Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art of a recent Radio Havana Cuba broadcast.
Carlos notes:
News bulletin from Rádio Habana, Cuba, on 11760 kHz, heard in Florianópolis, Brazil.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art of a recent RHC broadcast.
Carlos’ goal is to vividly illustrate the broadcaster’s message in his own unique artistic style and is not a reflection of his own beliefs or those of the SWLing Post. His objective is for his artwork to add historical context and put a visual with the news, reporting, and broadcast content:
Carlos notes:
Extract from the news bulletin of Radio Havana, Cuba, with the position of the Cuban government regarding the Palestine and Israel conflict. Heard in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares this sad news via Horacio A. Nigro (CX3BZ):
Arnie Coro and family circa 2016 (Photo via QRZ.com)
This morning of January 8, 2023, our colleague Arnaldo de Jesús Coro Antich (CO2KK) died in a hospital in the capital at the age of 80 due to complications from chronic illnesses he suffered.
Coro began his interest in the radio, according to what he said, from the gift of his father, a coil with a galena stone and headphones to listen to the stations. At just 12 years old, he joined the then Radio Club de Cuba, the association that at the end of the 50s brought together radio amateurs in the capital.
In 1957 he began working at CMBA Television Canal 7, owned by the Mestre brothers, where he gained a lot of knowledge.
As a journalist, he collaborated with the written press and with the radio, his greatest passion. The first one recalls his sec? tion on science in Juventud Rebelde newspaper and the articles in the magazine Juventud Técnica in which he was also one of the advisors. On the radio he was until his death a member of the team of the Radio Habana Cuba radio station and his program Dxers Unlimited, in English, which reached all corners of the planet, was highly appreciated, from where he re? ceived abundant correspondence. Many foreign colleagues knew him as Arnie Coro. He also had sections on science and technology in programs on Radio Progreso, Radio Taino and Radio Metropolitana.
Arnaldo was passionate about the dissemination of science and technology and was always aware of the latest discovery or invention to pass it on to listeners and friends.
As a professor, he also taught classes at the “Raúl Roa Kourí” Higher Institute of International Relations and at the “José Martí” International Institute of Journalism. But his teachings were not limited to the teaching scenarios, he constantly trans? mitted them to everyone.
Since its foundation in 1966, he was a member of the Cuban Radio Amateurs Federation, and an active member in technical commissions and other positions, always looking for solutions to technical problems. He founded and kept the “Rueda del Multimetro” (Net of multimeter) on the air for a long time, in which he helped to understand the technical issues of radio am? ateurs and to find solutions to the problems that numerous colleagues from the backyard and abroad consulted him.
He was an active contributor to other rounds such as the “Rueda Huracan” (Hurrican Net) and the “Encuentro Capitalino” (Capital Meeting) where he made available his knowledge about solar activity and propagation, one of his favorite topics and of which he was a true connoisseur.
Another subject to which he dedicated special interest, time and efforts was that of emergency communications by radio amateurs. His radio station was always ready to seek and share information during emergencies and disasters in our country and the region. At the time of his death he was the Emergency Coordinator for Area C of Region 2 of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU R2).
I will always appreciate our exchanges by radio or phone about extreme weather events threatening our area. Coro, who was born on July 2, 1942, received the National Radio Award in 2017.
We offer our condolences to his family on his death.
Rest in peace, friend. We will miss you.
Carlos Alberto Santamaría González (CO2JC)
Coordinador de la Red de Emergencia Nacional FRC
Coordinador de Emergencias IARU R2.FALLECIÓ ESTA MADRUGADA A LOS 80 AÑOS ARNALDO CORO ANTICH (CO2KK)
Horacio A. Nigro, CX3BZ
The following statement was posted on the RHC website:
Havana, January 8 (RHC)– In the early hours of this Sunday morning, the outstanding journalist and university professor Arnaldo (Arnie) Coro Antich, with a long working career in Cuban radio, passed away in Havana.
Winner of the National Radio Award 2017, Coro was born on July 2, 1942. From a very young age, he was linked to radio broadcasting. He was an expert radio amateur (his call sign: CO2KK) and a specialist in Mass Media and New Information and Communications Technologies.
He taught as Assistant Professor at the Higher Institute of International Relations of MINREX and served as Vice President of the Cuban Commission for the Preservation of Audiovisual Heritage, created by UNESCO.
Arnie Coro was the author of numerous scientific and technical publications, including the book “La Guerra Radial de Los Estados Unidos de América Contra Cuba,” published in 1984.
He was the host of the internationally-renowned radio program “Dxers Unlimited,” which he kept on-the-air for many years on the English-language broadcasts of Radio Havana Cuba. “Dxers Unlimited” was one of the most popular radio programs in English and was considered a profesional guide to shortwave listening around the world.
Arnie’s last working years were spent in Radio Habana Cuba’s English language service, a group that regrets his death and sends its condolences to his family and friends.
Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post contributors who shared the following sad news from Radio Havana Cuba. I’m sure many of you have heard Rosario Lafita on the air and perhaps even corresponded with her as she also confirmed listener reports:
Dear listener:
With great regret, we inform you that journalist Rosario Lafita Fernández, died on the morning of April 4th last.
She was considered as an exemplary worker of Radio Havana Cuba for almost 40 years, the last 10 in charge of
the International Correspondence Department.
Her legacy, as an integral professional, will remain forever in our minds and hearts.
From this moment, we’ll continue the communicative work she directed with love and deep conviction that the most
important thing, for each member of this Department, is to maintain the personalized attention to each one of you.
Fraternally,
Department of International Correspondence
Radio Havana Cuba
SWLing Post community: perhaps you can help with an inquiry I recently received. Radio historian, Alejandra Bronfman, writes:
Dear Thomas;
I’m a historian of radio in the Caribbean, and David Goren suggested I contact you with a question about some 1959 broadcasts I’m trying to track down. These were produced by Haitian dissidents Daniel Fignolé and Louis Dejoie; one in Brooklyn, one in Havana, for broadcast over Havana’s Radio Progreso. They started in January 1959 and ended a few months later. I’m not sure whether they were in shortwave format, though I would guess that they were if they were aimed at Haiti as well as the eastern part of Cuba. I’m looking for any sources at all that might help me fill in the story, which I have mostly from some contemporary accounts, newspapers and US-based official sources.
Anyway, please excuse the intrusion and the out-of-the-blue nature of my query. I’m trying to hunt down all possible clues that may lead to more source material.
thanks so much;
AlejandraAlejandra Bronfman
Associate Professor
Department of Latin American, Caribbean and US Latino Studies
If you have any information or leads that could help Professor Bronjman, please comment! Thank you!
Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Lilian Putina, who shares the latest broadcast schedule update (in Spanish) from Radio Havana Cuba.
WRMI transmitter building with windows and doors boarded up in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Irma.
(Source: WRMI on Facebook)
Dear WRMI Friends, Colleagues and Clients:
I am writing this at 0400 UTC Sunday, September 10. Here in Okeechobee the winds are starting to pick up as Hurricane Irma heads to Florida.
The exact path of the hurricane continues to change somewhat, but it appears that the eye of Hurricane Irma will be passing a bit to the west of us, but we will still receive tropical storm force winds which are to the east-northeast of the storm. We will remain on the air with all of our transmitters as long as possible. However, once the winds get to a certain strength, our transmission lines will start flapping around and arching, which could cause serious damage to the transmitters and components. If that occurs, we will probably shut the transmitters down in order to avoid equipment damage until after the storm passes.
Our transmitter building itself is quite strong, and several members of our staff will be staying inside the building. But the hurricane could of course do damage to our antennas. We will hope for the best.
After the hurricane passes and winds die down, we would hope to be able to resume transmissions if we have electricity. However, realistically, we know that power outages generally occur in these situations, and they may last from hours to days or even weeks. We have a generator at our transmitter site, but it is designed to maintain our control room, lights and computers operational; it is not large enough to maintain our high-power transmitters on the air. So if the commercial power goes out, we will be off the air. We may be able to maintain one transmitter on the air at low power; this will likely be 9455 kHz, and this may not be possible until after the storm passes and the winds die down. If our Internet service remains functional, we should be able to maintain our live stream operational. This is the programming that is on 9955 kHz shortwave. You can hear it on our webpage, www.wrmi.net. Click on the audio player on the lower right side of our home page. You can also hear this stream on services such as TuneIn, Streema, Radio Garden, etc. (Just search for WRMI.)
We will try to keep everyone up to date on our status via our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/wrmiradio.
Thank you to everyone who has been contacting us with your thoughts and prayers. We look forward to being able to resume normal operations as soon as possible.
Best regards.
Jeff White
General Manager
WRMI Radio Miami International
10400 NW 240th Street
Okeechobee, Florida 34972 USA
Tel +1-305-559-9764
Fax +1-863-467-0185
www.wrmi.net
Many thanks to Jeff White for publishing this update.
I’m curious if anyone has been monitoring Radio Havana Cuba this morning. Rob Wagner posted the following update on Facebook yesterday morning as Cuba was getting battered by the full force of Irma:
Monitoring Cuba at 1110 UTC on Sept 9:
5025 CUBA. R. Rebelde – Bauta. At the height of Hurricane Irma, with a fat carrier and no audio from tune in at about 1000 UT till 1043 when suddenly audio came on. So perhaps power at the txer but not in the studio during that time. Appears to be all live crosses. The audio off again after 1105 till 1109. CNN says that Irma is right over Havana (north side of the island) right about now. So they are right in the thick of it.
If you have an update, please comment.
We’re wishing our many Florida, Georgia and SE US readers the very best as this particularly destructive storm passes over land. We hope our readers who have already been in the path of Irma have made it through safely.
Here at the SWLing Post HQ, in the mountains of western North Carolina, we’re expecting high winds and heavy rains even though the storm path has shifted further west. Much of this is due to our altitude which is relatively high for the region–near the ridge line. Sustained winds may be around 40 mph with gusts in excess based on the current forecast. These are wind speeds we can easily handle. Strong sustained winds and rain may persist until Thursday, however, which may mean power outages due to fallen trees. All in all, we feel very lucky.
Please feel free to share your hurricane report in the comments section.