Summer radio reading essentials...

The European Medium Wave Guide is celebrating its 15th year in 2013 http://www.emwg.info/ Herman Boel is responsible for the publication which he started when getting more involved in medium wave DXing in the 1990s. It merged in the early noughties with James Niven’s African medium wave guide to become an invaluable online resource. You can also order a pdf version too for 5 Euros. The cover I also always a stunning photo which draws the eye- this year’s is of Trakai Castle in Lithuania.

I’ve just received my copy of “Tales From Bush House” which was published last year. This is the result of the BBC World Service writer in residence Hamid Ismailov’s work (who I mentioned last year). He is now head of the BBC Central Asian service. The paperback is available online and also as an e-book from many sources. http://www.cheapukbooks.co.uk/

“The book is a collection of narratives about working lives, mostly real and comic, sometimes poignant or apocryphal by former and current BBC World Service employees. They are tales from inside Bush House escaping through its marble-clad walls at a time when its staff began their departure to new premises in Portland Place. It shows how the extraordinary people who worked there, and the magnificent, chaotic building they shared, shaped one another. “

Hamid Ismailov is an Uzbek novelist and poet whose spell as writer in residence took the form of blog posts which are now collected together at www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldservice/writerinresidence/hamid_ismailov/ There is a video and audio show too at 
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/2010/05/100511_hamid_writer_residence_audio_slideshow.shtml

The summer schedules from the World Radio TV Handbook are available free of charge at www.wrth.com. The 80 page file gives broadcast schedules for international and clandestine broadcasters, international broadcasts in DRM, frequency listings, certain language broadcasts and transmitter site and target area codes.

A radio read

Kerrie Wood Thomson’s book “Diary of a Public Radio Slave” is a short but entertaining read. A romp through a radio station in the Us building up to an annual pledge week to raise fund, and the visit of a giant of Public Radio. A jolly good read that you can download for under £1 at www.amazon.co.uk/Diary-Public-Radio-Slave-Thomson

Another Kerrie is Kerrie Miller at Minnesota Public Radio with a book review programme and always a good list of book choices on her page at http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/midmorning_books/  

Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/KerriMPR She co-hosts the Daily Circuit Radio Show which you can follow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DailyCircuit and listen online at http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/programs/daily_circuit/

If you are into National Public Radio then you may wish to read The Sound and the Story: NPR and the Art of Radio. This 1995 book is available from £2 on Amazon. It’s “An inside look at a popular radio network analyzes its size in relation to its following, introduces the personalities behind such programs as Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and weighs the effects of television on radio broadcasting”. www.amazon.co.uk/The-Sound-Story-NPR-Radio

I seem to be stuck in an all-American mode today and we head next to the Smithsonian magazine, always a good read .

The story of how a family were found in 1978 in Siberia with no idea that World War II had ended, was both fascinating and disturbing http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/For-40-Years-This-Russian-Family-Was-Cut-Off-From-Human-Contact-Unaware-of-World-War-II-188843001.html You can watch the television documentary footage, in Russian, of “Lost in the Taiga” at the You Tube channel www.youtube.com/user/pilgrim2heaven 

The 2010 article on 100 years of Public Radio is worth your time too. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Radio-Activity-The-100th-Anniversary-of-Public-Broadcasting.html 

BBC World Service to British Antarctic Survey team

The annual BBC Winter Solstice Broadcast to the British Antarctic Survey team is on today June 21 from 2130 to 2200 UTC. (The link above is to the 2012 broadcast).

5965 kHz via Dhabayya transmitter, beaming 203°
7350 kHz via Ascension Island transmitter beaming 207°
9890 kHz via Woofferton txer, transmitter beaming 182°

Thanks to the British DX Club, Dan Ferguson and Glenn Hauser's DX Listening Digest for updates.

June Radio Websites...

Extracts from my latest column in Radio User

I have mentioned the Radio Heritage Net website when it first launched a few short years ago. It specialises in radio news from the Far East and Australasian Pacific region but is looking to expand its coverage worldwide in the next year or so. That expansion is already starting to happen with their amusing Retro Radio Dial feature with looks back at the radio scene in US states such as Texas and Idaho 50 years ago. www.radioheritage.net and on Facebook too.


Radio User reader Graham Smith would like to share two radio related websites. The first is the Solar Terrestrial Activity Report (www.solen.info/solar ), which is compiled by Jan Alvestad in Norway. At the top of the page is a daily graph showing the sunspot number, A index and so on. If short wave reception is bad there is usually a spike in the A index. Further down the page are photos of sunspots, and at the bottom is a chart of the sunspot numbers (apparently we are past the peak of the current cycle). 

The second site is Ydun’s Medium Wave Info (http://mediumwave.info/index.html), compiled by Ms Ydun M. Ritz in Denmark. According to the News page for 12 April China Radio International has launched a frequency in the South China Sea. The Voice of the South China Sea broadcasts in six languages, including Mandarin, English, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Filipino as well as Indonesian. You can hear the English programmes of the voice of the South China Sea at AM 1008, 1400-1500 (local time).

Not a happy Bradley...

Bradley Allen asks about Glenn Hauser. Host of World of Radio (www.worldofradio.com ) and writer of DX Listening Digest for many decades Glenn is a giant in the DX world. From his home in Enid Oklahoma he collates and monitors a wealth of information. There is always much of interest to be read at http://www.w4uvh.net/dxlatest.txt 


Bradley would also like information on the Radio World programme that was aired on Belgian broadcaster Radio Vlaanderen International and hosted by Frans Vossen. The station broadcasts in Dutch /Flemish at http://www.vrt.be/ and is due to move into an impressive new building in Brussels in 2019 (see translated article at http://www.vrt.be/nieuws/2013/04/vrt-kiest-voor-nieuw-gebouw-brussel) 

Fans of the station can hear a programme made around the time of their 50th anniversary at Jonathan Mark's Media Vault http://jonathanmarks.libsyn.com/mn-10-08-1995-belgium-external-broadcasting (it's also at Marks' Critical Distance blog http://criticaldistance.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/remembering-radio-vlaanderen.html)


When did Radio World start? asks Bradley- he has tracked versions in German, Spanish and French as far back in time as the 1988 World Radio TV Handbook. Jerry Berg's Listening On The Shortwaves 1945 to today book comes up with a definitive answer on page 254. (Berg's opus magnum is available from many online booksellers). A twice monthly DX Corner programme started in 1970 with Frans Vossen introducing DX tips and listeners' letters. It became weekly in 1980 and focused more on features, as well as changing its title to DX World, which lasted until foreign language services were closed in 2005.


The station's mailbag programme Brussels 1043 is also missed by Bradley and he says the demise of the station is "clearly ridiculous".

60 years of Deutsche Welle

Deutsche Welle is celebrating its 60^th anniversary this month. 

There is plenty of interesting information on the past and present at their anniversary website.

Behind the Scenes, Lost and Found and 60 years of Journalism are three examples of this. 

You can upload photos and enter competitions. Their Facebook page continues the celebratory theme  This page is about Deutsche Welle’s QSL card policy and includes a reception report form.

What a  different world it is from when Deutsche Welle became the voice of West Germany back in 1953...

Radio Prague on shortwave Saturday 18 May, one day only

There is to be a one-off day of Radio Prague on shortwave on 18 May. This is to celebrate their 90th anniversary. The rest of the time you can hear them online.

There will be a commemorative QSL card as well. 

The schedule is:

1200 to 1230 UTC  in German on 7310 kHz to Europe
1230 to 1300 in Czech on 7310 kHz to Europe
1300 to 1330 in English on 7310 kHz to Europe
1330 to 1400 in French on 7310 kHz to Europe
1400 to 1430 in Spanish on 7310 kHz to Europe
1430 to 1500 in Russian on 7310 kHz to Europe
1400 to 1430 in Spanish on 6005 kHz to Europe
1430 to 1500 in Russian on 6005 kHz to Europe
1500 to 1530 in German on 6005 kHz to Europe
1530 to 1600 in Czech on 6005 kHz to Europe
1600 to 1630 in English on 6005 kHz to Europe
1630 to 1700 in French on 6005 kHz to Europe
1900 to 1930 in English on 3985 kHz to Europe & Asia
1930 to 2000 in French on 3985 kHz to Europe & Asia
2000 to 2030 in Spanish on 3985 kHz to Europe & Asia
2030 to 2100 in Russian on 3985 kHz to Europe & Asia
2100 to 2130 in German on 3985 kHz to Europe & Asia
2130 to 2200 in Czech on 3985 kHz to Europe & Asia