Tag Archives: Russia Today

NAB calls on US AM/FM stations to cease Russian programming

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Zack Schindler, who shares the following stories all focused on US broadcasters receiving pressure from the NAB and their communities to halt broadcasts of Russian state-sponsored media like Russia Today and Sputnik:

NAB Calls On Broadcasters To Cease Russian Programming (Radio and Television Business Report)

It says it is a “fierce defender” of the First Amendment and “the critical importance of the ability to freely express views, both popular and unpopular.”

That said, the NAB explains that the First Amendment “does not prevent private actors from exercising sound, moral judgment.”

That’s why the chief advocacy group for broadcast radio and TV wants any state-sponsored programming with ties to Moscow pulled from U.S. airwaves now.

What will operators in Kansas City and Washington, D.C., do? RBR+TVBR heard from one of them, and he’s livid with the NAB. Another has placed the association among those responsible for “Cancel Culture” in the U.S.

In response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt seemingly took aim at Sputnik, the English-language service of the Voice of Russia.

Sputnik has already noticed, and reacted. On Tuesday, it noted that “Western governments” and internet giants including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter “have moved to heavily censor Russian foreign-language media outlets over the conflict in Ukraine, blocking websites, shutting down social media pages, and taking radio and television broadcasts off air.”

Calling the “censorship” unacceptable, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Gavrilov said in a meeting of the Russian Federation Council that, “separately, attention should be paid to the absolutely unacceptable behaviour of foreign, especially American, IT giants such as Google and Meta. Hostile propaganda activities are openly conducted on their social platforms, while Russian sources of information are blocked, and massive restrictions on access to domestic media are put in place.”

[…]“[G]iven the unprovoked aggression exhibited by Russia against the free and sovereign people of Ukraine, NAB calls on broadcasters to cease carrying any state-sponsored programming with ties to the Russian government or its agents,” LeGeyt said. “While we know that airings of such programs are extremely limited, we believe that our nation must stand fully united against misinformation and for freedom and democracy across the globe.”

Programs aren’t extremely limited to those in the Nation’s Capital, where Radio Sputnik airs on W288BS, at 105.5 MHz, and originating station WZHF-AM 1390, a directional two-pattern Class B facility first known as Top 40 WEAM. Both WZHF and the FM translator reaches much of greater Washington. [Continue reading…]

Why are Kansas City’s airwaves filled with pro-Putin ‘Radio Sputnik’ propaganda? (Kansas City Star Editorial Board)

“You’re listening to Radio Sputnik,’‘ the polished, made-for-radio voice says, accompanied by triumphant Russian-themed music. “Telling the untold.”

“Live from the divided states of America,” announces the host of “Fault Lines Radio” show. Produced in Washington, D.C., the program airs locally on AM radio station KCXL. Yes, we’re talking about a radio station spouting Russian propaganda from the heartland — just outside Kansas City. And why, you might ask, are Russian talking points airing on area radio stations?

Money talks. Or maybe we should say rubles.

Radio Sputnik, a media service funded by the Kremlin, airs daily on three stations in Kansas City. Alpine Broadcasting Corp. owner Peter Schartel is paid by Russian interests to broadcast pro-Vladimir Putin programming on them all.

And this week, with Russian tanks, artillery and troops continuing the tragic and reckless invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the Russian apologists spun hard. Schartel remained defiant even after multiple reports Thursday that the American branch of RT, the Russian-funded media network, was shutting down and laying off its staff. He said his contract was with an American company that works with the Russian authorities behind Sputnik. That company “has not notified us of any interruption,” he said.

For now, at least, the show goes on, and we sampled its absurd pro-Russian arguments so you wouldn’t have to.

Guests on the “Fault Lines Radio” show this week, encouraged by hosts Jamarl Thomas and Faran Fronczak, would have you believe Putin was an unwilling participant in this conflict. The Western media, one guest said, is complicit in spreading Ukrainian government war propaganda, and added that the besieged Ukrainian government is winning the information war on social media.

“If you were reading that, you might think there has been a billion Russian troops killed and that Ukrainian freedom fighters are storming Moscow,” said Mark Sleboda, Putin’s Moscow-based mouthpiece and frequent contributor to pro-Russian media companies.

Thomas predictably agreed, and the Putin praise continued.

KCXL has no ties to Russia and is against the country’s conflict with Ukraine, Schartel told us Wednesday. But he needs the money, and he’d lose his business if he pulled the plug on Radio Sputnik. So, that’s how you end up with a radio show here in the land of barbecue and jazz playing Cold War oldies and coddling a powerful, seemingly deranged dictator.

Putin ordered the invasion of neighboring Ukraine. The unprovoked and inhumane attack has caused thousands of deaths of both civilians and soldiers in Ukraine. Parts of the country are being reduced to rubble.

Outside of Moscow, the Russian invasion has been almost universally condemned. Except for right here in the Kansas City area, where listeners of KCXL were bombarded with pro-Putin talk. [Read the full article here…]

National Association of Broadcasters call to stop airing Russian radio, pressures Liberty radio station (KMBC)

LIBERTY, Mo. —Down a rural road just a mile away from Liberty’s city square, a radio station inside small brick building displays an American flag in the front window.

For six hours every weekday, 1140AM KCXL broadcasts radio programming paid for by the Russian government, called Radio Sputnik.

The National Association of Broadcasters earlier this week called for U.S. broadcasters to cease Russian-sponsored programming considering the war in Ukraine.

[…]Alpine Broadcasting Programming and sales manager Jonne Santoli-Schartel told KMBC on Thursday she and her husband, Peter Schartel, have no plans to pull Radio Sputnik from the station’s airwaves.

“If we can’t express our viewpoints anymore, and we have cancel culture, and people deleting and people putting pressure on other people to not hear certain programming, then we’re in trouble and freedom no longer exists,” Santoli-Schartel said.

Those living nearby disagreed.

“If the money means more than your morals, then you’ve got a problem,” said Debbie Bowman, who has family members from Ukraine.

Last year, government documents showed Alpine Broadcasting made at least $60,000 from RM Broadcasting, led by Florida businessman Arnold Ferolito. RM Broadcasting acts as a go between for two U.S. radio stations including KCXL, and Rossiya Segodnya, a media organization sponsored by the Russian government.

A judge in 2019 ordered RM Broadcasting to register as a foreign agent under the U.S. Foreign Registration Act.

That act makes sure people engaged in domestic political or advocacy work on behalf of foreign interests disclose financial information along with relationships.

[…]Santoli-Shartel also said she does not agree with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, she has no plans to stop broadcasting.

“My heart is breaking for these moms and these dads on both sides,” she said. “I think if I was in Russia, I would want to get out of Russia because I think they’re in danger also. But the people of Ukraine, I think it is so horrible.”

To see RM Broadcasting’s latest filing under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, click here. [Read full article and view video here…]

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Radio Waves: Listening to Jupiter, Radio Emma Toc, Turkish Bans, and RT DE to Sue German Regulator

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers.  To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!


Under a darkening sky, earthlings tune in to ‘Jupiter Radio’ (KLCC)

Ever eavesdrop on the planet, Jupiter? This past weekend, some radio enthusiasts gathered at Eugene’s Riverfront Field to do just that.

Roughly a dozen members of the Ducks on the Air Amateur Radio Club gathered on the grassy space (making sure to sidestep goose poops) to set up an array of cables and rods called a differential dipole antenna. They managed to assemble it and realign it just before Jupiter appeared on the dusky horizon. [Continue reading and listen to the audio at KLCC…]

Radio Emma Toc – celebrating wireless station 2MT – at 100! (Southgate ARC)

Dear Listener / Viewer

I’m pleased to let you know that I will be broadcasting another video stream this coming Monday, 14th February, with the theme of celebrating wireless station 2MT.

In 1922, after requests & petitions from radio hams in the United Kingdom, a licence was issued for station 2MT to transmit a programme of CW (morse), Telephony (voice) and music, on a weekly basis. Transmissions came from a small wooden hut in Writtle, Essex, where engineers working for the Marconi Company were given the task of putting on air a wireless station for ‘calibration purposes’ aimed at the growing number of radio hams and enthusiasts.

Over a short period, and with the good fortune of this Marconi team having a selection of gifted radio engineers & maverick individuals, 2MT became incredibly popular & – probably without realising it at the time – went on to lay the foundations of entertainment broadcasting that was to follow.

Monday the 14th February will be the centenary of the first transmission from 2MT. From 11am in the morning – 11:00UTC – we will be playing audio documentaries & videos looking at the start of broadcasting here in the UK, & then at around 6.45pm – 18:45UTC – I will present a live programme where hopefully we can all join in to drink a toast to ‘2MT’.

Our broadcast will not be a full history of the station, more a celebration of the people involved & everything that we enjoy about radio today. I hope to link with others celebrating 2MT & also radio hams on the air on this anniversary day.

I invite you to join me for this amateur enthusiast video broadcast!

Further details are available here:
 
Links & information relating to our broadcast stream:

Website – https://www.emmatoc.org/
Website page for this celebration – https://www.emmatoc.org/2mtcelebration
Link for viewing (only linking to us on the day of the broadcast) – https://www.mixcloud.com/live/RadioEmmaToc/
Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/emmatoc
Twitter page – https://twitter.com/radioemmatoc

You can take part in the programme by emailing me with any comments & radio memories – I’d love to say hello to you – our email address is – [email protected]

Check our Facebook & Twitter pages for updates in case of any problems with transmissions (things can always go wrong!)

Our friends at Essex Ham have produced a short interview video with more detail – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk_XnGvsJ0M

Links & information for other items of interest:

For radio hams, there will be two special event amateur radio stations in operation.
Local Radio Club CARS – Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society – will be operating GB100 2MT from Writtle Village Hall – http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/events/gb1002mt-writtle/index.htm
Radio Club Essex Ham will be operating GB2MTC from the East Essex Hackspace Hut in Hockley – http://sxham.uk/2mt

It is also hoped that items about 2MT will feature in programmes on the 14th on BBC Essex, Chelmsford Community Radio, & Phoenix FM. I will have more detail on this during my live stream, & if possible will link up with our friend Tim Wander at some time during the evening!

I look forward to being with you on the 14th!

Best wishes

Jim

DW, VoA and Euronews facing Turkish ban (Broadband TV News)

Turkey has given three international broadcasters a deadline of 72 hours to apply for local licences or be taken off the air.

“Deutsche Welle, Voice of America and Euronews have been given a deadline of 72 hours by the RTÜK. They must apply for a broadcast licence within that period or face a broadcast ban,” said Okan Konuralp, a member of the Turkish opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Twitter.

At issue are the broadcasters’ websites that have drawn the attention of the authorities because they also feature video news. Such websites have become increasingly popular in Turkey as the government places restrictions on local news outlets.

If the broadcasters don’t apply for a licence the regulator has the right to go to court and get the website closed down. [Continue reading…]

RT DE to sue German regulator after broadcast ban (Broadband TV News)

RT DE says it plans to take legal action against Berlin’s media regulator after the German-language channel was ordered to shut down its streaming service.

The simmering row between Berlin and Russia has resulted in the imposition of restrictions on the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s Russian operations.

“We believe that the regulatory authority acted unlawfully with its decision against RT DE Productions GmbH on February 2. The MABB claims that RT DE Productions GmbH is responsible for broadcasting the RT DE channel, blatantly ignoring the fact that the RT DE programme is managed and distributed by Moscow-based TV Novost,” said RT DE in a statement. [Continue reading…]


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While Ofcom threatens RT, Voice of Russia launches as “Sputnik”

Sputnik

(November 11, 2014 Screen capture from Sputnik news agency and radio)

As some attentive SWLing Post readers have noted, the Voice of Russia has found a new identitySputnik News Agency and Radio–with a new website/news portal to match. Here’s the message the (former) Voice of Russia posted on their website today:

“Dear readers, we are excited to announce that the Voice of Russia is changing its name and moving over to a new website. We will now be known as Sputnik news agency and radio. You can find all the latest stories from our London bureau here: http://uk.sputniknews.com. Please update your bookmarks and stay with us!”

Meanwhile, The Guardian is reporting that Russia Today has been found guilty of breaching UK broadcasting regulations in their coverage of the Ukraine crisis:

Russia Today, or RT, was summoned to a meeting with Ofcom after it was found guilty of breaching the code governing UK broadcasters in a ruling published on Monday.

The regulator flagged up four separate reports, all broadcast in March this year, all dealing with the situation in Ukraine.

Ofcom said it recognised that RT, which is funded by the Russian government and launched a UK version last month, would “want to present the news from a Russian perspective”.

But it said all news must be presented with “due impartiality … in particular, when reporting on matters of major political controversy”.

[Read the full article at The Guardian online…]

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Cold War Echo: RT investigates UVB-76

UVB-76-via-RT(Source: Russia Today via YouTube)

“From a lonely rusted tower in a forest north of Moscow, a mysterious shortwave radio station transmitted day and night. For at least the decade leading up to 1992, it broadcast almost nothing but beeps; after that, it switched to buzzes, generally between 21 and 34 per minute, each lasting roughly a second—a nasally foghorn blaring through a crackly ether.

The signal was said to emanate from the grounds of a voyenni gorodok (mini military city) near the village of Povarovo, and very rarely, perhaps once every few weeks, the monotony was broken by a male voice reciting brief sequences of numbers and words, often strings of Russian names: “Anna, Nikolai, Ivan, Tatyana, Roman.” But the balance of the airtime was filled by a steady, almost maddening, series of inexplicable tones.”

Click here to watch the video on YouTube, or view via the embedded player below:

If you can’t hear UVB-76 from where you live via shortwave radio (4,625 kHz), you can always listen to this live stream.

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Russian “clamps down” on US media, US to increase funding for RFE/VOA

Photo of Kremlin: ??????? ?. (Julmin) (retouched by Surendil) via Wikimedia Commons

Photo of Kremlin: (Julmin) (retouched by Surendil) via Wikimedia Commons

This morning, I noticed the following press release from the US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG):

Russia Clamps Down Further On U.S. International Media

The Broadcasting Board of Governors has condemned a recent decision by Russian authorities to cut off all remaining radio transmissions by U.S. international media in Russia.

In a one-sentence letter dated March 21, Dmitry Kiselev, the director of the information agency Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today), stated that “we are not going to cooperate” with the BBG’s request to continue a long-standing contract for broadcasting on Russian soil. Effective at the end of March, this decision removes the last vestige of Voice of America programming – including news in Russian and English-language lessons – from a local frequency in Moscow (810 AM).

“Moscow has chosen to do the wrong thing and restrict free speech,” said BBG Chairman Jeff Shell. “This is a fundamental value shared by many countries around the world. The BBG will continue to reach audiences in Russia through digital platforms and via satellite transmissions.”

Distribution of VOA and RFE/RL programming in Russia reached a high point in 2005, when VOA Russian programming was distributed on a nationwide television network and both VOA and RFE/RL had extensive partnerships with domestic Russian radio stations. But starting in that year, the Russian government turned greater attention to these stations and asked them all to re-apply for their licenses. And beginning in 2006, by denying the licenses of the stations that re-applied and intimidating the others, Russian authorities systematically eliminated domestic radio distribution of BBG-supported programs and almost all television distribution. In 2012, Russian authorities forced RFE/RL off its last remaining domestic radio outlet, an AM frequency in Moscow.

“We urge Mr. Kiselev and other Russian authorities to open Russian airwaves to more of our programs and those of other international broadcasters,” Shell added. “We’re asking for an even playing field: As Moscow’s media crackdown deepens, Russian media – including Russia Today television, which is under Mr. Kiselev’s authority – enjoy open access to the airwaves in the United States and around the world. The Russian people deserve the same freedom to access information.”

Kiselev, known for his strident anti-Western and homophobic views on Russian state television, was appointed in December 2013 to lead Russia Today. At the same time the Voice of Russia and the RIA Novosti news agency were merged into Russia Today.

The move also comes amid a fast-moving campaign to target opposition and independent media. Lists of “traitors” have been circulating in Moscow, and pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov recently added RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Radio Liberty to his “list of traitors” on Facebook. In the same vein, politonline.ru, a part of the Pravda.ru media holding, has created Russia’s first top-20 list of the most “anti-Russian” news outlets. This list, which places Radio Liberty sixth, is being shared by influential Russian political advisors such as Alexander Dugin, who wrote on his Facebook page that “this is the order in which Russia’s most contemptible media outlets will be closed or blocked.”

Russians are increasingly turning to the Internet and social media for their news. VOA’s digital strategy incorporates content across platforms. In addition to live interactives with domestic television channels, such as Russian Business Channel, VOA’s web-TV show, Podelis, allows users to connect and engage with the content in real time using social media. Podelis, which means “share” in Russian, provides a unique opportunity to engage in discussions about current events, Russian politics and U.S.-Russia relations. VOA’s social media following in Russia has grown significantly and visits to VOA’s website have doubled every year since 2008.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Russian Service provides 24 hours of radio programming via the Internet and satellite, a website that was visited more than 6.5 million times in March, and a strong presence on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. RFE/RL has started a multi-hour, daily video stream for Russia consisting of coverage of the most important events with reactions from Russian citizens as well as opinions from the West. The stream also includes live roundtable ?discussions and expert interviews on Russia.

On Wednesday, BBG Watch posted an article with details about new legislation that would increase funding for Russian, Ukrainian and Tartar language services to “counter the propaganda that is supported by Russia.”

Here’s a quote from a press release in their article:

“S. 2183 is international broadcasting legislation originally authored by Chairman [Ed] Royce (and included as Section 103 of the Ukraine Support Act (H.R. 4278) that the House passed last week). The legislation authorizes increased funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America to enable them to expand their broadcasting in Russian, Ukrainian, and Tatar. This legislation requires the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to counter the propaganda that is supported by Russia and increase the number of reporters in eastern Ukraine. In addition, this legislation recognizes the threat to free media that neighboring states are under and bolsters the Balkan and Moldovan language services.”

Is it me, or is this starting to feel like the Cold War again?

I think the BBG would be wise to take a close look at the VOA Radiogram. In this case, the target audience is highly computer literate and could easily decode VOA transmissions with a simple shortwave radio and free, open-source software.

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