CRI’s growing Tamil audience

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(Source: The Hindu)

S. Pandiyarajan was fiddling around with his shortwave radio set one hot summer evening at Villupuram, Tamil Nadu, when he stumbled upon a strange station.

At first listen, it was a language he couldn’t identify. It sounded like Tamil, but spoken in an accent he could not recognise. He listened on, straining his ears. To his surprise, he discovered that the voices were coming from faraway China.

“I could hear two Chinese people speaking in perfect Tamil!” he said. “And this was Sentamizh [classical Tamil], which you never hear anywhere, anymore, even in Tamil Nadu.”

That evening, Mr. Pandiyarajan became the latest member of China Radio International’s fast-growing overseas fan base. The station, run by the Chinese government, has, for more than six decades, been tasked with carrying news from China — from politics to arts and culture — to boost the country’s image overseas.

[…]Remarkably, CRI’s Tamil station enjoys the widest reach of all its channels. Its popularity underscores the quiet success China’s “soft power” push is having in unlikely locations. The Tamil station, which broadcasts every day from a modest 12th floor office, has more than 25,000 registered listeners — besides thousands of others who tune in casually every day — in Tamil Nadu and the rest of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Germany, the United States and Japan.

The Tamil station started broadcasting in 1963. Since then, it has continued to beam its shows uninterrupted, building up an almost cult following overseas, with its fans even organising themselves into a network of listeners’ clubs.

[…]This month, the station invited the heads of some of its listeners’ clubs in Tamil Nadu to visit its Beijing headquarters, part of an effort to engage more with listeners.

S. Selvam, head of the All-India Listeners’ Club, said the station’s popularity was driven by its novelty. “The first thing that strikes you is, why are these Chinese people learning Tamil, and speaking perfect Sentamizh?” he said. “You think, if they are making such an effort, we have to reach out to them.”

Mr. Pandiyarajan agreed. “This is something completely new,” he said. “We have Villupuram Tamil, Chennai Tamil, Puducherry Tamil. But I never thought I would discover that there would also be a Cheena [Chinese] Tamil.”

Read the full article at The Hindu. Also, read about CRI’s broadcasts in the local US radio market.

QRZ visits the American Museum of Radio and Electricity

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Fred Lloyd (AA7BQ), publisher of QRZ.com (a very popular ham radio call sign website) has written about a recent visit to the American Museum of Radio and Electricity:

Earlier this week we were treated to a tour of the American Museum of Radio and Electricity, a must-see landmark in the city of Bellingham, Washington. The AMRE is located in the central downtown district of the city and despite it’s rather plain looking exterior, inside is one of the most interesting and engaging museums of its kind anywhere.

[…]The museum includes more than 11 distinct period exhibits that commence with the very discovery of electricity itself, recreating the initial experiments of Ben Franklin, Ohm, Volta, Hertz, Tesla, and others. Here, you’ll find Leyden Jars, static electricity experiments, some of the first batteries ever made, the first electromagnet, the earliest electric motors, and other devices that were truly genius for their time. Sometimes, you just have to stop and wonder how these great pioneers, some more than 400 years ago, had the insight and inspiration to make the discoveries they did.

Read the full story here.

Also, check out the American Museum of Radio and Electricity website.  It’s packed full of information and will certainly give you a much needed dose of nostalgia.

Radio Afghanistan now on shortwave

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(Source: Bakhtar News Agency)

Sunday, July 31, 2011 Kabul (BIA) Dr. Sayed Makhdoom Raheen Minister of Information and Culture inaugurated the foreign section of Radio Afghanistan yesterday.

Dr. Sayed Makhdoom Raheen Minister of Information and Culture inaugurated the foreign section of Radio Afghanistan yesterday. This section in the first place will air program in English and Urdu languages each night from 8:00 to 9:00 pm. Opening the section Dr. Raheen said that this section has been revived with the efforts of the director general and employees of the radio and in the first place it will air English and Urdu programs and followed by Arabic and Russian programs and subsequently French and German programs. According to Dr. Raheen revival of this program shall assist in recognition of Afghanistan to its outside friends and will inform them about our country’s events. Abdul Ghani Mudaqaq head of the publications department of Radio Afghanistan said that this program shall cover Asia, Africa and Europe regions. According to officials of the radio ten years delay in the radio programs was inactivity of the short wave in Yakatout. Ghulam Nabi Farahi, Deen Mohammad Mobarez Rashidi deputy ministers of information and culture, Zareen Anzur general director of National Radio-TV and some other officials participated. Radio Afghanistan started its publications in 1304 and after a short lapse restarted its publications in 1320 and now it is 20 hours on the air. An employees of the radio said that Afghanistan was the first country in the region which had radio publication on that time.

Additionally, I just noticed this same story in RNW Media Network’s feed. They had an additional update with frequencies:

Thanks to Mikhail Timofeyev in St Petersburg, Russia who reports English at 1530 UTC on 6100 kHz, followed by Urdu at 1600, so the schedule is confirmed as 1530-1600 English and 1600-1630 Urdu.

BBC strike could affect World Service today

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It appears some BBC journalists, as of 23:01 UTC (Sunday), have gone on the strike we mentioned previously.

(Source: BBC News)

Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) began their strike at 00:01 BST. From Tuesday, members will also observe a work to rule.

The NUJ says the BBC is “unwilling to engage in finding reasonable resolutions” for those forced to leave and who face compulsory redundancy.

The BBC says it is unable to agree to demands for no compulsory redundancies.

[…]The NUJ accuses the BBC of “wasting thousands of pounds making skilled and experienced people compulsorily redundant instead of redeploying staff”.

If this strike affects the World Service, and if history is a guide, we will most likely hear pre-recorded content today.

Read full article here.

Guinea imposed temporary ban on Radio France International

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Map of Guinea (Source: CIA World Fact Book)

(Source: Committee to Protect Journalists via RNW Media Network)

On Monday [25 July], Guinea’s state-controlled media regulatory agency imposed a “temporary” ban on media coverage of the July 19 attack on the private residence of President Alpha Conde, silencing private radio and television talk programmes in which critical questions were being raised about the episode.

In such circumstances, Guinean listeners turn to foreign media outlets such as France’s state-funded international broadcaster, Radio France Internationale (RFI), the most popular station in Francophone Africa. With programmes such as “Appels Sur L’actualite”, a daily news call-in show, RFI is considered by millions of African listeners to be an essential source of news and information.

Wednesday’s “Appels Sur L’actualite” began with an ominous statement read by host Juan Gomez. “We had planned this morning to debate the attack last week against the residence of the Guinean president, but yesterday the National Communications Council of Guinea decided to temporarily suspend any programme or article about the attempted assassination against the head of state as well as all call-in programmes.” Gomez told listeners they would have to debate another topic.

Squeezed between the expectations of listeners and the conditions set by governments leasing the local frequencies it needs, RFI found itself in a difficult position. “We are not submitting to a censorship measure; we regret it and we hope that it will be temporary.” RFI deputy director Genevieve Goetzinger told CPJ today [28 July].

RFI has suffered for its critical reporting on current events in Africa. The station has seen its reporters expelled from Chad, Rwanda, and Senegal, its local correspondent jailed in Niger, and another correspondent killed in the Ivory Coast.

RFI has had its broadcasts temporarily banned in a number of countries, most recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the government of President Joseph Kabila sought the removal of RFI senior reporter Ghislaine Dupont, the station’s DRC specialist who was expelled from the country in 2006. Nevertheless, RFI management remains adamant the station will continue to report without interference. “Our editorial line is set in Paris, in complete independence from all the governments in the world,” Goetzinger said.

As a follow-up, RNW Media Network noted that the temporary ban was eventually lifted.

As with Fiji, Burma, Zimbabwe and many other countries where the ruling party arbitrarily tries to block free speech, shortwave radio cuts through censorship without regard for national borders.

Ultralight shortwave radios now tagged in the Shortwave Radio Index (SWRI)

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The Tecsun PL-380 is an “ultralight” that has exceptional shortwave sensitivity and selectivity.

I have gone through the SWRI and tagged all portable shortwave radios that are considered “ultralights” by the ultralight “Definitions Committee.” Note that “ultralight dxing” is primarily a Mediumwave hobby, but you will find that many of the best performing ultralights are also capable, if not best-in-class shortwave receivers.

What are the attributes/guidelines for a radio to be considered an “ultralight”? Per the definitions committee:

  1. It is a simple shirt pocket-sized radio of not more than approximately 20 cubic inches.
  2. It is an entertainment-grade radio, as opposed to enthusiast’s radio. As such, it will usually not have AM synchronous detection, SSB clarification or other specialized features.
  3. It is readily available to the hobby in new or used markets at the time of its approval.
  4. It costs no more than $100 retail at the time of approval.
  5. It is primarily a radio. While it may have other features as well (MP3 recorder, etc.), the design and function should have radio reception as its focus.
  6. It is not a “novelty radio” such as Coca Cola Can radio, Mr. Potato Head, etc.
Each radio is individually approved before it is considered an ultralight.

The Tecsun PL-310, PL-380 and C.Crane CCRadio-SWP are three shortwave ultralights that I regularly use and are considered fine examples of ultralights.

Want to know more about ultralight dxing? Check out these resources:

Shortwave Radio: One of 5 popular espionage techniques from former USSR

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(Source: Top Secret Writers)

Shortwave radios have been a tool of the espionage trade for many years. Radios can transmit information encoded to be picked up by the receiver and then decoded.

This technique was used throughout World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Like Steganography, radiograms are still being used today.

[…]The techniques were used by the Soviets during the Cold War many years ago, but it seems that they have remained long-lasting fixtures in Russian Espionage.

We actually reported on this back when news broke about the russian agents who used numbers stations for espionage purposes. Yep, shortwave radio is your friend if you don’t want people tracing where you are and what you’re listening to.

Mind you, when you live in a country that suppresses free speach, you also reach for a shortwave radio.

Read the full article that details four other popular espionage techniques from the former Soviet Union.