Unofficial Honduran station of ousted president resumes broadcasting

The unofficial radio station of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya resumed broadcasting via the Internet on Monday, a day after the country’s caretaker government shuttered it by force. The de facto government issued a decree on Sunday suspending media freedom and some civil liberties and sent troops on Monday to shut down Radio Globo and a television station that backed Zelaya, ousted in a coup three months ago.

The outside world, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and even local media loyal to de facto leader Roberto Micheletti have condemned the closures of Radio Globo and TV station Cholusat Sur, or channel 36. On Tuesday, Radio Globo DJs played “resistance” music and took calls by mobile phone from a cramped peach-colored bedroom in a safe house at the end of a narrow residential alley.

The media curbs have partially stifled Zelaya and his supporters, whose near-daily protests have flagged this week. Radio Globo Director David Romero claimed a large online audience but admitted the station could not maintain its traditional reach. “(Zelaya) has lost his media profile,” Mr Romero said from the makeshift broadcast booth. “Logically, he’s weakened because he does not have the option to communicate.”

Mr Romero said police and soldiers raided Radio Globo at dawn on Monday, seizing thousands of dollars worth of equipment. He and his co-workers were tipped off by a security guard and escaped through a back exit before forces knocked down a large metal gate on their second-floor installations.
Mr Romero said a loophole in the decree allowed the station to continue broadcasting via the Internet. “They took away communication with the people,” said Raul Rodriguez, 42, a Zelaya supporter munching on a ration of white bread and clutching a can of sardines during a small protest. “Radio Globo and channel 36 kept us informed of the marches. Now they’ve been destroyed, we don’t hear anything.”
(Source: Reuters/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Radio New Zealand plans temporary silent period

On 16 October Radio New Zealand International (RNZI) transmitters will be off-air from 1135-1700 NZDT (2235-0400 UTC) to allow for changes to the antenna combiners. New frequencies 7440 and 17675 will be used after this work is complete. A complete schedule is on the RNZI website.
(Source: RNZI)

Greece shortwave schedule updates

All times UTC

Voice of Greece
Summer A-09 update
0400-0550 on 7450 AVL 250 kW / 323 deg
0500-0900 on 11645 AVL 250 kW / 002 deg in Albanian,English,French,Spanish
0600-1000 on 15630 AVL 250 kW / 285 deg
0900-1000 on 11645 AVL 250 kW / 002 deg in German,Russian
1100-1000 on 9420 AVL 250 kW / 323 deg
1100-2250 on 15630 AVL 250 kW / 285 deg
2300-0450 on 7475 AVL 250 kW / 285 deg
2300-0350 on 15650 AVL 250 kW / 105 deg

Radiophonikos Stathmos Makedonias
Greek
1100-1650 on 9935 AVL 250 kW / 285 deg
1700-2250 on 7450 AVL 250 kW / 323 deg
(DX Mix News # 591 via Janisakthivel, India/wb, Germany)

Shortwave Blog "Bytes"

All times UTC

Australian DX Report 170 available for download

EpisodeNo. 170 of the Australian DX Report audio news magazine includes propagation research analysis of current spectrum occupancy in the 6, 7 and 9 MHz bands.

There are also other features, news and information about shortwave broadcasting, propagation, a solar activity report, monitoring notes, new schedules, extracts from schedules, and schedule updates.

It's 14 mins duration, and may be accessed from http://airm.edxp.org/

You may download/listen to/save the episodes as an MP3 file on your laptop/desktop, set up a Podcast, or receive/save it on your Mobile Phone or other portable internet-enabled digital device.

You may also subscribe via the site's RSS/Atom feed - full details are at the site.

The shows are very popular - over the past 30 days, there have been 613 downloads by subscribers, 1517 site visitors, and 165 episode hits.

The episodes are also available on-air, over WWCR Nashville, 0200-0215 on Sundays, on 5070, and on Mondays 1145-1200 on 15825, and via WWCR's streaming audio (live) at http://wwcr.com/

Good listening to the Australian DX Report Episode No. 170, and enjoy the Australian music!
(Bob Padula, Melbourne, Australia)

Clandestine schedule update
Belgium (non)
Clandestine - cancelled transmisison of Aso Radio in Hausa:
0530-0600 on 9680 ARM 250 kW / 188 deg to WCAf Mon-Fri
1600-1630 on 15215 ARM 250 kW / 188 deg to WCAf Mon-Fri
(DX Mix News #591/Jasakthivel, India, wb, Germany)

China Radio International changes frequency
China Radio International in English/Bulgarian
2000-2057 NF 11940 KUN 500 kW / 300 deg, co-ch RRI English from 2030,x 7315'
(DX Mix News #591/Jasakthivel, India, wb, Germany)

Deutsche Welle extends Farsi schedule
Germany (non) extended transnmision of Deutsche Welle in Farsi:
1730-1830 on 5915 ARM 250 kW / 132 deg, ex 1730-1800 on 5945
7510 KCH 500 kW / 115 deg, ex 1730-1800 on same
(DX Mix News #591/Jasakthivel, India, wb, Germany)

Ethiopian monitoring
7110 Radio Ethiopia, Geja Dera, 1609-1630. Vernacular talks to Horn of Africa music and songs. SINPO 35433 // 9704.2 kHz (worse) under interferences.

7175 Radio Xornimo (=Freedom)?, Addis Baba, 1547-1600. Somali (presumed) with talks and jammer at 1600. SINPO 45343.

7165 Voice of Peace & Democracy of Eritrea, Geja Jawe, 1455-1611. Vernacular, talks & music, announcements (+ID?) at 1500. Jammer noted after approximately 1610. SINPO 5322.

9559.6 Radio Ethiopia (External Service), Geja Jawe, 1211-1225. Somali (presumed) to local folk music and talks. SINPO 25332.

9704.2 Radio Ethiopia (Home Service), Geja Dera, 1152-1227. Vernacular into local pops. SINPO 24332. Adajacent interference noted on 9705. (Carlos Goncalves-POR, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 20)

9704.182 Radio Ethiopia at 2037-2100.* Pop-ish Ethiopian vocals with that nice Horn of Africa touch, presumed Amharic male announcer from 2057. Vocal anthem 2059, nothing noted on parallels. Clear and good. No trace of the oft-reported Niger on 9705 variable.(Terry L Krueger-FL-USA, DXplorer Sept 22/BC-DX #Top News)

Madagascar cancels transmission
Cancelled for Voice of People in English/Shona/Ndebele:
1700-1755 on 7395 MDC 050 kW / 265 deg to SoAf effective July 16
7510 KCH 500 kW / 115 deg, ex 1730-1800 on same
(DX Mix News #591/Jasakthivel, India, wb, Germany)

Pirate chasing
The Crystal Ship, 6876, 0012. Poet on with a rare show. The conditions hampered IDing any of the music. It may have been something by Springsteen and The Police. I did hear a clear ID at 0015. Poor.(Wood, TN).

Outhouse Radio, 6930AM, 0005. "Outhouse Radio" ID with lots of classic hardrock music in an awful hail of static (Ragnar)

Radio GaGa
6925, 1215-1226. SINPO 35443. Early morning pirate radio with music from Steele Dan, Under Pressure, Radio GaGa loop, GaGa ID at Sign off. (Ragnar) 6925USB, 2312+ Poor signal, but for once, the identifications were clear. Heard two identifications. (Majewski CT)

Voodoo Radio
3450USB, 0045+ Good Rev. Bow Voodoo back on the air with a "Support the Troops" show. Tough copy through heavy static with some signal improvement toward end of show. (Sedlacek-NE)

Voice of Chaos
6925USB, 0050. Fair/distorted audio to song, Dust In The Wind. Headlines read from London newspaper: "contraceptives fight climate change." Pop music song, Psycho Chicken, sudden fade, good ID's given often. Emailed VOC at both oiceofkaos@gmail.com and voiceofchaos@gmail.com and so far neither bounced. (Hassig-IL)(FRW711 via Greg Majewski)

Propagation link updates
Thomas Giella informs me that he has purchased a new web server and domain name http://www.nz4o.com/ . Below are the new URL's.

NZ4O Daily LF/MF/HF/6M Frequency Radiowave Propagation Forecast & Archive:
http://www.nz4o.com/nz4o3.htm

NZ4O Daily Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive:
http://www.nz4o.com/nz4o1.htm
NZ4O Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data In Graphic & Image Format:
http://www.nz4o.com/nz4o2.htm
NZ4O Solar Cycle 24 Forecast Discussion & Archive:
http://www.nz4o.com/nz4o4.htm
NZ4O 160 Meter Radio Propagation Theory Notes: http://www.nz4o.com/nz4o5.htm
NZ4O Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Raw Forecast Data Links:
http://www.nz4o.com/nz4o6.htm
(Thomas Giella, FL NZ4O)

Radio Habana A09 schedule update

All times UTC

Arabic
2030-2100 on 11770 11800

Creole
0100-0130 on 13790
2130-2200 on 5965 17660
2230-2300 on 5965 17660
2330-2400 on 5965 Mon-Sat

English
0100-0500 on 6000 6140
0500-0700 on 6060 6140 11760 13790
0700-1100 on 6060
2030-2130 on 11760 17660 17750
2300-2400 on 13790

Esperanto
0700-0730 on 6000 Sun
1500-1530 on 5965 11800 11760 Sun
1930-2000 on 11760 Sun
2330-2400 on 5965 6120 9600 Sun

French
0000-0100 on 13790
0130-0200 on 13790
2000-2030 on 11760
2130-2200 on 11760
2200-2230 on 5965 17660
2300-2330 on 5965

Guarani(but really in French)
2230-2300 on 17705
2330-2400 on 17705
Mesa Redonda Informativa in Spanish
2230-2400 on 6000 9640 Mon-Fri

Portuguese
2000-2030 on 11770 11800
2200-2230 on 17705
2300-2330 on 13760 17705
2330-2400 on 13760

Spanish
0000-0100 on 5965 6000 6060 6120 6140 9600 11690 11760 13760
0100-0130 on 5965 6060 6120 6140 9600 11690 11760 13760 13790
0130-0200 on 5965 6060 6120 6140 9600 11690 11760 13760
0200-0500 on 5965 6060 6120 6140 9600 11690 11760 13760 13790
0500-0700 on 6000 6010 6120
0700-1100 on 6000 6120 6140
1100-1300 on 6000 6180 9600 11760 11800 13760 15120 15360
1300-1400 on 6000 11760 13680 13740 13760 13780 15120 15360
1400-1500 on 11760 13680 13760 13780 15120 15360
1500-2000 on 5965 6000 11690 11760 11800 13680 13760 13780 15360
2000-2100 on 12000 12010 13740 13750 17660 17750
2100-2200 on 11770 11800 13740 13750 13760 13790
2200-2300 on 11760 11770 11800 13740 13750 13760 13790 17660
2300-2400 on 11690 11760 11770 11800 13760 13790

Quechua(but really in Portuguese)
0000-0030 on 17705

Alo Presidente in Spanish, programa del presidente de Venezuela Hugo Chavez
1400-1930 on 11690 11760 11770 11800 11875 12010
13680 13740 13750 13780 15290 17750 Sun

Radio Nacional de Venezuela
Spanish
1000-1100 on 6180
1100-1200 on 6060
1200-1300 on 11705
1500-1600 on 11680
1900-2000 on 15290
2000-2100 on 17705
2200-2300 on 11670
2300-2400 on 13680 15250
(DX Mix News #591/Jasakthivel, India, wb, Germany)

Radio Amanecer Internacional reactivates on shortwave

Dominican Republic
6025.02, Radio Amanecer Internacional, Santo Domingo, 2340-0025+, Sept 25-26, reactivated. Thanks to tip from Ron Howard. Spanish religious music. ID announcement at 2353. Some Spanish talk. Good and strong until 2358. Signal fair to poor after 2358 due to adjacent channel splatter. I think the last time I heard these guys was back in December. (Brian Alexander, PA)

6025.04, Radio Amanecer Internacional,0207, Sept. 25. Same format as yesterday, but with better reception. Heard clear “Radio Amanecer Internacional”, which I did not hear in yesterdays reception, even though I was specifically listening for it (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Internet radio brings the world to your home

by Bill Mann
LIKE SOME OF YOU, I've listened to radio on the net for years. And also, popular free music service Pandora, where you can program your own customized radio station to play everything from Wilson Pickett to Haydn.

But there's a convenient new twist:

A net radio you can put on your nightstand or anyplace in your house — with radio preset buttons. It brings the world into your living room or bedroom at the touch of a button.

I first saw one of these last year in Vancouver, where I was visiting my old pal "Mayor" Art Finley, the former KRON kiddie-show host and talk host at both KCBS and KGO.

Finley had a Grace Internet radio pre-set to both KCBS and KGO. So here we were way up in B.C., listening to Bay Area radio. No more lugging a laptop around the house: I just had to get one, which I did for my birthday. They're not that expensive and look a lot like a regular radio.

read more of this story at: http://www.mercurynews.com/alamedacounty/ci_13411152

BBC World News to launch China Business Report in English

"BBC World News soon will launch a China Business Report on the British statecaster's commercial 24-hour international news and information channel. The English-language show about China's increasingly influential economy will be co-produced with Chinese broadcaster Phoenix CNE and U.K. independent company Sibling Eye. 'This is a unique opportunity for BBC World News as it is the first time the channel has sought to transmit a whole program from China,' Paul Gibbs, BBC World News head of programs, said in a statement on Sept. 22. ... BBC World News will be the principal broadcaster, Gibbs said. ... Historically, BBC's reporting on China on occasion has displeased Beijing, where media regulators have moved to block the U.K. broadcasters' Web sites and radio and television broadcasts in China."
(Jonathan Landreth/THR.com World)

Chávez tightens grip on Venezuelan broadcasting control

The Venezuelan government has intensified its policy of imposing controls on the media with a swathe of new broadcasting rules, regulations and requirements to the point that it is now empowered to tell radio stations what to transmit during at least part of every day. Under a resolution published in the Gazeta Oficial, the Information and Communication Ministry now has the sole responsibility of deciding the content of what goes over the airwaves for three and a half hours a day. Nobody is betting that these are going to be the “graveyard” in the wee small hours of the night.
(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Complete story from Latin American Tribune Herald
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=344535&CategoryId=10717
(flickr)

Honduran troops shut down pro-Zelaya radio station

Honduran soldiers raided a radio station aligned with ousted President Manuel Zelaya and shut down its operations after the de facto government issued a decree allowing the suspension of some civil rights and media, the radio’s director said today.

“Soldiers assaulted the radio this morning, took over the station and took it off the air,” the Radio Globo director David Romero said. “There were no arrests and staff managed to escape.”
(Source: Reuters/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Amateur radio event QSLing update

KL - Hugh, K6HFA says he will try to be active as K7A from a few islands in Alaska between 21 September and 5 October. IOTA groups mentioned include NA-236 (new one), NA-222, NA-216 and NA-087. He plans to operate CW and SSB on 20, 30 and 40 metres. QSL via K6HFA, direct or bureau (direct QSLling policy at http://www.qrz.com/ ). [TNX www.islandchaser.com/ ]

OD - The Radio Amateurs of Lebanon (RAL) will be operating special event station OD5F for the duration of the 6th Francophone Games, which will be held in Beirut from 27 September to 6 October. QSLs will be handled by the RAL QSL bureau. [TNX IARU]

PA - Special callsign PA08DWN will be aired on CW on 2-3 October during the annual Furieade maritime event at Maassluis, near Rotterdam. Operations will take place from the radio shack of the "Elbe", a tugboat that is being restorated to serve as a museumship. QSL via PA3ALM. [TNX PA9HR]

VP8_sg - Lars, MM0DWF (www.lars-boehme.de/vp8dif/index.html) will be working again at Husvik, South Georgia (AN-007) between early October and mid November. He expects to operate again as VP8DIF during his limited spare time, running 100 watts to a G5RV on RTTY, CW and SSB (in that order). QSL via DJ9ZB, direct or bureau. [TNX G4DYO]

KP2 QSL BUREAU, The ARRL US Virgin Islands Incoming QSL Bureau's new address is: Virgin Islands QSL Bureau, P.O. Box 25782, Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands 00824. Comments or questions on this bureau's operation may be directed to Ann Keegan, KP2YL
(kp2yl@arrl.net ). [TNX NC1L]

QSL 9M2MRS Rich, 9M2MRS (PA0RRS) reports that his incoming mail is being tampered with and green stamps are being stolen. Direct QSL requests should be sent to his address in the Netherlands (R.W.L. Smeets, Schoorveken 100, 5121 NM Rijen, The Netherlands). [TNX OPDX
Bulletin] (DX News # 959)

9M8, East Malaysia (IOTA Op). Steve, 9M6DXX, from the Island of Borneo (OC-088) plans to busy from East Malaysia over next two months. Look for Steve to be active as 9M8Z from Sarawak, East Malaysia (OC-088), between October 22-26th. Activity will be SSB only but will also include operations in the CQWW DX SSB Contest (October 24-25th) as a Single-Op/All-Band/High-Power/Unassisted entry. QSL via LoTW, or QSL direct or by the Bureau to M0URX (or request direct or bureau cards on-line [see info at:
http://www.m0urx.com/direct-a-bureau-instructions.html ). In early November, Steve/9M6DXX will be joined by John/9M6XRO and the operators will activate Pulau Labuan Island (OC-133) between November 6-8th (and possibly for one or two hours on November 9th after 0000z).

The callsigns and operations will be as follows:
9M6DXX/P - On 80-10 meters; SSB only.
9M6XRO/P - On 160-10 meters; CW and RTTY. Each stations
will be using amplifiers to a multi-band vertical and a 160m inverted-L, both mounted very close to the ocean. Operators hope it will be possible to operate on 160m CW at the same time as SSB on the other bands. QSL both 9M6DXX/P and 9M6XRO/P via M0URX, either direct, by the bureau or LoTW.

C9, Mozambique, Marco, IK1RAE, will be active as C91VM between October 5-23rd. Activity will be on 40-10 meters using SSB and running 100 watts into a vertical. Marco plans (if possible) to activate IOTA groups AF-061, AF-066, AF-072 and AF-088. QSL only direct. PLEASE NOTE: All proceeds will be donated to a charity project in the village of
Malangute - check http://www.qrz.com/ for the official QSL info.

YR550, Romania (Special Event). Members of the Romanian Society of Radio Amateurs will activate the special callsign YR550BU between September 18th and October 5th. According to the "Societatii Romane a Radioamatorilor" (SRR - Romanian Society of Radio Amateurs) Web page, activity is to celebrate the 550th anniversary of the first written mention of "Bucharest", the capital city of Romania. SRR states, "Bucharest was mentioned by Vlad Tepes (a.k.a "Vlad - Dracul") in a donation receipe issued at 20th of September, 1459. Vlad Tepes is the
character that inspired Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'." The Romanian Society of Radio Amateurs will issue a special QSL card for this occasion. Look for activity on the HF bands, 80-10m. For more information, visit the SRR Web page at: http://www.asrr.org/
(Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin - DX News 926)

QSL Blog Central

The following QSLs represent a portion of those recently cut from my QSL Report column in Monitoring Times, for space constraints. Contributions are always welcomed for the magazine or Shortwave Central blog at the above email address.
Good luck with your QSLing quest !

Armenia
Voice of Russia via Yerevan relay, 11510 kHz. Full data color VOR card received in 45 days for an English reception report sent to: world@ruv.ru (Tom Banks, TX)

Brazil
Rádio Senado 5990 khz. Full data email confirmation from Alexandre Campos de Silveira, Coordenador, in three days for Portuguese report sent to: radio@senado.gov.br (Sam Wright, MS).

China
Voice of Russia via Xian relay, 9660 kHz. Full data VOR card received 56 days for English report sent to: world@ruvr.ru (Tom Banks, TX)

Clandestine
IRIN Radio 13685 kHz. Full data email verification from Louise Tunbridge. Received in two days for report sent to: louise@IRINnews.org (Sam Wright, MS) Station website: www.irinnews.org/

Ethiopia
Amhara State Radio, Bahir 6090 kHz. Friendly email reply with verification statement from Dereje Moges-Station Director. Received in less than 24 hours for report sent to: dereradio2000@yahoo.com He did not respond on my query if he had received my original postal report mailed to: Bahir Dar, Amhara Province, Ethiopia. (Brandon Jordan, TN/HCDX)

Cuba
Radio Habana Cuba 11750 kHz. Full data color station card signed by Lourdes López. Received in 60 days for English report sent to: radiohc@enet.cu (Tom Banks, TX)

Germany
Overcomer Ministries via Jülich, Germany 17485 Khz. Full data electronic verification sheet from Michael Puetz. Received in 80 days for report sent to: QSL-shortwave@media-broadcast.com (Brandon Jordan, TN/Cumbre DX)

Greece
Voice of Greece 11645 kHz. Full data color Greece scenery card unsigned. Received in two months for report sent to: era5@ert.gr (Duane Hadley, TN)

India
All India Radio-Thiravananthapuram 5010 kHz. Full data color scenery card. Received in two years for followup report sent to: spectrum-manager@air.org.in (Duane Hadley, TN).

Pirates/Free Radio (Euro)
Orion Radio 5815 kHz. Full data QSL card signed by “John,” plus sticker. Received in 32 days for report sent to: webmaster@orionradio.nl (anonymous, UK)

Radio Face de Blatte 6385 kHz. No data electronic verification sheet. Received in one day for report to: radio.rfb@gmail.com (anonymous, UK

Playback International 6240 kHz. No data electronic verification sheet. Received in five hours for report to: playbackinternational@googlemail.com (anonymous, UK)

Radio Mazda 6305 kHz. No data electronis verification sheet with photos. Received in two hours for a report to: radiomazda@hotmail.com (anonymous, UK

Radio Nova 9290 kHz. Full data station QSL card. Received in 60 days for report and $ 1.00 US, sent to: Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten, Netherlands. (anonymous, UK)

Q103 9290 kHz. Full data QSL card signed by Tom Taylor. Received in two weeks for report and $1.00 US sent to: Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten, Netherlands. (anonymous, UK)
(Gayle Van Horn/QSL Report/Monitoring Times http://www.monitoringtimes.com/ )

Radio Netherlands Program Guide - Sept 26-Oct. 2

Welcome to our weekly guide to Radio Netherlands Worldwide's English Service - a list of the new programs coming up on Radio Netherlands Worldwide this week, beginning on Saturday.

SATURDAY 26 September
*** The State We're In ***

How do we treat each other in a recession? Elena Guerra tells Jonathan about her experience of the 2001 financial crisis in Argentina, and what she would do if she ever got her savings back. And Dmitry Orlov tells Jonathan about the network of personal connections that held society together during economic collapse of the USSR.

Is there a right to marry...or NOT marry? Jonathan Groubert talks with Jasvinder Sanghera about her extraordinary personal story. Do we have the right to marry more than one person? Reporter Michael Kalonki visited an old Masai herder who insists that his three wives live harmoniously together in the old way. His youngest wife has a slightly different story. And do priest have the right to marry?

The career of bluegrass legend Eddie Adcock nearly ended when he developed a serious hand tremor. So he underwent an operation in which electrodes were placed in his brain so he could play again.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1000 East Asia and Southeast Asia 11895, Eastern China 12065, Southeast Asia 15110
1405 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1505 South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1805 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
1905 West Africa 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480
2005 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
1000 Africa and Asia
1200 North America
1535 Europe
2200 Asia, North America, Safm
2300 Europe

*** Network Europe Week ***

A collaboration by Europe's leading broadcasters

A pan-European team links up across the continent every day to provide a fresh perspective on events and life in Europe. If you missed any editions of Network Europe satisfy your needs with this digest of the programme's top stories.

Broadcast time on SW (UTC):
1505 South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825

Note that we run Network Europe Week every hour on Monday until 1600

*** Network Europe Extra ***

Arts and Culture brought to you each Sunday from Europe's widest partnership of international broadcasters.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1505 South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
0300 North America
1200 North America
1500 Europe

SUNDAY 27 September
*** Radio Books (primary program) ***

'Whisperers' - by Thomas Verbogt

Aside from stories and novels, Dutch author Thomas Verbogt has written for theatre, film and cabaret performances. He is also a regular newspaper columnist. His tranquil story for Radio Books concerns animal whisperers, baby whisperers and the intimate whispers exchanged between friends.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
0930 East Asia and Southeast Asia 11895, Eastern China 12065, Southeast Asia 15110
1430 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1530 South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1830 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
1930 West Africa 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480
2030 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
0430 North America
1030 Africa and Asia
1230 North America
1700 Europe
2230 Asia, North America, Safm

MONDAY 28 September
*** Curious Orange (primary program) ***

Muslims in the Netherlands may be getting a bad press these days, but all over Amsterdam they're trying to show people we're all the same. That is why community groups have been inviting people across the capital to join an iftar - the traditional meal served to break the fast each evening during Ramadan. But it's not all Kumbaya. We'll also hear about the row over a new tax proposal - for Muslim women wearing head scarves. And we'll play you a tune. This
week's feature music artist is the Horse Company.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1415 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1540 South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1815 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
1940 West Africa 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480
2015 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
1540 Europe
1740 Europe
2240 Asia, North America, Safm

*** Network Europe Week ***

A collaboration by Europe's leading broadcasters

A pan-European team links up across the continent every day to provide a fresh perspective on events and life in Europe. If you missed any editions of Network Europe satisfy your needs with this digest of the programme's top stories.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1440 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1900 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2040 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
1500 Europe
2200 Asia, North America

*** Newsline ***

The latest world news and current affairs.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1405 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1805 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2005 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
1700 Europe
2200 Asia, North America, Safm

*** Network Europe ***

A collaboration by Europe's leading broadcasters

A pan-European team links up across the continent every day to provide a fresh perspective on events and life in Europe.

Broadcast time on SW (UTC):
1500 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530
1900 West Africa 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

*** Euro Hit 40 ***

Europe's No.1 chart Show.

*** Classic Dox ***

RNW presents Classic Dox - scrolling our archives for the best documentary programmes.
'Innocence Lost' was produced and presented by Eric Beauchemin. The programme was originally broadcast in February 2000. Classic Dox is a presentation of Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1000 East Asia and Southeast Asia 11895, Eastern China 12065, Southeast Asia 15110

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
0400 North America, Africa, Asia
1200 North America

*** European Jazz Stage/ World Music ***

The Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw is performing in the Amsterdam Bimhuis, featuring some special guests. Before that, you can hear the Zapp String

Quartet. No brass instruments, no drums, but it's jazz alright. They play classics by Thad Jones and George Gershwin, but also by Prince and Jasper le Clerq.

All of that, on the European Jazz Stage with Daniel Frankl.

*** Live! at the Concertgebouw ***

Phenomenal performances by Dutch top orchestras.

Live! at the Concertgebouw 2007
Connections between Schubert, Bruckner and Wagner are explored in this edition. Two symphonies and two excerpts are interpreted by the Royal Concertgebouw

Orchestra under Mariss Jansons. Your hosts are Hans Haffmans and Cynthia Wilson.

Live! at the Concertgebouw 2008
Lesser-known composer Ferrucio Busoni's 1909 Berceuse Elégiaque is played by the Schönberg Ensemble, while the Wiener Philharmoniker put in an appearance with the third movement of Mahler's Third Symphony. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra performs the entire Fifth Symphony of Mahler, plus the kaleidoscopic 'Don Juan' by Richard Strauss. Bart Visman is co-hosting with Hans Haffmans.

TUESDAY 29 September
*** Network Europe ***

A collaboration by Europe's leading broadcasters. A pan-European team links up across the continent every day to provide a fresh perspective on events and life in Europe.



Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1440 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1900 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2040 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
1500 Europe
2200 Asia, North America

*** The State We're In - Midweek Edition ***

How do we treat each other in a recession? Elena Guerra tells Jonathan about her experience of the 2001 financial crisis in Argentina, and what she would do if she ever got her savings back. And Dmitry Orlov tells Jonathan about the network of personal connections that held society together during economic collapse of the USSR.

Is there a right to marry...or NOT marry? Jonathan Groubert talks with Jasvinder Sanghera about her extraordinary personal story. Do we have the right to marry more than one person? Reporter Michael Kalonki visited an old Masai herder who insists that his three wives live harmoniously together in the old way. His youngest wife has a slightly different story.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):

1030 East Asia and Southeast Asia 11895, Eastern China 12065, Southeast Asia 15110
1430 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1530 South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1815 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
1940 West Africa 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480
2015 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
0400 North America
1030 Africa and Asia
1200 North America
1530 Europe
1730 Europe
2230 Asia, North America

*** Classic Dox ***

RNW presents Classic Dox - scrolling our archives for the best documentary programs. 'The Diary of Otto van Eck' was produced and presented by Chris Chambers. The program was originally broadcast in August 2005. Classic Dox is a presentation of Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

*** Newsline ***

The latest world news and current affairs.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1405 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1805 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2005 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
2200 Asia, North America, Safm
2300 Europe

WEDNESDAY 30 September
*** Network Europe ***

A collaboration by Europe's leading broadcasters

A pan-European team links up across the continent every day to provide a fresh perspective on events and life in Europe.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1440 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1900 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2040 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
1500 Europe
2200 Asia, North America

*** Reloaded (primary program) ***

Another selection of this week's programme highlights presented by Mindy Ran.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1415 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1515 South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1815 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
1945 West Africa 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480
2015 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

*** Classic Dox ***

RNW presents Classic Dox - scrolling our archives for the best documentary programmes.

'A Hiroshima Story' was originally broadcast in August 2005 as part of our series Vox Humana. Classic Dox is a presentation of Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

*** Newsline ***

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1405 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1805 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2005 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
2200 Asia, North America, Safm
2300 Europe

THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER
*** Network Europe ***

A collaboration by Europe's leading broadcasters

A pan-European team links up across the continent every day to provide a fresh perspective on events and life in Europe. A collaboration by Europe's leading broadcasters. A pan-European team links up across the continent every day to provide a fresh perspective on events and life in Europe.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1440 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1900 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2040 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
1500 Europe
2200 Asia, North America

*** Earthbeat (primary program) ***

We take a look at some weird and wonderful green buildings. There'll be a tour of a straw house that looks nothing like a straw house. We uncover why the US green seal of approval may not be worth the paper it's stamped on, and we'll be taking some tips from the master builders, termites.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1000 East Asia and Southeast Asia 11895, Eastern China 12065, Southeast Asia 15110
1415 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1545 South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1815 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
1940 West Africa 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
0400 North America
1000 Africa and Asia
1200 North America
1540 Europe
2300 Europe

*** Classic Dox ***

RNW presents Classic Dox - scrolling our archives for the best documentary programs. A World at Your Fingertips was produced and presented by Anna Yeadell. The program was originally broadcast in February 2004 and won a Bronze Medal at the New York Festivals. Classic Dox is a presentation of Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC)
04.30 North America

*** Newsline ***

The latest world news and current affairs.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1405 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1805 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2005 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
2200 Asia, North America, Safm
2300 Europe

FRIDAY 2 OCTOBER
*** Network Europe ***

A collaboration by Europe's leading broadcasters

A pan-European team links up across the continent every day to provide a fresh perspective on events and life in Europe.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1440 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1900 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2040 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
1500 Europe
2200 Asia, North America

*** Bridges with Africa (primary program) ***

We're giving the microphone to Diaspora groups in Europe and are linking up with stations in Africa. The show goes beyond the clichés of starving children and war-ridden countries and seeks to bring you genuine voices from a vibrant continent.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1000 East Asia and Southeast Asia 11895, Eastern China 12065, Southeast Asia 15110
1415 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1815 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2015 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
0430 North America
1000 Africa and Asia
1730 Europe
2230 Asia, North America

*** Classic Dox ***

RNW presents Classic Dox - scrolling our archives for the best documentary programmes.
The Fairbridge Farm School was produced by Dheera Sujan. It was originally broadcast in February 2006 as part of our series Dutch Horizons. Classic Dox is a presentation of Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

*** Newsline ***
The latest world news and current affairs.

Broadcast times on SW (UTC):
1405 South and Southeast Asia 9345, South Asia 11835 and 15815, Southeast Asia/India 7530, Tibet 5825
1805 Southern Africa 6020, East Africa 15535
2005 West Africa 11610, 11660 and 15335, East Africa 9480

Broadcast times on WRN (UTC):
2200 Asia, North America, Safm
2300 Europe
(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Voice of Peace returns as an Internet broadcaster

The legendary Israeli radio station the Voice of Peace has been re-created as an Internet station. Former VOP presenter Doug Wood writes on the website:

“After 15 years of silence The Voice of Peace 24/7 is back again, using 21st Century technology. We would like “1540 The Voice of Peace” to sound as close to the original as possible. Our team includes Tami Tzabari from Israel who will make sure we achieve that. Yaniv Dayan who has built our website and will be making sure that the signal we originate can be heard well from the site. On our team we have Paul Douglas IT Studio and trans(R Netherlands mitter engineer. Paul will also be one of our presenters and myself, Doug Wood; I’ll be responsible for making sure it all runs smoothly when we go on the air. I will also return with “Morning Music” after 27 years! You will be expecting more ex VOP DJ’s in the coming weeks. So don’t go away!!!”

The station is still in a test phase. Current plans are to launch in mid-October. I noticed that the programme titles are the same as the ones that were used on the original VOP.

There are various stream formats listed, but none of them were working when I checked a few minutes before posting this message. This may be due to being behind a firewall, but I suspect none of the streams was active. There’s a forum available for you to leave your questions and comments.
(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Voice of Peace website: http://www.thevoiceofpeace.co.il

New wave of censorship in Honduras

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya’s reappearance in Tegucigalpa has prompted a new wave of censorship of the national and international press. The de facto government’s response to the news of his return and his appeal to the army to “turn its rifles on the enemies of the people” has been to impose an immediate curfew, keep the international press away from the pro-Zelaya demonstrations and do everything possible to silence the few independent and opposition media still operating.

“This clampdown on the media in Honduras is unacceptable,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We condemn the attempts of the de facto authorities to ensure that a serious situation goes unreported and we urge them to respect the rights of Honduran citizens, especially the right to free expression and free movement.”

The press freedom organisation added: “Deprived of news and information, the international community is not even able to find out how many people have been injured or arrested in the course of the military’s operations.”

The entire neighbourhood around the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya and his wife have been holed up since 21 September, has been militarised with the aim of “sweeping the area clean” of demonstrators and news media,” as a police officer put it. The international media, including news agencies such as Reuters and the Associated Press have been forced to leave the neighbourhood.

The government headed by acting President Roberto Micheletti is gagging the national press, especially two pro-Zelaya broadcast media, Canal 36 television and Radio Globo, which tried to provide live coverage of the events around the Brazilian embassy including the crackdown on demonstrators.

The head of Canal 36, Esdras Amado López, said the station has not been broadcasting since yesterday when its power supply was disconnected. Radio Globo, the only broadcast media to cover Zelaya’s arrival in Tegucigualpa, said it has been forced repeatedly to stop broadcasting. Both media say the aim is to prevent them covering the dispersal of the demonstrators around the embassy.

The Spanish news agency EFE quoted Micheletti as saying on 20 September that two journalists whom he did not name had practiced “media terrorism” by announcing Zelaya’s return, which he had not at that time recognised as a reality. Micheletti added that the two journalists – clearly Amado and David Romero of Radio Globo – would receive court summonses.

Radio Progreso, a station based in the northern town of El Progreso, preferred to suspend broadcasting at around 5 pm yesterday rather than have soldiers move into its studios to supervise its operations, as happed after the 28 June coup d’état. A Radio Progreso journalist said the station did not want a military occupation and the resulting danger to its staff. He did not how long he thought the station would have to stay off the air.
(Source: Reporters Without Borders/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Voice of America to adjust frequency for Kurdish service

There will be a frequency change for the 0500-0600 UTC broadcast of VOA in Kurdish via the RNW Madagascar relay station as of 1 October. The current frequency, 15380 kHz, will be replaced by 17770 kHz.
(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Blog Logs

Today’s edition of Blog Logs, represent what hobbyist have been monitoring recently. Have you heard an interesting program or favorite station you’d like to share with our blog readers? Contributions are always welcome to the above email address.

All times UTC
English unless otherwise indicated
// heard on parallel frequency
frequencies in kilohertz
* sign-on sign-off*

AustraliaRadio Australia 9590, 1300. News covering southeast Asia SIO 454 (Bob Fraser, ME).

Canada
Radio Japan relay 6120, 1219. Report on Agent Orange health problems. SIO 554 (Bob Fraser, ME). Website: www.nhk.or.jp/english/

China
Guangxi FBS/Beibu Bay Radio, 5050, 1312. Vietnamese service with some announcements in Chinese. Easy-listening pop songs and several ID’s noted as “this is Beibu Bay Radio” in Chinese. Vietnamese and English noted and “BBR” announced often over piano background music. Signal mostly poor due to higher than normal local interference and light All India Radio interference // 9820 which was mostly covered by CNR-2/CBR Noted this station 5050, 1335 beginning the Top Music program in Vietnamese. All India Radio interference not a factor today for almost fair reception (Ron Howard, CA). Website: www.gxradio.com/index/index.asp

Ethiopia
Voice of Ahmara State Radio 6090, 0258-0309. Vernacular text and talk. Interval signal loop included at the tune-in under co-channel Brazil. No sign of Anguilla here, announcer at 0300 with Horn of Africa style music, followed by talk at 0308. Signal poor-noisy. (Scott Barbour, NH)
Voice of Ahmara State Radio 6090. Noted from 0303 tune-in with very nice signal, peak from 0315-0330 with male announcer and Horn of Africa music. Typically, the first one or two songs after their sign-on are contemporary instrumentals and then more traditional vocals. Tune-out at 0343. The announcements noted with an echo effect and very characteristic of Amhara State Radio along with the pre-opening interval signal. (Bruce Churchill, CA/Cumbre DX).

Equatorial Guinea
Radio Bata 5005, 0502. Tune-in with nice S3 signal of local dance music and a bit of country & western music. Male announcer in Spanish as signal faded almost instantaneously between 0530-0532. SINPO 34333 with local interferences noted, but overall excellent signal. (Bruce Churchill, CA/Cumbre DX)

China
Yunnan PBS 6937, 1222-1235.+ Lite vocal music to 1228, followed by announcers chat with mentions of Yunnan in unknown language. (John Wilkins, CO).

Clandestine
EOTC Holy Synod Radio (presumed) 15340, *1600-1605.+ Popped on this frequency with a minute or so of choral music/chanting. Lady announcer in vernacular language at 1601 with a possible station identification but jammer came on a few seconds later ruining further reception. Listed transmitter as via Samara, Russia (John Wilkins, CO) Website: www.eotcholysynod.org

Honduras
Radio Luz y Vida 3249.97, 0038-0102. Spanish text from announcer and talk-overs. Bits of religious music selections. No identification heard noted at 0100 break. Signal fair-poor (Scott Barbour, NH).

Indonesia
RRI-Manokwari 3987.05, 1258-1359. Song-of-the-coconut-island interval signal, then very brief Jakarata programming to 1305. Largely uninterrupted programming to 1359, then interval signal repeated. Good signal, peaking around 1315, but very weak by 1359 (John Wilkins, CO).

India
All India Radio-Aizawl 5050, 1230. Mixing well with Beibu Bay Radio in Vietnamese. News program in English, recheck at 1339 found non-stop easy-listening pop tunes. Station still causing interference for BBR, tuned out at 1355 (Ron Howard, CA).
AIR website: www.allindiaradio.org/

All India Radio-Bangalore 9424.98, 1430-1445. News from announcer followed by an ad in Hindi, then regional music to announcer in Hindi. Strong signal but transmitter cutting on and off (John Wilkins, CO)

All India Radio-Bengaluru-National Channel 9425, 1430. News and stock market bulletin in English-normally would have continued in English with the full “National Channel” ID and the regularly scheduled program on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (Ron Howard, CA).

All India Radio-Shillong 4970, 1405. Jazz music program to local ID at 1415, followed by subcontinental music. (Ron Howard, CA).

Indonesia
Voice of Indonesia 9524.88, 1354. Nice indigenous music. Frequency seems to be stable for now (Ron Howard, CA).VOI website: www.voi.co.id

India/Kashmir
All India Radio/Radio Kashmir (tentative) 4950, 1333. Heard distinctive program of subcontinent music and singing. Unable to make out the program language used (scheduled for Hindi and Kashmiri). Station mixing with Shanghai (Voic eof Pujiang), by 1356 signal was very poor and tuned out. (Ron Howard, CA).

Israel
Galei Zahal 6973, 0236. Good signal at tune-in with what sounded like guitar/instrumental music. Vocals to lady announcer at 0300, then into news broadcast. Continued music, SINPO 35333 (Bruce Churchill, CA/Cumbre DX).

Malaysia
Voice of Malaysia 11884.84v, 1158-1202.* Pop music (assume as ending their Chinese service, one + one pip signals into Bahasa Indonesia audio feed till off. Nice “Voice of Malaysia” identification (Ron Howard, CA).

Asyik FM 6049.63, 1259-1315.+ Announcers chat past 1300, then pop/techno tune from about 1302. Good signal (John Wilkins, CO).

Myanmar
Radio Myanmar 5985, 1327-1334.+ Vocal music at 1329, then lady announcer briefly. Usual musical interval signal to chimes and resumed music at 1330. Poor signal but will improve shortly (John Wilkins, CO)

Nigeria
Radio Nigeria, 6089.85, 2050-2319.* Vernacular talk, local tribal music. Qur'an. Possible religious talk. Fair to good signal but Brazil’s Radio Bandeirantes 6089.95 started to fade-in around 2215 and both Nigeria & Brazil were in at equal level by 2235. Nigeria signed off at 2319 leaving Brazil in the clear. No sign of Anguilla usually signs on around 2210. (Brian Alexander, PA)

North Korea
Voice of Korea 11710, 1310. Report on national reunification. SIO 443 (Bob Fraser, ME).

Papua New Guinea
Radio East New Britain 3385, 1236-1307.+ Lady announcer chatting and occasionally playing vocal music. No break at 1300, but mostly talk after 1302. Fair but slowly deteriorating (John Wilkins, CO).

Radio New Ireland 3905, 1234-1305.+ Pop music tunes via lady hostess in Pidgin-accented English, continuing past 1300 per rechecks. Fair signal for all (John Wilkins. CO)

Russia
Voice of Russia (Moscow) 9890, 0028. Report on a proposed oil pipeline under the Caspian Sea. SIO 555 (Bob Fraser, ME).

South Korea
KBS World Radio 9650, 1220. Report on funding a high-tech medical complex outside of Seoul. SIO 554 (Bob Fraser, ME)

Turkey
Voice of Turkey 15450, 1310. Letterbox program, mostly covering reception reports. SIO 554 (Bob Fraser, ME).

Uganda
UBC 4976, 0301. Vernacular mixed with English text and talk. Afro pops and a few US tunes in the mix. Audio level poor throughout monitoring (Tom Banks, TX).

United Kingdom
BBC World Service 9915, 2215. Feature on Gold Fever with truths, legends and movies. SIO 454 (Bob Fraser, ME).

Vanuatu
Radio Vanuatu 3945, 1209-1218.* Vocal music to 1217, then apparent closedown announcement by man. Presumed anthem at 1218, then open carrier for about five minutes before cutting the transmitter off. Signal fair at best (John Wilkins, CO).

Zambia
CVC International/The Voice Africa 4965, 0246-0259. Contemporary religious music, noted signal splatter via 4960 VOA São Tomé at *0259. Signal fair at best with pass band shift getting a work-out to avoid whatever screeching interference on this frequency (Scott Barbour, NH)

CRI Online launches six language services

CRI Onl,ine the multi-language website of China Radio International (CRI), formally launched six more foreign language services today, bringing the total number of language services operated on CRI Online to 59. The six new website editions include Belarusian (www.belarusian.cri.cn), Dutch (www.nl.radio86.com), Greek (www.greek.cri.cn), Hebrew(www.hebrew.cri.cn), Icelandic (www.is.radio86.com) and Norwegian (www.no.radio86.com), CRI president Wang Gengnian told press in Beijing.

The six newly-launched news services are the first of their kind in their own native languages in China, Mr Wang said, adding that they provide information about business, culture and tourism in China, and offer Chinese music and free online Chinese classes, via their multimedia platforms in the form of texts, photos, and audio and video webcasts.

“This is also CRI Online’s latest move in further consolidating its cutting edge in multi-language services and enhancing its capacity in international broadcasts and communication, following its earlier online services launched in Ukrainian and Croatian in 2008,” he said.

CRI Online, officially launched in 1998, offers 59 language services and 18 webcast stations.
(Source: Xinhua/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Trans World Radio broadcast from Bonaire continue, despite tower repairs

The ministry of TWR (Trans World Radio) across the Caribbean and South America is to continue unaffected during essential repair of their transmission towers on the island of Bonaire. Due to the harsh, salty environment of the island, parts of the transmission towers had rusted extensively and had to be replaced. The cost of replacing the towers would be over £600,000, so the team on Bonaire were keen to replace the individual braces, at a tenth of that cost, before the situation worsened. The transmission towers help the station broadcast across a vast area covering Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana and Cuba [on 800 kHz AM].
(Source: inspiremagazine.org.uk/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Weekly Propagation Forecast Bulletins

Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
:Issued: 2009 Sep 22 1921 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center
# Product description and SWPC web contact: www.swpc.noaa.gov/weekly.html
# Weekly Highlights and Forecasts


Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity
14 - 20 September 2009
Solar activity was very low. No flares were detected. The visible disk was spotless.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at normal levels during the period.

Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet levels during most of the period with brief unsettled periods detected on 14, 17, and 20 September. ACE solar wind measurements indicated a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream was in progress during the period. Velocities ranged from 309 to 504 km/sec. IMF Bz was variable in the +5 to -5
nT range during most of the period.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity
23 September - 19 October 2009
Solar activity is expected to be very low.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal levels through the period.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet levels during 23 - 25 September. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels during 26 - 27 September with a chance for brief active periods due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet conditions are expected during 28 September - 19 October.

Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt
:Issued: 2009 Sep 22 1921 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center
# Product description and SWPC web contact: www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html
# 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table
# Issued 2009 Sep 22

# UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest
# Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index
2009 Sep 23 76 5 2
2009 Sep 24 77 5 2
2009 Sep 25 77 5 2
2009 Sep 26 77 12 4
2009 Sep 27 77 8 3
2009 Sep 28 77 5 2
2009 Sep 29 77 5 2
2009 Sep 30 77 5 2
2009 Oct 01 77 5 2
2009 Oct 02 77 5 2
2009 Oct 03 75 5 2
2009 Oct 04 72 5 2
2009 Oct 05 69 5 2
2009 Oct 06 69 5 2
2009 Oct 07 69 5 2
2009 Oct 08 69 5 2
2009 Oct 09 69 5 2
2009 Oct 10 69 5 2
2009 Oct 11 69 5 2
2009 Oct 12 69 5 2
2009 Oct 13 69 5 2
2009 Oct 14 69 5 2
2009 Oct 15 69 5 2
2009 Oct 16 70 5 2
2009 Oct 17 70 5 2
2009 Oct 18 72 5 2
2009 Oct 19 74 5 2
(NOAA)

Posted Tuesday September 22, 2009 at http://www.wcflunatall.com/nz4o1.htm
and http://www.wcflunatall.com/nz4o4.htm

At 2119 UTC today fall begins in the northern hemisphere and spring begins in the southern hemisphere.

Yet another new solar cycle 24 sunspot group has emerged in the NE quadrant of the sun. It should receive #11027 later today from NOAA/SWPC.

Sunspot group #11026 contains a simple alpha magnetic signature capable of producing very small B class solar flares.
(Thomas F. Giella, NZ4O, Lakeland, FL)

Blog Logs

All times UTC // parallel frequency *sign-on sign-off*

Antarctica
15476, R.N. Arcangel San Gabriel (Esperanza Base), 1857-1906. Spanish. Argentine ballad music, more classical than pop, with short announcements by man and woman. Moderate signal with deep fades and some good peaks. Recheck at 2045-2100* found poor signal with fading and more ballads, now more pop than classical. My first log of LRA36 this year. Usually hear it a couple of times in September or October. (Jim Evans, TN)

Canada
6030, Calgary - CFVP relaying CKMX (AM 1060),0307-0404. Playing C&W songs (Lorne Green with“Ringo”, etc.) Local ads (Apex Hearing Systems, Jack Carter Chevrolet Cadillac, etc.). Station IDs “Southern Alberta’s own hometown station, Classic Country AM 1060.” Monday continues to be a clear for them (absence of Radio Marti and jamming). Signal poor to fair reception (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

China
11785, China Radio International (tentative), 1130-1205.Okay this station was on top of the VOA's transmission above and was transmitting in Chinese language. Thought I might hear Indonesia here at 1130, but Japanese was schedule for them at that time and I didn't hear any Japanese during the entire period. So, going with CRI for this one which never missed a beat in their broadcast (Chuck Bolland, FL)

5050, Beibu Bay Radio, 1207. Vietnamese service. Chinese language lesson (Chinese numbers: yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi,ba, jiu and shi). Station ID at 1230 in Chinese-Vietnamese-English (“This is Beibu Bay Radio”). Road to Health segment to announcer with piano background music. Station ID in Vietnamese, mentioning “FM.” Easy-listening songs to 1300 pips and same multi-language ID to “BBR news” (even the news and weather are given with background music). Weather report for (list of Asian cities and Vietnamese ballads at 1308. Still heard after 1510.Signal almost fair, light to moderate All India Radio-Aizawl interference. (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

7245, CNR-2/China Business Radio, 1430-1459. “English Evening” program with John and Chinese lady. Today is Teachers Day in China, segment of “Studio Classroom.” Signal fair-good // 6155, 7265,7315, 7335, 7375, 9820 and 9775, with 6065 remaining off the air (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Ethiopia
6090, Amhara State Radio, *0257-0350. Station sign on with interval signal. Talk at 0300 into Horn of Africa style music. Rustic vocals. Anguilla still off the air. No sign of Nigeria either. Interference from Brazil but signed off around 0315. Ethiopia weak at sign on but improved to a fair to good level by 0320 and in the clear for about 15 minutes between 0315-0330. Co-channel interference from Voice of Hope/AWR from Austria at their 0330 sign on with English ID and into listed Farsi. (Brian Alexander, PA)

India
5040, All India Radio-Jeypore, 1302. Live coverage of India vs Sri Lanka tri-series final cricket match, coverage in Hindi and English (different announcer today - Australian accent?). Ads in Hindi, // 4880 AIR Lucknow; 1434 tuned out – still playing (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

4990, All India Radio-Itanagar, 1411. Subcontinent songs to 1415 musical fanfare, into local news bulletin in Hindi. Musical fanfare at 1420 to “Good evening. This is All India Radio Itanagar. The news read by . . .” Sports news, did not hear a weather forecast today. Back to Hindi at 1425. Mostly poor and very rough copy with only afew words made out.

9425, All India Radio-Bengaluru - National Channel. Seems the new schedule for “Vividha”, the program in English from 1435 to 1500, is now only on Monday and Wednesday, not Friday. For the past three Fridays have heard programming in Hindi after the 1430 to 1435 news bulletin in English. (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Indonesia
3976.0, RRI Pontianak, 1252. In Bahasa Indonesia. Indigenous ballads to 1300 station ID and frequencies (“R-R-I Pontianak”- just gave the abbreviation). Signal poor-fair (Ron Howard,CA/Cumbre DX)

9680, RRI Jakarta, 1048-1133. Nice signal this morning, noted two males in a Indonesian language conversation at tune in. Later canned promos which was followed with the Qu'ran. This type of activity continued until the hour. Signal was good. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

4749.93, RRI-Makassar, 0955-1005. Male announcer in Indonesian with comments over background music. Qu'ran presetation at 1002. Signal was fair.(Chuck Bolland, FL/HCDX)

Voice of Indonesia, 9525, 1640. Indonesian programing with romantic songs. SINPO 44433.(Pedro Turner-POR CT2KET, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews)

RRI stations on the following frequencies in the period 1200-1300 UTC.
3325 Palangkaraya (presumed, buried by Radio Bougainville, Papua New Guinea was absent)
3960 Palu, 3976 Pontianak, 3987 Manokwari, 3995 Kendari, 4750 Makassar and 4925 kHz Jambi (the strongest of the regional stations by far, it wasn't as strong last year).

RRI Jakarta on 9680 kHz was very strong all day from opening at 2200 to after 1300. During the middle of the day, it was the only station audible on 31 meters. On Wed 16 Sept I tuned in to an English progamme at 0810 UTC called "KGI" which was celebrating 20 years on air. It ended at 0830 when Indonesian resumed.

This year I didn't hear RRI Nabire around 0800 UTC because of RNZI's strong DRM transmission on 7285 kHz at that time.

Last year while in Port Douglas I was able to hear RRI Sorong on 9743 kHz around 0800 UTC, but this year there was a Chinese language station on the frequency.(Barry Hartley-AUS Sony ICF SW7600W, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 18/BC-DX #930)

Israel
15778.00, Galei Zahal, 1955-2005. Slightly off nominal 15785 kHz with local pop music. Hebrew talk. // 6973 - both frequencies weak. Thanks to tip from Wolfgang Bueschel. Heard the next day at 2025 on 15785.47v with a slightly wobbly signal. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Malaysia
RTM Kuching on 5030 kHz heard 1000 to after 1200 UTC, but suffering terrible co-channel interference from (I presume) China.

Doing better was 7270 kHz around 1200 UTC with a strong signal. On 16 Sept they had a listeners' phone in program until 1230 UT when what sounded like Koran chanting began. Occasional announcements as "Wai FM" in Malay.

On 7295 kHz Traxx FM Kuala Lumpur was well heard at 1230 UTC on 16 Sept with a listeners "call in to win a prize" programme presented by a male and female DJs. (Barry Hartley-AUS Sony ICF SW7600W, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 18/BC-DX #930)

Mali
9635, RTMN 0750-0830. Tune-in to vernacular talk. Flute interval signal and French ID announcements at 0759. Guitar interval signal at 0800. Vernacular talk at 0801. Variety of Afro-pop music, local string music, and rustic vocals. “Radio Mali” ID. Good signal. This frequency does not usually sign on until 0800. Apparently they made the switch from 5995 to 9635 earlier than the usual 0800 by mistake. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Mexico
4800 XERTA - Radio Transcontinental America (presumed), at 0450-0514 UT on Sep 12, man with talk in Spanish, possible ID at 0500 UT followed by music and more talk. Very poor with heavy QRM from CODAR.(Rich D'Angelo-PA-USA, DXplorer)

6104.76 XEQM, Radio Merida, at 1040-1100 UT, Noted a male and female in Spanish language conversation. At 1045 UT noted promos mentioning "Candela". This was followed with music. Signal was fair to good as it continued to fade in and out. (Chuck Bolland-FL-USA/HCDX)

6010.00 Radio Mil, 0953-1005. Spanish talk and ballads. Ads, promos. ID at 0957 UT. Poor in noisy conditions.(Brian Alexander-PA-USA, DXplorer Sept 18/BC-DX #930)

6010.00, Radio Mil, Mexico City, 1005-1035. Spanish pop music. Spanish announcements. IDs. Ads, promos. Noted in the clear but poor in noisy conditions. (Brian Alexander, PA)

Niger
La Voix du Sahel (Niamey), 2152-2300.* French/Vernacular langauge from Woman talking. Flutes at 2153 followed by chanting in local language. Four pips at 2200, then more chanting with male leader and group of men. Announcements by woman at 2254 and apparent Qu'ran recitation by man. Announcements and choral anthem at 2258. Surprisingly good signal at 2153, deteriorating after 2220, at noise level after 2245Rapid fading throughout the broadcast. (Jim Evans,TN)

Philippines
15285, Radio Pilipinas/VOP, 0204-0233. English program Dateline Malacañang. Malacañang Palace is the official residence of the President of the Philippines, so naturally this program was about the activities and travel plans of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Station ID as, "Radio Pilipinas Overseas Service, The Voice of the Philippines." Signal weak. (Ron Howard, CA)

Pirate (U.S.)
6240AM, WBNY, 2341. 0030+ Poor signal. Show with a lot of elements. Al Weiner talking about Commander Bunny. ID was done by female voice to announcement that the world was coming to an end in four seconds. Fifties rock tune, a Whole lot of Monkey Business followed by a Collective Soul song. Ceasar Rabbit audio bit was played. Music song Behind Red Eyes. (Majewski CT/FRW 710)

Pirate (Euro)
6870, Radio Playback International, 0100-0120.+ Oldies pop music. ID at 0101. Poor. Weak in noisy conditions.(Brian Alexander, PA)

6925USB, WTCR, 0209. Signal S9/fair/static. Good audio, sign-on with 20th Century Fox theme tune into blues, urban contemporary and 60's/70's music from the Doors, Lou Reed, Traffic and Joan Armatrading.(Hassig-IL/FRW 710)

Thailand
11785, Voice of America relay, 1130-1205. Chinese comments and and features with the usual VOA theme between segments and some English heard when a recorded comment was presented. Signal was fair (Chuck Bolland, FL)

USA
7505.63v, WRNO, 0149. Pop songs to 0159 “This is WRNO Worldwide, broadcasting frequency 7505 kHz.” Religious sermon by Pastor Ray Bentley. Signal fair (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Vanuatu
3945, Radio Vanuatu, 1204. Sounded like Pidgin. Christian religious sermon, long winded today and running late. Ended with: “Thank you Lord … amen … have a nice day.” Brief sign off announcement (“Radio Vanuatu … half past 5” [sign-on time?] at 0520. Did not have time to give frequencies. National anthem to 1222*. Sign off times varies daily between three to five minutes. This is now regularly heard every day and so far the format after 1200 is always the same (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Zambia
6065, Radio Christian Voice/CVC, 1504-1538. African hilife music. Text in African vernacular, many “Radio Christian Voice” IDs. Signal poor-fair (Ron Howard, CA)

Radio Christian Voice/CVC, 0441-0451. Contemporary Christian music. Lady announcer with local time check and and greetings to listeners-several were mentioned by name followed by listeners’ letters.Full ID as “Radio Christian Voice Lusaka” with postal and email addresss at 0446. Fair signal quality (Joe Wood, TN)

Shortwave Blog "Bytes"

new "bytes" from the world of shortwave radio

All times UTC

Australian DX Report # 169 available for download
Episode no. 169 of the Australian DX Report audio news magazine includes propagation research analysis of current spectrum occupancy in the 6, 7, 9, 11, and 13 MHz bands.

There are also other features, news and information about shortwave broadcasting, propagation, a solar activity report, monitoring notes, new schedules, extracts from schedules, and schedule updates.

It's 14 mins duration, and may be accessed from

http://airm.edxp.org/

You may download/listen to/save the episodes as an MP3 file on your laptop/desktop, set up a Podcast, or receive/save it on your mobile phone or other portable internet-enabled digital device.

You may also subscribe via the site's RSS/Atom feed - full details are at the site.

The shows are very popular - over the past 30 days, there have been 613 downloads by subscribers, 1517 site visitors, and 165 episode hits.

The episodes are also available on-air, over WWCR Nashville, 0200-0215 on Sundays, on 5070, and on Mondays 1145-1200 on 15825, and via WWCR's streaming audio (live) at http://wwcr.com/

Good listening to the Australian DX Report Episode No. 169, and enjoy the Australian music!
(Bob Padula, Australia/Cumbre DX)

Austria - Adventist World Radio
6090 Adventist World Radio via Moosbrunn, at 0405-0426* on Sep 12, religious program in listed Farsi language with choir vocals. IDby woman announcer at closedown. Fair to good.
(Rich D'Angelo-PA-USA, DXplorer Sept 13)

6155 and 13730 kHz from OE1 Moosbrunn were silent totally approx. 0600- 1400, Sept 15. They suffered current transformer failure recently too. Heavy hum noted around 1405 today on 6155 kHz. (wb)

ORF Moosbrunn off. ORF OE1 program on 6155 missed our European mornings this week. Station answered as follows:
Repair and maintenance on the Mossbrunn antenna field on Sept 15 to 17.
E-Mail: oe1.service@orf.at Website: http://oe1.orf.at/
off time
6155 0615-1359
13730 0615-1259
17715 1200-1230
(Michael Marschal-AUT via Joachim Thiel-D, A-DX Sept 17/BC-DX #930)

Brazil's Radio Clube do Para audio clip and QSL
4885 KHz
audioclip and QSL available at: http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/7660966.html
(Francesco, Italy/playdx)

Chad heard on 7120
Have been hearing 7120 kHz for a week at least from about 1600 -sometimes a bit earlier past 1730 UT. Today the 18th heard a clear ID at 1700 for Radio Chad in Arabic into news at 1700 UT preceded at 1659.30-1700 with their drumbeats. SIO 333 some days SIO 444 on Icom R71 with 40m dipole.
(Victor Goonetilleke-CLN 4S7VK, DXplorer Sept 18)
7120 also on air at 1955 UT Sept 18. wb.
(BC-DX #930)
Clandestine, Cheetah Radio monitoring
11730 Cheetah Radio via Juelich (tent), at 1602-1633. Man/woman with long talk in English about wind power, nuclear power and the need to balance all interests. Apparent program ID and maybe even station ID but uneven reception made it impossible to confirm. Fair signal at peaks but very deep fades.

[later] 11730 Cheetah Radio via Juelich verified an electronic report with an electronic reply from Bryne Edwards, Director of Media Operations, Cheetah Radio in Carson City, Nevada in four hours telling me to expect a QSL card by postal mail in a few weeks. Frequency 11730 kHz 1600-1659, zone 41, 100kW at 90deg, Sats only, RMI brokered. (Rich D'Angelo-PA-USA, DXplorer Sept 13/BC-DX #930)

Equatorial Guinea on 5009
5005 Radio Bata hrd from 0502 tune with nice S3 signal - local dance mx, some C&W and male announcer in Spanish. Signal faded almost instantaneously between 0530-31 in the middle of a county & western vocal music - might have been transmitter problem as this station has been hrd fairly well until 0600 as of late - Radio Bata has an unstable transmitter on many nights with unpredictable sig lvls. SINPO 34333 with QRM from WWV/WWVH, but overall one of the best nights for Radio Bata - until 0530. To minimize the WWV QRM, I used the Perseus filter offset by shifting the 3.8 KHz filter width up by 0.4 kHz.
(Bruce W. Churchill-CA-USA, DXplorer Sept 18/BC-DX #930)

Marine Capetown link
Photo available at: http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/7698413.html

(Francesco, Italy/playdx)

New Solar Cycle 24 Sunspot Group Emerges
Posted Monday September 21, 2009

A new solar cycle 24 sunspot emerged yesterday at S30E77. Today NOAA/SWPC gave it #11026 at location S29E63. In the past few days there had been alot of hype concerning this new sunspot group and as I didn't want to followed the Pied Piper into the abyss, so I held off on posting about the sunspot group until I could verify that it was actually a sunspot group and not
another active plage.

It remains to be seen what it's magnetic signature is and how fast if any that it grows in size and magnetic complexity. So far it has produced 11 sunspots and pushed the solar flux index to 73, the highest since Jun 01, 2009. #11026 has produced one very small B class solar flare in the past 48 hours and small C class solar flares are possible in future days.

Prior to the emergence of solar cycle 24 sunspot group #11026 we went 19 days without a sunspot group. Since January 01, 2009 we have seen 212 days without a sunspot group.
(Thomas F. Giella, NZ4O, Lakeland, FL)

Radiofax - ZSJ Marine Capetown
18,238 kHz, 1105; ZSJ Marine Capetown -FAX 120/576,suff signal in Italy.
Mauro Giroletti
Photo available at http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/7692733.html
(Francesco, Italy/playdx)

Pirates Week available for download
http://www.piratesweek.info/
Pirates in the news this week include the first trailer for the American version of the film Pirate Radio aka The Boat that Rocked has been released. The Daily Camera has a expose on Boulder Colorado’s other pirate radio station Green Light Radio. Shortwave Central has a blog post about Chasing Pirate Beacons. You may also want to check out the High Freq Beacon Society. There are also reports of a pirate radio station in Toronto Canada.
‭Select postings from the Free Radio Network, HF Underground and note stations logged per the Free Radio Weekly Check out WBNY’s newly update page WBNY.Webhop.org
‭Off Air Recordings include the stations of: Captain Morgan, MAC, Radio Ga-Ga, WBNY, WEAK Radio, and WTCR.
Radio Survivor is reporting that Low Power FM gets backing of new FCC Commissioners.
Paul Riismandel has a blog post on recording air checks.
‭Background music from the Podsafe Music Network by the artists; The Groove Mine, Mario Tomic, and B.D. Lenz
‭(Radnar Danesskjold)

New Zealand DRM schedule update from September 8
1200-1550 no DRM service
1259-1550 6170 RAN 050 kW 000 deg AM All Pacific
1551-1850 7285 RAN 050 kW 035 deg AM NE Pac, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Isl
1551-1850 6170 RAN 025 kW 035 deg DRM Cook Islands, Niue, Fiji, Samoa
1851-1950 9615 RAN 050 kW 035 deg AM NE Pac,Fiji, Samoa, Cook Isl
1851-1935 9890 RAN 025 kW 035 deg DRM Niue, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Isls
1936-1950 9890 RAN 025 kW 035 deg DRM Tonga
1951-2050 11725 RAN 050 kW 000 deg AM All Pacific
1951-2050 11675 RAN 025 kW 000 deg DRM Solomon Isls Niue, Fiji,Samoa,Fiji
2051-2235 15720 RAN 050 kW 000 deg AM All Pacific
2051-2235 13730 RAN 025 kW 000 deg DRM Vanuatu, Fiji
2236-0458 15720 RAN 050 kW 000 deg AM All Pacific
2236-0458 13730 RAN 025 kW 000 deg DRM All Pacific
0459-0658 11725 RAN 050 kW 000 deg AM All Pacific
0459-0658 11675 RAN 025 kW 000 deg DRM All Pacific
0659-1058 6170 RAN 050 kW 000 deg AM All Pacific
0659-1158 7285 RAN 025 kW 000 deg DRM All Pacific
1059-1258 9655 RAN 050 kW 325 deg AM NWPac,Bougainville,PNG,Timor,Asia
(NZL DX Times magazine Sept 14/BC-DX #930) New 11675 service.

Zimbabwe: Radio VOP listenership up

A recent survey has shown that listenership for Radio Voice of the People (VOP) is increasing, with 62 percent listenership in rural areas and 40 percent in urban areas. The survey, carried out by Research Bureau International, revealed the exiled station had, since its launch in 2000, achieved 90 percent penetration among both rural and urban areas audiences.

“In a country where the majority of its employable adult population is out of formal employment, the station has found favour with non working Zimbabweans with nearly three quarters of its listeners derived from the group,” said the survey.

The survey was conducted between July and August this year. It sampled 1 500 people randomly in all the country’s 10 provinces. The survey also revealed that a small majority of its listeners were women.

However, both the urban and rural audience enjoyed the political slot, which continued to expose human rights abuses by the State, the country’s health and economic situation as well as the performance of the seven month old inclusive government, among other broadcasts.

Castigated by Zimbabwe’s government officials as a foreign-funded “pirate” radio, the station broadcasts news, views and information in the country’s three national languages Shona, Ndebele and English. However according to the survey, most listeners preferred to receive the broadcasts in the English language compared to the vernacular ones.

The survey further revealed that the rural audience preferred the evening segment more than the morning one while there was an almost equal listenership of both segments by the urbanites.
For a station that still depend heavily on word of mouth as a source of news, the survey revealed that most listenership habits were usually planned as listeners deliberately tuned in at the times of their favourite broadcasts. Because of the country’s repressive media laws, the station broadcasts to Zimbabwe by RNW’s transmitters in Madagascar. The station has continued to enjoy such good following despite a bomb attack, police raids and arrests as well as jamming by the state.

Radio VOP was established in 2000 as an alternative media. In 2006 it won the One World Broadcasting award for outstanding community media that promotes human rights and sustainable development.

“I am pleased of the good following that we are getting in both urban and rural areas,” said Director, John Masuku. “It shows we are making meaningful contribution towards providing alternative broadcasting in the country. We are also pleased the station has established itself more in rural areas where people are generally not exposed to conventional media and that it is cutting literacy barriers, filling in news gaps which have resulted from the ZBC’s monopoly of the airwaves”.

Zimbabwe still has to invite applications for radio and television licences as required by the Global Political Agreement (PGA). However the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), which will be responsible for issuing licences, still has to be formally re-constituted following recent interviews by a Parliament select group. The names of the successful candidates have since been forwarded to President Robert Mugabe for final approval.
(Source: Radio VOP/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)