Clandestine Radio Watch 033

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CLANDESTINE RADIO WATCH
July 30, 1999

Clandestine Radio Watch (CRW) is a biweekly report which centralizes
the latest news and developments affecting the study of clandestine
radio in an easy-to-read format. Editions are published Thursday
evening or Friday morning (UTC) through E-mail and are posted on the
CRW web site within 24 hours. Subscription to CRW is free.

CRW is both not-for-profit and non-partisan. We welcome your inte-
rest, input and queries. Contributions, input and support, logs, QSL
verification info, as well as background material can be sent to
either of CRW's editors: New co-editors for CRW are welcome as well.

: A.F.Mastrapa : polisci@mindspring.com(Eng., Spa.)
CRW Editors : Martin Schoech : schoechi@gmx.de(Engl., German)
: Nick Grace C.: yb0rmi@hotmail.com (Engl., Indon.)

Next issue - CRW 034 : August 09, 1999

Current and old issues of CRW can be accessed on-line at:
http://www.swl.net/swl-de/swl-cla.html(NEW: .html !!)

The base of CRW's data is the Clandestine Radio Intel web:
http://www.clandestineradio.com

------------xxxxxxxxxx Breaking News xxxxxxxxxx-------------

Dr. Diego Medina of "The Voice of Alpha 66" died

..............................................................

Dr. Diego Medina of "The Voice of Alpha 66" died

>From Radio Miami International

Miami (July 24, 1999) - One of the most colorful broadcasters in
Cuban exile radio died last night.Diego Medina, producer of "The
Voice of Alpha 66" and Vice-Secretary General of the exile group
Alpha 66, died of complications resulting from the flu.

He was a medical doctor each weekday morning, with two clinics in
Miami. Many of his patients had been seeing him since he practiced
medicine in Cuba before the revolution.And each afternoon, he went
to a small radio studio at the offices of Alpha 66 in Miami's Little
Havana area to spend hours producing a daily one-hour radio program
for broadcast to Cuba.Over the years, the Voice of Alpha 66 was
heard on AM radio stations in Miami, as well as on shortwave stations
audible in Cuba, including WHRI, WRMI and for a brief time on WRNO.

Dr. Medina was not a professional radio announcer or producer, but he
strongly felt that one of the best ways to promote freedom in his
homeland was through radio programs that could educate the population
about democracy and free enterprise.Therefore, he worked
tirelessly, five days each week, producing one hour of programming
each day in a very rudimentary studio.Often the programs dealt with
the anniversaries of important historical events in Cuba, interviews
with former political prisoners, or discussions with economists about
the Cuban economy.His wife, Sara Martinez Castro, is a poet, and
her works were featured regularly in the program.Even Medina's
13-year-old daughter recorded short messages to the Cuban people
(which she wrote herself) which were included in the show.

Other Alpha 66 personnel participated regularly in Dr. Medina's
programs, most notably Andres Nazario Sargen, Secretary General of
the organization. For decades, the two were inseparable partners and
the two main leaders of the exile group.While Alpha 66 has often
been portrayed as one of the most militant anti-Castro organizations
in the U.S. (Medina said it was prohibited to even mention the
organization's name on the U.S. Government station Radio Marti),
Diego Medina is remembered by friends in Miami as a kind, gentle man
who spoke eloquently on behalf of the Alpha organization and the
Cuban exile community."He was a very devoted general practice
medical doctor," said Jeff White, general manager of Radio Miami
International, which transmitted Medina's programs on several
stations for nearly a decade."He was one of those charismatic
people who waswell-liked by everybody.And no matter whether you
agreed with his politics or not, I've never seen anyone devote more
time and effort to a radio program.He was absolutely convinced
about the power of shortwave radio to influence opinions.He would
come into our office frequently and ask about reception reports we
might have received recently from listeners in Cuba."

Dr. Medina's radio program production dates back more than two
decades.He began by producing programs and broadcasting them on
vacant shortwave frequencies using a small military surplus
transmitter which he put in his van, and a retractable antenna on top
of the van.He would drive it around to locations in the Everglades
on the outskirts of Miami where he would then broadcast the programs
on shortwave frequencies like 6,666 kilohertz (because of the obvious
relationship to Alpha 66)."I'm not even sure whether he knew this
was against the regulations in the beginning," said Jeff White.But
eventually the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) discovered
where the transmissions were coming from, and they sent U.S.
marshalls out one night to bust the station."I remember Diego
relating the story," said White."He had finished transmitting a
program, put the antenna down and was ready to leave.All of a
sudden, dozens of federal marshalls with heavy weapons surrounded his
van and told him to come out with his hands up.They quickly
handcuffed him and asked where all of the other people were.

"'What other people?' asked Medina.'There's nobody else here but
me.' They showed him papers indicating that the federal government
was suing his van for illegal radio broadcasts coming out of it.
They didn't even know who was doing the broadcasts.So they
impounded the van, although I think they eventually returned it to
him without the transmitter."

After a few of these scrapes with the FCC, Alpha decided it would be
better to buy airtime on officially-licensed stations.Radio Miami
International, in its role as an airtime broker, found them time on
various stations over the years.The Voice of Alpha 66 was on WHRI
in Indiana during most of the 1990's, until late 1998.Afterwards,
Medina continued producing programs for local AM radio in Miami, and
recently on WRMI as well.

Medina's devotion to his radio programs was evident through the last
day of his life."Diego came into our office on Friday evening
looking really ill," said Jeff White."He said he had not slept the
previous night due to a bad case of the flu.But he spent Friday
afternoon and early evening recording radio programs with Andres
Nazario, to the point where he could hardly speak.The next morning
I got a call from our engineer Kiko Espinosa, who was also a good
friend of Diego's, saying that Diego had died only about three or
four hours after leaving our office.I was shocked, and I realized
that he had devoted the last bit of energy he had to the cause that
he felt so strongly about."
(J.White-WRMI Jul 24 via Cumbre DX Special July 25)

------------xxxxxxxxxx Schedules xxxxxxxxxx-------------

KURDISTAN

Voice of the People of Kurdistan
Organization: Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
Contact Address : UK: 44-181-642-4518 Fax: 44-181-64-4514
PUK Canada e-mail: pukcnda@mail.globalserve.net
Website : www.aha.ru/~said/dang.htm
Languages: Kurdish, Arabic
Identification: (Kurdish) Aira dangi Gelli Kurdistana
Kurdish : Dendzi Gelli Kurdistana (Pankow)
(Arabic) "Iza'at Sout Shab Kurdistan, Sawt
 al-Itehad al-Watani al-Kurdistani" (Radio VO People of
 Kurdistan, Vo The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan).(Fathi)
*1950-20307000v // 4062v (Hasebe-JPN Jul 18 via CDX 252)

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------------xxxxxxxxxx QSL Verifications xxxxxxxxxx-------------

------------xxxxxxxxxx Miscellaneous xxxxxxxxxx-------------

Probably V.O.Sharia is facing some problems

7080v V.O. Sharia Probably V.O.Sharia is facing some problems as not
only it has not been heard since two or three days but for more than
a month the reception was not clear as the audio was distorted and
heavily jammed from s.on to off. (Vaghjee-MAU Jul 22 via CDX 252)

..............................................................

Sudan - radio war on 8000 kHz

7999.9, Voice of Sudan, 1700-1757* Jul 17, with prgm of politics and
mx in AR and stn anmt before s/off.At the same time a strong mx
jammer playing HoA-type songs on 8000.0 (USB only) tried to make
listening to the Voice of Sudan difficult.The mx jammer left 8000U
at 1803.And also the Sudan Natl B/Cing Corp. used 8000.0 (full AM)
for b/cing its domestic svc till 1759* (much to my surprise,
following a news bltn they ran an ad spot for a U.S. oil company).
So currently three different stns are using 8000 at the same time.
Instead of ending their long time radio war following a recent peace
agreement between Eritrea and Sudan, seemingly it is getting even
more intensified. (H.Kuhl-GER via NU 1536)

------------xxxxxxxxxx Sources xxxxxxxxxx-------------

Thanks to the following contributors : -

Source Abbreviations:

ACH : Anti-Castro Historiography-USA
A-DX: A-DX-mailing list-Austria (ex ADXB-OE ml)
BBCM: BBC Monitoring-UK
BCDX: Broadcast DX-Germany
CDX : Cumbre DX-USA
CRW : Clandestine Radio Watch
GAT : Gatflash-Italy
SWDXR : Hauser's SW DX Report-USA
HCDX: Hard-Core-DX-mailing list
KWWH: Kurier mit wwh-Germany
NU: Numero Uno-USA
PDX : Play DX-Italy
TFW : The Four Winds Online-Italy
WDXC: World DX Club 'Contact'-UK

BBCM items are Copyright BBCM 1999.
DIRECT items are Copyright Hans Johnson 1999.
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