First DAB+ AM/FM radio in Australia from LASER

Sydney, Australia, May 31, 2011 – LASER Corporation, IT and consumer electronics accessories company, today launched the DG200AM – the first portable Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB+) radio featuring digital and analogue.
With digital radio coverage currently spanning across Australian capital cities, the DG200AM DAB+ digital/analogue radio caters to listeners in all parts of the country, reaching a more widespread audience. Audio fanatics that love to listen to the radio and are based in regions outside major capital cities now can invest in a device that covers all the bases. The DG200AM DAB+ digital/analogue radio provides portability and versatility in the one package offering AM/FM, as well as crystal clear digital radio broadcasts where there is full DAB+ reception.
In addition to offering listening pleasure, the DG200AM DAB+ digital/analogue radio displays scrolling broadcast information via the backlit LCD screen including name of track and artist on air, plus up-to-date news and sports results. Along with scrolling information, the DG200AM DAB+ digital/analogue radio presents auto and manual scanning for stations, allows listeners to tune in to AM or FM radio and preset 20 favourite AM, FM and DAB+ stations. The DG200AM DAB+ digital/analogue radio is lightweight and considerably small measuring only 200 x 170 x 75mm, making it perfectly portable.
Chris Lau, Managing Director of LASER Corporation, said, "The uptake of DAB is progressing steadily with digital radio coverage in major capital cities across Australia. It still however leaves a large percentage of the population without full DAB+ reception. LASER developed the DG200AM to cater to a wider society, for listeners that still don't have digital radio coverage, as well as listeners that miss their AM radio. According to Digital Radio Plus, there are no plans to switch off AM and FM radio services just yet, so the DG200AM offers an ideal and inexpensive all-in-one solution for radio fans." The LASER DG200AM DAB+ digital/analogue portable radio is now available in Australia through selected retailers. RRP AU$99.95 inc GST.

About LASER Corporation
LASER Corporation is an IT and consumer electronics accessories company established in Australia over 20 years ago. A leading challenger brand, LASER products are the value brand of choice and can be found in a range of retail mass merchants and the dealer and IT market. Furthermore and core to its business, LASER offers end-to-end OEM solutions with LASER Private Label. LASER Corporation's head office is based in North Ryde, Australia, with offices in New Zealand, China and Hong Kong. For more information, visit http://www.laserco.com.au/.

(Press Release)

First Community Radio station from Bangladesh on air

The country's first community radio named "Lokobetar" has begun test transmission in the district town of Barguna to build public opinion on development issues like democracy, good governance, human rights, anti-corruption, health and women empowerment.

More at : http://thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=187959

AWR frequency change to India

AWR has made the following change as follows lately:

1500-1530 UTC Telugu to S.India now on 11640 via KSDA (ex 9540)

(Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, NIAR, Hyderabad, India)

Reach or frequency, radio on the run

Reach or frequency, radio on the run
May 27, 11
Tasneem Limbdiwala

http://www.exchange4media.com/e4m/radio/radionews.asp?Section_id=7&News_id=42266&Tag=34760

Deutsche Welle: Changes in radio broadcasts starting this summer

Increased focus on television, online and mobile services and a reduction of shortwave broadcasts.

Starting July 1, 2011, Deutsche Welle (DW) will be making major changes in how and when its radio programming is broadcast in Asia and Europe, as well as German radio programming as a whole.

The measures will ensure the further development of Germany’s international broadcaster to a truly multimedia organization. As stipulated in the organization’s strategic plan for 2010-2013, DW will focus on modern modules that can be integrated into partner’s FM line-ups as well as being offered as stand-alone, on-demand services for the Internet and mobile devices. DW will thereby increase the cooperation with its partners throughout the world. With the exception of Africa and parts of Asia, linear shortwave broadcasts will be discontinued due to limited usage. The resources that have been saved will be reinvested in projects for the future – especially in the development of television services with regional languages and content, as well as an increase in online and mobile services.

DW will aim to use its available resources to offer two TV channels per region. This will give viewers the opportunity to choose between a channel with predominantly German programming and a channel with a focus on one of the regional languages – English, Spanish or Arabic.

In the future, DW will work with partner stations in Central and Southeast Europe to broadcast regional TV magazines and produce online services – each in the regional language. Starting July 1, 2011, the FM services for Bulgarian, Greek, Croatian, Macedonian and Romanian will be reduced and eventually discontinued. The frequencies that were purchased or rented in Sofia, Bucharest, Pristina and Tirana will be returned, as well as the corresponding licenses. The FM broadcasts for Albanian, Bosnian and Serbian will be reduced. In the future, these services will focus on selected partnerships with local FM stations. A service in Romani will be maintained for the time being. For Ukraine, DW is currently examining whether or not an agreement can be made with a partner to broadcast a reduced amount of FM radio programming that has been tailored to fit their needs. Radio programming for Hindi will be discontinued on July 1.

Reduction of shortwave

On November 1, 2011, DW will be discontinuing the shortwave broadcast for German, Russian, Farsi and Indonesian. For English, the shortwave broadcast will be limited to Africa. The broadcasting times for Chinese programming will be reduced from 120 minutes to 60 minutes. For these languages, DW will also be increasing the online and mobile services as well as video-on-demand and audio-on-demand. The portfolio will also include audio productions for rebroadcast by partners (when applicable).

Starting in November, DW will only be broadcasting radio programming via shortwave in the following languages: Amharic, Chinese, Dari, English and French for Africa, Hausa, Kiswahili, Pashtu, Portuguese for Africa and Urdu.

Closing of relay stations

The shortwave program currently broadcasts 260 hours daily with DW’s own or rented relay stations – with the new focus on Africa and regions in Asia that will be reduced to just 55 at the beginning of the winter season. Only the relay station in Kigali (Rwanda) will be needed for shortwave broadcasts in Africa. The stations in Trincomalee (Sri Lanka) und Sines (Portugal) can no longer be used to capacity. The financial operation is no longer possible and the relay stations will stop being used on November 1, 2011 and closed at the next possible point in time.

With the reduction of rental prices and the closing of the two relay stations, DW will be able to save resources that can be reinvested in the further development of its services.

Development of FM broadcasts with partners

DW will continue to expand its network of FM partners in Africa. The radio production for Hausa, Kiswahili, French and Portuguese for Africa will be optimized for FM broadcasts step by step. DW will also produce a regional radio magazine daily in English, to be rebroadcast by partners in Africa.

Audio content in Arabic will be created for the Middle East and North Africa and distributed online, via mobile or rebroadcast by partners.

DW will focus on FM partnerships for Bengali, Urdu, Dari/Pashtu und Indonesian for South Asia, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. A decision will be made about the future of these partnerships in accordance with the budget situation and following the evaluation results.

Strategic plan for 2010 to 2013

The German Bundestag approved DW’s strategic plan in April 2011 with an overwhelming majority. The core of the plan is the multimedia orientation of the broadcaster, the focus on major tasks and target regions with regards to the budgetary issues. The new strategic direction ensures that DW is prepared for the changing conditions of international media markets:

Services for certain languages and regions will be reinforced to secure DW’s competitive position in the future.

The focus for the coming years will be on Sub-Sahara Africa, the Middle East, Iran and North Africa, South Asia and Afghanistan, Russia and Latin America. Due to the limited budget, the development of services will only be possible when activities are reduced somewhere else. In the area of television, DW will work more closely together with the German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and develop regionalized TV programming with selected partners. For many areas around the world, it will be necessary to further development online and mobile services in order to reach DW’s target audience better: Individuals who are interested in diverse perspectives and use a large amount and variety of media resources. That especially includes opinion leaders and future opinion leaders as well as people who lobby for democracy, freedom and progress in authoritarian countries and thereby strengthen the civil society.

(DW Press Release)

TWR - New MW Transmitter in Swaziland

http://www.twr.org/news_and_blogs/2011/05-18/new-transmitter-in-swaziland

Celebrating 50 Years with TWR

http://www.twr.org/news_and_blogs/2011/05-19/celebrating-50-years-with-twr

Farewell to Mark Byford, the BBC's steady-handed deputy

Deputy director general Mark Byford, stepping down after 32 years, has been called the glue that held the BBC together

Read the Guardian story here :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2011/may/30/bbc-director-general-mark-byford

2011 edition of Dr. Phil's Shortwave receiver buying guide ...

2011 edition of Dr. Phil's Shortwave receiver buying guide ...

http://home.comcast.net/~phils_radio_designs/2011_SW_Guide.pdf

Loads of interesting radio articles
http://home.comcast.net/~phils_radio_designs/

Cumbre DX web site is temporarily down

www.cumbredx.net is down temporarily. A series of thunderstorms is now moving through the location in upstate NY, USA where the server is located. A short power outage has taken it down and I can't diagnose the problem with the server until the storms go away and the power settles down. This may take another 24 to 48 hours or so. As you can see, the mailing list IS still working and should remain so through the web site outage since it is located on a different server system.

Bob Arnold
webmaster

Cumbredx mailing list
Cumbredx@jumbo.ralabs.com
http://n2jeu.net/mailman/listinfo/cumbredx

VOA Georgian Service Marks 60th Anniversary

NewsletterWashington, D.C. — May 26, 2011
Voice of America's Georgian Service, which first went on the air May 26, 1951, is being hailed for the role it has played in helping bring democracy to the former Soviet republic.
In a message marking the 60th anniversary of the service's creation, Georgia's Ambassador to the United States, Temur Yakobashvili said, "Without any exaggeration I can say that the VOA Georgian Service has played a big role in spreading America's voice to the people of Georgia and making it possible for me to represent a sovereign nation here in the United States. VOA's Georgian Service is as relevant today as it has always been in the past."

VOA began broadcasting a one-half hour daily program to the Georgian people during the most frigid days of the cold war, when Georgia was still a Soviet Socialist Republic. For the past sixty years, through the country's transition to democracy, the service has continued to provide accurate, balanced and comprehensive news and information to the people of Georgia.
Among its many admirers is Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has praised the service as "unique and important in covering events in and around Georgia."
VOA's Georgian Service radio broadcasts were increased to one hour daily in August 2008 following Russia's military incursion into Georgian territory.
The Service broadcasts seven hours of original radio programming a week, reaching listeners via the FM network of Georgia's Public Broadcasting Corporation, the country's most powerful FM distribution facility. The broadcasts are also heard on shortwave frequencies.
Since November 2010, the VOA Georgian Service has also produced a weekly 15-minute TV program that is broadcast by Georgia's Public Broadcasting Corporation. The Service's video reports, along with its daily radio programs, are also available on its website and through Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.
Visit VOA's Georgian Service at www.voanews.com/georgian/news

(VOA Press Release)

Radio's future: Looking at the sunny side up

May 27, 11
Shubhangi Mehta

Radio is a growing medium, however it forms a very small share of the advertising graph. What are the ways to overcome this? Can radio emerge as a standalone medium? These are very pertinent questions that the radio industry is being asked over and over again.

More at :
http://www.exchange4media.com/e4m/radio/radionews.asp?News_id=42268&section_id=7&tag=34762

DRM+ successfully tested in New Delhi

New Delhi, 27th May, 2011: The first ever DRM+ trial measurements in India have thrown up very satisfactory results. The test, organised jointly by All India Radio (AIR) and Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Consortium, was an effort to test the strength and coverage of DRM digital radio in FM band (VHF band II).
The single test frequency of 100.1MHz carried three programme channels - Gold DRM (FM), Rainbow DRM (FM) and AIR news in Journaline and its reception was measured by a test vehicle going in four directions from central New Delhi where the transmitter was installed. Nautel VS-1 transmitter with 300W output power (500W radiated power) along with RFmondial DRM+ Modulator and Fraunhofer DRM Content Server were used.
Two test modes were measured - robust 4-QAM and high capacity 16-QAM and the DRM+ coverage was found to be comparable with that of analogue FM station operating at approximately 5 times the power of the DRM+ signal. A full report will jointly be published by AIR and DRM.
This week long DRM+ Showcase (23rd - 27th May 2011) in New Delhi was also accompanied with an extensive workshop on DRM technology covering crucial issues of planning, transition, simulcast, content and receivers. A large number of participants from all across the country attended the sessions that also had interactive discussions with DRM experts.
DRM members Nautel (Canada), Fraunhofer, RFmondial, University of Hannover (Germany) KETI (South Korea), Analog Devices (USA) and BBC (UK) took part in the test either with equipment or experts or both. DRM Consortium will provide more information along with the test results shortly. For details log on to http://www.drm.org/ or write to projectoffice@drm.org.

Ruxandra Obreja, Chairperson DRM Consortium said "This test was a successful culmination of a close partnership of DRM Consortium and All India Radio and the whole hearted support of the DRM members who took part in this event. AIR has already adopted DRM30 for its SW/MW network and DRM+ will play a complementary role operating in VHF band."

About DRM
Digital Radio MondialeTM (DRM) is the universal, openly standardised digital broadcasting system for all broadcasting frequencies up to 174MHz, including LW, MW, SW, band I and II (FM band). DRM provides digital sound quality and the ease-of-use that comes from digital radio, combined with a wealth of enhanced features: Surround Sound, Journaline text information, Slideshow, EPG, and data services. DRM on short, medium and long wave for broadcasting bands up to 30 MHz (called 'DRM30') provides large coverage areas and low power consumption. The enhancement of the DRM standard for broadcast frequencies above 30 MHz ('DRM+') uses the same audio coding, data services, multiplexing and signaling schemes as DRM30 but introduces an additional transmission mode optimized for those bands. For more information and DRM updates please visit http://www.drm.org/ or subscribe to DRM news by writing to pressoffice@drm.org

(DRM Consortium Press Release)

Radio expands its reach in Malaysia

Radio in Malaysia attracts 2.31 million people aged 10 years and above in an average 15-minute time slot, according to the latest Nielsen survey. This is the largest radio average audience on record for Peninsular Malaysia.

Full story at : http://tinyurl.com/3lg44pd

BBC Turkish radio service to sign off for last time due to cuts

BBC Radio's Turkish Service will end on May 27 after 72 years of continuous programs following a serious of British government cuts to their funding

More at :
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=bbc-radio-to-end-its-turkish-service-2011-05-23