Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hurricane Sandy Fails to Stop VOA Broadcasts

Pounding rain and 80 mile an hour winds from Hurricane Sandy shut down U.S.government offices and Washington, D.C. public transportation Monday and Tuesday, but it didn't stop VOA journalists, technicians and support personnel from delivering news around the world in 43 languages.

"We had people sleep on couches around the building, and one used a cot, but the cots are not very comfortable," English Branch Chief Terry Wing says. "Some folks came in early on Monday, some stayed late, a couple are still here, I think some are going on 30 hours or more."

VOA Director David Ensor says every show aired on schedule. "It was extraordinary, hundreds of programs went out, we never missed a beat." Ensor says many language services provided constant updates to network affiliate stations around the world.

Executive Editor Steve Redisch says, "The Spanish Branch did more than 50 live shots to affiliates in Latin America and had a reporter on the New Jersey beach. The Russian Service was on with their affiliate, and the Indonesian Service filed for 20 radio and TV affiliates." Redisch says those are just some examples of what went on during the storm.

Newsroom Deputy Managing Editor David Jones, who spent the night at a nearby hotel, says it was all hands on deck. "People were great. We had TV and radio packages on the weather, and our political reporter did a story on how the hurricane affected the campaign, but most of our coverage was international -- the fighting in Syria, Secretary of State [Hillary] Clinton's trip to the Balkans, the Ukrainian Election, and there was something on South African politics," Jones says.

Executive Editor Redisch says there was a lot of resourcefulness. The French-to-Africa Service found a French speaking meteorologist at the National Weather Service, and the Mandarin Service TV show was anchored by an alternate who borrowed clothes so she could host the program.

While VOA journalists were hunkered down in Washington, videographer Daniela Schrier managed to capture something that nobody else had, footage of flood waters rushing through streets of Lower Manhattan Monday night. Schrier, who was trapped in her apartment in New York's East Village, managed to upload the video to Washington just before she lost power.

(VOA Press Release)

North Korean Shortwave Getting Stronger

The North Korean authorities are in the process of replacing their existing shortwave radio transmitters, Daily NK has learned. The measure appears designed to both allow better broadcasts targeting South Korea and stop outside shortwave broadcasts entering.

According to the Northeast Asian Broadcasting Institute (NABI), the authorities made their first move in March this year, replacing the shortwave transmission equipment at Kanggye Transmission Station in Jagang Province with modern equipment made by Beijing BBEF Electronics Group Co. Kanggye Transmission Station is one of three high output shortwave transmission facilities in North Korea, with the other two being at Pyongyang and in Gujang County, North Pyongan Province.






CBC's international radio transmitters in New Brunswick to shut down

By: The Canadian Press
SACKVILLE, N.B. - The high-power shortwave transmitters used to broadcast CBC's international radio service to the world will be permanently shut down on Wednesday. The Radio Canada International station in Sackville, N.B., has been in operation since 1944. The collection of large towers that surround the station is a well-known landmark along a section of the Trans-Canada Highway that links New Brunswick with Nova Scotia. The shortwave service was discontinued on June 24, but some employees at the station remained at the site to wrap up some international broadcast contracts. The service has been largely replaced by the rapid growth of the Internet and other wireless technologies.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/cbcs-international-radio-transmitters-in-new-brunswick-to-shut-down-176462941.html

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

WorldSpace Radio Back On Airtel Digital TV

Bharti Airtel has relaunched WorldSpace radio on its DTH service, Airtel Digital TV.  Saregama and Timbre Media will jointly provide the content for the service.

More at :

Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Voice of Russia turns 83

One of the world’s largest radio broadcasting companies, The Voice of Russia, celebrates its 83d birthday. On October 29, 1929, Moscow launched international radio broadcasting. Today the VoR is ranked among the world’s most popular radio companies.
 
More at :

Radio Netherlands says goodbye to personnell

This week was the final week for more than 250 employees at Radio Netherlands. They held a final "borrel" (drinkes reception) in the entrance hall of the building in the Witte Kruislaan 55, in Hilversum.

More at :
http://criticaldistance.blogspot.in/2012/10/radio-netherlands-says-goodbye-to.html#!/2012/10/radio-netherlands-says-goodbye-to.html

Psy-ops: Tuning the Afghans into radio

By Caroline Wyatt
Defence correspondent, BBC News

The rights and wrongs of growing opium poppies may not be the usual stuff of radio station phone-ins, but Radio Tamadoun is different. In Helmand, a young DJ plays the latest Afghan music before inviting listeners to phone in with their opinions on everything from farming and local healthcare, to politicians and the government. Requests for songs can be left in a letterbox outside the military camp gates, and listeners are quick to complain if the station goes off air.Welcome to the world of psychological operations, and Radio Tamadoun, or Radio Civilisation.

More at :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-20096416

AWR Increases Broadcasts in Key Languages

by Shelley Nolan Freesland
Communications Director

Last week, Adventist World Radio's board of directors voted the ministry's 2013 budget, which includes a significant increase in shortwave airtime for the new broadcast season, at a cost of well over half a million dollars. Currently, AWR is scheduled to broadcast for 27,177 hours in 2012; next year, the schedule will expand by 5,200 hours – an increase of nearly 20 percent.

"We are able to make this welcome change thanks to several years of solid financial stability," says AWR president Dowell Chow. "In years past, we were forced to reduce the frequency of programs for some languages, due to financial constraints. We are very, very pleased that now we will be able not only to restore some of those programs, but also add new languages for some key territories."

The additional broadcasts will be spread over 21 languages – such as Amharic, Somali, Panjabi, and Urdu – for listeners in Africa and Asia. These languages were chosen in close consultation with AWR's Africa and Asia region directors, who identified the areas of most need and highest priority. In some cases, the frequency of some programs will be increased from half an hour per day to twice a day, while for other languages, the program length will be doubled from half an hour to a whole hour.

"Delivering as many programs as possible to listeners every day is the core purpose of AWR," Chow says, "and we are very grateful to God that we are able to expand this ministry wider and wider so that more people can hear the gospel in these languages."

New look website of DRM consortium

Digital Radio Mondiale has unveiled thier new look website at :  http://www.drm.org/

HCJB Global helps the Ecuadorian government test the DRM standard

Ministry shares benefits of digital radio with national leadership
  
Ecuador (MNN) ― Engineer Charlie Jacobson says HCJB Global is helping leaders in Ecuador ride the wave of the future.
"We see digital as the way that radio's eventually going to go, just like television," Jacobson explained. "Much of the world is already going that way, and we want to assist the Ecuadorean government. God has blessed us with some of the resources to do that."
 
More at :
 
(Douglas Weber via twitter)
 

Digital Radio Mondiale

Saturday, October 27, 2012

FRSH on the air next Sun October 28th 2012

Dear FRS Friends,

Sunday October 28th
Summer has gone and autumn is ruling. Propagation conditions have improved during day time. Time to expand some activity. We have planned a full almost 6 hour broadcast upcoming Sunday October 28th.
In preparation to that, we tested on 7600 kHz Sunday October 14th. Although conditions weren't satisfactory, results were satisfactory and we are confident next Sunday a good signal will be aired over the European air waves.

Sunday October 28th FRS-Holland will be on air between 08:52- 14:30 UTC/ 09:52- 15:30 CET. Remember next Sunday winter time comes into force!!
The broadcast is on 5800//7600 kHz. Programme line-up includes all FRS presenters (except Paul Graham) and consists of FRS Magazine, the German Service, FRS Goes DX , Radio Waves and the FRS Golden Show.
Ingredients....great music, DX News, letters, the day calendar and a number of radio related items. Radio entertainment on a Sunday. And...FRS has become 32 years. FRS-Holland brings true free radio into your receiver! Tune in....

Internet Stream
That same day between 14:52- 20:30 UTC/15:52- 21.30 CET will see a full repeat on the Internet. Check on your computer & http://nednl.net:8000/frsh.m3u &. Alternatively you can use : [ helios.cloudnl.net:8000/frsh.m3u ]. For mobile devices there is a 24 kbps mono stream:

Still available: FRS News #36 special 30th Anniversary edition
FRS News #36 is all about our 30th anniversary. In contains no less than 24 pages in colour. In the past months FRS-Holland has been working very hard to produce this booklet covering 30 Years of FRS-Holland. It contains several photos and of course much information:

Memories on 30 Years of FRS-Holland from both former presenters and listeners;
a Number of Fact Files (Special moments to Remember,
FRS Presenters 1980-2010, The Beginning);
Reflections on 30 Years of FRS-Holland;
The 1983 Raid;
Mailbox 2702 including the Anniversary mail;
How the 30th Anniversary broadcasts came about;
Last but not least a potted history 1980- 2010 !!

This is a true collector's item and no doubt it makes an interesting read! We never produced something similar in the past. In case you are interested …you can obtain a hard-copy of our specially produced 30Years of FRS-Holland booklet for 5 euro/ 7 US dollars in cash.
Send your order to FRSH, POBox 2702, 6049 BE Herten, the Netherlands.

In the mean time FRS-Holland has become 32 years....

Email address
Please only use [frs@frsholland.nl] for your mails. The other mail address will disappear within a short period. Good listening next Sunday! We count on your support....

73s, Peter Verbruggen on behalf of the FRS Team

AIH18 DXpedition to Aihkiniemi

Oct 6 - 20 2012
by Mika Mäkeläinen

Logging AM stations from Malawi, Uganda and other African countries was the highlight of this October DXpedition. From the East, new Thai and Chinese stations were heard often. AIH18 began just two weeks after we concluded AIH17, and in between there were no major changes in propagation or the smorgasbord of AM stations available.

More at : http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/aih18rep.dx

Short wave hit by World Service cuts

Short wave broadcasts of World Service Arabic will end by next April, while the Cyprus short wave relay station will close.
World Service English short wave transmissions will be reduced to six hours a day, with 1.5m listeners likely to be lost as a result. Currently, there are between seven and 19 hours of short wave depending on region.

More at ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/ariel/20082294

Related News :

Cuts mean BBC’s world is to become a smaller place
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/books/cheltenham-festival/article3566020.ece

Will Digital Radio Mondiale Save Shortwave Broadcasting?

Once touted as the "Savior of Shortwave," Digital Radio Mondiale has not lived up to its hype. Proposed in 1988, with early field-testing in 2000, inaugural broadcasting in 2001 and its official rollout in 2003, DRM has had a lackluster career over the last decade.

More at :

All India Radio on Twitter

All India Radio is now on Twitter
 
 
Use hashtag #AkashvaniAIR if you are tweeting info related to All India Radio. 

Prasar Bharti plans of setting up 839 new FM stations

SRINAGAR: Prasar Bharti Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) has a plan of setting up 839 new FM stations in private sector in 290 cities of the country in near future, Secretary Union Information Broadcasting Ministry Uday Kumar Verma said here today.

More at :

AM: Drop the Gloom and Doom

AM: Drop the Gloom and Doom

Monday, October 08, 2012

Broadcast India 2012

The Broadcast India Show, having changed the face of the South Asian and International Broadcast, Television and Film industry, is back with a bang again in 2012.

Saicom Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd. is pleased to announce that this year Broadcast India show will be held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon (E) in Mumbai, India on 10-12 October, 2012.

Along with the grand exhibition, Broadcast India 2012 will also be holding a Conference on 10-11 October, 2012 at the above mentioned venue.

In the ever-changing visage of the broadcast and entertainment industry, Broadcast India has consistently remained India as most celebrated, stimulating and expansive global marketplace for the latest and greatest technological innovations in the industry. Broadcast India 2012 will also be the most eminent platform for all
there is to do with broadcast, film, radio, IPTV, Mobile TV and their related fields.

As past figures go, the show has welcomed over 20,000 visitors from the Indian subcontinent, its neighboring countries as well as visitors and delegates from all across the world.

Some of the world as leading manufacturers like Panasonic, Sony, Avid, Harris, ARRI, Blackmagic Design, Autodesk, Harman, Canon, Datavideo, Boston, Wasp3D, Fujinon, Thomson Grass Valley, Panther, AJA Video Systems, RCS and many more will be present at Broadcast India 2012.
More than 550 companies from all over the world will exhibit their state-of-the-art equipment and technology at this year as Broadcast India show. This is just a once-in-a-year chance for you to visit Broadcast India either as just a spectator or as an exhibitor, so dont miss out. Best regards from the entire Broadcast India team and have a great year ahead.

And for further queries or information kindly contact:

KAVITA MEER
Director
SAICOM TRADE FAIRS & EXHIBITIONS PVT. LTD.
Tel - 91 22 2215 1396/ 2215 2721

About Saicom Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd.- Being part of the film and television industry the two main Directors, Kavita Meer and Ramesh Meer created a company "Saicom Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd" to organize exhibitions and conferences exclusively catering to the needs of the entertainment industry. Its first show titled "Broadcast India Exhibition & Symposium" was organized in 1991 and since then the company has been holding these shows every year in the month of October/November in Mumbai.

Friday, October 05, 2012

Iranian Jamming Disrupts U.S. International Broadcasting Across Several Continents

Thursday, October 4, 2012
Washington, D.C. — Iranian jamming of U.S. government-sponsored news and information programs disrupted broadcasts from Morocco to Eastern Europe to Indonesia, the Broadcasting Board of Governors has found.

Satellite operator Eutelsat confirmed that the intermittent jamming was coming from inside Iran. This most recent episode of interference with broadcasts began on Oct. 3 and is in clear violation of international agreements.

In addition to Voice of America's (VOA) Persian Service and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) Radio Farda, both of which offer programs for Iranian audiences, the jamming also has affected dozens of satellite broadcasts of BBG radio and TV programs.

One of the BBG's Internet anti-censorship vendors is reporting that traffic from Iran using its software and servers has increased substantially since the jamming began. This suggests that Iranian listeners and viewers are shifting to the Internet to receive news and information.

Jamming is prohibited under rules of the International Telecommunications Union. The recent jamming affected not only U.S.-supported programming, but also the British Broadcasting Corporation.

International Broadcasting Bureau Director Richard M. Lobo called the most recent interference "an outrage (and) a deplorable violation of well-established international agreements" in a statement issued when the
incident started.

The jamming coincided with reports of street demonstrations and mass arrests of  Iranians protesting falling currency exchange rates. Both VOA and RFE/RL report that in some instances, interference starts just before newscasts, and ends just afterwards.

Three satellite transponders operated by Eutelsat and those most popular among Iranian viewers have been affected: HotBird 13B, Eutelsat 25A and Eutelsat 7A. Viewers said the signals reappear intermittently.

The interference has diminished or altogether blocked other U.S.-supported programs on the Eutelsat satellites, including Georgian, Armenian, Bosnian, Korean and many other language broadcasts.

VOA and RFE/RL programs continue to be broadcast on diverse media platforms, including digital audio and video streams on other satellite paths and on the Internet.

In February, the ITU called upon the world's nations to take "necessary actions" to stop intentional interference with satellite transmissions. Earlier, the BBG and other international broadcasters called for action against jamming.

(BBG Press Rlease)

Related News :

Eutelsat Condemns Jamming of Broadcasts From Iran and Renews Appeals for Decisive Action to International Regulators


Tehran Jamming Foreign Broadcasts


US accuses Iran of jamming VOA, other outside broadcasts amid currency unrest