Radio Canada International back on course in new schedules

Fantastic- Radio Canada International’s summer schedule in English is promising for us UK fans of the station, with a return of the 2000 UTC (2100 BST) broadcast.

This is usually a good time for me to be tuning in and I am sure I am not alone in thinking that. It’s one of four hours spread throughout the day.  Realkly enjoyed last night's programme, with a great signal (555 to 444 SIO) on 15235kHz and clear on 15330kHz too.

It may only just be spring in the northern hemisphere but my summer time has come early- perfect evening audio accompaniment for the evenings that I am in. Thanks RCI!

Midnight UTC for an hour of English with Marc Montgomery, Ian Jones & friends on 11700kHz
1500 to 1557 UTC on 11675 and 15125kHz
1800 to 1859 UTC on 9530, 11765 and 17810
2000 to 2059 UTC 15330, 15235 and 17735kHz.

Do let the station know how you find reception and what you feel about their programmes. http://www.rcinet.ca/english/program/the-link/home/
http://www.rcinet.ca/english/

thelink@rci.net.ca

It's 1973 all over again - BBC External Services Audience Research

Now we are well past Leap Day, I shall point out that from 1st March the days and dates of 2012 are the same as they were in 1973.

So a good year to share the wonderful 1973 calendar of BBC External Services Audience Research. Vintage at its best. We start with the cover featuring BBC secretaries Zara Elrington, Sandra Rickwood and Carol Torence-Smith.

It's 1973 all over again is named after the Dave Brubeck Quartet's track It's deja vu all over again

BBC Russian Language and People

Do you remember the BBC tv Russian Language and People course back in 1980? I was delighted to find the Goodbye Summer  drama that featured in it serialised at a Russian YouTube channel. The theme music has stuck in my mind for decades and it was a delight to hear the soulful piece again, as well as trying to learn some Russian: http://www.youtube.com/user/Only4Russian

There is also a whole website dedicated to the programme at: http://media.humnet.ucla.edu/depts/slavic/goodbyesummer/ 

The photo above is a still from the opening episode of Goodbye Summer, where Victor the taxi driver drives Olga to Moscow University.

Radio PMR, Pridnestrovye. Moldova

Photo from: http://www.marisha.net/tiraspol/pmr.htm

Extract from my Long, Medium and Shortwave Broadcast Matters column in Radio User, March 2012.

Schedules in this post are only valid until Saturday 24 March 2012. 

The new A 12 season schedules will commence 0001 UTC Sunday 25 March.

A place rarely in the news in the UK is the region of Pridnestrovye, a breakaway region from Moldova.
Radio PMR is on 7290kHz for all its language broadcasts which include English at 1830, 2030 and 2230 UTC.  French, German and Russian can also be heard and it’s a good plan to tune to 7290kHz for a good airing of various music broadcasts from PMR too, between 1715 and 2300 UTC.

They no longer seem to announce an email address on air- I rather like this old school approach in some ways, though am not sure it will benefit the station. You can get in touch with the station by writing to Radio PMR, Rozy Lyuksemburg 10, MD-3300 Tiraspol, Moldova.

Radio Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

Extract from my Long, Medium and Shortwave Broadcast Matters column in Radio User, March 2012.


Schedules in this post are only valid until Saturday 24 March 2012.
The A-12 season schedule will commence Sunday 25 March.

Radio Kuwait is on air to Europe in English for three hours from 1800-to 2100 UTC on 15540kHz. It plays a real mix of pop and rock music, mostly westernised from all eras. Interspersed with news bulletins it’s a relay of a domestic FM service but one that I enjoy in small doses.

Radio in Kuwait commenced in 1951 but it was ten years later when the country gained its independence from Britain that the medium of radio started to expand. It’s great that the station is on shortwave for a three hour stretch but I am often left feeling slightly unsatisfied with the audio fare that they serve up.

A Middle Eastern station that I have not heard in English is BSKSA (Broadcasting Services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). They broadcast a 10 minute news bulletin in English from 0746 to 0756 UTC on 17785kHz, and from 1000 to 1227 UTC on 15250kHz.

A new Korea in a new town?*

From my Long, Medium and Shortwave Broadcast Matters column in Radio User March 2012:

Schedules in this post are only valid until 2359 UTC Saturday 24 March 2012.
The new A 12 season schedules will commence Sunday 25 March.


North Korea’s state radio station might be worth listening to under the new regime although don’t expect any major changes. The Voice of Korea in English currently aims its propaganda towards Europe at 1300 to 1400 UTC and 1500 to 1600 UTC on 3560, 7570, 9335, 11710 and 12015kHz. Then there are two hours in the European evenings, from 1800 to 1900 UTC on 3560, 7570 and 12015kHz, and the same frequencies are cranked into use again for a final hour from 2100 UTC.



South of the 38th parallel KBS World from Seoul will doubtless refute what you have heard from Pyongyang. You can catch its English programmes to Europe from 1600 to 1700 UTC on 9515 and 1800 UTC to 1900 UTC on 7275. Time-wise the latter clashes with the broadcast from North Korea, what a dilemma!

A broadcast I usually tune to for South Korea’s interesting broadcasts is 3955kHz from the Skelton transmitter in Cumbria, for a 30 minute transmission commencing at 2200 UTC.
 
* "A new Korea in a new town?" after David Bowie's "A new career in a new town."

Voice of Turkey

Extract from my Long, Medium and Shortwave Broadcast Matters column in Radio User, March 2012.


The Voice of Turkey is always to keen to hear from people, so why not tune in and drop them a line as well. Their programmes often seem to run out of steam and are filled up with Turkish music. While this can be highly listenable in itself, it is disappointing that they sometimes struggle to fill the airtime. There is their DX Corner show too to listen out for.


The current schedule until the end of March has six airings, starting at 0400 to 0455 UTC on 7240 and 9655kHz; then it’s 1330 to1425 UTC on 12035kHz; 1730 to 1825 on 11735kHz; 1930 to 2025 UTC on 6050kHz; 2130 to 2225 UTC on 9610kHz; and finally the last hour of the day from 2300 to 2355 UTC on 5960kHz.

If your French is up to it then tune to the daily broadcast from 2030 to 2125 on 5970 and 6050kHz. Many other language services are operational from Ankara, including Georgian, Tatar, Italian, Kazakh, Uyghur and Persian.

Email the station at englishdesk@trt.net.tr  or through their contact form at: http://www.trt-world.com  

¡Viva Radio Exterior de España!

Radio Exterior de España celebrates 70 years on Thursday 15th March 2012.

Tune in at 9665kHz from 1900 to 20.00 UTC (in English Monday to Fridays) or at weekends on 6125kHz from 2200 to 2300 UTC.

You can also listen to their podcasts at: http://www.rtve.es/podcast/radio-exterior/emision-en-ingles/  

I was interviewed on Monday for their anniversary broadcast, along with many other listeners around the world. I made reference to my first hearing Radio Exterior de España back in the late 1970s (yes, I started DXing/swling at a very tender age!).

The photo above is a QSL card they sent me- I loved the painting of the Formentera Ladies on it back then and it is still a good piece of art in my view all these decades later. The log was for 9505kHz on 21 Sept 1978 from 2100 to 2130 GMT (UTC).

1978! It was only four years since General Franco had died, I remember that was announced in my Spanish class the day it happened and we all cheered.  Sadly I went on to fail my Spanish exams... But I have very happy memories of six subsequent visits to Spain and their wonderful islands every decade since the 1980s.

March 15th, Radio Exterior de Espana is 70

An email below from Radio Exterior de Espana that they have asked me to share.
Please try and take part. Tune in on:

9665kHz 19.00-20.00 UTC English Monday to Fridays)


6125kHz 22.00-23.00 UTC English (Saturday and Sundays)

==============================================================

Dear Listener

On March 15th, Radio Exterior will be celebrating its 70th anniversary and we would love you to take part in the festivities. If you are interested in sharing your experience as a listener of the English language shortwave broadcasts, by letter or phone,- we would call you- please let us know as soon as possible.

We´ll be dedicating our March 15th broadcast to the anniversary and would like to reserve a special section to listeners -- your impressions and memories as well as the importance shortwave listening, in general, has had in your life.

Please send us a note and, if appropriate, your phone number and general time availablity.

Thank you ... many times over,
Alison, Frank and Justin of the English Language Broadcasts of REE
Corporación RTVE - http://www.rtve.es/

http://www.rtve.es/radio/radio-exterior/

englishbroadcast@rtve.es

International Women's Day: UK Women’s Radio Group

The Women’s Radio Group is a UK arts charity committed to providing training for women in all areas of radio production. They provide information on opportunities for women in the radio industry and a networking resource for women interested in radio.

 

They also regularly work in partnership with media training organisations and community groups to develop opportunities in radio for women.

 

Previous projects have included: 

• 2007-2010: 'PEARLS' training course for women in West London with women from the Panjabi centre in Southall.
• 2008-2009: imMEDIAte transnational learning partnership.
• WRG was a partner in a transnational Learning Partnership with organisations in Spain and Austria, funded by the EU's Grundtvig programme.
• 2007-2008: Unknown Voices. WRG was a partner in this project, recording the stories of women who have experienced homelessness.
• 2007: On-line tutorials: Writing for Radio.2005: Unsung Heroines - Writings and reminiscences from World War II through a Lottery-funded project.

More at: http://www.womeninradio.org.uk/  

 

VOIRI

A country always in the news is Iran, who put out a decent signal that can be heard in the UK. I find many of their programmes to be of considerable interest too.

I tend to tune into VOIRI for the hour from 1930 UTC on 6010, 6115, 7320, 13670 or 15450.

There are other times as well for English from Tehran. For night owls try the 0330 to 0427 UTC Voice of Justice broadcasts on 7200 and 7365kHz; then mid mornings 1030 to 1127 UTC on 21575 and 21695kHz; and mid afternoons from 1530 again for 57 minutes on 13785 and 155525kHz. http://english.irib.ir

New Music Express

From Radio Websites in Radio User, March 2012 http://www.radiouser.co.uk/

New Music Express

The I Like Music website is a useful resource coupled with DAB station Amazing Radio which champions new and unsigned bands. The former is at www.ilikemusic.com  with their YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/ilikemusic  


Amazing Radio is at http://amazingradio.co.uk/  and always a good station to drop in on if you want a quick burst of new and inspiring sounds. The combination of I Like Music and Amazing Radio led me to uncover a new London based band by the name of Public Service Broadcasting. Fitting into the Ambient, sample-dropping electronic genres their debut single is out in early March. ROYGBIV (Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet) is on Test Card Recordings. View the video at http://www.ilikemusic.com/news/Public_Service_Recordings_ROYGBIV  and see http://publicservicebroadcasting.bandcamp.com/  


My current favourites are a Brooklyn band called Field Mouse who I stumbled upon last year. They are influenced by the early 1990s shoe-gazing indie movement and to my ears sound divine. There us melancholic and retro feel to their songs, which I hope will be given radio air play soon. At the moment they are gigging around the USA, mostly locally in New York. See what you think at http://fieldmousemusic.com/  and http://www.youtube.com/user/fieldmousemusic  
 

Wales Radio International

For St. David’s Day we look at Wales Radio International.

They broadcast views news and music from the people of Wales to the world. They started in the 1990s and lasted until the mid 2000s, with programmes such as Sounds Celtic, Voices from Wales and Stories from Wales – there was some quality content on air.

For WRI's archive radio programmes visit their dormant website at: http://wri.cymru.net/  
These days the best Welsh stations are probably the BBC Wales and Welsh language BBC Radio Cymru. The local radio stations I have heard from Wales are just as meek and mindless as their English counterparts- dullsville mediocrity without any innovation. But please get in touch to prove me wrong!