site. Less than a mile away 1270, 1420, and 1540 appear to share another site. And less than 2 miles away 690, 760, 1080, and 1210 apparently share a 3rd site. Elsewhere 900/1110/1570 also share a site as do 650/940, 850/1060, and 1040/1380 (Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO, USA, NRC-AM via DXLD) I'll bet they are all non directional. Hawaii wouldn't have much problem with protecting other stations would they? (Paul Smith, W4KNX, Sarasota, FL, ibid.) There are some directional. As the thread goes over on a broadcast.net list, there aren't any towers with only 1 occupant. There is even a 5 tower DA with multiple occupants (Powell E. Way III, W4OPW and sometimes even WKDK!, ibid.) Since the Hawaiian island chain runs WNW/ESE or so, there should be considerable coverage advantages to direxional arrays (gh, DXLD) ** INDONESIA [updating previous report in DXLD 1-131:] RRI Programa 5 noted 23 Sep on 9680, s-off at 0200. So this looks like yet another change. During last week, 9680 was off air and instead Programa 3 was on 11860 until 0050v, switching to 11760 for the rest of the day, but service on both frequencies was intermittent with some very long breaks. 11860 and 11760 were off air on the morning of 23 Sep (surely the same transmitter must be used for 9680/11760/11860) and Programa 3 was on 15125 only. Ext Sce noted as usual on 9525 and 11785 at 0030- 0400 (Sep 23, 2001, Alan Davies, Melaka, Malaysia, Jembatan DX via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel mentioned UT Sept 23 that from Sept 24 winter time would resume, and SW broadcast times shift one UT hour later, such as English at 0500 instead of 0400; and confirmed at 2000 Sept 24 on 11605 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Confirming earlier report that this would be the date. Other main times now being 1700 and 2000, probably on same frequencies as before for time being (gh, DXLD) 1900 frequencies were also 15615, 15640, 17545. DAY OF ATONEMENT - Please note that from 1400 Israel Time on September 26 until 1900 Israel Time on September 27 there will be no broadcasting ( http:/www.israelradio.org Sept 24 via DXLD) ** JORDAN. Radio Jordan 11690 1530 UT in English w/ discussion phone in show presented by woman discussing medical depression and suicides. // Radio Jordan to Frequency 4776, 1447 UT Time check, pop music. SIO 444. May be a new frequency to Radio Jordan. 24/9. Heard on Grundig Y.B. 400. lw antenna (Costa Constantinides, Limassol, Cyprus, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ?? Maybe another mixing product ** KENYA. KBC's Eastern Service off the air due to unpaid power bills From: BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 24, 2001 It has been observed since July 2001 that the shortwave transmitter (on 4885 kHz) of the state-owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation's Eastern Service (which broadcasts in the Boran, Burji, Rendille Somali and Turkana languages spoken in northern and eastern Kenya) has been off the air. Transmissions were observed to continue for a while on the service's FM frequency in Nairobi (89.5 MHz). Recently, however, that FM frequency has also been noted to be silent. The Kenyan newspaper East African Standard on 24 September reported: "The KBC Eastern Vernacular Service transmission has been suspended. This follows unpaid electricity bills amounting to 6m shillings [about 52,000 pounds]. Listeners of the service have been off air for the past 10 days [sentence as published]. The station's [shortwave] transmitter is located in the city's [Nairobi's] Langata division." /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) It`s state-owned, and they can`t come up with a measly 6 megashillings? This isn`t Russia! (gh, DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. 6990, 0358, Voice of Kurdistan in Kurdish ID at 0400 News bullentin. In Kurdish read by male announcer. 21/9 SIO 444 (Costa Constantinides, Limassol, Cyprus, Sept 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. ¿ SABES QUE HACER EN CASO DE ...? ¡¡¡ Recuerden que el Radio Aficionado debe de estar preparado para cualquier contingencia en apoyo de la Sociedad y comunidades !!! Para tal efecto, hay que estar pendientes de las transmisiones de apoyo y trabajos de la Red Nacional de Emergencia en las frecuencias 7,060 kHz LSB HF 0200 a 0300 UT y 3,690 kHz LSB en HF desde las 0300 UT, o a cualquier hora si existe algún otro evento relevante. Red Nacional de Emergencia de la FMRE., A.C. (FMRE bulletin Sept 21 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Glenn, Radio Nigeria Kaduna on 4770 kHz was heard last night with an extended broadcast to cover the Under-17 World Cup Quarter Final match between Nigeria and Australia in Trinidad & Tobago. The Football commentary started at 2330 UT on 4770 kHz and was extremely interesting, especially with Nigeria defeating Australia 5-1, thanks to a hat-trick from striker Femi Opabunmi ensuring the convincing victory. The broadcast ended shortly after the conclusion of the match, signing off at 0130 with the National Anthem. Nigeria's Golden Eaglets will now contest the semi-final on Thursday and could see themselves up against African opposition as Burkina Faso will play Costa Rica tonight in another Quarter Final Match. The match on Thursday between Nigeria and the winner of the Burkina Faso/Costa Rica Match is scheduled for a kick off at 2330 UT, so Radio Nigeria Kaduna on 4770 kHz will almost certainly be on extended schedule again this Thursday, September 27th, 2001. 73's (Graham Powell, Wales, Sept 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. UT Sept 21 at 0431 on 7275, Radio Nigeria, Kaduna with Islamic Nigerian Music - New! first time I heard this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SIP was 454. Had to end it at this point and get to bed. Anyway I am hoping with the cooler temps out the now there is good CX for longer catches. 73's and good DX (David Slate, Hendersonville TN, swl@qth.net via DXLD) ** PERU. R. Imperio, Chiclayo; September 22, 0920- on 4388.93 kHz, still observed here in Japan. Heard huaynito criollo, pasillo and simple ID with TC. At 0930- "La Voz de la Liberacion". (Shoji YAMADA, Tokyo, Japan, RNM, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The latter an evangelical syndicated show (gh) ** PERU. R. Altura, Huarmaca; September 22, 1104- on 6480.45 kHz, heard huayno cajamarquino and simple ID "6 de la mañana con 2 minutos en rrrRadio Altura de Huarmaca." (Shoji YAMADA, Tokyo, Japan, RNM, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Radio Riyadh to broadcast 24-hours daily | Text of report in English by Saudi newspaper Riyadh Daily web site on 21 September Riyadh broadcasting station has completed its preparations to transmit programmes 24 hours a day. This was stated to SPA by Dr Fouad bin Abdulsalam Al-Farsi, minister of information, adding that this comes in line with the directives and support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz, the Crown Prince and the second deputy premier to the Saudi information media, to enable it to carry out its mission and to cope with changes in our present time. He said the 24 hour transmission coincides with the occasion of the national day which the Kingdom celebrates on Sunday, September 23, 2001. It is worthy to mention that Radio Riyadh used to transmit its programmes for 18 hours a day. But numbers of news bulletins and news briefs were increased and times of their transmission amended as follows: [local time] - new news bulletin to be broadcast at 5 o'clock in the evening - new news brief at 6 in the morning - bulletin of 11 p.m. moved to 12 midnight - new news brief at 2 o'clock in the morning - news review at 3 o'clock after midnight - the main bulletins remained unchanged. This was in addition to new programmes and the re-structuring of the programmes in light with the new step. Family programme for example will be announced in the new structure in the afternoon, popular programmes in the morning and other programmes in the evening and early morning. Source: Riyadh Daily web site, Riyadh, in English 21 Sep 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) [cf DXLD 1-131] ** SINGAPORE. Radio Singapore International 6150, 1520 UT in English w/pop music request show, ID as 97.0 FM by male announcer 24/9 SIO 444 (Costa Constantinides, Limassol, Cyprus, Sept 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Interesting site: http://vintagebroadcasting.org.uk (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN, WTFDA via DXLD) Includes video, sound clips of BBC WS idents, etc. (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. In today's NY Times. Adding my two cents' worth, "well, duuh!" (--Richard Cuff, swprograms via DXLD) Networks Move to Revive Foreign News September 24, 2001 By JIM RUTENBERG News executives are now saying that hard news, even foreign news, is back in vogue.... http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/24/business/media/24TUBE.html?ex=1002303669&ei=1&en=c1e666965aba7eeb (via Cuff, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. Received the following on the public folklorist list I subscribe to, checked out the site, and thought it would be of interest to you all (Saul Broudy, swprograms via DXLD) Here's a web site, Re:constructions, that is an online resource and study guide examining the media coverage of the Sept. 11 events and aftermath, put together by a people connected with the new MIT Comparative Media Studies Program. some very thoughtful pieces about the wielding of language and symbol-- http://web.mit.edu/cms/reconstructions/ (via Broudy, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. Motorola and Broadcast Electronics have provided a 100 watt transmitter operating on 180 kilohertz, to help find victims in the rubble of the World Trade Center. WTC employees had been issued smarts cards that were used for identification and access to the buildings. The signal from the transmitter is reflected by the smart cards on a slightly offset frequency. A high sensitivity receiver then uses direction finding to point to the smart cards. [For more information see Broadcast Electronics Inc. news release .] (Kim Elliott, VOA Communicatinos World Sept 22 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** U S A. I hesitate to post this, but go to this URL: http://newyork.citysearch.com/feature/38120/index.html?cslink=cs_generic_3_3 Then click on *A View Lost to History* for a 360 degree panoramic view from the WTC observation deck...antennas, dishes, etc... —(Mike Bugaj - Enfield, CT USA, WTFDA Circulation) http://pages.cthome.net/fmdx ** U S A. Friends, The WTC attack had a profound effect upon broadcast television in New York City. Here is a web site detailing the heroic efforts of broadcasters to return quickly to the air after losing their transmitters, antennas, and several engineers: http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=158&releaseid=6965&magazinearticleid=118609&siteid=15#wtc (Curtis Sadowski, Sept 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Michael Hoover in Portugal was interested to hear that I was not able to hear WCBS, the all-news radio station in New York City, via the Internet. Michael says WCBS radio is available in Europe via Panamsat 3R, 43 degrees West, as part of the CBS multiplex. This is available free to air in the mpeg-2 format. If you have a digital satellite receiver, look for the CBS or Upgrade channels, and WCBS will be on the alternative audio track. Michael sent some pictures he took from Panamsat 3R. There are links to those on the script for today's program at the Communications World Web site. (Kim Elliott, VOA Communications World Sept 22 via John Norfolk, DXLD) Really? ** U S A. Via Shoptalk Magazine.... ABC News' Sam Donaldson will be hosting a new daily talk show, "Sam Donaldson Live In America," beginning Monday, September 24. The two-hour program will broadcast live at 10 AM (ET), Monday through Friday, and will be available to ABC Radio affiliates. The program will originate in Washington and will feature newsmaker interviews, discussion of recent events and listener call-in segments. Donaldson, a 34-year ABC News veteran, is no stranger to the world of radio, often filling in for ABC Radio's Paul Harvey News and Comment, and Harvey's 15-minute midday broadcast. The host of SamDonaldson@abcnews.com, the first regularly scheduled Internet Webcast produced by a television network, Donaldson has interviewed former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and George Bush along with such diverse personalities as actor Sean Connery, comedian Jon Stewart, singer Plácido Domingo, sports great Willie Mays and others. SamDonaldson@abcnews.com is also repackaged for a daily five-minute radio show that features highlights and interviews from the freewheeling Webcast (via Fred Vobbe, NRC-AM via DXLD) If anybody finds a station actually carrying this, especially with webcast, please let us know (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Sunday 1400-1500, we are currently airing WRN1, which I believe is transmitting VOA Communications World at 1400-1430 and R Vlaanderen Internationaal at 1430-1500. We may have some major program schedule changes coming up over the next few days and weeks occasioned by the sudden disappearance of The Voice of the Foundation. I will try to update the schedule on the website as soon as we have something firm. 73, (Jeff White, WRMI, Sept 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://wrmi.net ** URUGUAY. Emisora Ciudad de Montevideo; September 22, 1930 on 9650.0 kHz, still observed here in Japan at daybeak. Heard usual full ID "En su receptor, CX42 Emisora Ciudad de Montevideo, Uruguay, transmitiendo en 1370 kHz, la frecuencia que se sintoniza con mayor frecuencia." (Shoji YAMADA, Japan, RNM, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###