Language services as indicated // parallel frequency
Monitoring 01 - 15 January 2021
All times UTC
Australia
ABC Adelaide from 1415 on 729 // 891 with discussions on climate change, border shutdowns due to COVID, and ongoing issues with bush fires. Programming is noted in parallel with the following Australian mediumwave stations. ABC Brisbane 612, 792, 936; ABC Canberra 846; ABC Emerald 1548; ABC Horsham 594; ABC Melbourne 621, 774, 1026; ABC Perth 720, 810; ABC Sydney 576, 630, 702. Australian SDR Victoria, Brisbane, and Lewiston. (Australian SDR)
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Radio 1503 Zavidovici. 1503 kHz. 1750-1815. Euro pops to male's Bosnian freq quote and station ID at 1803. Newscast format battling with Arabic Call to Prayers on frequency. (SIO 322) (Prague, Czech SDR)
Egypt
NMA/Quran Prgrm from 2125 with Arabic Quran in progress on 603 (343) // 864 (SIO 333) and 1503 kHz (SIO 333). No sign of listed 702 or 756 MW. Despite what Radio Cairo reported to me, that they were "active on shortwave," I have not found any signal on the 9990 kHz English service 2115-2245, or checking other frequencies they list as "active." (Greece/Qatar SDRs)
Eswatini
TWR Africa via Manzini (100 kW) 6130 kHz, 1850 tune-in. Languages listed in Global Radio Guide-Winter 2020-2021, as Choke/Umbundi. Religious vocals to announcer's station info, including ID at 1859. Brief closing prayer into continued religious portions. Though listed on TWR Winter schedule, programming did not close at 1905. Mentions of Luanda, Angola to instrumental melody and station interval signal. Clear station ID and choral hymn. Check on 15105 kHz 1925 in Lingala service. (S Africa TWR SDR)
Greece
ERA Kerkyra (Corfu) 1008 kW (50 kW) SIO 444 at 2105 Male announcer's Greek text into classic Greek vocal tunes // 729 kHz ERA 1-Athina 333. Monitored three Greek stations intermittently from 1600 UTC. ERA Komotini on 1404 kHz (SIO 434) is not parallel with 729 or 1008 kHz. Greek conversations and vocal tunes. All three reported as 24-hour broadcasters. (Zakynthos, GRC SDR)
Iran
IRIB/VOIRI-Pars Today in Arabic, 6060 (500 kW) 1815-1830. Very poor signal quality during text and Arabic vocals. Fanfare intros for new program segment. Arabic 1430-1450 with Arabic newscast on 7310 (SIO 232) // (Zahedan) and // 9800 (500 kW) Sirjan, Iran. Bengali service 1420-1500 on 6150 (poor-SIO 222) (500 kW) Sirjuan // 9870 (500 kW) Sirjan, Iran. Announcer's text on Iran, fanfare intros in program segments with mentions about Teheran. Signal fair-poor. (Qatar SDR)
Kosovo
RTK Radio Kosovo 1, 549 kHz. Albanian pop vocals from 1625 tune-in. UK English pops to 1629. Fanfare, time tips 1630. Canned ID, Albanian promo into news script and comments to 1642. Easy-listening ballads and pops continued. (SIO 434) Station on 24-hour schedule (Martinsicuro, Italy SDR)
Kuwait
Radio Kuwait 11630 kHz, 1435-1505. Arabic talk and text to the Quran at 1454-1500. Announcer's station reference and promo at 1500. Fanfare opens feature. Fair signal quality (333). No sign of // 9730 kHz.DRM on 15540, 1800-2100. Quran program 1505-1530. Station operates a 24-hour schedule.(Qatar SDR)
Mali
ORTM/Radio Mali 5995 kHz (50 kW) via Bamako. African hilife vocals at 1942 tune-in. Service listed as Bambara. Additional hilife tunes and announcer chats. Signal as SIO 343. (S Africa TWR SDR)
Morocco
Radio Mediteranee Intl/Medi 1 171 LW, 1950-2010. Arabic items to music program with interpretations. The program featured solos on an oud, a Moroccan five-stringed guitar. Station ID followed the music segment and Arabic talk. YouTube has videos on this Middle Eastern music at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttgni1_4-kE (Moroccan Palace/Morocco Sounds).(Qatar SDR)
Oman
Radio Sultanate of Oman. Arabic from 1440 on 576 // 603, 639, 1241 (best-SIO 444) and 1278 kHz. Male's history readings on Arabi. Canned promos to 1445, mentions of Oman to Arabic instrumentals (Qatar SDR) No sign of shortwave services, however mediumwave monitoring on 576 // 603 (SIO 434), 639 (434), 1242 best at SIO 444, and 1278 (SIO 433). Special Arabic presentation from 2042. Tentative as Oman in Arabic on 9620, 1510-140. Very poor (232). (Qatar SDR)
Qatar
Qatar Media Corp. Arabic on 675 kHz (600 kW) 1425-1435. Lady's Arabic vocals to 1430. Station info, mentions of Qatar with public service announcement format. Arabic music program (SIO 444) (Qatar SDR). Subsequent recheck on 675 kHz from 2040-2055 with interview and discussion. Station operates on a 24-hour schedule. (Qatar SDR)
Saudi Arabia
SBA Call of Islam. Monitoring checks at 1615 on 15225 // 15435 kHz. Saudi Arabia's SBA Itha Huna Al-Azm (Determination Radio) 11745 kHz to the Middle East from 1610. The mid-level audio quality for Arabic text and music. Station promo 1625 to the conversational segment. Though reported as one, sources tell me, this station is not a clandestine station (Qatar SDR). Itha Huna Al Azm 11745 kHz. Very weak Arabic from 1440 tune-in. (SIO 222). Rechecks 1600-1630 with the equally poor signal on 11745 kHz. Transmitters reported as part of SBA/Ministry of Media (Saudi Arabia) and presumed to be in Jeddah. (Qatar SDR)
SBA Jeddah 1206 // 1215 with Arabic text (SIO 343) 1450-1455. SBA Radio Riyadh. Call to Prayers on 549 // 585, 594, 612, 675 (SIO 444) 1260, 1440 and 1449 (SIO 444). SBA Quran on medium wave from 1445 UTC on 531 // 558, 657, 810. (Qatar SDR)
(Gayle Van Horn/Teak Publishing)
