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:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2075--Jan. 2, 1990 ::
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Shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2075
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Welcome to edition 2075 of Sweden Calling DXers. This, the first edition of a
new year and a new decade, looks back at some of the radio news of the year
gone by.
EASTERN EUROPE--Perhaps the biggest change in the world since the end of the
Second World War has been the rapid reforms in the USSR and Eastern Europe.
These changes have very much been reflected on the radio waves.
In March, we reported that all jamming activity from Eastern Europe and the
Soviet Union of broadcasts from Western countries had ceased. The end of
decades of intentional interference has made a major change on the radio
bands. Some jamming remains throughout the world, but nothing like what we
have known for the last several decades. The Soviet Union has taken its
former jamming transmitters and converted them for use for shortwave relays
of programs from the various republics to Moscow.
Major changes are also happening at Eastern European broadcasters, until now
strongly controlled by State and Party. On December 10th, Swedish Radio's
Roger Wallis interviewed members of the Swedish services of Radio Moscow and
Radio Berlin international by telephone in a live broadcast. Both stations
were pleased at their new freedom to report on topics that had been taboo.
Some examples: This year Estonian Radio began broadcasting in English. Radio
Vilnius in Lithuania has expanded its programming in English. And a
non-governmental youth radio station, the first of its kind in the Soviet
Union, is coming into operation in Vilnius.
1989 also saw the inauguration of the first commercial radio and TV stations
in Hungary. Cross-border broadcasting from Hungary to listeners in Austria
has also been further extended. Since July 31st, a 24 hour program called
"Antenne Austria", produced by an Austrian production team, has been
broadcast via two VHF transmitters in western Hungary. The programs are
directed towards listeners in eastern Austria, including Vienna.
In Czechoslovakia the opposition movement "Civic Forum" has started its own
program on the national radio channel Hvezda. This follows the appointment of
a new director general of Czechoslovak Radio, 42 year old Karel Stary. He was
recently interviewed on the air together with a Civic Forum spokesman. And
when asked by a Radio Prague reporter about the future of the station, Stary
praised both the BBC World Service and Radio France International.
The BBC Polish language service says negotiations have recently been
successfully concluded for the re-broadcasting via satellite of the whole of
the BBC's Polish service on FM and medium-wave stations in Poland. And the
Polish section of the Voice of America and Polish Radio have broadcast two
joint programs on Polish-American economic relations. VOA director Richard
Carlson has announced the opening of a VOA bureau in Warsaw, the first of its
kind in Eastern Europe. Both Swedish and American companies are working on
developing cable television systems in Poland.
LATIN AMERICA--The American intervention in Panama at the end of the year
attracted the attention of the world's media. Colombia's Caracol network
devoted round-the-clock programming to following the crisis. The broadcasts
included statements from Panamanian strongman General Manual Noriega, saying
he was following events on Caracol. Panama's Radio Nacional continued to
present the government position. After jamming the government's Channel 2
television, the US military took over the station.
The conflict between the United States and General Noriega led to media
conflicts earlier in the year. On May 8th, jamming began against the AFRTS TV
stations in the Canal Zone. CNN's signal was blacked out during news from
Panama over the local cable-TV system. However, people with satellite TV
receivers and video tape recorders passed along newscasts from CNN and
Univision.
Following the uprising against General Noriega at the beginning of October,
the Panamanian government cancelled the frequencies allocated to the "La
Exitosa" radio network, which had broadcast the statement made by the rebel
officiers.
With the reduction in American aid to the anti-Nicaraguan Contras, the Voice
of America ended its activities with Radio Costa Rica, a station set-up to
circumvent the country's law preventing foreign interests from owning
broadcast outlets. Sixty percent of Radio Costa Rica programming had been a
relay of the VOA in Spanish.
The political disturbances in Haiti in March and April affected broadcasting.
On April 6th the Haitian national guard took a number of radio stations off
the air by damaging or cutting off their antennas. According to one report,
people were wounded at some of the stations. At Radio Liberte soldiers are
said to have totally destroyed the transmitter as well, while at Radio
Antilles International palace soldiers took away transmitting equipment while
a gun was held to the head of a watchman. Only four stations continued
operations.
With the fall of the Stroesner dictatorship in Paraguay in February, a number
of broadcasters returned to the air. These included the opposition station
Radio Nanduti, which was often jammed by the government, as well as Radio
Encarnacion and Emisoras Paraguay.
HUGO--Caribbean radio stations suffered from Hurricane Hugo in October.
In St Kitts, ZIZ Radio and Radio Paradise had their aerial masts bent, but
ZIZ managed to stay on FM and Radio Paradise was back on mediumwave a few
days later with a temporary antenna. Radio Montserrat and Radio Antilles were
destroyed, as were most radio stations in St Croix, in the American Virgin
Islands. Caribbean Beacan in Anguilla was almost unaffected by the storm: it
was one of the few stations that was only off the air for a very short time.
CHINA--The development of a global media network was underlined before and
after the massacre at Beijing's Tienanmen Square in June. The world's major
television companies were on the spot with their satellite uplinks, bringing
the student demonstrations to international TV screens. As a consequence of
the Chinese crack-down, Voice of America broadcasts in Mandarin and Cantonese
were jammed and the VOA put its Chinese programming onto a 1 million watt
medium wave transmitter in the Phillipines.
To jam VOA broadcasts, the Chinese authorities closed down the Voice of the
People of Kampuchea on June 8 for the first time in 10 years. When the
transmitter was no longer needed for jamming, the Khmer Rouge station
returned to the air, in September.
Radio Japan, Radio France International, and Radio Australia also added new
broadcasts to China, and Radio Canada International started its Chinese
language service a year earlier than originally planned.
SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE--When the worst earthquake in the United States
since 1906 struck San Francisco on October 17th, the ABC television network
was just beginning its live broadcast of a baseball World Series game. The
picture immediately vanished, and after a brief announcement from a shaken
announcer in the stadium, the network filled with a comedy program.
All of the television stations in San Francisco went off the air. KNTV in San
Jose, closer to the epicenter, had problems because it's transmitter was
damaged. The network stations in San Francisco, KGO, KRON, and KPIX returned
on generator power. KRON had problems and for awhile was broadcasting from
the transmitter shack on Mount Sutro, and feeding both NBC and CNN with an
uplink provided by Sacramento's KCRA, which had satellite gear in San
Francisco to cover the World Series.
In fact, because telephones, landlines, and even cellular telephones were
out, the only coverage out of San Francisco at the beginning was coming from
the networks with satellite trucks at the baseball park, including the sports
network ESPN.
It turns out that while most of the world followed the earthquake by
television, local residents relied on radio. And it was MW radio that did the
best job--the local FM stations went on playing music.
The ABC radio network put KGO radio on a satellite for feeds that were
carried by many ABC affiliates. KGO itself managed to continue broadcasting
on 810 kHz. Two of its three antenna towers crashed, and the station was
reduced from 50,000 watts to just 10,000 watts. The other network affiliates,
KCBS on 740 and KNBR on 680 kHz, have also been praised for their coverage.
SRI LANKA--Broadcast media have played a prominant role in the current Tamil
conflict in northern Sri Lanka. There were relays of Indian TV broadcasts in
northern Sri Lanka and Tamil programs to the Indian Peace Keeping Forces in
Sri Lanka medium wave have been broadcast on medium wave from India. All
India Radio has also begun a "Special Foreign Service" to Sri Lanka in Tamil.
There have also been increased broadcasts from Sri Lanka to India, in both
Tamil and Hindi. The Hindi broadcasts have used a transmitter previously
rented by the Sri Lankan government to Trans World Radio.
Sri Lankan security forces moved into state-run radio and television
stations on July 28th, following the killing of the head of the SLBC, Thevis
Guruge, by JVP guerillas on July 23rd. After accusing the government-owned
media of biased reporting, the JVP called on employees of the radio and
television stations to quit or face the consequences.
As the troubles in Sri Lanka continue, a number of broadcasts have continued
to be heard from Tamil separtists, some apparently originating from India.
There have also been broadcasts from Sri Lanka's JVP guerillas, who oppose
concessions to the Tamils.
The Deutsche Welle relay station in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, was due to go
into full operation this year. The installation of the station has been
interrupted several times because of the internal situation in Sri Lanka.
According to reports, the Trincomalee relay station was fully operational as
of December.
THE PACIFIC--There were a number of changes on the shortwave scene in the
Pacific during 1989. No sooner did Radio Australia's new transmitter station
at Brandon, Queensland go on the air on April 2nd, then two days later
Tropical Cyclone Aivu arrived with 200 kilometer per hour winds. The antennas
were damaged but the Brandon transmitters returned to the air on April 23rd.
A new study about Radio Australia called for investments in new transmitters,
as well as the development of new transmitter sites in Queensland, and
outside Australia. In addition, beginning December 3rd, the Radio Australia
program schedule reflected new target priorities in the South Pacific and
Asia. Services to Europe, North America and New Zealand have been suspended.
Radio New Zealand has long been handicaped by two weak 7.5 kW shortwave
transmitters. But on December 21st, 1988 the Government of New Zealand said
that an upgraded Radio New Zealand International was to be on the air in 1990
to coincide with New Zealand's 150th anniversary celebrations. The service
will initially broadcast 11 hours a day in morning and evening using a new
100 kilowatt transmitter. Programs are to be in English with limited use of
Pacific languages and there will be strong emphasis on news and sport. The
government of New Zealand added that the need for the new service was
highlighted by the Fiji Coup and the troubles in Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
The new 100 kilowatt transmitter is expected to come on the air on January
24th 1990.
In March the Tonga Broadcasting Commission turned up on shortwave 5030 kHz.
Unfortunately this new service disappeared again in early June, due to a lack
of replacement parts. However, a religious group of New Zealand, United
Christian Broadcasters has begun work on a station which will operate first
on medium wave, and later on shortwave and FM.
STATION PROBLEMS--A number of shortwave stations experienced problems staying
on the air in 1989. Radio Nigeria closed on April 25th. According to one
report "following 6 years of missed schedules and transmitting faults due to
ancient equipment and financial constrictions, the Federal Radio Corporation
of Nigeria can no longer sanction Radio Nigeria operations". In June the
station's West African service returned.
Radio Cameroon in Yaounde also vanished from shortwave during 1989. Both
Douala and Bertoua are also off shortwave. The only shortwave stations
remaining in Cameroon are Garoua, Buea and
Bafoussam.
After being boarded by the Dutch Navy in August, and closed down, Radio
Caroline returned to 558 kHz on October 1st. The outlets on 819 and 6215 kHz
remain inactive.
The Christian Science Monitor had problems with its shortwave stations. The
new station WSHB in South Carolina went on the air at the beginning of the
year. But because of the financial burden of developing its daily television
news program, the Christian Science Monitor had to fire all but a handful of
the employees working for Monitor Radio and the shortwave World Service in
April. The Monitor's station in Saipan, KYOI, went off the air for
transmitter repairs, but resumed broadcasting in October as KHBI.
The Canadian government is cutting the budget of the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation by 140 million dollars over the next five years. The impact on
Radio Canada International may be severe. There is even a possiblity that
RCI's shortwave services might be eliminated. There were plans to eliminate
RCI's German service, but those broadcasts have continued. In fact, RCI has
expanded with a new Middle East service.
Because of budget restrictions, Radio Norway International reduced its
programs in Norwegian from 45 minutes to 30 minutes in May. Music is filling
in for the lost 15 minute blocks. Radio Norway has been negotiating with
Radio Denmark to buy 30 minute blocks. It had been hoped this could begin in
July, but since Radio Denmark is having trouble finding money, possible
Danish relays would begin in 1990 at the earliest. The reduction has not
affected the weekly half hour programs from Radio Norway International in
English, but the weekly 5 minutes in Spanish has been dropped.
IRELAND--Beginning January 1st, 1989, most of the Irish pirate radio stations
closed down as government legislation went into effect imposing heavy fines
for unlicenced broadcasting. The new national channel, Century Radio, went on
the air in September. Atlantic 252, a joint station by Ireland's RTE and
Radio Luxembourg, began testing on long wave in August and started regular
broadcasting in September. The British Foreign Office has protested to the
Irish government about the station, which is beams non-stop rock and pop
music programs to Britain. Commercial broadcasters in Britain are concerned
they will lose audiences and advertising to Atlantic 252.
RELAYS--1988 was the year of relay agreements, with many stations starting to
exchange programming over each other's transmitters. This continued in 1989.
Radio Canada International and Radio Austria International began relaying
each other's programs on March 26th. The Canadians have also been talking
with Deutsche Welle and Radio Monte Carlo, looking for transmitters for the
new RCI Middle East service. RCI has also been negotiating with Radio Korea
in South Korea about exchanging airtime starting in April 1990. Radio Korea
plans to broadcast to the Americas via RCI in Korean English, and Spanish.
A relay exchange between RCI and Radio Beijing began on April 2nd. English
and Spanish programs from Radio Beijing are being relayed over the
transmitters of Radio Canada International in Sackville. RCI programs in
English and Japanese to India and Japan are being carried over the Chinese
relay station in Xian in Shaaxi province.
A delegation from Radio Austria International also went to China to discuss a
possible relay co-operation agreement. Austria is especially interested in
improving reception of shortwave programs to South East Asia and the Pacific.
However, the Tienanmen Square massacre seems to have put a stop to these
negotiations.
During 1989 the BBC World Service began relay operations using Radio Bras in
Brazil. These ended in October, when the BBC added two new 250 kW
transmitters and four new antennas to its relay base on Ascension Island in
the Atlantic. These are for broadcasts to South America in Spanish and
Portuguese and to West Africa in English, French, and Hausa. The BBC is also
renovating its Skelton transmitter station in England, used by the External
Service since 1943.
On August 27th, the BBC Monitoring Service celebrated its 50th birthday.
Today BBC Monitoring has 350 editors and monitors, who tune in to broadcasts
from 33 countries. After all these years of being Britain's ears, BBC
Monitoring has recently become it's eyes as well, as it moves into satellite
TV monitoring.
Finally, we hope all our listeners have had an enjoyable 1989, and we hope
you continue to support the program during the year ahead. We have a special
greeting for Arne Skoog, the man who started this program in 1948. Arne and
his wife Maj-Britt celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on February 4th,
and we want to send them all our best wishes.
Arne has also asked us to send a greeting to the many people he and Maj-
Britt met on their trip to California, Australia, and New Zealand a year ago.
And that's it for this special edition of the program. Next week we'll take
up satellite radio and television, and all the changes there during 1989. And
we'll also be looking into the future of communications technology. We hope
you can join us then.
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Sweden Calling DXers is the world's oldest radio program for shortwave
listeners. Radio Sweden has presented this round-up of radio news, features,
and interviews on Tuesdays since 1948. RS broadcasts to North America:
15:30 hrs on 17880 and 21610 kHz
02:30 hrs on 9695 and 11705 kHz
To Europe, Africa, and the Middle East:
15:30 hrs on 21655 kHz (East Africa)
18:00 hrs on 1179, 6065, and 7265 kHz
21:00 hrs on 1179, 9655 and 11705 kHz
23:00 hrs on 1179 kHz
00:00 hrs on 1179 kHz
And to Asia and the Pacific:
12:30 hrs on 15190, 17740, and 21570 kHz
14:00 hrs on 11905 and 17740 kHz
01:00 hrs on 7225 and 11760 kHz
The Radio Sweden schedule to Europe can be found on Sky Channel's teletext
Service, Sky Text, on page 496.
The Electronic Edition is based on the Sweden Calling DXers bulletins
which are mailed out every 4 weeks to contributors. Contributions can be sent
to DX Editor George Wood to Swedish telex 11738, CompuServe (via the HamNet
Forum or Easyplex 70247,3516), through the FidoNet system to 2:202/297 or to
SM0IIN at the packet radio BBS SK0TM.
Reports can also be sent to:
Radio Sweden
S-105 10 Stockholm
Sweden
Contributions should be NEWS about electronic media--from shortwave to
satellites--and not loggings of information already available from sources
such as the "World Radio TV Handbook". Clubs and DX publications may reprint
material as long as Sweden Calling DXers and the original contributor are
acknowledged, with the exception of items from BBC Monitoring, which are
copyright.
We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition, Sweden
Calling DXers, and our programs in general.
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