the latest in shortwave "bytes" from across the globe
All times UTC
Aussie Report # 213 available for download
Episode No. 213 of the Australian DX Report audio news magazine about shortwave broadcasting includes reports of monitoring research from Melbourne. It also features news and information about shortwave broadcasting,propagation, a solar activity report, monitoring notes, and extracts from schedules of the A10 season.
It's free, of 15 minutes duration, produced by Bob Padula of the Electronic DX Press Radio Monitoring Association based in Melbourne, Australia, and may be accessed from the Australian Internet Radio Service website, at: http://adxr.podbean.com/
You may download, listen to, or save the episodes as MP3 files on your laptop, desktop, iPad, set up a Podcast, or receive and save them 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. inks to the episodes are also available on my Facebook service within a few minutes of their release. Why not become a Fan of the service?! Details at the site!
The episodes are also available on-air, over WWCR Nashville, 0200-0215 on Sundays, on 4840, 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. 212, and enjoy the musical interludes!
Regards from Melbourne!
(Bob Padula/Cumbre DX)
BBC World Service as a remarkable bargain
"It would be no exaggeration to say that the BBC is a public relation expert's dream in international goodwill terms. The BBC World Service has been named countless times in countless places as one of the most trusted international media organisations ever. And yet we hear worrying sounds of an axe being sharpened in readiness for cuts in the vicinity of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... The BBC World Service provides international news, analysis and information in English and in 32 foreign languages to more than 180 million weekly radio listeners around the globe. At way under £300 million per year (met mainly by parliamentary grant aid), this represents a remarkable bargain." (Evening Post (Bristol)/Kim Elliott)
Beijing to broadcast exercises
The daily broadcasts designed to accompany the work-hour exercise consisting of basic gymnastic actions will begin airing again in Beijing starting on August 9, the Beijing Times reports. The Beijing Sports Radio FM 102.5 will resume playing the music for the eight-minute exercise broadcasts at 10 am and 3 pm every day as the main form of physical exercise during breaks, the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) told the media yesterday.
The broadcasts originally started in 1951, but were suspended in 2007 due to Olympic Games programming The BFTU said based on Beijing’s health plan for 2009, every employee should have at least one daily body-building activity down to 20 minutes, so physical exercises during breaks will be promoted among 4 million employees of government organs, enterprises and institutions in the capital.
Yu Junsheng, BFTU vice chairman, said, “Since 1951, the broadcast gymnastics has been a major type of body-building during breaks among government departments, enterprises and institutions and we will popularize it to more non-state-owned enterprises in the near future.
“Besides broadcast exercises, the BFTU will promote other forms of physical exercises such as yoga and tai chi,” Yu added.
(Source: China Radio International/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Bolivian logs
6135, 0112. Radio Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Station info as, " Em 6.135 kilociclos, transmite Rádio Santa Cruz..." SINPO 34333. (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo Barbacena, MG, Brasil/Cumbre DX)
6134.81, 0912-0919 Radio Santa Cruz. Series of pleasant CP Banjo and woman's vocal songs. Live studio announcer at 0919 with time checks three minutes slow to ID and mention of studios. Into local news by same announcer, mentions of "onda media and onda corta" closing with ID. Played one song, followed by more news. Ranchera music at 0928. Signal dropped down dramatically after this. Clear and strong with 100% copy before. Still audible though at 0950 tune-out. Kind of a strange format to have 3-5 minute news segments interspersed with music. (Dave Valko, PA/Cumbre DX)
5952.43, 1030-1045. Emisoras Pio XII. Weak signal here with a male in preaching mode until 1031, followed by Spanish comments. Signal weak to poor with plenty of noise. (Chuck Bolland, FL)
How the VOA gets around the Great Firewall of China
For Chinese citizens, accessing information that Beijing hasn't screened beforehand is hard enough. For blacklisted "subversive organizations," though, drawing an audience in the first place can be infinitely more difficult. Take Voice of America, for example. The U.S. government's official broadcasting arm develops shows in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese -- but in China, it might as well be broadcasting dead air.
Only 0.1 percent of China's population actually listens to VOA's radio and TV shows, according to an oversight report (pdf) issued yesterday by the U.S. State Department. Meanwhile, the Chinese government actively jams VOA's transmissions by playing competing material on all its frequencies and blocks Chinese Internet users from accessing VOA's Chinese Web site. It's a coordinated strategy that should sound familiar to anyone who's lived in China or read about the mainland regime's penchant for censorship.
(additional story at:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/08/03/how_voice_of_america_secretly_undermines_the_great_firewall_of_china (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India)
Indonesian monitoring
RRI Fak Fak on 4789.96. Continued fifth Saturday in a row that they did not carry the Jakarta news relay, instead playing pop songs on July 31, from 1201, but found off the air for a while around 1223 (heard again by 1231).The other RRI stations all had the usual Jakarta news relay in parallel at 1201-1223, July 31. RRI Palangkaraya (3325), RRI Ternate (3344.96) carrying news today, unlike yesterday. RRI Kendari (3995), RRI Makassar (4749.94), RRI Wamena (4869.93) and RRI Jakarta (9680). RRI Serui (4604.90) noticeably off the air on July 31. Wayang kulit (shadow puppet play) was the programming later on 9680 and to some extent on 3325. (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)
4749.96 RRI Makassar 1200-1235. Song of the Cocnut Island interval signal, to Jakarta program in parallel with 4604.93, 3995.03, and probably others. Back to local programming at 1227 with talk segment. Good signal, equal to Serui in strength. (John Wilkins, CO/Cumbre DX)
4604.93, 0854. RRI Serui. Pleasant soft song, Male announcer at 1004-1010 with mentions of Papua and Jakarta. Two minute "canned" talk by male with a slight echo effect. Musical bridges, then nonstop music from 1012-1029. Announcer at 1029 with quick station ID at beginning. Musical bridge, then previous male announcer returned. Not that bad of a signal and should get better in the next month or two. (Dave Valko, PA/Cumbre DX)
Israel sues former Israeli Black Panther
A former member of the Israeli Black Panthers protest movement was slapped with a NIS 260,000 ($69,000) civil suit this week for operating a pirate radio station that plays Middle Eastern music. Yisrael Bundak, owner of Kol Hamizrach (Voice of the East) is soon to begin serving an 18-month sentence for operating the station.
Additional story at: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/state-sues-former-black-panther-for-operating-pirate-radio-station-1.306077 (R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Mexican radio and TV pirates news
From Bill Finn on the Mexican Senate:
PRI Demand punish "pirate" radio and TV
(Translation)
The Parliamentary Group of the PRI in the Senate demanded that the SCT and Cofetel punish the 166 radio and television stations operating in the country without a license or official permission, mostly in Frequency Modulation (FM).
In an interview, Senator PRI, Maria del Socorro Garcia Quiroz said that despite the illegality and secrecy that some stations operate, this practice has increased.
He said that according to Cofetel there are 166 pirate radio stations identified by the Ministry of Communications and Transport (SCT), which secured 69, 51 and 46 stopped operating to ensure leftovers.
In response, Garcia Quiroz said it is the duty of the Secretariat of Government (Interior Ministry) to comply under the Federal Law of Radio and Television around the allocation of penalties to stations operating illegally.
"The state is the only way you can use, development and exploitation, and only through a concession may allow participation from individuals or corporations under domestic law," he said.
In that sense, the legislator said Querétaro Ministry of Communications and the Federal Telecommunications Commission (Cofetel) must apply the legal framework and channel stations operating without permission.
These units, he added, also have to submit as soon as possible, official figures and other specifications to be taken in respect of these illegal stations. (FRW # 755 via Greg Majewski)
Pirate logs
Radio Ronin
6950AM, 0126-0154.* Good signal with great music, Billy Idol's White Wedding Day, Don't Fear the Reaper, Ten Years After. Beatles, and Pete Seiger. (Majewski CT/FRW 755)
Voice of Chaos
6925USB, 0011. Poor signal - S6 noise floor. Sign-on with the Get Smart theme song to, It's a Long Way to Tiparary, and I Love Rock & Roll, Ballad of the Green Beret under much co-channel interference. Email as voiceofchaos@gmail.com (not sure). (Hassig-IL/FRW 755)
VUDU Radio
13700USB, 0158–0210, SINPO 43343. Playing Gordon Lightfoot’s song Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald at 0206. Signal faded out at 0210. (Candle Ont/FRW 755
Pirate QSL
WBNY Bunny Radio. Unsolicited partial data card (no location)for 6925 broadcast Jan 1, 2010) at 1837 for which I have no record of hearing or reporting. Also sent platform folder and partial data card (no location) for a two-minute broadcast on the same day. (Harold Frodge, MI/MARE 587)
Radio Danmarks QSL
QSL #176
Danmarks Radio P1: 91.0 MHz Email reply : teknikinfo@dr.dk. in 34 days with QSL text
Refer to:
http://www.dxing.ru/component/option,com_dxqsls/Itemid,169/task,qsl/sm,detail/qid,2620/
QSL #177
Danmarks Radio P3: 89.7 MHz, 96.6 MHz. Email reply : teknikinfo@dr.dk. in 34 days with QSL text. Refer to:
http://www.dxing.ru/component/option,com_dxqsls/Itemid,169/task,qsl/sm,detail/qid,2621/
(Vladimir Doroshenko,heard in Ukrain/plyadx2003)
SIS News
Just to let you know that I have just added 20 old features I had in my personal archive from the SBC/SRI days, covering a wide range of subjects from skiing to the esoteric. As you may know, we added the only known surviving programs from The Swiss Shortwave Merry-Go-Round a while back already.
The vintage material can be found under "The Two Bobs" and "Vintage Features" sections of http://www.switzerlandinsound.com/
(Bob Zanotti/playdx2003)
ZBH entrenches monolopy of airwaves
Voice of Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) was officially launched in the Midlands capital of Gweru on 30 July 2010. Voice of Zimbabwe was established in 2007 and broadcasts on shortwave frequency.
While the restrictive Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) acknowledges the three-tier broadcasting system comprising public, private and community radio stations broadcasting, no single private player has been allowed to enter the broadcasting sector since its enactment in 2001.
Equally, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) is still to call for applications for licences for community radio stations, nine odd years after the enactment of the BSA.
(additional story at: http://tinyurl.com/27k3smo
(Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India)
All times UTC
Aussie Report # 213 available for download
Episode No. 213 of the Australian DX Report audio news magazine about shortwave broadcasting includes reports of monitoring research from Melbourne. It also features news and information about shortwave broadcasting,propagation, a solar activity report, monitoring notes, and extracts from schedules of the A10 season.
It's free, of 15 minutes duration, produced by Bob Padula of the Electronic DX Press Radio Monitoring Association based in Melbourne, Australia, and may be accessed from the Australian Internet Radio Service website, at: http://adxr.podbean.com/
You may download, listen to, or save the episodes as MP3 files on your laptop, desktop, iPad, set up a Podcast, or receive and save them 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. inks to the episodes are also available on my Facebook service within a few minutes of their release. Why not become a Fan of the service?! Details at the site!
The episodes are also available on-air, over WWCR Nashville, 0200-0215 on Sundays, on 4840, 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. 212, and enjoy the musical interludes!
Regards from Melbourne!
(Bob Padula/Cumbre DX)
BBC World Service as a remarkable bargain
"It would be no exaggeration to say that the BBC is a public relation expert's dream in international goodwill terms. The BBC World Service has been named countless times in countless places as one of the most trusted international media organisations ever. And yet we hear worrying sounds of an axe being sharpened in readiness for cuts in the vicinity of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... The BBC World Service provides international news, analysis and information in English and in 32 foreign languages to more than 180 million weekly radio listeners around the globe. At way under £300 million per year (met mainly by parliamentary grant aid), this represents a remarkable bargain." (Evening Post (Bristol)/Kim Elliott)
Beijing to broadcast exercises
The daily broadcasts designed to accompany the work-hour exercise consisting of basic gymnastic actions will begin airing again in Beijing starting on August 9, the Beijing Times reports. The Beijing Sports Radio FM 102.5 will resume playing the music for the eight-minute exercise broadcasts at 10 am and 3 pm every day as the main form of physical exercise during breaks, the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) told the media yesterday.
The broadcasts originally started in 1951, but were suspended in 2007 due to Olympic Games programming The BFTU said based on Beijing’s health plan for 2009, every employee should have at least one daily body-building activity down to 20 minutes, so physical exercises during breaks will be promoted among 4 million employees of government organs, enterprises and institutions in the capital.
Yu Junsheng, BFTU vice chairman, said, “Since 1951, the broadcast gymnastics has been a major type of body-building during breaks among government departments, enterprises and institutions and we will popularize it to more non-state-owned enterprises in the near future.
“Besides broadcast exercises, the BFTU will promote other forms of physical exercises such as yoga and tai chi,” Yu added.
(Source: China Radio International/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Bolivian logs
6135, 0112. Radio Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Station info as, " Em 6.135 kilociclos, transmite Rádio Santa Cruz..." SINPO 34333. (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo Barbacena, MG, Brasil/Cumbre DX)
6134.81, 0912-0919 Radio Santa Cruz. Series of pleasant CP Banjo and woman's vocal songs. Live studio announcer at 0919 with time checks three minutes slow to ID and mention of studios. Into local news by same announcer, mentions of "onda media and onda corta" closing with ID. Played one song, followed by more news. Ranchera music at 0928. Signal dropped down dramatically after this. Clear and strong with 100% copy before. Still audible though at 0950 tune-out. Kind of a strange format to have 3-5 minute news segments interspersed with music. (Dave Valko, PA/Cumbre DX)
5952.43, 1030-1045. Emisoras Pio XII. Weak signal here with a male in preaching mode until 1031, followed by Spanish comments. Signal weak to poor with plenty of noise. (Chuck Bolland, FL)
How the VOA gets around the Great Firewall of China
For Chinese citizens, accessing information that Beijing hasn't screened beforehand is hard enough. For blacklisted "subversive organizations," though, drawing an audience in the first place can be infinitely more difficult. Take Voice of America, for example. The U.S. government's official broadcasting arm develops shows in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese -- but in China, it might as well be broadcasting dead air.
Only 0.1 percent of China's population actually listens to VOA's radio and TV shows, according to an oversight report (pdf) issued yesterday by the U.S. State Department. Meanwhile, the Chinese government actively jams VOA's transmissions by playing competing material on all its frequencies and blocks Chinese Internet users from accessing VOA's Chinese Web site. It's a coordinated strategy that should sound familiar to anyone who's lived in China or read about the mainland regime's penchant for censorship.
(additional story at:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/08/03/how_voice_of_america_secretly_undermines_the_great_firewall_of_china (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India)
Indonesian monitoring
RRI Fak Fak on 4789.96. Continued fifth Saturday in a row that they did not carry the Jakarta news relay, instead playing pop songs on July 31, from 1201, but found off the air for a while around 1223 (heard again by 1231).The other RRI stations all had the usual Jakarta news relay in parallel at 1201-1223, July 31. RRI Palangkaraya (3325), RRI Ternate (3344.96) carrying news today, unlike yesterday. RRI Kendari (3995), RRI Makassar (4749.94), RRI Wamena (4869.93) and RRI Jakarta (9680). RRI Serui (4604.90) noticeably off the air on July 31. Wayang kulit (shadow puppet play) was the programming later on 9680 and to some extent on 3325. (Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)
4749.96 RRI Makassar 1200-1235. Song of the Cocnut Island interval signal, to Jakarta program in parallel with 4604.93, 3995.03, and probably others. Back to local programming at 1227 with talk segment. Good signal, equal to Serui in strength. (John Wilkins, CO/Cumbre DX)
4604.93, 0854. RRI Serui. Pleasant soft song, Male announcer at 1004-1010 with mentions of Papua and Jakarta. Two minute "canned" talk by male with a slight echo effect. Musical bridges, then nonstop music from 1012-1029. Announcer at 1029 with quick station ID at beginning. Musical bridge, then previous male announcer returned. Not that bad of a signal and should get better in the next month or two. (Dave Valko, PA/Cumbre DX)
Israel sues former Israeli Black Panther
A former member of the Israeli Black Panthers protest movement was slapped with a NIS 260,000 ($69,000) civil suit this week for operating a pirate radio station that plays Middle Eastern music. Yisrael Bundak, owner of Kol Hamizrach (Voice of the East) is soon to begin serving an 18-month sentence for operating the station.
Additional story at: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/state-sues-former-black-panther-for-operating-pirate-radio-station-1.306077 (R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Mexican radio and TV pirates news
From Bill Finn on the Mexican Senate:
PRI Demand punish "pirate" radio and TV
(Translation)
The Parliamentary Group of the PRI in the Senate demanded that the SCT and Cofetel punish the 166 radio and television stations operating in the country without a license or official permission, mostly in Frequency Modulation (FM).
In an interview, Senator PRI, Maria del Socorro Garcia Quiroz said that despite the illegality and secrecy that some stations operate, this practice has increased.
He said that according to Cofetel there are 166 pirate radio stations identified by the Ministry of Communications and Transport (SCT), which secured 69, 51 and 46 stopped operating to ensure leftovers.
In response, Garcia Quiroz said it is the duty of the Secretariat of Government (Interior Ministry) to comply under the Federal Law of Radio and Television around the allocation of penalties to stations operating illegally.
"The state is the only way you can use, development and exploitation, and only through a concession may allow participation from individuals or corporations under domestic law," he said.
In that sense, the legislator said Querétaro Ministry of Communications and the Federal Telecommunications Commission (Cofetel) must apply the legal framework and channel stations operating without permission.
These units, he added, also have to submit as soon as possible, official figures and other specifications to be taken in respect of these illegal stations. (FRW # 755 via Greg Majewski)
Pirate logs
Radio Ronin
6950AM, 0126-0154.* Good signal with great music, Billy Idol's White Wedding Day, Don't Fear the Reaper, Ten Years After. Beatles, and Pete Seiger. (Majewski CT/FRW 755)
Voice of Chaos
6925USB, 0011. Poor signal - S6 noise floor. Sign-on with the Get Smart theme song to, It's a Long Way to Tiparary, and I Love Rock & Roll, Ballad of the Green Beret under much co-channel interference. Email as voiceofchaos@gmail.com (not sure). (Hassig-IL/FRW 755)
VUDU Radio
13700USB, 0158–0210, SINPO 43343. Playing Gordon Lightfoot’s song Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald at 0206. Signal faded out at 0210. (Candle Ont/FRW 755
Pirate QSL
WBNY Bunny Radio. Unsolicited partial data card (no location)for 6925 broadcast Jan 1, 2010) at 1837 for which I have no record of hearing or reporting. Also sent platform folder and partial data card (no location) for a two-minute broadcast on the same day. (Harold Frodge, MI/MARE 587)
Radio Danmarks QSL
QSL #176
Danmarks Radio P1: 91.0 MHz Email reply : teknikinfo@dr.dk. in 34 days with QSL text
Refer to:
http://www.dxing.ru/component/option,com_dxqsls/Itemid,169/task,qsl/sm,detail/qid,2620/
QSL #177
Danmarks Radio P3: 89.7 MHz, 96.6 MHz. Email reply : teknikinfo@dr.dk. in 34 days with QSL text. Refer to:
http://www.dxing.ru/component/option,com_dxqsls/Itemid,169/task,qsl/sm,detail/qid,2621/
(Vladimir Doroshenko,heard in Ukrain/plyadx2003)
SIS News
Just to let you know that I have just added 20 old features I had in my personal archive from the SBC/SRI days, covering a wide range of subjects from skiing to the esoteric. As you may know, we added the only known surviving programs from The Swiss Shortwave Merry-Go-Round a while back already.
The vintage material can be found under "The Two Bobs" and "Vintage Features" sections of http://www.switzerlandinsound.com/
(Bob Zanotti/playdx2003)
ZBH entrenches monolopy of airwaves
Voice of Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) was officially launched in the Midlands capital of Gweru on 30 July 2010. Voice of Zimbabwe was established in 2007 and broadcasts on shortwave frequency.
While the restrictive Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) acknowledges the three-tier broadcasting system comprising public, private and community radio stations broadcasting, no single private player has been allowed to enter the broadcasting sector since its enactment in 2001.
Equally, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) is still to call for applications for licences for community radio stations, nine odd years after the enactment of the BSA.
(additional story at: http://tinyurl.com/27k3smo
(Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India)