WORLDWIDE DX CLUB Weekly Top News

WHRI Angel 2: 2030 Sun on 9840.
KWHR Angel 3: 0330 Sun on 17655; 1500 Sun on 9930.
KWHR Angel 4: 0700 Sat on 11565; 0500 Sun on 11565.
WHRA Angel 5: 0230 Sun on 5850.
This week on air edition # 489.
(R BULGARIA DX MIX News, Ivo Ivanov, via wwdxc BC-DX Mar 17)
5446.5 AFRTS, at 2355-0005 on Mar 9, English, Talks about the US brain
drain to other countries. Program called "Market Place" at 2357. Broadcast
in En. Id at 2358 UT as "American Public Media". Talks about where the
best place on a bus to sit to avoid terrorist. 0000 id as AFN. News items
with talks about an up coming speech by President Bush.
7811 AFRTS, at 2247-2255 UT on Mar 5, English, Basketball in progress at
tune in. Weak but audible. Appears to be on 7811 kHz and not the listed
7812.5. Mavericks and Phoenix Suns. Signal improving as time passes. S1 at
tune in.
12133.5 AFRTS, at 0020-0030 UT on Mar 1, English, Sports program with
interview of Denis Rodman. Interesting as usual. Some slight fades to
noise floor several times but audible. S7 signal level. ID at 0028 UT.
World news from ABC news.
(R. Montgomery-PA-PA-USA, hcdx Mar 16)
[both Key West Florida site acc
]
VOA'S MONDAY MORNING MASSACRE.
A few rumors wisped about during the weekend, but most VOA employees first
learned about the planned cuts in a Broadcasting Board of Governors press
release on the morning of Monday, February 6. It was more nx than we
really wanted to hear. Despite a budget increase, a shift of resources to
the war on terror would result in the Voice of America dropping VOA Nx
Now, the global English sce, on October 1. (English-to-Africa and Special
English would continue.) The VOA Greek, Turkish, Croatian, Georgian, and
Thai sces would also be eliminated. Radio in Albanian, Bosnian, Hindi,
Macedonian, Russian, and Serbian would also be cut, but VOA would continue
television in those langs.
At the Radio Netherlands Media Network website, I have already written
some arguments why VOA should maintain a global English sce. One thing I
didn't mention in that article is that VOA has large audiences in the
small (mostly on islands) English-speaking nations of the Caribbean and
the Pacific. Because their combined population is smaller than some U.S.
states, these countries have not been given high priority by the BBG. But
even small countries, as sovereign states, are capable of mischief, and
thus should not be ignored. President Ronald Reagan certainly didn't
ignore Grenada in 1983. The Pacific islands could become bases for Chinese
naval expansion. China is also increasing contacts in the Caribbean. In
both regions, terrorists, pirates, and other miscreants could establish
themselves.
As for the other VOA langs on the chopping block, Thai is perhaps the most
disconcerting. In the past several months, we have seen several nx
accounts of the Thai govt increasing its control over independent media.
The elimination of BBC's Thai Service in December 2005 has left VOA Thai
as the only Thai-language foreign broadcaster with a substantial nx sce.
Will Radio Free Asia have to add a Thai Service to compensate for the loss
of the VOA Thai Service?
Turkish is also problematic. Turkey may not be a front line state in the
war on terror, but it is just behind the front lines. Press freedom seems
precarious at times. But Turkey is plugged in to the European television
scene. And it has CNN Turk, a privately funded television nx channel.