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Radio News in March 2003

KTFH Seattle WA testing on 1680 kHz AM

A new station on the extended AM band in the United States has begun testing. KTFH Seattle WA has been heard on 1680 kHz with station identifications in English and ethnic music. According to World of Radio 1173, the station was first logged by Eric Svajdlenka in Everett, Washington, on March 7, and is expected to be on the air regularly from the end of March. The address is listed as 2815 Second Ave. #550, Seattle, WA 98121, United States.
(DXing.info, March 13, 2003, updated April 3)



Peruvian Radio Macedonia with TV sound on 4890 kHz

A protestant broadcaster heard since early February on 4890 kHz shortwave has turned out to be Radio Macedonia, a baptist missionary station from the city of Arequipa in Peru. The station has been heard on 4890 kHz sharp, just below the signal of Peruvian Radio Chota, often logged around 4890.2 kHz. Radio Macedonia has been broadcasting Protestant Christian programming produced by baptist Televisión Mundial, a project by Uttermost ministy based in Georgia, US. The construction of the radio station and a related television station were completed in January 2002, with antennas erected in February 2002, but it took about a year to get the radio station on the air. The transmitter power is about 100 watts. Not yet with separate programming, the radio station is simply relaying the audio feed of the TV station.
       Radio Macedonia has never been heard to identify on the air, and its identity was revealed only after research done by several DXers, including
Björn Malm in Ecuador and Samuel Cássio, who was the first to catch the signal in Brazil on January 29. Shortly after Henrik Klemetz found a website related to the programming, the name of the broadcaster became known through emails received by Klemetz and José Elías Díaz Gómez from Guillermo Gardner, Spanish South American Director for Macedonia World Baptist Missions, and his son, Chris Gardner, a pastor for Iglesia Bautista Fé and the manager behind the broadcasting project. The station can be reached through Ministerio de la Iglesia Bautista Fe, Calle Ugarte 104 - Yanahuara, Arequipa, Peru, tel. +51-54-251562, by email to the church, or by writing to Chris Gardner at Casilla 1677, Arequipa, Peru, or emailing him.
(DXing.info, March 12, 2003, updated on April 3)

Nine new radio stations on the French mediumwave band

France will shortly be getting nine new radio stations on the mediumwave band. The French broadcast regulator Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) decided in its plenary assembly on March 12 that nine radio stations will be licensed to operate a total of 25 transmitters on 13 different AM frequencies. The successful candidates include six new radio stations: Radiorama, La Radio de la Mer, Superloustic, Ciel AM (heard testing on MW earlier), Radio Nouveaux Talents and La Radio du Temps Libre. In addition to these, three radio stations (Radio Orient, Beur FM and RMC Info) already operating a nationwide network of FM transmitters will be given new MW frequencies to increase their coverage area. There were a total of 37 applicants for the new MW frequencies. Three frequencies in the original plan were not licensed to any applicant. Candidates were chosen based on the format (talk works well on the mediumwave band), variety (preference given to formats not yet widely available on the FM band) and networking (allowing networks covering several major cities). DXers have a lot to discover across the mediumwave dial starting from a superpower station Radio Orient on 1350 kHz from Nice, which should be audible across the Atlantic and far into Asia. But for Europeans, these are the last days to try to catch low-power stations from UK on the same frequency. DXers can look forward to hearing exciting new signals on the following frequencies:

 kHz     kW     station  location
675 1000 Superloustic Marseille
981 5 Ciel AM Paris
999 5 Superloustic Paris
1062 5 RadioRama Paris
1071 300 La Radio de la Mer Montpellier
1071 160 La Radio de la Mer Brest, Saint-Brieuc, Rennes or Lorient
1071 20 La Radio de la Mer Bastia
1080 5 La Radio de la Mer Paris
1161 1000 Ciel AM Strasbourg (60 kw for 90°-130°)
1161 160 Ciel AM Toulouse
1314 5 La Radio du Temps Libre Paris
1350 2500 Radio Orient Nice (300 kW 20°-230°, and 100 kW 80°-100°)
1485 1 RadioRama Marseille
1485 1 RadioRama Reims
1485 1 RadioRama Toulouse
1485 1 RMC Info Nancy
1485 1 RMC Info Brest
1575 5 Radio des Nouveaux Talents Paris
1584 1 RMC Info Metz
1584 1 RMC Info Mulhouse
1584 1 RMC Info Strasbourg
1584 1 RadioRama Nantes
1584 1 RadioRama Montpellier
1584 1 Beur FM Perpignan
1602 1 Radio Orient Nîmes

(DXing.info, March 12, 2003, updated March 13)



Radio Extol from Kyrgyzstan behind 4050 kHz mystery station?

Radio Extol in the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek is broadcasting on 1467 kHz mediumwave and is also involved in broadcasts heard on the shortwave frequencies of 4050 and 4940 kHz. The station broadcasts at 1200-1800 UTC on 1467 kHz, using a 75-kilowatt transmitter and a non-directional aerial in Bishkek. Programming consists of popular Russian and Western pop music and two 30-minute blocks of programming produced by Trans World Radio (TWR), aired at 1530-1600 and 1630-1700 UTC. According to Alexander Polyakov from Uzbekistan, reception reports may be sent by email to the station or directly to Timur Karimov, technical management of Radio Extol. In his news on RUS-DX, Polyakov says that reception reports on programming aired on 4940 kHz at 1300-1600 UTC, and on 4050 kHz at 1600-1900 UTC, may also be sent to the same address. The source of programming heard on 4050 and 4940 kHz has recently been under intense speculation. Both 1467 and 4010 kHz have previously been used by the state radio company Kyrgyz Uluttuk Teleradio Korporatsiyasy, which has denied involvement in shortwave broadcasts spotted by DXers since August 2002.
(DXing.info, March 9, 2003)
Voice of Iraqi Liberation new on 4025 kHz shortwave

Map of IraqA new clandestine radio station identifying as the Voice of Iraqi Liberation ("Sawt al-Tahrir al-Iraq" in Arabic) has been discovered. DXing.info has been able to establish that the station broadcasts twice daily, at 0630- and 1830-2030 UTC on 1206 and 4025 kHz. According to an informed source, the station is operated jointly by various Iraqi opposition groups in Sulaymaniyah, and the station has studios of its own. Programming is directed at the Iraqi military, especially at the elite Republican Guard forces. The station has been heard identifying as follows: "This is the Voice of Iraqi Liberation, the Voice of Democracy, equality, liberation, living together and civil rule" as translated by Tarek Zeidan in Egypt.
       The Voice of Iraqi Liberation is urging Iraqi soldiers to defect to the coalition forces "who are coming to liberate Iraq and to get rid of the Iraqi regime". It has also told the Iraqi public that the coalition forces will not harm civilians, but "are here to help you". According to the Voice of Iraqi Liberation, Osama bin Laden and his supporters kill innocent people for no reason, just like Saddam Hussein and the members of his regime.
       The Voice of Iraqi Liberation was first heard by Mika Mäkeläinen in Finland on March 6 signing off at 2031 UTC. However, an informed source tells DXing.info that broadcasts began already around February 21. According to monitoring by Tarek Zeidan after March 7, the Washington Post is mentioned as source in most of the news reports read on the air. However, the Voice of Iraqi Liberation has not announced any contact information or given any direct indication of its political affiliation. Most probably it uses the transmitters of the Voice of the People of Kurdistan, but its programming is clearly separate. For example in the evenings the transmission of the Voice of the People of Kurdistan ends at 1800 UTC, followed by a break before the Voice of Iraqi Liberation begins broadcasting. The transmitters are located in Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq.
       Voice of the People of Kurdistan is the mouthpiece of Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). DXing.info has been told that there is "cooperation" between the Voice of Iraqi Liberation and the Voice of the People of Kurdistan. A sample station identification of the Voice of Iraqi Liberation and of the Voice of the People of Kurdistan can be found in the DXing.info audio archive, and more information on the Iraqi radio scene is available in the article Monitoring Iraq: War of the Airwaves.
(DXing.info, March 8, 2003, last update March 14)

Equatorial Guinea heard again on 5005 kHz shortwave

Radio Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial from Bata has again been heard on shortwave after being off the air during the year 2002. The station was heard on 5005 kHz by Jari Savolainen in Finland on March 6, signing off at 1829 UTC. This is likely a new shortwave transmitter installed by Chinese technicians who arrived in the country in November 2002. The power of the transmitter is believed to be 50 kilowatts. In addition to replacing the shortwave transmitter of Bata, the Chinese also installed a new FM transmitter. The previous 50-kilowatt shortwave transmitter in Bata was taken into use in 1973, and used to be one of the most powerful signals on the 60-meter band from Central Africa.
(DXing.info, March 6, 2003)


Sudanese opposition returns to 8000 kHz shortwave

Radio Voice of Sudan has reactivated shortwave broadcasting, and can be heard at 1530-1600 UTC on the frequency of 8000 kHz. The station belongs to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and is presumed to be broadcasting from Eritrea. BBC Monitoring Service says that it has recognized one of the newsreaders currently on the air at the station as one who broadcast on the station in the past, indicating that this indeed is a renewal of the station which was heard on the same frequency in the late 1990's. Voice of Sudan began broadcasting in August 1995, but transmissions were suspended after relations between Sudan and Eritrea improved in 1999. The station broadcasts in Arabic and has been heard by the Monitoring Service identifying as "Voice of Sudan, voice of democracy and peace, radio of the National Democratic Alliance" (Arabic: "Sawt al-Sudan, sawt al-dimuqratiyah wa al-salam, idha'at al-tajamu al-watani al-dimuqrati").
(DXing.info, March 5, 2003)

The purpose of the radio news section is to inform about new mediumwave (AM) and shortwave broadcasting stations worldwide. Other news are published only on major international broadcasters or issues very relevant to DXers. New programs and schedules are not covered.

The news are edited by Mika Mäkeläinen. Extracts from news items may be quoted if the website http://www.DXing.info is mentioned as source. See terms of use for details.

 


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