DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-138, October 1, 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. No, they never get around to mentioning the channel or even the system. But if you think this story is not about SW, keep reading... (gh) from http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/10/01/specials/attack/AFGHAN01.htm Tiny TV station broadcasts in defiance of Taliban rules Its reach is limited, but what counts is its symbolism. By Andrew Maykuth, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER FEYZABAD, Afghanistan - The studios of TV Badakhshan are not exactly state of the art. An old video camera propped on a shelf is aimed at news anchor Abdul Wasill Hamidi, who sits in a broken wooden chair behind a rusting steel desk. There are no computer graphics behind him, just a frayed green curtain hiding a large crack in the wall. But the station's mere existence is an act of defiance and hope in a country where modern technology and culture are outlawed. After the Taliban took control of most of Afghanistan's cities five years ago, it banned television, radio and other forms of infidel entertainment. This tiny station in an opposition-held corner of the country is the only broadcast outlet still operating in a nation of 20 million people. The television station is of great symbolic importance in Feyzabad, the capital of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, still recognized by the United Nations and most of the world as Afghanistan's official government although the Taliban fundamentalists control virtually all the major cities and most of the countryside. Though its reach is not great in a medieval nation ripped apart by 23 years of civil war and where most people can't afford a television, TV Badakhshan is emblematic of the resistance of this ethnic Tajik area against the unyielding Taliban movement. (Badakhshan is the rebel-controlled province in which Feyzabad is located.) Sometimes unveiled women newscasters appear on the government station reading the news or letters from viewers - revolutionary stuff since women in Taliban-controlled areas are not permitted to work or to appear without being cloaked from head to toe. The station's operations are as patched together as the opposition Northern Alliance, the fragile coalition of ethnic and political groups that is hoping the American government's desire to retaliate against the Taliban and its guest, Osama bin Laden, will strengthen its weakened movement. TV Badakhshan usually broadcasts for two hours every night, though the schedule varies depending on whether the city's small hydroelectric power plant is operating. Since the schedule is erratic, the start of the evening's programs is announced in town on a public loudspeaker. The evening news lasts about 15 minutes, though that, too, is not rigidly enforced. "If there is news, it takes 15 minutes," Hamidi said. "If no news, maybe eight minutes or 10 minutes." Last night's big news story was a report on a memorial service for Ahmed Shah Massoud, the popular opposition military leader who was killed Sept. 9 by Taliban suicide bombers. There were no updates on reports about the U.S. military buildup to oust bin Laden from Afghanistan. Reading a script handwritten on notebook paper, Hamidi spoke in a monotone while the camera held a 90-second shot of the audience at the memorial service sitting, arms crossed, and listening to an offscreen speaker. After the news, TV Badakhshan typically airs a movie from the United States, Iran, Russia or India, with Persian dubbing. Often the Indian movies are syrupy love stories, but viewers in this war-ravaged land also seem to like action-adventure fare. The most recent American movie shown was Rambo: First Blood. "Of course people are tired of the war, but they like these films," said Mohammed Tahir Mustazki, who has worked at the station for 14 years. Situated on a hillside overlooking Feyzabad, the station's signal does not go much farther than the steep granite valley in which the capital rests. Nobody is quite sure how many viewers watch; the most recent survey done in 1991 indicated there were 5,000 televisions in town. The broadcasters seem baffled by questions about whether the public treats them like stars - the concept of television celebrities is foreign here. They are widely recognized when they walk down the capital's stony dirt streets, where pedestrians and cars have to negotiate around open sewers. But people are no longer excited when they see them. "Television is not something new for these people," said Mustazki, whose salary is about $10 a month. "Of course people were excited when we first started broadcasting, but we've been on the air since 1986." TV Badakhshan is virtually the only source of news in this isolated region. A few people here have satellite television receivers, but for the rest, the only news from the outside world arrives via foreign shortwave stations such as the Voice of America or the BBC. The beleaguered government once had an FM radio station, but its ancient Czech transmitter died several years ago and no spare parts were available to fix it. The Chinese government recently donated two shortwave transmitters, which are scheduled to arrive in the next month. But until the new machines arrive, the only broadcast outlet in Afghanistan remains TV Badakhshan, where a poster on the wall written in Persian states: "To rebuild our country begins with culture." (Philadelphia Inquirer Oct 1 via Joe Hanlon, PA, DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. Taleban reportedly start TV monitoring | Excerpt from report by Pakistani newspaper Jang on 28 September Islamabad: The Taleban administration has installed modern satellite dishes in their Kandahar and Kabul offices for television monitoring so as to keep abreast of the international media's point of view on Afghanistan. Jang's special central reporting unit has learnt from sources close to the high-level Pakistani delegation that visited Afghanistan that the Taleban foreign minister, Wakeel Ahmad Mutawakkil, who is thought to be a moderate in the Taleban, had proposed starting television monitoring. It should be noted that in Afghanistan there is a ban on possessing TV sets and watching television, and installing a satellite dish is a crime. The Taleban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdus Salam Zaeef, has also set up television monitoring at the Afghan embassy... Source: Jang, Rawalpindi, in Urdu 28 Sep 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [and non]. Afghan media round-up - update Afghanistan's media have been seriously restricted in freedom of expression and range since the Taleban came to power in 1996. Radio Afghanistan was renamed Radio Voice of Shari'ah (Islamic law) and now reflects the Islamic fundamentalist values of the Taleban. The Taleban have banned TV as a "source of moral corruption" and regard music as suspect. Photography and filming are also banned. Afghans are barred from accessing the Internet. However, the Taleban have set up a web site, http://afghan-ie.com, to push for recognition of their regime by the international community. This web site is currently inaccessible. Radio: A lifeline for Afghans For Afghans and their neighbours, the radio is the most vital source of breaking news as the crisis escalates. International broadcasters are a lifeline in a country with virtually no press freedom, Internet or TV. The BBC World Service has reinforced its mediumwave transmissions, with an additional frequency, serving a large part of the region surrounding and including Afghanistan. Shortwave transmissions to the region in Arabic, Pashto, Persian and Urdu - the key languages of the region - have also been expanded. News and current affairs content in the usually mixed schedules of each language service has been boosted and on-line coverage in these languages has been increased. Radio France Internationale (RFI) has added an extra half-hour of programmes in Persian targeted at Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan and the whole of the Central Asia region. The Voice of America (VOA) has expanded news broadcasts in Dari, Persian and Pashto. However, VOA came under pressure from the US Department of State not to air a story that included parts of a rare interview with the leader of the Taleban, Mola Mohammed Omar. The Washington Post said the US government objected to a public broadcaster being a platform for "terrorists". VOA later broadcast the interview. Nevertheless, international broadcasters are a lifeline in a country with virtually no press freedom, Internet or TV. A BBC survey carried out before the crisis indicates that some 72 per cent of Pashto language speakers and some 62 per cent of Persian speakers in Afghanistan listen daily to the BBC World Service. The total population of Afghanistan is estimated at 26 million. Other broadcasts in Pashto/Dari to Afghanistan include Radio Pakistan, China Radio International, All India Radio, Deutsche Welle, Radio Cairo, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Voice of Russia, Tajik Radio and Radio Tashkent (Uzbekistan). There are also a number of radio stations run by Afghan expatriates, mainly in North America, which broadcast in Pashto/Dari. Taleban's voice to the world Radio news in Taleban-controlled areas is limited. The Taleban's Voice of Shari'ah is the sole broadcaster operating in Kabul and provincial centres and it is largely a platform for official propaganda and religious sermons. It claims to be the only broadcaster in the world where music of any kind is banned. The Taleban has used the Voice of Shari'ah to criticize the exiled Afghan monarch Mohammad Zaher Shah, who has expressed willingness to return to his homeland to head a new government. In a radio commentary, Taleban leader Mola Mohammad Omar warned the king: "What sort of government would you have if you are coming here accompanied by the United States?... Don't you think there are other people in Afghanistan to confront your seditious administration and rotten aims?..." The Voice of Shari'ah has radio stations in Taleban-controlled provinces, including Badghis (northwest), Balkh (north, where the strategic city of Mazar-e Sharif is located), Farah (west), Fariab (northwest), Ghazni (central), Helmand (south), Herat (west), Kandahar (south), Konar (east), Logar (central), Nimroz (southwest), Samangan (north) and Sar-e Pol (north). However, some of these provinces, particularly in the north and northwest, are under threat from the Northern Alliance. Northern Alliance forces have entered Fariab Province. The external service broadcasts foreign-language programmes on a single shortwave frequency, which is officially 7200 kHz; however the actual frequency varies around 7085. The station broadcasts in Pashto, Dari, Urdu, Turkmen, Uzbek, Arabic, Russian and English. However, transmissions are irregular and reception difficult outside Afghanistan. International interest in Afghanistan has prompted Clandestine Radio Watch (CRW), an organization monitoring clandestine broadcasting http://www.clandestineradio.com/martin/crw-main.html to appeal for help in recording English-language broadcasts of Taleban radio. The CRW's Nick Grace has asked listeners to record the Voice of Shari'ah's 15-minute daily English-language bulletin from 1530 to 1545 gmt so that they can be stored in an on-line archive available for people around the world. Press freedom non-existent Fears about hostile Cold War propaganda in the western media have been the Taleban's pretext for imposing strict media controls and silencing dissent. The leading newspaper is Shari'at, a government-run daily. The Taleban government also runs the English-language daily Kabul Times. Most news in the press comes from the government and official news agencies. The main national news agency is the Bakhtar Information Agency, long established but now controlled by the Taleban. Afghan Islamic Press is a Pashto-language news agency, based in the Pakistan border town of Peshawar that provides good coverage of breaking news. In 1997 the Taleban announced a ban on the sale of books and magazines published abroad. Since then, Afghans have been deprived of Pakistani and western newspapers. According to a Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) annual report in 2000, the only newspaper authorized by the Kabul authorities is Zarbe Momin, an Urdu-language weekly published in Karachi, Pakistan, which supports the Taleban cause. Despite a television ban, the Taleban have reportedly installed modern satellite dishes in their Kandahar and Kabul offices to monitor foreign television. The Pakistani newspaper Jang said the Taleban embassy in Islamabad has also set up television monitoring. Arab broadcaster still in Kabul Al-Jazeera, a pan-Arab satellite TV channel based in Qatar, known for its hard-hitting and fast coverage, is the only foreign broadcaster permitted in Kabul. Since the 11 September attacks, the Taleban have relied on Al-Jazeera to communicate their views to the world. Taleban officials have spoken via satellite to Al-Jazeera correspondents from an uplink in the capital Kabul. The station has secured numerous exclusives. On 24 September, Al- Jazeera carried an alleged appeal by Bin-Ladin to his "Muslim brethren in Pakistan" to "repel the US crusader troops" expected to use their country as a landing ground for an invasion of Afghanistan. As the only foreign TV bureau in Kabul, Al-Jazeera could air exclusive footage showing Afghan demonstrators attacking and setting fire to the US embassy on 26 September. Al-Jazeera grabbed international headlines again on 29 September with a report that "three members of the US 'special forces' and two Afghans holding US citizenship were captured by Bin-Ladin's Al- Qa'idah group in Helman, near the border with Iran". Although the Taleban denied the report, the station stood by its report saying that a member of Al-Qa'idah called Al-Jazeera's bureau in Peshawar, Pakistan, to announce the capture. Resistance media Northern Alliance-controlled media are also a key source of news from within Afghanistan. There are no Northern Alliance-run radio stations but news is broadcast by loudspeaker in the towns of Charikar, Jabalosaraj and Golbahor, which are located in Parvan Province neighbouring Kabul. The Northern Alliance also runs the on-line only Radio Voice of Mojahed http:///www.payamemujahid.com/radio/index.htm which broadcasts via the Internet three days per week in Pashto and Dari. In the past, the Northern Alliance operated Takhar Radio, in Taloqan, northeastern Takhar Province. Its current status is unknown. The Northern Alliance publishes an on-line weekly magazine Payam-e- Mojahed from Parwan, Afghanistan, in Pashto and Dari. The only television station broadcasting in Afghanistan is in Fayzabad, capital of northeastern Badakhshan Province, which is under Northern Alliance control. The station broadcasts TV programmes in Dari and Pashto. However, reception is weak and irregular. The station broadcasts for two hours a day, from 1900 to 2100 local time and sometimes until 2300. It can be heard within a 40-km radius of the town. A daily news bulletin includes news from the BBC World Service TV and Iranian TV. Tajikistan and Iran may become key bases for anti-Taleban media as both governments are sympathetic to the Northern Alliance. Tajik and Iranian radio broadcast in Dari to Afghanistan. Media mobilizing for war International media organizations are scrambling for positions around Central Asia, Pakistan and Afghanistan in anticipation of US military action and its repercussions across the region. The Associated Press reports that since Pakistan has registered 450 newly arrived journalists in the country, although the real number is estimated at more than 700, with many having slipped in unofficially. However, obtaining accurate information on the situation in Taleban-controlled areas is dangerous. The Taleban's diplomatic offices in Pakistan have refused visas to foreign journalists. Yvonne Ridley of the Sunday Express was arrested on 28 September in Taleban- held Nangarhar Province, which borders Pakistan. Taleban radio said she had been arrested "on suspicion of spying". The BBC's John Simpson and cameraman Peter Jouvenal, disguised in Afghan women's clothing, had earlier managed to slip unnoticed into Nangarhar and return to Peshawar. Only three Afghan agency reporters are allowed to work in Kabul: Amir Shah of the Associated Press, Syed Mohammad Azam of Agence France- Presse and Sayed Salahuddin of Reuters. Crucially for foreign journalists, the Northern Alliance has provided a passage into Afghanistan from neighbouring Tajikistan. Alliance spokesman Sayed Najibullah Hashimi told Reuters by satellite telephone that some 250 foreign journalists, mostly westerners, are in Northern Alliance-held areas. For further information on the media in Afghanistan, see the Reporters Sans Frontières web site, "Taliban [Taleban] and the media" (2000). http://www.rsf.fr/uk/html/asie/rapport/taliban.html Source: BBC Monitoring research, 1 Oct 01 (via DXLD) ** BELARUS. 11960, Radio Stolitsa (Radio Capitol) heard at 0350 22 Sept. At O400, time check for 0700. Fair to good. Parallel 7210 was poor only (Volodya Salmaniw, Grayland WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA [non]. Democratic Voice of Burma to change morning frequency | Text of report by Burmese opposition radio on 27 September Dear listeners. The DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] morning programme currently transmitting on the shortwave 25-metre band on 11570 kHz frequency will be changed to 11720 from this Saturday [29 September]. I repeat, the programme will be transmitted on the 25- metre band, 11720 from Saturday. But the shortwave 31-metre band on 9495 will remain unchanged and will be transmitted as usual. Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 27 Sep 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Freq changes for China Radio International via transmitter in Russia: 1600-1657 Arabic NF 7130, ex 17580 // 11750, 13685, 15490, 17880 1800-1827 Persian NF 7130, ex 15595 // 11740, 9670, 9550 2200-2257 English NF 7175, ex 9880 73 from (Ivo and Angel!, Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 1 via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. USA: Radio Free Asia expands Uyghur service | Text of press release by Radio Free Asia on 28 September Washington, 28 September: Radio Free Asia (RFA) will increase its broadcasts in the Uyghur language from one hour to two hours daily beginning 1 October, RFA announced Friday [28 September]. RFA's Uyghur service, which transmits by shortwave to northwestern China and Central Asia, began broadcasting one half-hour, twice weekly, in December 1998. RFA subsequently increased those broadcasts to one hour daily, to be increased to two hours daily from Monday, 1 October 2001. RFA's Uyghur programming includes news reports from regions where Uyghur is spoken, as well as from the rest of Asia, and a wide variety of regular and periodic features on literature, history and social issues. Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting news and information to listeners in those Asian countries where full, accurate and timely news reports are unavailable. Created by Congress in 1994 and incorporated in 1996, RFA aims to deliver such news reports - along with opinions and commentaries - and to provide a forum for a variety of voices and opinions. RFA currently broadcasts in Burmese, Cantonese, Khmer, Korean, Laotian, Mandarin, the Wu dialect, Vietnamese, Tibetan and Uyghur. It adheres to the highest journalistic standards and aims to exemplify accuracy, balance, and fairness in its editorial content. Source: Radio Free Asia press release, Washington, in English 28 Sep 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI was on 15045 Sat & Sun Sept 29-30, but on Mon Oct 1 was back on 15050. What`s next? For the moment, the WOR sked distributed separately Sept 28 is again correct, and the 15045 one atop DXLD 1-136 is not (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. ANUNCIA EN CUBA APERTURA DE NUEVO CANAL DE TV EDUCATIVA La Habana AFP Septiembre 25, 2001 --------------------------------------------------------------------- El presidente de Cuba, Fidel Castro, anunció que dentro de seis semanas comenzará las transmisiones en La Habana un nuevo canal de televisión, que se sumará a los dos ya existentes en el país, con una programación destinada exclusivamente a la educación popular. La nueva emisora de televisión demandó una inversión de 3,73 millones de dólares y difundirá sus programas educativos en la capital cubana y en la provincia de La Habana, llegando con su señal a 2.894.500 personas, equivalente al 25,8% de la población del país. Fidel Castro hizo el anuncio al inaugurar una escuela de maestros en la localidad de Caimanito, en las afueras de la capital, en un acto que contó con la presencia del director de la Real Academia Española de la Lengua, el español Víctor García de la Concha, quien se encuentra de visita en Cuba. El nuevo canal, que al igual que los ya existentes Cubavisión y Tele Rebelde operará bajo control estatal, contará con programas educativos especiales destinados a los 533.465 niños, adolescentes y jóvenes que residen en La Habana y su provincia vecina, con el fin de "ayudar por vías no formales a la educación" de la juventud cubana, dijo Castro. El sistema educativo por televisión también tendrá espacios dedicados a los adultos, con los programas denominados "Universidad para todos", que abarcan desde la enseñanza de idiomas hasta historia y geografía, añadió el mandatario. Castro, cuyo gobierno socialista tiene entre sus principales banderas a la educación y la salud, informó además que la segunda ciudad de la isla por número de habitantes, Santiago de Cuba, contará con un tercer canal televisivo destinado exclusivamente a la docencia popular a partir de enero próximo [fin]. Cordiales 73's (via Oscar, FL, Oct 1, DXLD) Say what you will about the Commies; their census must boast extreme accuracy!! (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Christopher Marquis, New York Times, Sunday, September 30, 2001 Washington -- A few days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, Ana Belén Montes, a top Defense Department intelligence analyst, sent an e-mail note to an old friend saying she was all right and had not known anyone who died at the Pentagon. "I could see the Pentagon burning from my office," she wrote. "Nonetheless, it pales next to the World Trade Center. Dark days ahead. So much hate and self-righteousness." The days darkened especially quickly for Montes. A week after she signed off, sending love to her friend's family, federal agents surprised her at work and charged her with spying for Cuba. She is the highest-ranking official ever accused of espionage at the Defense Intelligence Agency, which, as a sister agency to the CIA, handles analysis for the Pentagon. The arrest, on Sept. 21, left her friends and colleagues at a loss to explain what might have motivated her to risk everything, should the charges prove true. Friends described Montes, who is 44 and single, as a loyal companion, well educated and an avid traveler. She had no evident money problems and was apparently content dating a man who either was in the military or did business at the Pentagon, they said. She was warm and funny, friends said, and seemed apolitical, even back in college. Her remark about "self-righteousness" was as ideologically pointed as she had ever been, said Lisa A. Huber, who had attended the University of Virginia with Montes and received the e-mail message. "I can't picture her being involved in something like this," said Huber, a Louisville, Ky., resident who had seen Montes at least twice a year since their college days. "It goes against everything I know about her." Montes, who had been the DIA's top intelligence analyst for Cuba since 1992, left a different impression among colleagues. She came off as rather severe, they said; at meetings, she sat rigidly in her chair and rarely spoke. Some associates viewed her as struggling to advance in a culture dominated by men. "She was a very strange person, very standoffish, extraordinarily shy," said an American diplomat. But professionally, Montes seemed above reproach. She spoke fluent Spanish because of her Puerto Rican heritage, and in 1990, she was tapped to brief Nicaragua's new president, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, about the Sandinista military. In 1992 or 1993, she pulled off what seemed to be an intelligence coup. She traveled to Cuba and interviewed Cuban generals about economic reforms on the island. In 1998, she played an important role in drafting a widely cited analysis that found that Cuba's much diminished military posed no strategic threat to the United States. As recently as the week before last, she briefed top Pentagon policymakers on Cuba. Yet despite her immersion in Cuba issues, virtually no one in the Cuba policy community can recall her venturing an opinion on topic A: U.S. policy toward Havana. According to the FBI affidavit, Montes, who had a high-level security clearance, spied for Cuba for at least five years, and possibly longer. She identified at least one U.S. undercover agent to the Cubans, disclosed a top- secret intelligence-gathering program and reported on U.S. training maneuvers in the Caribbean, the FBI said. Current and former U.S. officials say she was in a position to tell Havana virtually everything the intelligence community knew about Cuba's military and might even have disclosed U.S. contingency plans for taking the island by force. "I would think, if damage was done, it would be about what she learned about the U.S., how it was militarily prepared vis-a-vis Cuba," said Richard Nuccio, who was President Bill Clinton's special adviser on Cuba. Alberto R. Coll, a top Pentagon official in the first Bush administration, said the damage could be multiplied if Cuba shared stolen intelligence with other governments hostile to the United States. Montes had access to a daily synopsis of U.S. intelligence worldwide. If the Havana government "wanted to earn points with the Chinese, maybe Iraq, Iran, Libya, it would not be surprising," said Coll, now dean of the Naval War College in Rhode Island. "Cuba has political ties with all those countries." Intelligence officials said they had no evidence of such information sharing. But some analysts said the prospect might have compelled the authorities to arrest Montes within 10 days of the terrorist attacks. She had been under FBI surveillance since May. According to the FBI, Montes received numeric messages from Cuba by shortwave radio, which she decoded on her home computer, and replied in code by telephoning a pager number from pay phones. The authorities have declined to say how they came to suspect Montes. Unlike her counterparts at the CIA, Montes and other Defense Intelligence Agency analysts are not subject to routine polygraph tests. Counterintelligence agents who searched her home found incriminating messages on her computer's hard drive, officials said. (New York Times via Larry Nebron, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. GERMANY (Clandestine for Ethiopia) 15715 At 1630 21 Sept, directly into music, then ID for Radio Xoriyo heard at 1631:20. WWW address given, but couldn't make out specifics. Good reception. Listed as Tuesday/Friday only (Volodya Salmaniw, Grayland WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Germany: Opposition slams government policy towards Deutsche Welle | Text of article by conservative opposition party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) media spokesperson Norbert Lammert headlined "In the Media Banana Republic", published on German newspaper Die Welt web site on 28 September; subheadings added editorially On Monday [1 October] Erik Bettermann starts his job as director of Deutsche Welle. "The red-green federal government has decided in this legislative term to improve substantially our country's media external presentation in the world," the governmental web site of Julian Nida- Ruemelin, state minister for culture and media, announces ambitiously. The current report of the federal government on foreign cultural policy also emphasizes in this regard in particular the prominent importance of German foreign broadcasting: "In view of their widespread effect and high acceptance, the electronic mass media such as television and radio also play a growing role in foreign cultural policy. Of special importance in this regard is Deutsche Welle (DW) as the only broadcasting company under the authority of the federal government." The message is announced frequently; only the belief in it has since gone astray. DW suffers funding cuts There is no other area where the discrepancy between the pretension and the reality of red-green government policy is as gaping as on the issue of Deutsche Welle. While the federal government pays tribute to the special task of the German foreign broadcasting station, in this legislative term it has massively and very disproportionately cut the budget of the Cologne broacaster. Since the changeover in government the DW budget has shrunk from DM654m in fiscal year 1998 to DM606m (1999) and DM564m (2001). In its medium-term financial planning the government foresees DM540m for 2003. This means a reduction of some 20 per cent in resources. Hardly any other item in the federal budget is subject to such austerity pressure. Given this sad background, it is not surprising that director- designate Erik Bettermann (SPD), who takes office on 1 October, is demanding reliable financing of foreign broadcasting from his fellow party members in the federal government as the first and most important measure. "In politics and economics Germany acts as a 'global player,' but in its media external presentation is behaves like a 'banana republic,' Bettermann said, criticizing the significant cuts by the previous state minister for culture and media, Michael Naumann, and the red-green parliamentary majority. In his opinion the contentious debates over Deutsche Welle last year and the year before caused fundamental damage, expressed in great uncertainty among the staff and the exodus of highly skilled employees. Identical comments by the previous director Dieter Weirich were rejected as panic-mongering. Broadcasting and foreign policy A comparison with our European neighbours confirms the assessment of both the previous and future directors of Deutsche Welle. The British government decided this year steadily to raise the budget of the BBC World Service in coming years as part of foreign cultural policy, especially to strengthen the online and FM presence of the renowned British broadcaster, after Deutsche Welle served as a pioneer precisely in the online area since 1994. "We must continue to focus on high quality and reliable content," Sir Christopher Bland, BBC Chairman, said in justifying the budget increases. French policy has similar priorities: "The importance of foreign cultural policy will rise, since there is a growing feeling that presence abroad is directly related to a country's power and importance," feels Jacques-Pierre Gougeon, director of the culture and media section of the French embassy in Berlin. Consistent with this, the French government raised the budget of Radio France Internationale alone by 25m francs this year. Future of DW TV At the centre of the current debate over Deutsche Welle is the foreign television service. In this connection the administrative body of the state minister for culture and media issued a paper a year ago on "Reshaping German Foreign Broadcasting." The paper sharply criticizes the current formatting of Deutsche Welle tv as an information broadcaster and accuses it of not reaching its target group. As the alternative to focusing on news, DW tv should be converted into a culture programme transmitting German cultural highlights mainly in English, the BKM administrative body says. Behind this line of reasoning is the appealing mistake of thinking there is a very high worldwide interest in German culture on television. Yet experience domestically, for example with 3 Sat or Arte, shows that cultural programmes on TV appeal to only a very small minority audience. The charge that Deutsche Welle tv hardly reaches its target audience is hardly valid either, since the presence of the foreign TV service is considerable in, say, Eastern Europe. In this region in particular there is a relatively high openness to information from Germany, while because of the EU's eastward enlargement Germany also has a strong foreign policy interest here. While the current implementation of the agreement reached on a second TV channel for abroad (planned start of transmission: spring of 2002), to which the federal government is providing an expected 60 million marks, limps along, since 1 September "the unending story of German foreign broadcasting is experiencing its final punch line". FAZ, a garage company headquartered in Bremerhaven, founded by six small businessmen with a budget of two million marks, has started its own foreign programmes on a pay-TV basis. Yet the future [Deutsche Welle] director himself is relaxed about the competition from private TV. "Why should not the dual system also function at the international level?" And if there is no dual system, why not at least a private one? Source: Die Welt web site, Berlin, in German 28 Sep 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. Additional transmissions for Deutsche Welle effective Sep. 24: 1800-1830 Urdu; 1830-1900 Dari/Pashto on 9440 Novosibirsk 500 kW/195 deg 12045 Wertachtal 500 kW/090 deg 15200 Wertachtal 500 kW/090 deg 73 from (Ivo and Angel!, Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 1 via DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. From Oct. 6, Eurosoner Radio in German will be on the air at new time: 2000-2100 Sat on NF 7600, ex 1600-1700 Sun on 9980, re-ex 1600-1700 Sun on 6900. Transmitter site: Kostinbrod, Bulgaria; Power/Azimuth: 50 kW/non-dir. 73 from (Ivo and Angel!, Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 1 via DXLD) Tnx for confirming site! (gh) ** GREECE. Hi there, DXers. Last night I came across an unID Greek Pirate on 1611,3 kHz (v1611). The signal was surprisingly good, but my Greek is (not surprisingly) bad. I have a recording available, so is anybody out there who can help? Do these stations QSL? Never saw a Greek Pirate QSL. vy73 (Harald Kuhl, Germany, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) The Greek pirate stations are not interested to reply to reports even if you will write in Greek and you will add 5000 Drachmas in stamps. In August I visited different towns of Greece and I listened to many different pirate stations on MW everywhere on the dial from 837 kHz till 1730 kHz with my ATS 909 receiver....but nevertheless my efforts to visit almost ONE of them, this has not been possible...cause they operate in the clandestinity and they don't want to be traced by the postal service of Greece. So, no replies from Greek pirates sorry..... 73's (Dario Monferini, Italy, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** GUINEA-BISSAU. National radio launches Internet site | Text of report by Portuguese TV on 26 September In Guinea-Bissau, the national radio now has a site on the internet. The URL is http://www.guine-bissau.net This allows Guinea-Bissau nationals spread throughout the world to follow the events in the country. [RTP reporter Indira Correia Balde - recording] Guinea-Bissau national radio now has a site on the Internet. The URL is http://www.guine-bissau.net and is for all those who need information about the political, economic and social situation in the country. [Media Minister Joaquim Balde - recording] The aim of launching the radio on the Internet is to allow Guinea-Bissau nationals to follow the events in the country. We don't want to say that this radio station is the only one that offers information about the situation in the country, but it is a way to follow directly what is taking place in the country, compared with what they receive from other sources. [Balde] Prime Minister Faustino Imbali thinks that the launch of this radio on the Internet will allow nationals outside the country to have authentic information about the reality in the country. [Imbali, in Creole with simultaneous translation into Portuguese] Now the new technology will help communicate the true image of the country. [Balde] The launching of this radio on the Internet takes place as the country is celebrating 28 years of independence. [The Radiodifusão Nacional web site http://www.guine-bissau.net/rdn/index.html - was checked by BBC Monitoring on 1 October at 1030 gmt. The site provides news about Guinea-Bissau, information about the national radio station and archived audio daily news bulletins going back 10 days or so.] Source: RTP Internacional TV, Lisbon, in Portuguese 1600 gmt 26 Sep 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** HAWAII. Hawaii Radio Centenary One hundred years of radio history! This is a very important anniversary. And yet the radio world seems to have passed over this event with nary a whisper. Yes, it is just 100 years ago that the first wireless stations were erected in the Hawaiian Islands for inter-island communication. This is the story . . . Now, it should be remembered that the first wireless station in the world was erected by Marconi at the South Foreland Lighthouse on the Island of Wight off the south coast of England in the year 1899. This new though quite primitive Morse Code station was established for the purpose of maintaining communication with France. Just two years later, we transfer our attention to the exotic Hawaiian Islands out in the central Pacific. Early in the year 1901, the Marconi company in the United States erected five wireless stations on five different islands in the Hawaiian group for the purpose of establishing inter-island communication. This network of spark gap Morse Code stations was officially inaugurated on March 1, 1901 and at that time they were operated by the Mutual Telephone company. These five wireless stations on five different islands were the first network of wireless stations anywhere in the world, a real ``world first`` for the Hawaiian Islands. This remarkable achievement is recognized in several publications, such as the ``World Book of Firsts``. The five islands in the Hawaiian group that were inter-connected with this network of wireless stations were:- Oahu, Maui, Kaui. Hawaii & Molokai When international callsigns were regularized by the Berlin Treaty, these stations were allocated a progressive sequence of callsigns:- KHK KHL KHM KHN KHO More than a dozen years later, another spark wireless station was constructed on the island of Oahu, at Kahuku on the north coast, for communication with the American mainland. This Honolulu station was allocated the callsign KIE. The official inauguration ceremonies for this large new station were held on September 24, 1914, in both Honolulu and in Bolinas, north of San Francisco in California. The Hawaiian station was officially opened by the governor of Hawaii when he pressed a silver key at the ceremonial table in Honolulu. Messages were exchanged with the dignitaries on both sides of the ocean and the first message sent from California to Hawaii was from President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, DC. The wireless pioneer himself, Marconi, sent a telegram with a message of good will over this new wireless system. The technical description of this new international wireless station In Hawaii states that it was the largest wireless station in the world, with a tall antenna system stretching for more than a mile. This station operated on longwave channels. Since that time, wireless has become radio, longwave has been changed into shortwave, the Marconi company of America has become RCA, the Radio Corporation of America, and Hawaii has featured prominently in shortwave broadcasting. The RCA station at Kahuku was in use before the Pacific War for the broadcast of radio programming back to the American mainland, and also for coverage in the Pacific. The Voice of America operated a two transmitter facility for quarter of a century on the island of Oahu for coverage to the Pacific under the callsign KRHO. World Harvest Radio established their own Gospel shortwave station, KWHR, on the island of Hawaii for coverage into Asia. We here at AWR salute the Hawaiian Islands on the occasion of the significant 100th anniversary of the introduction of wireless into their exotic Pacific islands (Adrian M. Peterson, AWR Wavescan Aug 26 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. (You can listen to XM Satellite Radio at http://www.xmradio.com/home.html ) > Communications World this weekend has an interesting 10 minute report from XM's launch party including Kim Elliott driving around in one of their vans experiencing the reception and discussing the radios available. I visited the site and found 13 of the channels have audio programmes up which need Windows Media Player. Listened to the first 40 minutes of the 60s channel which has a 3 hour ondemand show up, lots of original and adapted jingles from the 60s which many will remember from the offshore pirates, some US station jingles from the 60s, TV themes and adverts and good selection of music (Mike Barraclough, Sept 30, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** IRAN. 0036 UT Oct 1: The newscast on the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran tonight led with a report that the Iranian foreign minister and Egyptian President Mubarak met in Egypt and said that Islamic countries should do everything in their power to prevent and combat terrorism. The foreign minister said that any international campaign against terrorism must be led by the U.N. and that Iran did not think the U.S. was sufficiently neutral in Mideast matters to lead such a campaign. He also said that there should be no attacks on any nation as a part of this campaign unless clear and convincing proof is presented to the international community about that nation's involvement in internatiional terrorism. A report indicated that Iran sees its position against international terrorism as integral to its emerging stature in international affairs. There were several reports on "martyrdoms" taking place in Palestine. Indonesia has warned the U.S. not to mix up Islam with terrorism. A commentary focused on the meeting in Cairo between Mubarak and the Iranian foreign minister. It stressed the consensus between Egypt and Iran that Islamic states should develop a common and concerted campaign against international terrorism. It expressed a concern that the U.S. and the "Zionist state" would use the campaign against terrorism as a means of weakening Islamic countries. Monitored on 11970 kHz. (-- John A. Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) 0105 UT Oct 1: Tonight, IRIB broadcast a rather lengthy telephone conversation with an American whose name I could not decipher. He was referred to by the title "Professor" a few times by the station's interviewer and there was an obvious effort to portray this individual as prominent in some form. This individual expressed agreement with the Iranian position on international terrorism, the proper U.S. role in any effort against terrorism, the need for international consensus embodied in the U.N., etc. [as described in my earlier postings on IRIB newscasts and commentaries.] When asked about "speculation" about Israeli "involvement" and at least indirect culpability for the attacks in NYC and DC [presumably by virtue of Israel's policies toward Palestinians and U.S. support therefor], the American "professor" agreed that it was "possible". He criticized U.S. policymakers as "afraid" of the "Zionist Jews" that hold important positions in U.S. society and stated that U.S. newspapers were biased in favor of the "Zionist Jews" that either own or control them. He claimed he had read reports in Israeli newspapers claiming that the Mossad knew in advance of the attacks in NYC and DC and that other "credible" newspapers had reported that the Mossad had relayed warnings to Jews and Israelis so that they would evacuate the building. He questioned why these warnings were not communicated to others in the buildings. He said that most Americans were not aware of these reports because they were not included in U.S. newspaper accounts. [Incredible....Perhaps this guy was one of the people that one hears on some of the extremist programs broadcast on U.S. domestic commercial shortwave. He certainly had views that tracked very closely to those I've heard there. If there is any connection developing here between anti-Semitic groups in the US and those in the Middle East, there could be more than a few disconcerting ramifications in the offing. Reception tonight was quite poor...I wish I could've gotten the name of the fellow being interviewed.] Monitored on 11970 kHz. [Personal comments/observations in brackets.] (--John A. Figliozzi, ibid.) ** IRAQ. Radio Baghdad in Arabic noted on Sep. 29/30: 1315-1545 (time vary) on NF 9917.0 (54444), ex 9887.0 // 11787.0; QRM from 9920.0 1300-1500 V of Russia in Russian and 1500-1530 RCI in Russian. 73 from (Ivo and Angel!, Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 1 via DXLD) ** JAPAN. 3373.5U, NHK, Mihara. Low power NHK relay in Japanese at 1114. Good reception. Also heard were: 3607.5U NHK Shobu-kuki, Tokyo with game show of bird calls. Lots of laughter. Very good. This was parallel to 3259 NHK Kasuga (fair to good). (Volodya Salmaniw, Grayland WA, undated, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 5006/8006, J62XA heard at 1247 21 Sept with frequent morse IDs. 8006 is the weaker of the two (Volodya Salmaniw, Grayland WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JORDAN. Radio Jordan (11.690 MHz) stayed on well beyond normal close down, which is at 1630 UT on Sunday 30th September, does anybody know is this an extension of transmission times or a switching error? regards (Ken Fletcher 1st October 2001, BDXC-UK via DXLD) DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). Mystery solved, I've just realised that Jordan switched to winter time on 28 September, so all broadcasts are now one hour later. The English service signed off at 1730 on 11690 (Dave Kenny, UK, ibid.) ** MALAYSIA. 15294.89, Voice of Malaysia with local female vocals. Always seems to be on this frequency and usually in the clear, though weak. SIO 2.5-5-3 at 1638 21 Sept (Volodya Salmaniw, Grayland WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6010.00, Radio Mil heard on exact frequency at 0447 on 21 Sept. Spanish, with ID and mentions of Mexico. Good reception. 2390.08, Radio Huayacocotla fair to good in Spanish at 1219 21 Sept. 11770, XERMX, Radio Mexico International. Nice ID at 0310 22 Sept, and announcement for "1177 kHz!". Fair, with 9705.03 good in parallel. English programming at this time (Volodya Salmaniw, Grayland WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. Developments at external broadcaster | Text of report in English by Mongolian E-mail Daily News service on 1 October The radio station Voice of Mongolia transmits information about Mongolia to five continents in Mongolian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and English languages. The broadcasts are prepared by a team of 30 journalists, translators and editors. The presenters have become well-known to foreign listeners. They receive many letters from their listeners - about 3000 letters every year from over 50 countries. From now on the English-language programme will be available on the internet and the weekly programmes will be broadcast by the Japanese radio station BSC [as published]. Every year the station competes in an international radio contest. It has won a special prize from the Asia-Pacific Radio Transmission Association [as published, presumably Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union] three times and also took the third prize in an NHK contest. The Voice of Mongolia has been recognized as a prestigious radio station which contributes to the strengthening of friendship among the peoples of different countries. Source: E-mail Daily News, Ulaanbaatar, in English 0625 gmt 1 Oct 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Re: http://www.mediawatch.co.nz/ I heard a MediaWatch program from New Zealand's National Radio on RNZI (sorry I failed to note the time) this weekend. I did remember their URL http://www.mediawatch.co.nz which contains many U.S. media topics. The most recent page includes CNN, bogus WTC photo circulating the internet, Politically Incorrect controversy, VOA, war reporting censorship, West Wing, and other topics related to our media after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. (Pete Costello, NJ, Sept 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sunday 1005 and 1205 as I recall (gh) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. A disappointing morning, 22 Sept. Only 7 PNGs heard, and at the weakest levels in memory. Gone are the days when all transmitters were up and running, usually at good to excellent levels, and usually bang on frequency. On the 22nd at 1132 to 1200, only the following were noted: 2410 R. Enga, fair; 3204.98 R. Sandaun, good with religious talk about Mary in Tok Pisin; 3220 R. Morobe, good; 3260 R. Madang, fair; 3325 presumed R. Bougainville, good; 3375 R. Western Highlands, fair with Tok Pisin; 3905 ?Radio New Ireland well under RRI (Volodya Salmaniw, Grayland WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. KUT. Aeronautical beacon (50 watts). Kutubu, Southern Highlands with slow CW ID. 1322 easily heard (Volodya Salmaniw, Grayland WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 13565.4, R. Ondas del Pacífico, Ayabaca (2 x 6782.7), 0244 30 Sept, very nice copy of this harmonic tonight, with good signal strength. Positive ID given 4 times 0245 via 2 canned announcements. Andean folk music, then OM announcer gave time check at 0246 and ID 0249. Even the fundamental was audible with weak level. Typically the harmonic is more often heard here then the fundamental, but this is the first time I've been able to get an ID. Very nice slow ID given over and over. I wish all would be this easy!!! The harmonic is audible again now (2230). I think the station was on till nearly 0300 yesterday (David Hodgson, Nashville TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 2001-10-01 13:17 *RUSSIA*TV-BROADCASTING*JUBILEE* OCTOBER 1 RUSSIAN TV CELEBRATES 70TH ANNIVERSARY MOSCOW, October 1, 2001. /from RIA Novosti correspondent/--The Russian TV celebrates Monday, October 1, its 70th anniversary. It was 70 years ago that the Moscow radio transmission centre started regular optomechanical-type broadcasting in 30 lines and 12.5 frames. Soon programmes became available in Leningrad, Kiev, Khar`kov, Odessa, Tomsk, Nizhny Novgorod, and other Soviet cities. The up-to-date TV equipment was designed by experts of the All-Union Electric Institute's TV laboratory in Moscow who used developments of Soviet scientists and home-made products. TV broadcasting developed in Russia simultaneously with the most perfect foreign systems and managed to maintain a high scientific, technological, and creative level on all stages of its development, in spite of certain "warps of growth." The Soviet TV managed to accept the supreme sharpness standard already in 1948, despite the break of the war years. Later on this standard became spread in most countries of the world. Experimental colour TV broadcasting was started in 1953, and the first in the world live broadcasting from space was performed in 1962. The unique Orbita satellite television system was put into operation in 1967, and 1977 saw the introduction of the colour image standard in all central TV programmes and creation of a modern multi-programme multi-zone broadcasting system (via Sergei Sosedkin, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. The Voice of Russia has been conducting a "Space Quiz" since early in the year. They have shifted the deadline and promised announcement date of a winner/winners three times since the quiz began. The latest cycle promised an annoincement of winners on 30 September. The announcement was to have been made on VOR and the VOR web site. I just listened to VOR with a program about the launch of Sputnik 1 but no mention of the quiz. I checked the web site and did not find any mention of an announcement. In my opinion VOR is rapidly gaining the same credibility we came to know and love for Radio Moscow. Anybody know anything different? Later: I see now on the web site they have shifted the announcement date to 30 October. This quiz reminds me of their recent performance delivering their part of the International Space Station. Better late than never, I guess. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ , swprograms via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Freq changes for Voice of Russia effective Sep. 30: 1730-1800 Arabic NF 7130, ex 15595 1830-1900 Arabic NF 7130, ex 15595 Updated and revised A-01 schedule of Voice of Russia as of Sep. 30: 0000-0100 Spanish 12060 11750 11510 9965 9890 9860 9830 9810 9685 9480 7380 7330 7180 0100-0200 English 17595 12000 11825^ 7180 Russian 17690 17660 17620 17565 15455 12060 11750 9480 7300 1215 Spanish 11510 9965 9945 9890 9860 9830 7400 7380 7330 0200-0300 English 17595 12000 7180 Russian 17690 17660 17650 17620 17565 15455 12060 11750 9480 7330 7300 1215 Russian 648 "Commonwealth" 0300-0400 English 17690 17660 17650 15455 12000 11750 7180 1548 693 0400-0500 English 17690 17660 17650 15455 12000 11750 7180 1548 693 0500-0600 English 21790 17685 17635 1323 693 0600-0700 English 21790 17685 17635 15490 1548 1323 1251 693 0700-0800 English 17685 17635 17525 17495 15490 1323 1251 693 0800-0900 English 17685 17635 17525 17495 15490 1323 693 0900-1000 German 15455 7330 1386 1323 1215 693 1000-1100 Chinese 15490 9480 9470 7400 5940 1251 801 585 Korean 13640 12055 9875 7490U 7315 7305 648 1000-1200 German 1386 1323 1215 693 1100-1130 Chinese 15490 9480 7400 7315 7305 5940 1251 1080 801 648 585 1130-1200 Chinese 15490 9480 9470 7400 7315 7305 5940 1251 1080 801 648 585 1200-1300 Chinese 12000 9480 9470 1251 585 Japanese 12000 7330 7315 720 630 Korean 7340 7305 648 Mongolian 15490 5940 1080 801 retimed, ex 1230-1330 Russian 15550 15460 9920 9490 7375 1323 1215 1143 693 648 Vietnamese 17570 12055 603 1200-1400 Dari/Pushto17665 15560 4975 4965 4940 972 648 extended, ex 1300-1400 1300-1400 Chinese 9480 7305 1251 801 585 Hindi 17570 15460 11500 1269 Japanese 12000 7330 7315 720 630 Russian 15550 9490 9745 7330 1323 1251 1215 693 Russian 9920 1278 1143 999 "Commonwealth" 1400-1500 English 15550 12055 9745 1386 1323 1269 1215 1143 972 693 Turkish 15540 11985 7325 1170 Russian 11695 9920 9450 1278 1143 999 "Commonwealth" 1400-1600 Persian 12015 9975 9835 7430 648 extended, ex 1430-1600 1400-1600 Urdu 17570 15560 15460 972 extended, ex 1400-1500 1500-1530 Albanian 12060 12040 12000 9470 Hindi 11720 9745 7305 1500-1600 English 11985 11500 9730 7325 4975 4965 4940 1494 972 German 12030 11980 9810 7440 7330 7300 1386 1323 1215 693 Russian 12055 12005 7130 1170 612 Russian 15540 11695 9450 7315 1314 1278 1143 "Commonwealth" 1530-1600 Bengali 11720 9745 7305 1530-1700 Serbian 12040 12000 9470 1548 1600-1700 Arabic 12015 11745 9975 9835 9710 7430 7325 1314 1170 English 15540 12055 11985 9730 7305 1494 648 French 12035 11870 11510 9865 9810 9745 9480 German 12030 11980 7440 7330 7300 1386 1323 1215 693 Romanian 9490 7370 999 Russian 11695 9450 7390 7315 1314 1278 1143 1089 "Commonwealth" 1700-1730 Finnish 9820 7360 1494 Mon to Fri 1700-1745 Hungarian 12020 7400 7370 1170 1700-1730 Arabic 11745 9975 9710 7430 1314 1170 1700-1800 Bulgarian 12000 9490 6000 936 621 English 11985 11675 11510 9820* 9775 9745 7360* 7310 1494* 1269 1251 French 12035 11870 9865 9810 7320 German 12030 11980 7440 7330 1386 1323 1215 693 Italian 12040 11920 9470 1548 Polish 11930 9890 Russian 15540 11695 9450 7390 7315 1278 648 "Commonwealth" Russian 9480 7300 1730-1800 Arabic 11745 9975 9710 7430 7130 1314 1170 1730-1800 Norwegian 9820 7360 1494 Tue/Thu Swedish 9820 7360 1494 Mon/Wed/Fri 1745-1830 Czech 12020 7400 7370 1170 1800-1830 Arabic 11745 9975 9835 9710 7430 1314 1170 1800-1900 English 11870 11510 9820 9775 9745 9480 7360 7310 7300 French 11930 11630 9865 7390 7320 German 11980 9890 7440 7330 1386 1323 1215 693 Greek 12065 12040 11985 9490 6000 936 621 Russian 11695 9450 1278 1143 1089 "Commonwealth" 1830-1900 Arabic 11745 9975 9835 9710 7430 7130 1314 1170 1830-1900 Slovak 12020 7400 7370 1170 1900-1930 Albanian 11930 9480 6000 936 621 1900-1930 French 11980 11745 11630 9865 7390 7320 1323 1900-1930 Russian 12040 12020 11695 9820 9450 7370 7360 1314 1215 693 612 1900-2000 English 15735 9890 9775 7440 7400 7310 1386 1323 1930-2000 Bulgarian 6000 936 621 1930-2000 French 11980 11745 11630 9865 7390 7320 1323 1930-2000 Russian 12040 12020 11695 9820 9480 9450 7360 7370 1314 1215 693 612 2000-2030 Portuguese 9480 7440 2000-2130 Serbian 6000 1548 2000-2100 English 15735 11980 9890 9820 9775 7400 1494 1386 Russian 11745 11695 9470 7360 7310 1314 1215 1089 999 693 612 2030-2100 Spanish 9480 7440 2100-2200 French 9495^ 2300-2400 Portuguese 12060 9965 9890 9860 9810 7330 *Sat/Sun ^via Santa Mariya di Galeria, VATICAN [ONLY: 0100-0200 English 11825 and 2100-2200 French 9495] 73 from (Ivo and Angel!, Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 1 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 11840 USB, Radio Sakhalin with possible sign-on at 2000 21 Sept. Schedule for the day, and local weather forecast and temperatures (high of 14, low of 9 Celsius). Excellent reception (Volodya Salmaniw, Grayland WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. KAZAKHSTAN. 9355, Voice of Orthodoxy with Russian sermon, at tune-in, 1535 21 Sept. Fair to good. At 1558, ID as "Govorit Golos Pravoslavya", then dead air afterwards. Local Friday (Volodya Salmaniw, Grayland WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SENEGAL. Private radio stations no longer on WorldSpace | Text of report by French publication Jeune Afrique on 18 September Since early September, two privately-owned Senegalese radio stations: Sud-FM and 7, have no longer been carried by the US satellite system WorldSpace. On the frequencies assigned to them, a recorded message now invites listeners to tune in to the "numerous other quality programmes available on (their) radios." At WorldSpace headquarters in Washington, one is advised that a financial dispute pitting the two stations against the National Telecommunications Company (Sonatel) in Senegal, owner of satellite dishes and relay antennas set up in Dakar, is reportedly the cause of the satellite broadcasting blackout: "We were not notified of Sonatel's decision until after it happened." WorldSpace is currently negotiating for the rights to carry radio broadcasts put out by the very official Radio and Television Broadcasting Company of Senegal (RTS), which could then "supply" Senegalese living outside the country. Source: Jeune Afrique, Paris, in French 18 Sep 01 p 35 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SENEGAL. Radio Sénégal International on WorldSpace | Text of report in English by Pan-African news agency PANA web site Dakar, 29 September: With effect from 1 October, Radio Sénégal International (RSI) will relay its programmes on WorldSpace network for wider audience in Africa and part of Europe, it was announced here Saturday. RSI is the latest broadcasting station of RTS (Senegalese Television and Broadcasting Services). "RSI's ambition is to be the echo of Senegal that reflects the cultural and social diversity of this country whose international prestige goes beyond the African continent," a statement issued by the RTS management said. The new station will be on the air 15 hours daily and it will broadcast programmes in the African languages of Wolof, Pulaar and Soninke in addition to French, Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish and Italian. WorldSpace, an American company based in Washington, is a world leader in digital broadcasting. Source: PANA news agency web site, Dakar, in English 29 Sep 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U K. Subject: MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | X-URL: http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,560798,00.html Mullah Omar never misses it, by Matt Wells Monday October 1, 2001 [39]The Guardian As the press scrambles to stay ahead of the game, the enormity of the story has boosted battered morale at the BBC World Service as it prepares to renegotiate its £200m annual Foreign Office grant.... (via Daniel Say, Sept 30, swprograms via DXLD) ** UNITED KINGDOM (non?): New transmission for BBC to Central Asia: 1500-1510 Kazakh Mon to Fri on 15595, 17895 1510-1530 Russian Mon to Fri on 15595, 17895 // 11845, 13745, 15225 (co-ch V of Turkey Arabic) 73 from (Ivo and Angel!, Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 1 via DXLD) ** U S A. Sunday, September 30, 2001 Will we muffle the Voice of America? By Bill Newbold Special to the Star-Telegram (Forth Worth, Texas, U.S.A.) As the American public gears up for yet another war, we should remind ourselves that "truth" again will be the first casualty. As the American public gears up for yet another war, we should remind ourselves that "truth" again will be the first casualty.... see entire piece: X-URL: http://web.star-telegram.com/content/fortworth/2001/09/30/opinions/fw031401-0930-XE001-radio.htm?template=aprint.htm (via Daniel Say, BC, swprograms via DXLD) To my tastes, Bill Newbold's style is rather melodramatic and his facts aren't exactly straight. He writes: ``When Soviet tanks blasted their way into Prague in 1968, the Voice of America's Czech service was the Czech people's only remaining link with the outside world.`` Well, actually the Czech _and_ Slovak people also had such powerful "links" as BBC, RFE, and German Radio. From what I gather, VoA usually trailed behind BBC and RFE in Eastern Europe. ``For its foreign listeners who heard one of the 36 languages in which the "Voice" spoke daily, the news of a civil rights movement under way in the United States was electrifying. Martin Luther King Jr. was unknown to Russians as well as the 150 million Soviet minorities. Radio Moscow was not interested in our civil rights movement.`` Actually, quite the opposite. The American civil rights movement enjoyed a big and rather positive press in the USSR. Martin Luther King Jr. was well-known. But the most famous was Angela Davis who, thanks to her frequent TV appearances, became a household name in the Soviet Union. Instead of saying "I have a bad hair day" Soviet women used to say: "I look like Angela Davis today!" I didn't listen to R. Moscow at that time but I would assume it spoke a lot about American civil rights movement back then. Just listen to today's RHC! (Sergei Sosedkin, swprograms via DXLD) During the Cold War years, RFE was number one in the audience surveys in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. VOA was number one in Czechslovakia and the USSR. In Czechoslovakia, VOA's success was largely due to the Munich MW relay on 1197 kHz (earlier on 1196 kHz). In the USSR, I think VOA led because of its wider scope of programming (including jazz) and its relays in Greece providing a more southerly azimuth into the USSR than from any of the RL transmitters. Radio Moscow and Soviet domestic broadcasting often gave the impression that Angela Davis, not Dr. King, was the leader of the American civil rights movements. But Sergei's point is correct: people in the Soviet Union heard plenty about the civil rights movement from their own media (Kim Elliott, swprograms via DXLD) It should not be too cynical of me to say that R. Moscow and Soviet domestic media coverage of the American civil rights movement was because the then lack of civil rights reflected negatively on the USA (never mind that nobody but Party members had `civil rights` -- if even that, in the USSR), and because Angela Davis was an avowed Communist (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. From the White House Web site today (1 October). Mr. Reilly works for the International Broadcasting Bureau's Office of Policy, which writes the editorials heard on VOA (Kim Elliott, VOA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011001-7.html The President intends to appoint Robert R. Reilly to be Director of the Voice of America. Reilly has hosted the weekly foreign policy talk show, "On The Line," on Voice of America and Worldnet TV since 1990. From 1988 to 1989, Reilly was President of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He was Senior Advisor for Public Diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Bern, Switzerland from 1985 to 1988, and from 1983 to 1985, Reilly served in the White House in the Office of Public Liaison handling foreign policy and national defense issues. Reilly was Director of Private Sector Programs at the U.S. Information Agency from 1981 to 1983. He received an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and a Master's degree from Claremont Graduate School. ------------------------------- (Kim Andrew Elliott, Producer and Presenter, Communications World Voice of America, Oct 1 DX LISTENING DIGEST) The VOA director is an appointment, not a nomination requiring Senate approval. The director of the International Broadcasting Bureau *does* require Senate confirmation. That nomination has not been announced (Kim Elliott, swprograms via DXLD) Oh, oh, looks like VOA will be under tighter government control (gh) According to Bill Safire's column today, this is the guy that Phil Gramm was pushing the White House to nominate. Given Mr. Gramm's pedigree, it would appear that this nomination is not good news for those who feel that the VOA should be true to its charter. The Administration keeps telling us not to panic. But with its efforts to curb VOA independence, the White House press secretary's comments about dissent over the weekend and some aspects of the "homeland security" legislation being proffered by the Attorney General can be taken as signs of panic in the Administration. We need to be most careful that we don't do by legislation and public policy what we claim we're not going to allow the terrorists to accomplish. (John Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. WNYC, WNYC-FM and WNYE-FM all in parallel: Problems with the WNYC facilities. WNYC's studios are about four blocks from the World Trade Center, and their phone lines were severely messed up by the attack. Also, their FM transmitter was at the top of the WTC. In the hours immediately following the attack, WNYE started airing WNYC's audio on FM for them, to compensate for the missing transmission. WNYC-FM has since reappeared on its regular frequency of 93.9 MHz from a transmitter atop the Empire State Building, but with significantly reduced power. So the signal doesn't get out as well as it used to, and WNYE is helping pick up the slack. That explains WNYC and WNYE being in parallel. As for WNYC's AM and FM stations being in parallel, their studios in the Municipal Building across the street from City Hall are still not functional, so they're doing their programs from elsewhere. Talk programs like New York and Company come from new studios being build by Columbia University's WKCR (KCR hasn't even used them yet!), with other programs being produced out of the NPR NYC bureau in midtown. Because of their ad hoc production situation, WNYC only has the ability to send a single audio feed. Hence the doubling and tripling up. Every half hour or hour, Laura Walker, WNYC's president, makes an on-air announcement that explains the whole situation, and the WNYC web site has some material explaining this and giving the temporary schedule as well. Incidentally, WNYE is originating a few of its own programs again now, usually between 8 and 10 pm, usually ethnic programs of one sort or another. BBC disappeared completely from the NPR stations in New York in the immediate aftermath of the attack, near as I could tell. On the Friday following the attack, BBC was aired by both WNYC-AM and WNYE- FM as early as 8 pm (as opposed to their usual midnight start time on WNYE), presumably because the small news staff at WNYC was completely exhausted and needed a break. BBC is now airing on all three stations from midnight to 5 am. If anyone heard BBC on one of these stations before that Friday, please let me know. I had my radio on WNYC and WNYE pretty much all the time in the days following September 11, but even I couldn't listen 24/7. I'm pretty sure that BBC had no presence until Friday, but I'd like to be absolutely certain. I didn't hear the usual 10 pm airing of The World Today, but wasn't necessarily listening after midnight. Thanks. (-- Ralph Brandi, NJ, swprograms Sept 30 via DXLD) ** U S A. My experience flying to the Keys was that in my airplane, I could see the three towers of Radio Martí, but still hear the Cuban signal. The Martí signal didn't overtake the Cuban until I was about a mile north in the air. Shows how tight the pattern is. BTW, radio Martí is now 100,000 watts. Strongest medium wave station in the US. I have some aerial photos I'll post when I find them (Paul Smith, W4KNX, Sarasota, FL, NRC-AM via DXLD) They do 100 kW when the site is manned and 50 kW when the site isn't manned. The pattern sure does seem to be tight. I don't know what that pattern is though. Does anyone have the parameters or a picture/map of the pattern? I'd think that it would be an obtuse angle... (Ron Gitschier, m/m, ibid.) ** U S A. WTBQ-1110 [Warwick NY] After Hours Violator This station is supposed to be a daytimer but stays on much later than sunset. The web site http://www.wtbq.com lists a 24 hour schedule (Rick Shaftan, Sparta NJ, Oct 1, NRC-AM via DXLD) WTBQ signs off the air as scheduled under its license. They maintain an internet broadcast 24/7 (Dave Marthouse, VA, ibid.) The temptation to stay on at night seems to have an almost supernatural hold over the daytimers on this frequency - Bay Minette, AL, Warwick, NY, Norfolk, VA, Pittsfield, MA, and Salem, NH have all been reported on this list during the past several months. The one in Providence was 24/7 for YEARS, even fooling DXers into believing that they had a fulltime CP and that it had just failed to appear in the FCC public notices. It had apparently been known in Providence broadcasting circles that 1110 was still only a daytimer. Didn't 1450 in West Warwick rat them out? Seems like it was right before a format change on 1450 that would have had them competing with 1110 for the same audience (Steve Francis, Alcoa, Tennessee, ibid.) This is the sort of blatant violation that makes you really wonder what the deal is with the FCC, especially their inconsistent, seemingly ad hoc rules enforcement. What you can or can't get away with, and enforcement priorities, must vary according to the whims of the field operations bureau engineers responsible for a given area. If your local cops were like the FCC, they'd be writing tickets for parked cars not having their wheels turned to the curb but ignoring armed robberies going on in plain sight just up the street (Harry Helms, AK6C, Ridgecrest, CA, ibid.) ** VIETNAM [French Indochina]. World War 2 Memorabilia - Japanese Radio Stations in Vietnam The first wireless transmitter destined for installation in Vietnam became a non-event. It was a French made 150 kW spark transmitter which was originally intended for installation in Saigon for communication with ships, and during the hours of darkness with station FL on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. However, at the time, World War 1 was brewing in Europe and instead the transmitter was diverted for installation in Lyons, France, where it carried communication traffic under the callsign YN. The first wireless stations in Vietnam were low powered units erected around 1920 by the French as communication facilities and they were located in Hanoi, Saigon and several regional cities. The allocated callsigns for these units all began with the letter F. A powerful 500 kW spark wireless station was erected in Saigon in 1925, with eight towers standing nearly 500 ft tall. This unit was given the call HZA. Soon afterwards, a 9 kW valve transmitter was installed at this location under the callsign FZS. At times, this station also carried program broadcasting which was heard in Australia, New Zealand and occasionally in the United States. Another shortwave station was erected at Chi-Hoa on the edge of Saigon by the French in 1930 specifically as a broadcasting station. Less than two years later, this station, ``Radio Saigon`` left the air due to financial constraints. At the beginning of 1939, this facility was re-located to Phu-Tho and re-activated on April 1. Note the rather strange identification announcement in English from this station: ``This is a special broadcast for the United States. We do not expect that many listeners in that country will hear our transmissions, but we would appreciate reports to be addressed to PO Box 412, Saigon.`` This station was heard with identification announcements as ``Radio Saigon`` and ``Philco Radio``, and signal strength on several channels was reported in Australia as being excellent. The transmitter was a French unit rated then at 10 kW. Another French transmitter at the same power rating was installed shortly afterwards. Around this era, there were also two other shortwave stations on the air in Saigon and these identified as ``Radio Boy Landry`` and ``Radio Volante``. Hanoi was also on the air from its communication station as ``Radio Hanoi``. It was at this stage that the political scene changed. In June 1940 over in Europe, France surrendered to the German army and Japan claimed French Indo-China, including the territory we now know as Vietnam. The Japanese army invaded Vietnam on September 22, 1940 and immediately took over the administration of the shortwave station ``Radio Saigon``. Two years later, in October 1942, Radio Saigon began to include POW news in its broadcasts and these reports were closely followed by government authorities in Melbourne Australia, and also by the legendary Arthur Cushen in New Zealand. Arthur noted that ``Radio Saigon`` was heard throughout this period of two and a half years with generally a good signal on 11770 kHz. In addition to their own locally produced programming, ``Radio Saigon`` also carried a relay from ``Radio Tokio``, taken off air shortwave. On one occasion, ``Radio Saigon`` was heard calling Tokio and asking for hints on how to produce broadcasts directed to Australia. On March 10, 1945, Japanese personnel themselves took over the on-air activities of ``Radio Saigon``, and they dropped POW broadcasts at the end of the following month. Some six months later, the Japanese administration installed Viet Minh personnel in Radio Saigon, who hastily abandoned the station when the British army arrived shortly afterwards. After the declaration of peace in the Pacific and Asia, ``Radio Saigon`` again resumed its role as a French radio station on September 26, 1945. However, a few months later, on April 8 in the following year, there was a massive explosion at the ammunition dump just opposite the studios of ``Radio Saigon``, and the facility was completely destroyed. Studio operations were transferred to a private house though the transmitter installation out of town was not affected. The whole facility was upgraded soon afterwards and it was on the air shortwave as ``Radio Saigon`` and ``Radio France Asie``. The first issue of the World Radio Handbook in 1947 informs us that the station was on the air immediately after the war with two shortwave transmitters at 12 kW, the same two units that were in use before the Pacific-Asia War. Late one night soon after the end of the war in my childhood home in a country area of South Australia, I happened to hear Radio Saigon on mediumwave, the first DX report of this revived station. This highly prized QSL card was my first from South East Asia (Adrian M. Peterson, AWR Wavescan Sept 9 via DXLD) ###