Clandestine Radio Watch 137
--------------xxxxxxxxxx CRW 137 xxxxxxxxxx--------------
CLANDESTINE RADIO WATCH
July 3, 2003
Clandestine Radio Watch (CRW) is a biweekly summary which centralizes the
latest news and developments affecting the study of clandestine radio in
an easy-to-read format. Editions are published on the CRW web site.
Access to CRW is free.
CRW is both not-for-profit and non-partisan. We welcome your interest,
input and queries. Contributions, support and critics, logs, QSL cards
and verification info, as well as background material can be sent to us.
CRW issues may also contain parts in other languages and the issues may
even contain 'clandestine radio related' news and stories.
CRW Team :
Editor-in-Chief : Martin Schoech, Merseburg
Correspondents : Achraf Chaabane, Sfax
Nick Grace C., Washington
Robertas Petraitis, Klaipeda
Takuya Hirayama, Tokyo
Next issue - CRW 138 : July 17, 2003
Old and new issues of CRW can be found at http://listen.to/crw
or at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crwatch/messages
CRW is the newsletter for ClandestineRadio.com, the largest web-
site on Clandestine Radio at http://www.ClandestineRadio.com
"Freedom of information is ... the touchstone of all the freedoms."
(UN Freedom of Information Conference, 1948)
------------xxxxxxxxxx Breaking News xxxxxxxxxx----------------
CR.COM : ClandestineRadio.com to Relaunch in September
TOGO : Radio Togo Libre gone ? (see 'logs')
SOMALIA : Radio Galkayo/Somalia calling the world media
...............................................................
CR.COM : ClandestineRadio.com to Relaunch in September
ClandestineRadio.com is undergoing a complete redesign and redevelopment
and is not being updated for a temporary period. We expect to be back
online with faster updates and more robust services by September 2003. In
the meantime, please refer to Clandestine Radio Watch for up-to-date and
current information on clandestine broadcasting.
(N.Grace-USA at Cr.com Jun 20, 2003)
Nick was polite enough not to mention that he also develops a new design
for CRW. That means we can expect a new (additional), web-based layout
(incl. pictures), for CRW at that time, too !
(M.Schöch-D Jul 1, 2003)
...............................................................
SOMALIA : Radio Galkayo/Somalia calling the world media
by Sam Voron, VK2BVS in Galkayo, North East Somalia,
Jun 18, 2003
Greetings from Somalia,
Radio Galkayo is going fine. It is broadcasting at 800Watts AM and all
equipment is working.
The 70foot antenna tower is up and a 10metre extention will be added to
the top. Then I will make the new aerial.
Listeners are reporting excellent quality.
SOMALIA CALLING THE WORLD MEDIA PRESS RELEASE.
Please pass this to those working in the public media.
Radio Galkayo has today broadcast this news in Somali and I have been
asked to pass the English version through the Internet.
There are few brave voices in the Islamic world for obvious reasons. Here
is one who has gone public and asked that his message be spread
worldwide.
On June 17, 2003 in a broadcast to the Somali people over Radio Galkayo,
Sheik Bulbul said:
"As the head of the Islamic religious leaders in Galkayo, Puntland,
North East Somalia I Sheik Bulbul hereby declare that the suicide bombers
are not Muslim and will not go to paradise.
Islam means peace and does not allow such suicide behavior that endangers
human life and destroys property.
Islam does not allow children, women and innocent people to be harmed.
Suicide action is not allowed by Islamic Share 'a Law.
All religions weather Islam, Christian or Jewish don't allow this suicide
behavior so I urge all people to fight against terrorism.
Profit Mohammed peace and blessing be upon him used to say Allah protect
us from those who endanger the peace. Therefore anyone who is going to
defend the peace is doing action allowed by Allah.
The entire world should fight against terrorism.
Terrorism is an enemy of peace and harms the name of Islam".
Sheik Bulbul headed a debate over weather suicide bombing is allowed by
Islam. The above was the result of that debate.
Sheik Bulbul has been a daily religious presenter on Radio Galkayo,
Somalia since it started broadcasting in 1993. He has requested a
portable cassette recorder to help him improve his 10 years of volunteer
work at the station. People like Sheik Bulbul are key community people
who given a little help are able to greatly help their local people.
Let the media know what Sheik Bulbul in Somalia has said.
Contact me on Email svoron@hotmail.com if you can help Sheik Bulbul.
Two days ago Radio Galkayo had a visit from a Police officer who
commended Radio Galkayo's interview of a Police commander about abuse
seen and broadcast by radio station staff during their visit in the
Police station.
The commander denied the abuse reports but the radio broadcast fact which
all the town now know. The Policeman came to thank the radio for bringing
the matter to the knowledge of all the people. Another 10 year staff
member of the Radio Galkayo Mohammad Isak Yasin has been investigating
these reports that no one else is willing to handle and has asked for a
camera to help him document and educate the people in the area of their
human rights.
Anyone who knows someone who can help Mohammed with a camera or to
connect him to a worldwide human rights group can contact me on Email
svoron@hotmail.com .
(S.Voron-SOM via M.Watts-AUS for CRW)
------------xxxxxxxxxx Schedules xxxxxxxxxx--------------------
Schedules - diverse
All clandestines compiled 24/24
(c) All clandestines 25 June 2003
Compiled from http://www.eibi.de.vu/ by DXA375-Silvain Domen
Free to copy + distribute - Eike Bierwirth, Leipzig, Germany
Comments + corrections are always welcome: capercaillie@gmx.net
0000 0030 Su CLA Conversando e.Cubanos S CUB 9955/USA
0000 2400 CLA Star Star BS (Xin Xing) M CHN 8300 9725 11430
13750 15385
0030 0045 Su CLA La Hora de Chibas S CUB 9955/USA
0030 0100 CLA V.o.National Salvation E KOR 1053 3480 4400
0030 0130 Mo CLA Radio Oriente Libre S CUB 9955/USA
0100 0200 Fr CLA Hmong Lao Radio LAO LAO 17540/UZB
0100 0200 Su CLA Radio Revista Lux S CUB 9955/USA
0130 0200 Mo CLA Conversando e.Cubanos S CUB 9955/USA
0200 0230 CLA V.o.Iranian Kurdistan FS,KU ME 3975
0200 0500 CLA V.o.People of Kurdistan A,KU ME 4025 4417
0200 0500 CLA Vo.Toilers of Kurdistan A,KU ME 4245
0230 0315 CLA RadioPayam-e Doost FS ME 7460/MDA
0230 0330 CLA Radio Sadaye Kashmir UR SAs 6100/IND
0230 0330 CLA V.o.Comm.Party of Iran FS ME 3880 4380
0230 0400 CLA Radio Komala FS,KU ME 3928 4620
0300 0400 CLA V.o.Conserv.Party Kurd.A,KU ME 4167
0300 0400 CLA V.o.Mujahedin Ir.Kurd. FS,KU ME 4260-4290
0300 0420 CLA V.o.Iraqi People (2) A ME 3900 5880
0300 0600 CLA Echo of Hope K KRE 3985 6348
0300 0700 CLA V.o.National Salvation K KOR 1053 3480 4400 4450
4557
0300 0700 CLA Voice of the People K KRE 6518 6600
0325 0425 Sa-Th CLA V.o.Iranian Revolution KU ME 3880 4380
0330 0350 CLA V.o.Peace and Democracy TIG EAf 5500/ETH 6350/ETH
0330 0400 CLA Voice of Homeland A SYR 7510/RUS-s
0340 0600 CLA Radio Kurdistan A,KU ME 4120
0340 0600 CLA V.o.Iraqi Kurdistan A,KU ME 4085
0400 0430 Sa-Th CLA V.o.Freedom and Renewal A SDN 6985
0400 0800 CLA Denge Mesopotamia KU ME 15675/NOR-k
0430 0530 CLA V.o.Comm.Party of Iran FS ME 3880 4380
0730 0830 CLA Radio Sadaye Kashmir UR SAs 9890/IND
0745 1200 CLA Ashur Radio, V.o.Zowaa A,ASY ME 9155
0800 0900 CLA Voice of China M CHN 11940/TWN
0800 1600 CLA Denge Mesopotamia KU ME 11530/MDA
0900 1100 CLA Radio Indep. Mekumui SLM PNG 3850 (LSB)
0900 2100 CLA Echo of Hope K KRE 3985 6348
1000 1030 135 CLA LV de la Junta P.Cubana S CUB 9955/USA
1000 1100 Sa CLA Foro Militar Cubano S CUB 9955/USA
1000 1200 CLA V.o.National Salvation K KOR 1053 3480 4400
1030 1130 135 CLA Entre Cubanos S CUB 9955/USA
1100 2100 CLA Voice of the People K KRE 3912
1200 1700 CLA V.o.National Salvation K KOR 1053 3480 4400 4450
4557
1215 1300 CLA Voice of Tibet TB As 15635/KAZ 15660/KAZ
21560/UZB 21720/UZB
1230 1300 Mo-Fr CLA Radio Free Vietnam VN SEA 9930/HWA
1300 1400 Mo-Fr CLA Radio Togo Libre F TGO 21760/AFS
1300 1430 CLA VoJammu-Kashmir Freedom E SAs 5101.1
1300 0300 CLA V.o.Iraqi People A IRQ 4875/ARS-j 9563/ARS
1315 2100 CLA V.o.People of Kurdistan A,KU ME 1206 4025 4417
1330 1400 Mo-Sa CLA Que Huong Radio VN SEA 9930/HWA
1400 1500 Tu CLA Voice of Khmer Krom KH SEA 15660/RUS-v
1430 1515 CLA Voice of Tibet TB As 17520/UZB 17540/UZB
1430 1525 CLA Democr.Voice of Burma BR SEA 5910/KAZ 5945/UZB
17495/MDG
1430 1530 CLA Radio Sadaye Kashmir UR SAs 6100/IND
1430 1530 CLA V.o.Comm.Party of Iran FS ME 3880 4380
1430 1800 CLA Vo.Toilers of Kurdistan A,KU ME 4245
1500 1530 CLA V.o.Iranian Kurdistan KU,FS ME 3975
1500 1530 CLA Voice of Homeland A SYR 12085/RUS-s
12120/RUS-s
1500 1557 Sa CLA V.o.Democratic Eritrea TIG WEu 5925/NOR-k
1500 1700 CLA VoKurdistan Soc.Dem.Pty KU,A ME 4140
1520 2055 CLA V.o.Iraqi Kurdistan A,KU ME 4085
1530 1600 CLA Voice of Sudan A EAf 8000/ERI
1530 1630 CLA V.o.Iranian Revolution KU ME 3880 4380
1600 1630 We,Sa CLA Tigrean Int. Solidarity TIG EAf 15265/D-j STILL ON???
1600 1700 CLA Radio Freedom KU ME 3900
1600 1700 CLA Radio Kurdistan A,KU ME 4120
1600 1700 CLA Voice of Independence A,KU ME 4160
1600 1700 CLA FPM V.o.Lebanon Liberty A ME 11645/RUS-s
1600 1730 CLA Radio Komala FS,KU ME 3928 4620
1600 1800 CLA Ashur Radio, V.o.Zowaa ASY ME 9155
1600 1900 CLA SW Radio Africa E ZWE 4880
1630 1700 CLA Radio International FS IRN 13800/MDA
1630 1730 CLA V.o.Comm.Party of Iran FS ME 3880 4380
1630 1730 CLA Radio Voice of Iran FS IRN 17510/F
1630 1755 We,Th CLA V.o.Southern Azerbaijan AZ IRN 9375
1700 1757 Su CLA Voice of Komala KU/FS ME 7560/NOR-k
1700 1800 Sa CLA Dejen Radio TIG EAf 12120/RUS-s
1700 1800 235 CLA Mesopotamian RTV KU ME 7560/RUS-s
1700 1800 Su CLA Radio Solidarity TIG ETH 12120/RUS-s
1700 1800 CLA V.o.Mojahedin Ir.Kurd. KU,FS ME 4260-4290
1700 1800 2357 CLA V.o.Oromo Liberation OO EAf 15670/D-j
1700 1830 CLA Radio Komala KU,FS ME 3930 4610
1730 1758 Su CLA V.o.Eritrean People TIG EAf 9990/NOR-k
1730 1800 Mo,Th CLA Sagalee Oromiyaa OO EAf 12120/RUS-s
1755 1925 CLA V.o.Iraqi People (2) A ME 3900 5880
1800 1827 Su CLA V.o.Eritrean People TIG WEu 7530/NOR-s
1800 1845 CLA Payam-e-Doost FS ME 7480/MDA
1800 1900 Su CLA V.o.Ethiopian Salvation AH EAf 7520/RUS-a
1800 2000 Mo-Sa CLA Radio Yaran FS IRN 7525/NOR-k
1800 2000 CLA Voice of Reform A ARS 15705/NOR-k
1800 2057 CLA Radio Voice of Iran FS ME 7525/NOR-k ???
1830 1930 Su CLA V.o.Ethiopian Salvation AH EAf 12120/RUS-s
1900 1930 Mo-Fr NIG Jakada Radio Internat. HA WAf 15170/AFS (not c?)
2000 2100 Su CLA Radio Togo Libre F TGO 12125/AFS
2000 2100 Su CLA Voice of Ethiopia E Eu 7520/NOR-k
2000 0030 CLA V.o.National Salvation K KOR 1053 3480 4400 4450
4557
2020 2030 CLA V.o.Iraqi Kurdistan E ME 4085
2100 2200 CLA Fang Guang Ming Radio M FE 6035/RUS-s 9625/RUS-s
2230 2330 CLA Voice of China M CHN 7270/TWN
2300 2400 Sa CLA Foro Militar Cubano S CUB 9955/USA
2300 2400 Su CLA Radio Revista Lux S CUB 9955/USA
2300 0100 CLA Voice of the People K KRE 6600
2330 0030 CLA Democr.Voice of Burma BR SEA 9435/D-j 9760/MDG
(S.Domen-BEL Jun 28, 2003 in DXA-ML)
...............................................................
Schedules - ASIA
Radio Free Asia
RFA schedule in A-03, valid til Oct 26th, 2003. RFA currently bcs from
1100-0700; there are no txions between 0700 and 1100. Daily programming
incl Mandarin for 12 hrs, Cantonese increase from two to four hrs, Uighur
for two hrs, and Tibetan for eight hrs.
Increase: RFA has introduced two new additional broadcast hours in
Cambodian progrming at 1130-1229 and 2330-0029, but seemingly on a test
basis. These additional services are not figured out on their website
http://www.rfa.org/service/index.html?service=khm
http://www.rfa.org/service/schedule.html?service=khm
J03=til Sept 6. S03=from Sept 7th, 2003.
RFA uses IBB txs in HOL/H=Holzkirchen Germany, IRA/I=Iranawila Sri Lanka,
SAI/S=Saipan & TIN/T=Tinian NoMariana Isls.
And Merlin relays TWN/N=Taiwan and UAE=Al Dhabayya-UAE, as well as
irk=Irkutsk-RUS and uss=Ussuriysk-RUS relays.
Addit tx sites have been researched but deleted from this list upon
request of RFA to suppress this info, to avoid pressure from China upon
the host countries. Are we to assume that China has no way to find out
this sensitive info except through DX publications? [gh]
RFA A-03 updated schedule of June 19th, 2003.
0000-0100 LAO 12015I 13830 15545T
0030-0130 BURMESE 11540-S03 13680T 13820I 15660 17525-J03 17835S
0100-0200 UIGHUR 9350 11520 11895UAE 11945UAE 15405T
0100-0300 TIBETAN 9365 11695UAE 11975H 15225T 15695 17730
0300-0600 MANDARIN 13670T 13760T 15150T 15665T
17495 17525 17615S 17880S
21690T
0600-0700 MANDARIN 13670T 13760T 15150T 15665T
17495 17525 17615S 17880S
0600-0700 TIBETAN 17485 17510 17720 21500T 21690UAE
break
1100-1200 LAO 9355S 9545T 15560I 15635
1100-1400 TIBETAN 7470 11590 13625T 13830-S03 15510UAE
15695-J03 17855H-(from 1200)
1130-1230 CAMBODIAN 13730T 15535I
1230-1330 CAMBODIAN 13645T 15525I 15625
1300-1400 BURMESE 11540-S03 11765T 13745T 15680-J03
1400-1500 CANTONESE 9775T 11715S 13790T
1400-1500 VIETNAMESE 9455S 9635T 9930W 11510 11520 11535-S03
11605N 11765T 13775P 15705-J03
1400-1500 KOREAN 7380 11790T 13625T 15625
1500-1600 TIBETAN 7470 11510 11705T 11780UAE 13835
1500-1600 MANDARIN 7540-S03 9905P 11765T 11945T 12025S 13690T
15510T 15680-J03
1500-1600 KOREAN 648uss 9385S 13625T
1600-1700 KOREAN 7210irk 9385S 13625T
1600-1700 UIGHUR 7465 9350I 9370 9555UAE 11780T 13715I
1600-1700 MANDARIN 7540-S03 9455S 9905P 11750T 11795T 11945T
12025S 13690T 15510T 15680-J03
1700-1800 MANDARIN 7540-S03 9355S 9455S 9540T 9905P 11750T
11795T 11945T 11995S 13690T 15510T 15680-J03
17640T
1800-1900 MANDARIN 7530-S03 7540-S03 9355S 9455S 9540T
11520-J03 11740T 11945T 11955T 11995S 13680T
15510T 15680-J03 17640T
1900-2000 MANDARIN 7530-S03 7540-S03 9355S 9455S 9905P
11520-J03 11740T 11785T 11945T 11955T 11995S
13625T 13680T 15510T 15680-J03
2000-2100 MANDARIN 7530-S03 7540-S03 9355S 9455S 9850T
9905P 11520-J03 11700T 11740T 11785T 11935T
11995S 13625T 13670T 15515T 15680-J03
2100-2200 MANDARIN 7540-S03 9455S 9850T 9910P 11700T 11740T
11935T 11995S 13625T 15515T 15680-J03
2200-2300 CANTONESE 9355S 9955P 11785T 13675T
2200-2300 KOREAN 7460 9455S 9850T 11670S 12080T
2230-2330 CAMBODIAN 7455-S03 9490I 9930P 11570-J03 13735T
2300-2359 MANDARIN 7315N 7540-S03 9910P 11785T 11935N 11995N
13640T 13800S 15430T 15550T 15680-J03
2300-2359 TIBETAN 7470 7550-S03 9365-J03 9395-S03
9805UAE 9875H 15695-J03
2330-0029 CAMBODIAN 7490I 13735T
2330-0029 VIETNAMESE 9975-S03 11540-J03 11560 11580 11605N
11670T 12110I 13735S 15560P
(various sources, updated on Jun 19, 2003 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - CHINA
Fang Guang Ming Radio
Fang Guang Ming Radio in Mandarin Chinese:
2100-2200 Daily 6035 SAM 200 kW / 297 deg
9625 SAM 200 kW / 297 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Tibet
Voice of Tibet in Tibetan/Mandarin Chinese:
1212-1300 Daily 15660/15670 DB 100 kW / 117 deg
21560/21570 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Tibet in Tibetan/Mandarin Chinese:
1430-1517 Daily 17520/17540 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - EASTERN EUROPE
Radio Liberty
Freqs changes for Radio Liberty effective June 9:
0500-0600*Ukrainian NF 11780 MOR 250 kW / 051 deg, ex 11815 * Mon-Fri
0600-0800 Russian NF 9635 LAM 100 kW / 055 deg, ex 9705
(Observer-BUL 265 Jun 24, 2003 via W.Büschel-D 2003 for CRW)
Effective June 15 Radio Liberty relay via new tx site Jaszbereny:
0300-0400 Tajik on 9760 JBR 250 kW / 075 deg, ex LAM 100 kW / 075
deg
0400-0500 Russian on 11710 JBR 250 kW / 055 deg, ex WOF 300 kW / 075
deg
0500-0600 Russian on 11885 JBR 250 kW / 055 deg, ex WOF 300 kW / 075
deg
1600-1700 Armenian on 9505 JBR 250 kW / 108 deg, ex WOF 300 kW / 102
deg
(Observer-BUL 265 Jun 24, 2003 via W.Büschel-D 2003 for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - ERITREA
Voice of Eritrean People
Voice of Eritrean People in Tigrina:
1730-1800 Sun 9990 KVI 200 kW / 140 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - ETHIOPIA
Dejen Radio
Dejen Radio in Tigrina:
1700-1800 Sat 12120 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Radio Justice (Fithi) / Radio Solidarity
adio Solidarity in Tigrina:
1700-1800 Sun 12120 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Sagalee Oromiya
Sagalee Oromiya in Oromo:
1730-1800 Mon/Thu 12120 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Ethiopia
Voice of Ethiopia WS in English:
2000-2100 Sun 7520 KVI 200 kW / 140 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Ethiopian Mehdin
Voice of Ethiopian Mehdin in Amharic:
1800-1900 Sun 7520 ARM 200 kW / 235 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Ethiopian Mehdin in Amharic:
1830-1930 Sun 12120 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - IRAN
Radio International
Radio Anternacional in Farsi:
1630-1700 Daily 13800 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
R Payem-e Doost
Radio Sedoye Payem e Doost in Farsi:
0230-0315 Daily 7460 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Radio Sedoye Payem e Doost in Farsi:
1800-1845 Daily 7480 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Iran
Voice of Iran in Farsi:
1630-1730 Daily 17510 ISS 500 kW / 090 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - IRAQ
Radio Free Iraq
New schedule for the 150 kW tx on 1593 kHz (beam 5 degrees) from 24/25
June: 1300-0600 (ex 24h Radio Farda).
2200-0100 VOA English, 0100-0600 R.Free Iraq (RL) in Arabic. ---
1300-1400 VOA Kurdish, 1400-1600 R.Free Iraq (RL) in Arabic,
1600-1700 VOA Kurdish,
1700-2000 VOA Farsi, 2000-2200 R.Farda in Farsi.
(IBB online schedule via B.Trutenau-LTU in MWDX)
...............................................................
Schedules - KURDISTAN
RTV Mezopotamya
RTV Mezopotamya in Kurdish/Farsi:
1700-1800 Tue/Wed/Fri 7560 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Komalah
Voice of Komalah in Farsi:
1700-1800 Sun 7560 KVI 200 kW / 110 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Mezopotamya
Voice of Mezopotamya in Kurdish:
0400-0800 Daily 15675 KVI 200 kW / 110 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Mezopotamya in Kurdish:
0800-1600 Daily 11530 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - LAOS
Hmong Lao Radio
Hmong Lao Radio in Laotian:
0100-0200 Fri 17540 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - LEBANON
Voice of Freedom / Voice of Free Lebanon
Voice of Liberty in Arabic:
1600-1700 Daily 11645 SAM 200 kW / 224 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - MYANMAR
Democratic Voice of Burma
Democratic Voice of Burma in Burmese:
1430-1530 Daily 5910 TAC 100 kW / 132 deg
17495 MDC 050 kW / 055 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Democratic Voice of Burma in Burmese:
2330-0030 Daily 9435 JUL 100 kW / 080 deg
9760 MDC 200 kW / 055 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - NIGERIA
Voice of Biafra International
Voice of Biafra International in English:
2100-2200 Sat 7380 MEY 250 kW / 335 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - SAUDI ARABIA
Voice of Reform
Voice of Reform in Arabic:
1800-2000 Daily 15705 KVI 500 kW / 125 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - SRI LANKA
IBC Tamil or Tamil Oli ??? -CRW
IBC Tamil Oli Radio in Tamil:
0000-0100 Daily 11570 NVS 100 kW / 180 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
IBC Tamil Oli Radio in Tamil:
1230-1330 Daily 17495 MDC 050 kW / 055 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - SYRIA
The Arabic Radio
Voice of Homeland in Arabic:
0330-0400 Daily 7510 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Homeland in Arabic:
1500-1530 Daily 12085 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg
12120 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - TOGO
Radio Togo Libre
Radio Togo Libre in French:
1300-1400 Mon-Fri 21760 MEY 250 kW / 328 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Radio Togo Libre in French:
2000-2100 Sun 12125 MEY 250 kW / 335 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - VIETNAM
Que Huong Radio
Que Huong Radio in Vietnamese:
1330-1400 Mon-Sat 9930 WHR 100 kW / 285 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Radio Free Vietnam [which one ? -CRW]
Radio Free Vietnam in Vietnamese:
1230-1300 Mon-Fri 9930 WHR 100 kW / 285 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
Voice of Khmer-Krom Radio
Voice of Khmer-Krom in Khmer:
1400-1500 Tue 15660 VLD 250 kW / 230 deg
(Observer-BUL 264 Jun 17, 2006 via W.Büschel-D for CRW)
...............................................................
Schedules - WESTERN SAHARA
...............................................................
Schedules - ZIMBABWE
------------xxxxxxxxxx Logs xxxxxxxxxx-------------------------
Logs - AFGHANISTAN
...............................................................
Logs - ANGOLA
...............................................................
Logs - ASIA
Radio Free Asia
NORTH MARIANAS Radio Free Asia 17.880 0523 GMT CC 333 June 18th Two OMs
with conversation. Also YL by 0540 hrs. NO China Music Jammer was heard.
//17615 [433] and 15665 [433].
(S.MacKenzie-CA-USA Jun 18, 2003 in HCDX)
...............................................................
Logs - BELORUSSIA
...............................................................
Logs - CAMBODIA
...............................................................
Logs - CHINA
Fang Guang Ming Radio
9625 Fang Guang Ming Radio, 2116 - 2200*, Jun 18, Mandarin, Musical
program without of announcements, only at s/off by YL, 45444,
(N.Eramo-ARG Jun 18, 2003 for CRW)
6035 Fang Guang Ming Radio 2125-2155 talks by man and woman in Mandarin,
gave a few ID's. Good reception, just weak blocking station underneath.
Listed // of 9625 completely blocked by presumed China station. (via
Javaradios in Europe)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 21, 2003 in CDX-ML)
Star Star BC Station
11430 Star Star (New Star?) B.Stn. 1520-1526* on Jun 28 with numbers and
s/off anmts. Fair and //to 9725 which was weaker.
(V.Korinek-AFS Jun 28, 2003 in DXplorer-ML)
Voice of Tibet
Voice of Tibet (via Javaradio Sweden) no joy on hearing them on either
17520 or 17540 at 1430.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 18, 2003 in CDX-ML)
17540 Voice of Tibet (p), 1430* - 1435, Jun 19, Tibetan, s/on with
musical
theme, female announcer, mention Tibet several times, 24332
(N.Eramo-ARG Jun 19, 2003 for CRW)
Voice of Tibet : Heard 1250-1300*, Jun 21, in Mandarin on 15670 without
jamming 35444 // 21560 which was heavily jammed by Chinese music 21221
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 24, 2003 for DXW/CRW)
...............................................................
Logs - CONGO
...............................................................
Logs - COLOMBIA
...............................................................
Logs - CUBA
...............................................................
Log - EASTERN EUROPE
...............................................................
Logs - ERITREA
Voice of Democratic Eritrea
5925 kHz, 1400 55555 D Vo Dem. Eritrea via DTK Jülich 2806 hfd
mx, Tigre id -nur sa-
(H.F.Dumrese-D Jun 28, 2003 in A-DX)
Voice of the Eritrean People
Voice of the Eritrean People No luck hearing them on reported Sundays
1730-1800 on 9900 or 1800-1830 on 7530. (via Javaradios in Europe)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 22, 2003 in CDX-ML)
...............................................................
Logs - ETHIOPIA
Dejen Radio
12120 Dejen Radio 1703 with flute music and talk in Amhraic. Good signal.
ID in passing at 1706 mentions of USA and Canada. Long talk sounded like
it was recorded in front of a crowd. A song at 1716 and then another long
talk. (via Javaradios in Europe)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 21, 2003 in CDX-ML)
12120, Dejen R, via Samara, Russia, 1720-1800*, Jun 21, Tigrinya talk,
signed off in mid-sentence. Scheduled Saturdays only. 44444.
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 21, 2003 for CRW)
Radio Justice / Radio Solidarity
12120 R. Justice (Fthi) Per the TISJD website this is a new program that
they launched on May 25th, with a "the new station [that] has a powerful
signal than the previous one." Schedule is Sundays from 1700-1800, so R
Fthi seems to be the station broadcasting in this slot rather than
Netsanet Radio as reported elsewhere. From what I can tell, Netsanet is
still on the web and on AM in Washington, D.C., but has been off
shortwave for a year now due to lack of funding. As for the TISJD and R
Fthi, this new program and new site seem to be a replacement for the
Radio Solidarity program that was via DTK-Julich for some time. 1658 test
tones, 1700 ID as R. Fthi by woman and flute music. Weak signal. A bit of
fanfare and then talk by same woman. (via Javaradios in Europe)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 22, 2003 in CDX-ML)
12120, Tigrean International Solidarity for Justice and Democracy, via
Samara, *1700-1800*, Jun 29, time signal, flute and Tigrinyan ann heard
as: "Yeh Lediopyan (Magoney Gimtsalau)" (Lediopyan = Ethiopia). After a
short musical interlude a woman gave ID twice: "Yeh....... Radio Fathí"
(= Justice) and frequency ann. Then very long talks where the only words
understood during that hour were "Democracy" and "America". Occasional
Horn of Africa music. Signed off without any ann or ID. Scheduled Sundays
only via TDP. Ex 15275 via DTK. 45444
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 29, 2003 for CRW)
12120 Radio Solidarity, 1700-1710, Junio 29. Transmision en tigrina.
Apertura de transmisiones con anuncio por locutora. Breve pieza musical
instrumental. Anuncio y comienza la lectura de lo que pareceria ser un
boletin de noticias por la misma locutora. 24432
(A.L.Slaen-ARG Jun 29, 2003 for CRW)
Radio Xoriyo
15670, R Huriyo, Somalia, via DTK Julich-Germany, 20/6 presumably Somali
with IDs 1640 after 1630-1640 news into talk by YM about Ethiopia. Closed
1659. Weak to fair.
(F.Krone-DNK Jun 20, 2003 in DX-plorer-ML)
15670, R. Xoriyo, decent signal at 1629 opening on Jun 17 (Tue) with Horn
of Africa mx, IDs with definite "Xoriyo" a couple of times, into a minute
of AR-style singing by man, then all talk by man. By 1640 a loud growl
moving up from below caught up with them.
(J.Berg-MA-USA Jun 17, 2003 in DXplorer-ML)
Rainbow Radio
Rainbow Radio I read that they dropped their European service recently.
Is anyone still hearing their service for Ethiopia, last reported on
11840 kHz 1900-2000 on Fridays, but perhaps on a 19 mb freq for the
summer season?
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 22, 2003 in CDX-ML)
Voice of Ethiopia
7520 Voice of Ethiopia. Checked a number of Javaradios in Europe during
the 2000 hour on Sunday. Couldn't hear this one for this listed service
in English for Europe, is anyone else hearing them? Last audio file on
their website is from June 1st.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 15, 2003 in CDX-ML)
Voice of Ethiopian Mehdin
7520 Medhin Radio (P) *1800 flute address, ID as Ye May-de-hin Dim-sa-now
a few times. Short announcements by man mentioning Europe. Per their
website this service is for Europe and the USA. Also quickly checked
their 12120 at *1830 and found it on, website says this service is for
Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. (via Javaradios in Europe)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 22, 2003 in CDX-ML)
Voice of Oromo Liberation
15670, V.O.the Oromo Liberation, via DTK-Julich, Germany, 20/6 s/on 1700
in Oromo with ID like in DBS2003. Nx started at 1703 with 'Salem
Aleikum'. Carrier stayed on in interval between the two 'stations'.
(F.Krone-DNK Jun 20, 2003 in DX-plorer-ML)
----
Not Netsanet Radio ?
= 12120 1710-1740 CLA 08-06 Su Netsanet Le-Ethiopia R, via Samara, Russia
Amharic
= talks, Horn of Africa music, 1732 ID: "Natanat Lediopyan Radio" 44443
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 8, 2003 for CRW)
Didn't Netsanet go off in June 2002 and isn't this really-
= A new Ethiopian opposition SW bc has joined a number of other similar
stns
= already in operation. It bcs in the Tigrinya lang spoken in northern
Ethiopia and
= is heard on Sundays at 1700-1800 on 12120. It calls itself R Justice
(Tigrinya: R
= Fthi [sic]). (Their website says they have been on since May 25th at
this time.)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 22, 2003 for CRW)
Hans seems to be right. See Ankers new logs of Jun 29, 2003 under Radio
Justice / Radio Solidarity. (M.Schöch-D Jul 3, 2003 for CRW)
...............................................................
Logs - IRAN
R Farda
5860 2000 20/6 TJK R.Farda/Dushanbe, ID, nx Fs 24332
(S.Domen-BEL Jun 20, 2003 in Shortwaves-ML)
Radio Internacional
13800 Radio Anternacional (via Javaradio Sweden) 1628 test tones, then
brief FEBA program and Merlin IS. Then dead air. Lost audio from
Javaradio and got it back at 1632, man talking in Farsi. A number of
segments in the same. No sign of any jamming but had to tune in USB due
to QRM. American pop music at 1653. Quick ID at 1659.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 18, 2003 in CDX-ML)
13800 Radio Anternacional, 1648-1656, Junio 29. Transmision en farsi.
Comentario o charla por OM. 24332
(A.L.Slaen-ARG Jun 29, 2003 for CRW)
R Payam-E Doost
CIS 7480 Sedeye Payam E Doost (Bahai program for Iran) very strong and
clear signal with talks in Farsi by the same woman announcer I have heard
previously. 1816 singing by woman. Nice slow ID at 1819. (via Javaradio
Sweden)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 18, 2003 in CDX-ML)
7480, R Payam-e Doost, via Maiac, Moldova, 1820-1845*, Jun 20, Farsi
ID's, postal and web address, phone number, talk and orchestral music;
prolonged schedule, 55434
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 20, 2003 for CRW)
7460 R.Payem-e Dost, 0235-0255 on Jun29, Farsi talks mainly on arts and
culture, some local songs, good signal.
(V.Korinek-AFS Jun 29, 2003 in DXplorer-ML)
7460, R Payam-e Doost, via Maiac, Moldova, *0230-0240, Jul 01, Farsi ID,
Baha'i religious talk and string music, 55555
(A.Petersen-DNK Jul 01, 2003 for CRW)
Voice of Iran
17525 V.O.Iran Jun 17 *1529-1535 35322 Farsi, 1529 s/on with music.
Opening music and Opnening anounnce. Talk.
(K.Hashimoto-J Jun 17, 2003 in JAP 270)
17510 KRSI checking for this but just a clear channel. Too close to
France for 17 MHz reception? I think they are perhaps on 17525 again. I
didn't hear a signal, but quite a bit of jamming here. 1643. (via
Javaradio Sweden)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 20, 2003 in CDX-ML)
Seda-ye Iran heard to start at 1529 on 17525 June 21st with usual
"fanfare" tune and marching song followed by clear ID at 1532. A strong
signal in Blackpool [NW England] and no jammers audible so far.
(N.R.Green-G Jun 21, 2003 in CDX-ML)
Thanks, Noel. I just tried on the Javaradio at Gatwick and I could get
them. Fair signal, but no jamming, ID at 1603.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 21, 2003 in CDX-ML)
17525, R Voice of Iran, via Issoudun (?), *1530-1730*, Jun 20 and 21, R
Voice of Iran, via Issoudun (?), Carrier was on already at 1520. Farsi
ID: "Radio Seda-ye Iran", phone-in conversation and songs. Both days
demonstrators in Tehran were heard shouting for more than one minute;
jammed, 33433
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 21, 2003 for CRW)
Voice of Mojahed
9280, V.O.Mojahed, 20/6 1730-sign off 1733 with sign off tune. ID in
Farsi before off. Jammer found the frequency for a few seconds, then left
before ID.
(F.Krone-DNK Jun 20, 2003 in DX-plorer-ML)
9280 - This frequency has hot been used before as far as I know. Until
the recent Iraq war it was believed that the programmes were produced and
transmitted from Iraq. They stopped when an Iraqi broadcast facility near
Baghdad was bombed, but from where are they now broadcast and by whom ?
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 24, 2003 for DXW/CRW)
4691.0, Voice of Mojahed from unknown site, *0127-0135, Jun 29,Opened
with martial music by orchestra and was jammed, 0128 jumped to 4670.2 and
the jammer followed 0129, 0130 Drums, short ann in Farsi, fanfare and ID:
"Seda-ye Mojahed, seda-ye Mojahedine Khalq Iran". Talk about Iran and
short orchestral interludes. 43443. The jammer was also heard on 5350,
5640 with talk jumping to 5660, 6460, 6750, 7000, 7050, 8240, 8350 and
8600. Mojahed 2 on 7070 seems to be off the air.
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 29, 2003 for CRW)
...............................................................
Logs - IRAQ
Voice of Iraqi People
9562.7, Rep. of Iraq R (pres) 20/6 first 1652 Arabic mentions of Iraq
//9570 kHz which was a bit better
(F.Krone-DNK Jun 20, 2003 in DX-plorer-ML)
3900, V.O.Iraqi People, 20/6 1844 Arabic ID exactly as in DBS2003 'Huna
sawt al-Shaab al-Iraqi, idha'at al-Hizb al-Shuju'i al-Iraqi'. Fair, but
noise
(F.Krone-DNK Jun 20, 2003 in DX-plorer-ML)
I keep checking for this one, but I can't hear it. Doesn't it stand to
reason that with Saddam gone this station no longer has a reason to be on
the air and is most likely off?
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 22, 2003 for CRW)
Voice of the Iraqi People. I have seen a few post-Saddam reports of this
one still active on 9563 and 11710 kHz. Can't see much reason for them to
be on with Saddam gone, but I haven't been able to confirm them off yet.
Is anyone still hearing them?
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 22, 2003 in CDX-ML)
Yep, they are still on the air. On 22 June at 1900 noted all 4785, 9563,
9570 and 11710 (in parallel) active.
(J.Savolainen-FIN Jun 22, 2003 in CDX-ML)
Thanks. I am getting a bit of a signal on 9563 kHz from 1955-2030, but it
is just too weak to understand what they are talking about nor have I
been able to catch an
ID. If anyone wants to send me a recording, I sure would like to hear
what they are saying these days.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 22, 2003 in CDX-ML)
Voice of Rebellious Iraq
711, Voice of Rebellious Iraq, (Sawt al-Iraq at-ta'ar), 21 June,
2045-2100 and later, In Arabic. Talk with frequent mentions of Iraq,
American troops (kuwat il-amerikiya) and islamic revolution (thawrat
al-islamiya). Interfered by Egyptian co-channel, SINPO 33433.
(D.Mezin-RUS Jun 21, 2003 in Signal DX 102a)
...............................................................
Logs - ISRAEL
Voice of Palestine
6025 @ 1409 on 6-24. What sounded like Arabic Chants. Is this The Voice
of Palestine? Budapest?
(G.Crites-USA Jun 24, 2003 in HCDX)
...............................................................
Logs - KURDISTAN
Denge Mezopotamya
11530 Denge Mezopotamya (via Javaradio Sweden) found here at 1251 with
music. Decent signal, no QRM. 1258 fanfare, then chorus ID at 1300.
Another ID by man and talk by same.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 16, 2003 in CDX-ML)
RTV Mezopotamya
7560 RTV Mezopotamya (via Javaradio Sweden) 1700 with music and ID's in
various languages in turn: Kurdish, English, Arabic, and Farsi. Then
Kurdish music. Tuned out at 1712.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 18, 2003 in CDX-ML)
7560 RTV.Mesopotamia Jun 20 *1701-1710 45433 Kurdish, 1701 s/on with
opening music and ID. Music.
(K.Hashimoto-J Jun 20, 2003 in JAP 270)
Voice of Komalah
7560 Voice of Komalah 1702 music, then talk by woman, sure sounded
Kurdish rather than Farsi to me, ID's as Denge Komalah. A bit of music
and then talk by man at 1704 with many mentions of Kurdistan. Good signal
on peaks, but deep fades. (via Javaradios in Europe)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 22, 2003 in CDX-ML)
...............................................................
Logs - LEBANON
Voice of Freedom / Voice of Free Lebanon
11645 (P) Voice of Liberty (via Javaradio Sweden) 1603 fair signal, well
produced program, but I didn't catch an ID. All in Arabic, mostly short
items, such as one about a rocket attack on a television station in
Lebanon, and plenty of music. Tuned out at 1630.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 16, 2003 in CDX-ML)
11645 Voice of Liberty 1646 with ID's by woman as Itha'at Hurriya.
Channel is a mess, someone running a carrier co-channel so it is hard to
get clear reception. (via Javaradio Sweden)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 19, 2003 in CDX-ML)
11645 V.O.Liberty Jun 20 *1600-1610 35322 Arabic, 1600 s/on and ID.
Music. Talk. 1604 ID.
(K.Hashimoto-J Jun 20, 2003 in JAP 270)
11645, Voice of Free Lebanon via Samara, *1600-1658*, Jun 20, Arabic ann,
song similar to La Marseillaise, ID mentioning Lebanon, orchestral music,
Arab songs. New frequency ex 11520. 45444
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 21, 2003 for CRW)
...............................................................
Logs - MAURITANIA
Hanging all the period of the attempt of coup d'état in Maurinania; radio
Maurinania which is normally audible every 4845 evenings kHz to remain
dumb, it started again these broadcasts in the evening of 09/06 with
broadcasts in Local languages, normally it is in Arabic.
Pendant tous la période de la tentative du coup d'Etat en Mauritanie;
Radio Mauritanie qui est normalement audible le soir sur 4845 kHz à
rester muette, elle a reprise ces émissions le soir du 09/06 avec des
émissions en langues Locales, normalement c'est en arabe.
(M.Kallel-TUN Jun 20, 2003 for CRW)
...............................................................
Logs - MIDDLE EAST
Radio Farda
Who or what is Radio Farda? I listen to them right now (0810UTC) on
17835, according to ILG from Morocco, and wonder. Are they one of these
U.S. sponsored U.S. propaganda things or a clandestine gone commercial?
(T.Roth-D Jun 25, 2003 in HCDX)
...............................................................
Logs - MYANMAR
Democratic Voice of Burma
Democratic Voice of Burma (via Javaradio Sweden) no joy in hearing them
on 17495 at 1430.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 18, 2003 in CDX-ML)
17495 Democratic Voice of Burma, 1445-1452, Junio 29. Transmision en
birmano. Comentarios o charla por OM. 44444
(A.L.Slaen-ARG Jun 29, 2003 for CRW)
...............................................................
Logs - NIGERIA
Voice of Biafra
7380 Voice of Biafra (T) underneath a much stronger Slavic language
broadcast at 2104. I could hear the music ok, but couldn't really get
much else. (via Javaradios in Europe)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 21, 2003 in CDX-ML)
...............................................................
Logs - SAUDI ARABIA
Voice of Reform
Radio Alislah with a new frequency, it is 15700 kHz, I listened to it
10/06 and 04/06 SINPO 54555, no broadcast on 12025 kHz.
Radio Alislah à une nouvelle fréquence, c'est 15700 kHz, je l'ai écouté
le 10/06 et le 04/06 SINPO 54555, pas d’émission sur 12025 kHz.
(M.Kallel-TUN Jun 10, 2003 for CRW) Elsewhere reported as 15705; do you
have
accurate frequency readout? (G.Hauser-USA in DXLD 3-115)
15705 (T) Voice of Reform 1803 with talk in Arabic, but very difficult
due to co-channel jammer. Gave up after about 5 minutes. (Johnson Jun 18)
Same thing at 1915 today.(via Javaradio Sweden)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 19, 2003 in CDX-ML)
15705 Voice of Reform, 1915-1920, Junio 29. Transmision en arabe.
Comentario por OM. Muchisimo "jamming" que hace prácticamente imposible
seguir la emisora. Mejor rececpcion en modo LSB. 24432
(A.L.Slaen-ARG Jun 29, 2003 for CRW)
...............................................................
Logs - SRI LANKA
IBC Tamil
17495 (P) IBC Tamil (via Javaradio Sweden) 1308 with talk by two men in
Tamil. Couldn't stick with it, but sure sounded like them.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 16, 2003 in CDX-ML)
11570 IBC Tamil, 0000-0010, Junio 29. Transmision en tamil.
Identificacion por locutora. Musica muy linda con presentaciones de la
misma locutora, 35553
(A.L.Slaen-ARG Jun 29, 2003 for CRW)
Tamil Oli Radio
17495 Tamil Oli Radio, 1251-1300, Junio 29. Transmision en tamil. Charla
por locutor y locutora. Breve pieza musica. A la hora en punto se irradia
lo que pareceria ser un boletin de noticias. 44444
(A.L.Slaen-ARG Jun 29, 2003 for CRW)
...............................................................
Logs - SUDAN
Radio Voice of Hope
12060, MADAGASCAR, RVOH, *0426-0457*, 6/22, EG/Vern. Carrier on at 0426,
prg starts 0427 w/ HOA mx and usual ID/ mission statement loop. Tribal
chorus w/ "Radio Voice of Hope", YL w/ interviews of male Sudanese at the
Kakumoday (sp??) refugee camp. Last ten minutes of the broadcast was in
Vernacular. Abruptly off at 0457. Fair, // 15320 w/ co-ch. Radio Taipei
QRM.
(S.R.Barbour Jr-NH-USA Jun 22, 2003 in Dxplorer-ML)
Voice of Sudan
7999.33 V.of Sudan (NDA) 1535-1550 on Jun 28, in Arabic with really good
signal, talks about Sudan, lots of local music.
(V.Korinek-AFS Jun 28, 2003 in DXplorer-ML)
...............................................................
Logs - SYRIA
The Arabic Radio
12120 Arabic Radio (via Javaradio Sweden) 1500 with at least six time
pips. Music, and then ID's with slogan of "Free Arab Syria." Sked given
as 1500-1600 on 12120 and 12085 and 0430-0530 7510. Lots of comments,
decent signal, some deep fades. Much weaker on 12085. No sign of any
jamming. All in Arabic.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 18, 2003 in CDX-ML)
12120 Arab R. Jun 21 1510-1522 35333 Arabic, Talk and arabic music. ID at
1513 and 1521.
(K.Hashimoto-J Jun 21, 2003 in JAP 270)
12120, The Arabic R, via Samara, Russia, *1500-1530*, Jun 21, Strong open
carrier already at 1456, but the first minute the programme had low
modulation. From 1501 it improved very much. Arabic ann URL and two
broadcasts, ID's: "Al-idha'at-ul Arabiyyah", talks all the time about
Syria, radioplay about Syria, Arab songs. No jamming. Ex 7470. 45344,
heard // badly modulated 12085 (35343).
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 21, 2003 for CRW)
12120 Voice of Homeland, 1501-1505, Junio 29. Transmision en arabe.
Musica y apertura de transmisiones por OM. 23322
(A.L.Slaen-ARG Jun 29, 2003 for CRW)
...............................................................
Logs - TOGO
Radio Togo Libre
21760 R.Togo Libre Jun 13 1300-1315 35322-35333 French, music. ID. Talk.
1313 ID.
(K.Hashimoto-J Jun 13, 2003 in JAP 270)
12125 Radio Togo Libre (via Javaradio Sweden) 2001 with ID's and talk by
man in French. Perhaps it was news, but I didn't hear any place names.
Fair signal, bad QRN. After some music, gave a number of ID's at 2020.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 15, 2003 in CDX-ML)
No joy in hearing them via Javaradio Sweden at 1305 on 21760 today.
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 16, 2003 in CDX-ML)
R. Togo Libre: I'm sorry to say that I wrote down the wrong details of
this station`s Sunday broadcast, and there was nothing to hear when I
tuned in. I don't see why this broadcast on 12125 should not also come
via Meyerton, but we can only know from listening to it or see a report
about its location. Meyerton is listed on 12130 at 1700-1800 for AWR, so
they are no "strangers" to this part of the band
(N.R.Green-G Jun 16, 2003 via K.Ludwig-D in DXLD 3-108)
Just to clarify my point: Do we know for sure that 12125 originates from
Meyerton? It was my impression that no fully reliable information on this
matter is available, and so I noted down another possibility that would
fit [Russia], just to prompt some monitoring. Of course I yesterday
forgot to tune in :-(
(K.Ludwig-D Jun 16, 2003 in DXLD 3-108)
21760, R. Togo Libre: There was a stn here before 1300 Jun 17, very weak;
it came up slightly in strength at 1300 and it was in FR, but then it
quickly went off. Also tried 12125 at 2000 on Jun 15 (Sun), and there was
something coming on, but too weak to work with.
(J.Berg-MA-USA Jun 17, 2003 in DXplorer-ML)
21760 kHz, 1300 25322 AFS R Togo Libre via Meyerton 1906 hfd
F s/on
(H.F.Dumrese-D Jun 19, 2003 in A-DX)
Radio Free Togo " RTL " is a Togolese station which emits since the
foreigner towards Togo, it is created has presidential cause of the
elections which takes place on 01/07/2003. It uses two frequencies 12125
kHz and 21760 kHz.de 1300 UTC in 1500 UTC [sic, was -1400 --- gh]; I get
only 21760 kHz with a SINPO 44223. The station speaks one half French one
half local language which I can [not -CRW] identify. And all the subjects
are in the tour of the elections http://www.diastode.org
Radio Togo Libre "RTL" est une station Togolaise qui émet depuis
l'étranger vers le Togo, elle est créé a cause des élections
présidentielle qui se déroule le 01/07/2003. Elle utilise deux fréquences
12125 kHz et 21760 kHz.de1300 UTC à 1500 UTC; moi je ne capte que la
21760 kHz avec un SINPO 44223. La station parle moitié français moitié
langue locale que je ne peux identifié. Et tous les sujets sont au tour
des élections.. http://www.diastode.org
(M.Kallel-TUN Jun 20, 2003 for CRW)
It seems that Radio Togo Libre has gone off air due to lack of funds ---
according to an item in DXLD. I have heard RSA relaying RFI until 1300 on
21760, and heard the carrier go off air after time pips on the hour
(N.R.Green-G BC-DX Jun 26, 2003 via DXLD 3-116)
Yes, I missed 21760 outlet on previous days too. Lack of funds, I read
the same item. A DXer phoned the station`s manager in Canada, and
wasasked immediately to donate RTogo Libre station
(W.Büschel-D Jun 26, 2003 via DXLD 3-116)
Radio Togo Libre: Neither on 26 nor 27 they were transmitted. What did
happen?
(Z.Liangas-GRC Jun 27, 2003 in DXLD 3-116)
Well, FWIW, both frequencies are still on the TDP schedule checked June
29: http://www.airtime.be/schedule.html
Previous items from Anker Petersen indicated that the broadcasts heard
earlier this month were merely limited-duration tests. And I gather that
the big election is July 1, not June 1
(G.Hauser-USA Jun 29, 2003 in DXLD 3-116)
...............................................................
Logs - ZIMBABWE
SW Radio Africa
4880 SW Radio Africa 1828 giving email and website info, then song.
Decent signal, very slick production. 1834 round table program talking
about sex and condoms. (via Javaradios in Europe)
(H.Johnson-USA Jun 22, 2003 in CDX-ML)
4880, SW Radio Africa, London, via Meyerton, 1750-1859*, Jun 24,
Vernacular (Shona and/or Ndebele) interview about Law and order in
Zimbabwe, programme ”We call you back” with phone-in’s, a lot of words
and sentences were in English. Afropop songs. ID: ”This is SW Radio
Africa”. Hymn in English at close. At best 45444
(A.Petersen-DNK Jun 24, 2003 for CRW)
4880 SW Radio Africa 1756 with a tribal song,1800 OM ginving webadress
and freqs then with a discussion program , ended on 1812 , man with ID,
web adress, a telephone ..4420 , 1813 muisc and man talking on kowanda
then a song 1824 with talks by two OM 1842 with a political talk folowed
by OM with ID adress and same, then closing with a music prg. Signal best
heard at 4875 [34433] though on TOH and 1830 weas QRM from ULX with
signal S6 at 1800 gradually enhancing to S9+5 at 1830. Strong FSK on 4884
at a steady S9
(Z.Liangas-GRC Jun 27, 2003 in HCDX-ML)
4880 SW Radio Africa: this frequency has now permanently replaced 6145.
Heard here 1600 - 1855v with very good signals, although a bit weaker
than 6145 used to be. But probably the best choice for reception in
Zimbabwe.
(V.Korinek-AFS Jul 1, 2003 in DXplorer-ML)
------------xxxxxxxxxx QSL Verifications xxxxxxxxxx------------
Qsl's - ETHIOPIA
Voice of the Democratic Path of Ethiopian Unity
Who know the correct e-mail address of the station Voice of the
Democratic Path of Ethiopian Unity ?? The efdpu@finote.org always is
returned as incorrect.
(G.I.Barrera-CHL Jun 20, 2003 in DXplorer-ML)
I haven't any email address, but in www.clandestineradio.com there are
two post addresses: P.O. Box 88675, Los Angeles, CA 90009 or Postbus
10573, 1001 EN, Amsterdam, Netherlands
(A.L.Slaen-ARG Jun 20, 2003 in DXplorer-ML)
Yes, I wrote to both address, but, without success, because this, I want
the correct e-mail addr.
(G.I.Barrera-CHL Jun 20, 2003 in DXplorer-ML)
Radio Xoriyo
15670, R. Xoriyo, E-mail rpt with RealAudio attachment sent to
ogaden@yahoo.com and staff@ogaden.com brought same day E-mail from
"International Ogaden Website" ogaden@yahoo.com : "We thank you for your
interest about R. Xoriyo. The information you provided is correct.
Regards, Ogaden Online staff."
(J.Berg-MA-USA Jun 22, 2003 in DXplorer-ML)
...............................................................
Qsl's - IRAN
Radio Barabari
7470 Radio Barabari (Forward) My report to their Vancouver address was
returned back to me with written notice as 'wrong box' and 'Please let
Post Office Clerk know if this name belongs to your box' Obviously, some
one at the Post Office was doing some detective work. The address used
was P.O. Box 47040 Vancouver, British Columbia, V6G 3E1
(E.Kusalik-AB-CAN Jun 18, 2003 direct to QIP)
...............................................................
Qsl's - KOREA (SOUTH)
Voice of National Salvation
Voice of National Salvation seems to continue issuing verifications.
Received in 7 months a letter and card for my taped report. Similar card
and letter can be seen at Martin Schöch's web pages at
http://www.schoechi.de/pic-cla.html#Korea%20South
Web page of the station containing also material in English is:
http://www.ndfsk.dyn.to/
Address was: Greneir Osawa 107, 40 Nando-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
73
(J.Hytönen-FIN Jun 25, 2003 in dxing.info via DXLD 3-114)
...............................................................
Qsl's - MYANMAR
Democratic Voice of Burma
17495 Democratic Voice of Burma via Madagascar. Full data prepared Card,
signed and stamped.
(E.Kusalik-AB-CAN Jun 18, 2003 direct to QIP)
See it at http://www.schoechi.de/pic-cla.html
9500 Democratic Voice of Burma via Rangikaiki. Full data Prepared Card,
signed and stamped. Include with the return was a confirmation letter
with mention of using transmitter facilities via Germany (Julich)
Madagascar, Russia and the World Radio Network in London. Reply in 13
months, after sending a follow-up(27 days reply time) to my initial tape
report which they never received. v/s Myat Htay Kyi. Administrator
(E.Kusalik-AB-CAN Jun 18, 2003 direct to QIP)
...............................................................
Qsl's - TOGO
Radio Togo Libre
On Jun 12 I sent a E-mail, and some hours later I received an answer from
Alexis Ayavon. Diastode (Togolese diaspora) who produced the program, is
in Montréal Canada. M. Alexis Ayavon asked me also, if I can send money
on a Canadian account, because Diastode needs money to run Radio Togo
Libre
(C.Ghibaudo-F Jun 18 DSWCI DX Window, Jun 21, 2003 via DXLD 3-112)
------------xxxxxxxxxx Miscellaneous xxxxxxxxxx----------------
Misc - CONGO DR
HEMA MILITIA LEADER DEMANDS CONTROL OF BUNIA'S RADIO CANDIP |
Excerpt from report by Congolese rebel-controlled radio from Goma on 26
June
Operation No Visible Weapons in Bunia, launched by Gen [Jean-Paul]
Thonier of the multinational force, is now a reality. [Passage omitted]
Yesterday the security limits were set out and the international force
will not be able to intervene beyond its limits of [a radius of] about 10
kilometres.
Meanwhile [the leader of the Hema Union of Congolese Patriots for Peace
and Reconciliation, UPC-RP] Thomas Lubanga [who has been permitted to
remain in Bunia with the protection of a small band of fighters] is
demanding the control of the local radio [Radio Candip]. Gen Thonier has
given his assent in principle but has said he needs more time to give a
definitive ruling on whether Thomas Lubanga's UPC
can [continue to] run Bunia's Radio Candip. Meantime life has resumed its
normal course in Bunia where schools and markets are reopening.
Source: RTNC radio, Goma, in French 0500 gmt 26 Jun 03
(via BBCM via DXLD 3-114)
RADIO CANDIP IN BUNIA CURRENTLY UNHEARD ON SHORTWAVE
Radio Candip, broadcasting from the town of Bunia in northeastern
DRCongo, has not been heard on its usual shortwave frequency (5066.3 kHz)
since 27 June. It is not known whether the station continues to broadcast
on its FM channel.
Bunia is currently under the control of a French-led peacekeeping force.
It was reported on 26 July that the leader of the peacekeeping force, Gen
Jean-Paul Thonier, was considering a request from the Union of Congolese
Patriots (UPC) militia group to be allowed to retain control of Radio
Candip.
Sources: BBC Monitoring research 27 Jun - 1 Jul 03; RTNC radio, Goma, in
French 0500 gmt 26 Jun 03
(C.Greenway-KEN for BBCM via DXLD 3-117)
...............................................................
Misc - COTE D'IVOIRE
Cote d'Ivoire: Survey of the country's media environment
(Report includes short section on 'rebel radio' :)
Rebel radio
Shortly after the military rebellion in 2002, Patriotic Movement of Cote
d'Ivoire (PDCI) rebels began using RTI facilities in Bouake (in the
centre of the country) to broadcast their own message. The rebel radio
can be heard in towns and villages around Bouake and, according to some
reports, even in the country's political capital, Yamoussoukro.
In the western part of the country, rebels of the Movement for Justice
and Peace are also said to be broadcasting on a local radio station heard
around the town of Man.
Source: BBC Monitoring research Jun 03 (BBCM Jun 03, 2003
...............................................................
Misc - CUBA
WHITE HOUSE REQUESTED COMMANDO SOLO TO TRANSMIT TO CUBA
DXing.info has learned that a request to deploy Commando Solo EC-130
aircraft to broadcast to Cuba on May 20 came from the National Security
Council (NSC). The NSC is the President's principal forum for considering
national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national
security advisors and cabinet officials.
Earlier, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) had received inquiries from
the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) concerning the
possibility of IBB using Commando Solo to broadcast Radio and TV Martí
into Cuba. IBB is the U.S. agency that manages Radio and TV Martí, the
U.S. propaganda station broadcasting to Cuba 24 hours a day on mediumwave
and shortwave frequencies. Eventually the NSC requested the DOD to
support the IBB with Commando Solo broadcasting capability to better
broadcast the President's address on the anniversary of Cuban
independence on Tuesday, May 20, 2003.
According to information received by DXing.info, the mission was approved
and Commando Solo was able to broadcast the President's message along
with approximately 2.5 hours of TV Martí programming from an orbit inside
U.S. airspace starting at around 6.30 p.m. Eastern time (1430 UTC [sic!])
on May 20. The broadcast included a retransmission of President George
Bush's speech carried earlier on Radio Martí. The IBB has been evaluating
the coverage and effectiveness of the one-time transmission via Commando
Solo, which was chosen to overcome Cuban jamming of TV Martí. The day
after, Cuban daily Granma said that very few Cubans were able to hear the
U.S. airborne test transmission. Cuban-American activists have long
complained that the U.S. needs to improve the poor reception of Radio
Martí, which is why Commando Solo was tested as a potential new
transmission platform.
The mission was carried out by an EC-130E plane that was earlier used to
broadcast Information Radio programming to Iraq. After the plane had
returned from Qatar back to its home base at the Harrisburg International
airport in Pennsylvania, it was deployed to Hurlburt Field near
Pensacola, Florida, for a training mission.
Another sign of increased activity in making Radio Marti more accessible,
on June 28 Radio Martí was logged on a new frequency of 1020 kHz
mediumwave by DXer Bob Foxworth in Florida
(DXing.info Jun 27, 2003, updated Jun 28, 2003 via DXLD 1-115)
...............................................................
Misc - EASTERN EUROPE
RFE ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL DISCUSSES MOVE IN PRAGUE
| Excerpt from report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 24
June: The US administrative council of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
[RFE/RL] met to discuss moving the radio's headquarters and paying for
the move in Prague today. RFE/RL spokeswoman Sonia Winter said that
various aspects were discussed as part of moving. According to
information obtained earlier, the US Congress must approve of funds to be
used for the move.
Winter did not say where the council will ask for the funds to be
approved after today's meeting. According to some estimates, the move
could cost as much as 20m dollars.
RFE/RL President Thomas Dine recently confirmed that the radio will move
from the former Czechoslovak federal parliament building in the centre of
Prague to another site in the city. The rental agreement signed with the
Czech government ends next year.
The radio is currently negotiating with several possible locations.
[passage omitted] Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1619 gmt 24
Jun 03
(via BBCM via DXLD 1-113)
...............................................................
Misc - INDIA
Re : KASHMIR : PAK TO START RADIO PROPAGANDA IN KASHMIR
Re : http://sify.com/news/international/fullstory.php?id=13173601
(Sify News, India, via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) WTFK??? Probably not SW?
This is a reference to the station known in English as the Voice of Jammu
and Kashmir Freedom
(Media Network Jun 17, 2003 via DXLD 3-108)
...............................................................
Misc - IRAN
Iran, Satellite TVs at War of Frequencies
Tehran fighting Persian-language satellite TVs with microwave noise
frequencies putting Iranians' health at risk.
By Fereshteh Modarresi, Middle East Online
June 13, 2003
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=5957
TEHRAN - Like thousands of other Iranians, 19-year-old Elham enjoys
watching Persian-language satellite TV broadcasts from overseas, even
though viewing such channels and owning the equipment to receive them are
strictly banned.
But in recent weeks, her television has been causing her problems: every
so often, the picture drops out, giving way to streaks of interference or
nothing at all coupled with the message "No or Bad Signal".
"They are sending those parasites again," she says with a sigh. "That was
my favorite programme."
The Americans may not yet be landing on the beaches, but Elham's
entertainment woes appear to be the result of a very real war for the
hearts and minds of the Iranian public.
On one side are the Islamic republic's overseas-based detractors, and
some 10 foreign Persian-language channels beaming in broadcasts aimed at
making Iranians who own dishes dance away to music deemed to be decadent
and question the ruling clerics.
Causing particular irritation is the Los Angeles-based National Iranian
Television (NITV) with its campaign to convince Iranians - many of whom
are too young to know any different - that life under the late shah,
ousted in 1979, was much better.
And on the ground here fighting them are state bodies, who according to
numerous press reports have established a string of hi-tech jamming
facilities positioned in and around the sprawling Iranian capital, all
designed to counter what the powers-that-be see as a "cultural invasion."
According to the local press, Iranian authorities have equipped
themselves with transmitters capable of pumping microwave noise
frequencies, or parasites, into the sky, thereby disrupting the viewing
of those with dishes hidden on their rooftops.
In order to block such satellite broadcasts, jammers need to respond on
the same extremely high frequencies, some of which are believed to be
close to the microwave category.
But the merits of sending such signals from the ground - and even from
sites inside an urban area of some 12 million people - are being
questioned, especially given the health consequences of exposure to
microwave frequencies.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), if the frequencies
exist they could "induce heating in body tissues which may provoke
various physiological and thermoregulatory responses, including a
decreased ability to perform mental or physical tasks as body temperature
increases."
"It may also affect the development of a fetus and birth defects. Induced
heating can also affect male fertility and lead to the induction of eye
opacities," the WHO's Dr Ali-Reza Mafi said.
The jamming signals are also reportedly playing havoc with legitimate
communications facilities, such as Internet services, the local telephone
network and even state television.
A number of deputies in Iran's reformist-controlled parliament have
called on President Mohammad Khatami to raise the issue of "frequency
pollution" with the Supreme Council of National Security, Iran's top
decision-making body of security issues.
"The president should ask these noise stations to coordinate with other
related institutions, such as the health and telecommunications
ministries, in order to prevent them causing problems for our citizens,"
Mohammed-Reza Ali Hosseini, an MP sitting on the parliament's
telecommunications committee, told the student news agency ISNA.
He said he believed the "waves are coming from military compounds and
institutions."
But despite the alarm, Iran's illegal dish owners are still suffering
annoying disturbances to their evening viewing.
And even the ministry of post, telegraph and telephone (PTT) -
technically in charge of frequency space -- appears to be in the dark,
even as it tries to give some reassurance over the public health fears.
"These noise stations have no authorisation from us," PTT Minister Ahmad
Motamedi told the state news agency IRNA. "If such waves need to be
emitted, they must be done so legally. But they are not cancerous and
dangerous."
(Middle East Online Jun 13, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
Is President Bush Instigating Protests in Iran?
FoxNews "Special Report with Brit Hume" Transcript
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,89877,00.html
This is a partial transcript of Special Report with Brit Hume, June 16,
that has been edited for clarity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I appreciate those
courageous souls that speak out for freedom in Iran (search). They need
to know that America stands squarely by their side. And I would urge the
Iranian administration to treat them with the utmost of respect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIT HUME, HOST: Statements like that from President Bush have led the
Iranian government to claim that the U.S. government is instigating the
protest in that country in the past week. But the president's words might
not be heard in Iran were it not for U.S.-based satellite TV stations --
there you see one now, that are heard and seen in that country even
though they are illegal.
So, who are these broadcasters and what impact are they really having?
For answers, we turn to Professor Rob Sobhani of Georgetown University.
Professor, welcome.
ROB SOBHANI, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Thank you.
HUME: Who are these people and what are they doing and how many are
there? And where are they getting their money? What's going on here?
SOBHANI: These are part of the broader Iranian dissident move, they're
opponents of the Islamic government of Iran. Most of them fled after the
Islamic Revolution in Iran.
HUME: And where do they live?
SOBHANI: They live in Los Angeles. There are close to 500,000 Iranians
living in Los Angeles County alone.
HUME: Five hundred thousand?
SOBHANI: Five hundred thousand in Los Angeles County alone, and in all of
California, most likely around a million Iranians.
HUME: Well, how does that compare with the Iranians Diaspora around the
world?
SOBHANI: It is the largest Iranian Diaspora (search) in the world here in
the United States. Here in our area in the Washington area, we have
approximately 200,000 Iranians.
HUME: Boy, I had no idea of that. Wow.
SOBHANI: And that's why the message is resonating inside the country
because those youths inside the country have relatives here.
HUME: Now, the Iranian government is not hospitable to these broadcasts.
They try -- and satellite TV is illegal, isn't it?
SOBHANI: Absolutely.
HUME: So how many people hear them?
SOBHANI: It's courageous. They get it. Approximately 10 to 15 million
probably get it on a nightly basis. And then each program is probably
taped. The video is then distributed; much like the Ayatollah Khomeini
(search) did in '79 for his revolution.
HUME: Well, that was the audiocassettes.
SOBHANI: Audiocassettes, exactly. In this particular case, it's a
videocassette and it is distributed. And that's where the students get
most of their information and encouragement.
HUME: Now, Michael Ledeen was here the other day from the American
Enterprise Institute, and he said that the words of encouragement from
the president of the United States really matter, even mildly expressed
like this. Is that true?
SOBHANI: Absolutely. If the president of the United States wanted to
directly talk to the Iranian people, he could do it through these
satellite television stations in Los Angeles. And it would have a huge
impact.
HUME: How many of them are there, these stations?
SOBHANI: There are at least seven.
HUME: Really, seven?
SOBHANI: Seven. But of the top, you are looking at may be three to four
that really matter, that people inside the country listen to.
HUME: Now, we're seeing some pictures of National Iranian TV, the studios
there. It looks pretty...
SOBHANI: Pretty rudimentary.
HUME: It looks pretty...
SOBHANI: But professional. Absolutely.
HUME: Well, yes. But I've seen a lot of worse looking sets than that.
SOBHANI: And that gentleman just there, he is one of the most you know,
well liked anchors. He's the Brit Hume of Iranian Satellite TV. Yes.
HUME: And he's -- what's that Iranian Satellite TV, is that the big of
the one?
SOBHANI: That's one of the biggest ones. The biggest one is probably
N.I.TV, which is run by a former...
HUME: What does that stand for?
SOBHANI: National Iranian Television. But once again...
HUME: Sounds the same.
SOBHANI: It's almost the same name, but the point being, they're probably
the biggest. N.I. TV is probably the biggest one.
But the impact that they have is greater, as I said. They can take
President Bush's message immediately translate it, get it into Iran and
that has enormous impact.
HUME: Now, what kind of budget do these Iranian TV stations in the U.S.
operate under?
SOBHANI: Well, unfortunately, they have to rely on their own resources;
they have to rely on advertising revenues from you know, local vendors.
And that's why Senator Brownback...
HUME: You mean, and that advertising appeals to the Iranian-Americans who
watch those stations?
SOBHANI: Absolutely. Absolutely. The local car dealership...
HUME: Because they're not getting any advertising, any business from the
people in Iran?
SOBHANI: No. No. There's no -- absolutely not. And they're not getting
any advertising from Coca-Cola or Pepsi Cola, by the way either. What
they're getting is the local advertising within their own local market.
HUME: So you're talking about car dealers, restaurants?
SOBHANI: Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's why Senator Sam Brownback
legislation...
HUME: Now, he's the Republican Senator from Kansas, and he's introduced
legislation to do what?
SOBHANI: To provide $50 million to boost the operations of these
satellite television stations, because unlike Iraq, Iranian people do
listen, do watch and are encouraged by this.
HUME: Well, would that not brand these forever as organs of the U.S.
government and perhaps diminish their credibility with the Iranians or
not?
SOBHANI: The Iranian government has always used the United States as a
whipping tool. And so whether we do it or not, we're always going to be
branded as the Great Satan. So, I think that Senator Brownback's
legislation is absolutely timely. I think the president can really
provide a lot of moral support by supporting Brownback's legislation.
HUME: Now, the $50 million is not a lot of money. I mean it's a lot of
money in your standards and mine, but...
SOBHANI: Absolutely.
HUME: ... in the overall terms of the federal budget it is nothing. What
is the situation with that bill?
SOBHANI: Well, I think if there were to be some encouragement from the
Bush administration it could pass, because I think there is bipartisan
sentiment on Capitol Hill, both Democrats and Republicans would support
it. I think they're looking for the president and administration for a
green light. And once they get that I think it will pass.
HUME: Now, how successful can the Iranian government be in jamming these
broadcasts? I mean knowing first of all, they're illegal to start with,
so it's not easy to get them, but what about jamming?
SOBHANI: Exactly. Well, obviously like the Soviet Union tried to do it,
just like other dictatorships try tried to do it, they will try to jam as
well. But these people are very entrepreneurial, they're very shrewd,
they're very smart, I should say. And they find ways of getting that
screen into the homes in Iran. And that's why the $50 million will also
help a lot because it will prevent the jamming by the government.
HUME: You mean they can buy more sophisticated equipment?
SOBHANI: Equipment. Absolutely.
HUME: Now, it was mentioned in Jim Angle's report that the United States
has been down this road of encouraging insurrection before. And then at
times in the past, it's not meant that it was going to be there when
things really happened and the crunch came and crackdown came. Is there a
danger of that here in your judgment?
SOBHANI: I don't think so because what we're seeing in Iran is homegrown.
What we're seeing in Iran is basically...
HUME: Well, it was in homegrown in Hungary, too and it was certainly
homegrown in Iraq after the First Gulf War, too.
SOBHANI: Absolutely. But the difference is this; the people inside Iran
do look to the United States for moral support. All they're asking for is
moral clarity right now. Make sure we don't let them down. However, not
military...
HUME: Well, let them down may mean not be there militarily, wouldn't it?
SOBHANI: Exactly. No. We don't need to intervene militarily. All they
want is for example, just like we talked earlier, support Brownback's
legislation. Make sure Europeans don't throw a lifeline to the Islamic
government. Make sure that the president does talk to the Iranian people.
Outline a vision for how he sees U.S.-Iran relations. That would go a
long, long way within Iran.
The missing element in all of this is an opposition figure. Once an
opposition figure emerges, then I think we will see an acceleration.
HUME: All right. Rob Sobhani, great to have you. Thanks for coming.
SOBHANI: Thanks a lot. Thank you.
(Fox News Jun 16, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
When Iranian American Media Shout, Iran Listens
By Sandip Roy, Pacific News Service
June 19, 2003
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=2489442d259
71dd311e3937731cd2c7a
Editor's Note: Members of Iranian American media, accused of fomenting
recent unrest in Iran, say they're no stooges of the U.S. government. But
most agree that, with the help of technology like the Internet, the
Iranian community in America is affecting policy in its home country.
Hossein Hedjazi, host of Radio Iran in Los Angeles, risked being called
"un-American" for criticizing the government after it detained hundreds
of Iranian immigrants as they registered with U.S. authorities last
December. But Iranian American media like his are now being called a tool
of the same American government, because of the way they are covering the
student protests rocking Iran.
"We've always been called the agent of the Islamic republic -- now they
are calling us agents of the CIA," says Hedjazi. Even if that charge is
overblown, the community may now actually be shaping events back in Iran
instead of just covering them.
"The role (U.S.-based Iranian media) have played in the recent uprising
has been phenomenal," says Hedjazi. "Those people back home have no way
to know what's going on. But the minute the stations go on air and say go
to this street at this time, the people follow the guidelines."
"Technology fostered all this -- the Web, Internet radio, satellite
television," says Mehdi Zokaei, publisher and editor of Javanan
International Weekly. "None of this would have been possible five or 10
years ago." Zokaei moved the paper to Los Angeles after the Islamic
Revolution made it impossible to publish in Iran. The largest
concentration of Iranians outside of Iran live in Southern California.
Thanks to the Internet, papers such as Javanan can be read in Iran.
Zokaei says the Tehran government is "scared, not just of the Americans,
but of the proliferation of Iranian Americans."
Zia Atabay, a former Iranian pop star, and his Los Angeles satellite
channel National Iranian Television (NITV) may be Public Enemy No. 1 in
Iran. "The Iranian government is spending millions of dollars buying
equipment to jam my signal," Atabay says. But he also says Iranians risk
jail sentences and worse to call his shows on their cell phones.
But Atabay does not think that Iranian American media are the leaders of
any revolution in Iran. "This movement doesn't have leadership, like
(Martin Luther) King or Che Guevara. This is a people's movement. Young
people don't listen to me. I'm just following what they are doing."
Zokaei, however, thinks that Iranian Americans enjoy a certain street
credibility among Iranians that others may not. "People won't listen to
Americans, but they listen to Iranian American media because these are
people who were there once upon a time."
The other reason Iranian American media finds an audience back home is
that they provide an outlet for the frustrations of many ordinary
Iranians. "Since 2000, more than 100 newspapers and magazines were closed
in Iran by the order of (Supreme Leader) Khamenei, who recently ordered
the filtering of Iranian Web sites," says Shahbaz Taheri, editor of the
San Jose monthly Pezhvak of Persia.
As their news options within Iran shrink, people are increasingly
flocking to outside sources. "In Iran people don't trust their neighbors.
But they trust a television station because it's from the outside" says
Shahbod Noori who runs the Encino-based weekly Tehran Magazine.
When the students first started protesting the government's proposal to
privatize the universities, they turned to Iranian American media like
Radio Yaran, Channel One and NITV to get the word out. When 500 members
of Iranian special forces broke into students' dormitories, it was the
Iranian American media that spread the word. "But we didn't start it. It
started over there. We just covered the story," stresses Noori.
Iranian Americans who mostly fled to the United States after the Islamic
Revolution have always been opposed to the government in Tehran. Humayon
Nejad, publisher of Encino-based Asre Emrooz, describes his paper as
"seriously against the mullah regime." Some openly support Reza Pahlavi,
son of the late Shah.
That has made them easy targets for being dubbed stooges of the American
government. The United States does directly fund some Iranian American
media, such as Radio Farda, based in Washington, D.C., and Prague. It has
also hired Iranian intellectual Amir Taheri as a director of a new
satellite television channel.
But most of the media are family owned and need their readers and viewers
to survive. "Unfortunately, a majority of these media have financial
problems that could have a very significant effect on any role in
bringing change in Iran," says Taheri.
Reporting on the news from Iran has been a journalistic challenge as
well. "Everybody has become a reporter there -- we get stories faxed to
us without any address," says Noori. Ordinary people send by e-mail to
Javanan photographs of protesting students. "We let the pictures speak
for themselves rather than use words," says Zokaei. Radio Iran tries to
validate its news from other European and American sources.
No one knows if the protests will lead to real democracy or just
evaporate into the Tehran summer. But Iranian American media have
realized that, even from Los Angeles, they can move Iran. Yet in the end,
editors and producers say, satellite television and Web sites are not
fomenting trouble in Iran. "The root of 'disturbance' in Iran is the
poverty, censorship, lack of democracy, corruption and forcing people to
follow the laws of Islam like the way the Taliban were forcing Afghans,"
says Taheri.
PNS Associate Editor Sandip Roy (sandiproy@hotmail.com) is host of
"Upfront" -- the Pacific News Service weekly radio program on KALW-FM,
San Francisco.
(Pacific News Service Jun 19, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
Valley is venue for liberate-Iran TV campaign
By Lisa Mascaro, L.A. DailyNews.com
June 20, 2003
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~1468347,00.html
A filmmaking duo that once made popular action flicks for a generation in
Iran now works from a satellite TV studio in Chatsworth, producing
24-hour coverage they hope will liberate their homeland.
Prominent former Iranian media personalities run another station in
Reseda, while a former Iranian pop star takes to the air from his North
Hollywood TV studio to encourage his countrymen's struggle for freedom.
Think of it as live, call-in TV that's not about dating or diets, but the
on-the-street protests to free a nation.
As Iranian students recently waged anti-government rallies unseen since a
bloody showdown with authorities four years ago, they've found
encouragement and logistical support coming from exiles running 24-hour
satellite stations from the heart of the San Fernando Valley.
It's just what former action film producer F. Abbassi, owner of
Chatsworth-based Azadi TV, had in mind when he started his station last
year.
"They start first, and then we go out and push it. Now they are
thousands, thousands, thousands all over the country," said Abbassi,
whose one-time movie star, actor Reza Fazelli -- now known as Ray Fazelli
-- is one of the station's on-air personalities.
"That was my goal," Abbassi said, explaining the station's name in his
native Persian. "Azadi is freedom."
No one can say how many of the 80 million Persian-speaking Iranians
across the globe -- 70 million of them in Iran, where satellite dishes
are outlawed but plentiful -- tune into the Valley stations.
But judging by the stacks of faxes, hundreds of daily e-mails and nonstop
phone calls to the Valley stations, they have become a lifeline to a
nation hungering for freedom and information.
In recent weeks, Iranian citizens have been flooding the stations daily
with telephone calls, faxes and e-mails describing the scene on the
streets. Anchors then go on air relaying the information to viewers back
in Iran -- protesters in one spot need help, those in another are gaining
in numbers.
Always, they rally those watching to lend support.
They've apparently hit such a nerve with viewers glued to their sets back
home that the hard-line Islamic regime in Iran has lashed out at the
stations, according to reports.
"There must be substantial numbers," said professor Hossein Ziai,
director of Iranian studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"The broadcasts here do affect what is going on with the population there
because the cause for all this is rather obvious: There's lack of a real
free, print, voice and/or television media.
"And they come from a place called Los Angeles that everybody knows."
Abbassi, long active in politics, had been thinking during the past few
years about starting a station that could reach out to his homeland,
which he fled in 1978, a month after the revolution that deposed the Shah
and instituted what has become, for many, a despised Islamic
fundamentalist regime.
He gathered his friends in L.A. -- "the center of the expert people," as
he puts it -- brought in former actor Fazelli, who runs a company selling
gelati-like ice cream on the East Coast -- and gathered the $2 million
needed to launch the dream.
He sold his import-export business of Italian ceramics, four of his six
homes, secured investors and relocated his family from San Francisco to
the Valley to launch the station that went on the air in December.
"We were talking about this for a long time," said station administrative
director Shirin Neshat, a single mom from Pasadena who had worked for the
queen under the previous Iranian regime.
"This way, we can help people in Iran and we can send their voices out of
the country. We really want the people all over the world to hear our
voice."
Fazelli, who compared his acting career to that of Sean Connery, said no
sooner did he get his American citizenship in 2000 than he set out to
help his former film partner raise money to launch the station.
"Television is like a base of an army. The first thing the revolutionary
does, they go and occupy a television and radio station," said Fazelli,
68, who attended UCLA in the late 1950s and has long been involved in
politics.
Fazelli's son was killed by a bomb intended for him when the family was
living in England in the 1980s, and now his family remains on the East
Coast while he works here, living in a hotel room.
"The day Iran is free, I'm going to be retired the next day," he said.
"My goal is a free Iran. I don't want to be anything. ... I don't want to
return. I'm going to return for two weeks to pay a visit to my mother's
grave."
The first of the Valley stations to beam into Iran is National Iranian
Television, NITV, launched from North Hollywood in 2000 by former Iranian
pop star Zia Atabay.
Like most of the stations, NITV struggles to pay its bills --
Atabayfinances his operation with subsidies from his wife's P&A Surgery
Center in the Valley.
Most stations run ads to help pay the bills -- including typical spots
for products, as well as infomercials featuring local lawyers, doctors, a
carpet company -- and receive support from donors. They have a few dozen
employees along with volunteers.
Most stress they have no political bent, despite the individual political
beliefs of those involved, and simply want to work for freedom of their
homeland and the ability to provide Iranians with a voice and
information.
Azadi TV is calling for a referendum overseen by the United Nations to
let Iranians choose their government. Channel One, the year-old Reseda
station, says liberate the country first, hold free elections, then talk
politics. NITV has a long list of freedoms and human rights it seeks for
the Iranian people.
"When the Iranian government changes, most of these Iranian television
(stations) will be disappeared," said NITV's Atabay, 60.
At the year-old Channel One, Vice President Kambiz Mahmoudi, a well-known
Iranian media executive unwelcome in his country after the revolution,
said Channel One started with more entertainment programming, which had
been about 40 percent of its broadcasts, but pulled back after viewers in
Iran started clamoring for political coverage.
Now, station founder Shahram Homayoun can be on the air up to 10 hours a
day, talking directly to citizens halfway around the world as the
protests unfold -- it's an exchange unexpected even for Mahmoudi, who
banters easily about media's historical power in images like the
Nixon-Kennedy debates or the McCarthy hearings.
"It is amazing," the 67-year-old said.
"Even when I was teaching ... I couldn't believe it could be used this
way. This was the people of Iran, they really led us into this. We
responded."
Ziai, the UCLA professor, said overseas radio has long kept Iranians in
touch with the outside world and the Internet increasingly plays a role.
But television brings an immediacy into the living room.
Station operators said satellite technology has become cheaper in the
past few years, allowing more stations to get started, and Ziai said even
villages in Iran have cobbled together funds for a communal satellite
dish.
The UCLA professor compares today's interplay of Iranian protesters and
the foreign-based press to what happened in the former Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe a decade ago.
"The role of the foreign media in both comparisons was very, very
positive. It was instrumental for the people to gain access to what they
believe to be true," he said.
"What happens in Iran in terms of the democratic process is going to have
an enormous impact on the entire region. It's like the enormous impact of
(Poland's Solidarity movement) on all of the satellite countries. It's
like the glasnost on the falling of the communist empire. We're seeing
the beginning of it."
Late morning and midday are busy times at the studios, as the evening
news programs prepare to take to the air, but for Abbassi, it's just the
start of what will be a long, 16-hour day.
But he says he won't be doing this forever.
"My plan is to free Iran, go back to my country and die there," he said.
"That's the end of the story."
(DailyNews.com Jun 20, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
North American Media Help Iran Protests Grow
By Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle, page A-12
June 20, 2003
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06
/20/MN293330.DTL
Some experts call it a "media movement" or a "satellite revolution." But
whatever the label, one thing is clear: A growing network of Iranian
American media outlets -- from television to radio to Web sites -- is
helping spark the student-led protests erupting in that Islamic nation.
The demonstrations would have occurred anyway, the experts say, but
satellite networks like National Iranian Television and Radio Iran (both
based in Los Angeles) are beaming programming that actively supports the
demonstrators' cause into the country.
Web sites in the United States and Canada are also providing an important
outlet for Iran's disaffected youth and dissident voices, many of whom
are demanding that Tehran's clerical rulers step down or at least relax
the social restrictions that have been imposed on Iranians for 20 years.
Through this media phalanx, the Iranian American community now has the
collective power to influence what goes on in Iran -- a historical shift
that alarms the Shiite mullahs who have ruled the country since 1979,
said Abbas Milani, a visiting fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution.
" 'Revolution' is a very loaded word, but it (the media blitz) is
certainly a fundamental change in terms of sovereignty," said Milani, a
professor of history and political science at Notre Dame de Namur
University in Belmont. "The Iranian diaspora is now actually part of
civil society in Iran."
While exiles may be united on the need for deep changes in Iranian
society, they disagree about what type of government should replace the
mullah system -- and the best way to do it. One Iranian American
satellite TV network, Azadi TV, reportedly told protesters in Iran how to
make Molotov cocktails. Some of the networks have encouraged Iranians to
drive their cars to the central area of protest in Tehran and honk their
horns in support. All the networks ask viewers and listeners to call in
with their stories.
Last Friday in Tehran, former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani criticized the networks, calling them "evil television
networks that Americans have established."
Zia Atabay, the founder of National Iranian Television, which is known as
NITV and is one of the most popular satellite networks, says Rafsanjani's
remarks are proof that NITV and other stations are having an effect.
"(Iranians) are crying for help and freedom," said Atabay. "They are
freedom fighters. Someone has to take responsibility.
"I believe that I'm sending a message to the Iranian government -- and to
all dictators -- that media power is very strong and will work better
than army tanks and rockets. Now, no dictator can think they can control
the words that people hear."
Atabay, a former pop singer who grew up in Iran, hosts one of three talk
shows on NITV that feature people who advocate a return to Iran's
constitutional monarchy, symbolized by the late Shah Reza Pahlavi. Azadi
TV, one of the other 14 satellite television networks that are based in
Los Angeles (which has the largest Iranian community in the United
States), has a similar message.
That stance turns off many of Iran's young people, who have mixed
opinions of the satellite networks.
"They're people who have no idea what Iranians are doing," Sanam
Dolatshahi, a 25-year-old Web site editor in Tehran, said by telephone.
"In an age of the Internet and space shuttles, they're talking about the
monarchy."
For Iran's youth, Web sites have filled the void. Dolatshahi talks
excitedly about www.hoder.com , a site based in Toronto (started by former
Iranian journalist Hossein Derakhshan) that supports Web logs in which
people write about any subject, including the protests. Other sites that
have a following include dialogueproject.sais-jhu.edu, which was started
by Iranian exile Azar Nafisi, an author ("Reading Lolita in Tehran") and
professor at Johns Hopkins University; and www.iranian.com , created by
Jahanshah Javid, a former journalist in Iran who now lives in Albany.
Javid's site features diaries, fiction, cultural articles and people's
opinions, which lately have centered on the reform movement. Nafisi's
site essentially lets students in Iran take classes from her. She has
been surprised by the reach of her Web site; former students in Iran can
stay in touch and read her critically acclaimed new memoir about her
years teaching literature there.
"It has opened up areas of hope that had not existed before," Nafisi
said.
Iran's students have widespread access to the Internet at their
universities and colleges, though the government has tried to control the
flow of information. On Wednesday, Iran's judiciary banned the Internet
publication of material considered anti-regime or of a "depraved" nature,
according to wire service reports.
But experts say the regime won't be able to completely shut down the
mushrooming availability of Web access, just as they've failed to stop
the satellite networks from beaming their programming into the country
and -- despite an official ban on satellite dishes -- failed to stop
Iranians from watching the programming in the privacy of their homes.
There is also excitement about a new wave of Web sites that Iranians have
created inside the country. Dolatshahi edits the English-language version
of www.womeniniran.com , devoted to women's issues. During the protests,
the site had several original reports, including one on a group that
allegedly attacked a women's dormitory in the northwest city of Tabriz.
The proliferation of new outlets is profound, as it now gives Iranians an
open window to the outside world. It is fueling their calls for change,
at a time when the state-controlled media are either ignoring the
protests or putting a government spin on them, experts say.
"The regime has tried to keep out everything that indicates that life
outside Islam and outside the dictates of the Iranian government (isn't)
horrible and corrupt," said Gina Nahai, an Iranian born-and-raised
novelist who teaches at the University of Southern California. "But here
are fellow Muslims, largely in California, who are doing quite well and
have moved on.
"There's a real strong sense that the Iranians in Iran are trapped. The
media has provided an alternative view that's a lot more appealing than
what the mullahs are giving them."
(San Francisco Chronicle Jun 20, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
Displaced Iranians Speak Out Against Tyranny in Tehran
By Jacqui Goddard, South China Morning Post
June 20, 2003
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/Weekly2003/06.17.2003/World5.htm
Alireza Morovati has just one request of those who take part in his radio
station's phone-ins: say what you like about Iran's mullahs on air, but
keep it clean.
Free speech is a privilege to which listeners in Iran are unaccustomed,
so KRSI's switchboard lights up daily as they take the opportunity to air
social or political grievances, discuss ideas and share philosophies. At
its studios in Beverly Hills, California, KRSI - or Voice of Iran - beams
its signal into the Islamic Republic without fear of censorship or
persecution, providing an unfettered forum for news, music and
discussion.
"People are not afraid to say what they think," says Mr Morovati, the
station's chief executive, who fled Iran in 1979 following the fall of
the shah. "They talk about the demonstrations in Tehran, they say they
want to get rid of the mullahs, they talk about how desperate they are
because the economy in Iran is so bad."
KRSI is one of about 10 radio and television stations set up by Iranian
exiles in America. They cater not only to the global Persian diaspora -
there are more than a million Iranians in America alone - but also to
their homeland, much to the irritation of Iran's religious leaders, who
attempt to jam their signals. KRSI broadcasts by satellite, on shortwave
and over the internet, also packing its website with Western news agency
reports of events both inside and outside Iran. There are also
photographs of state executions and video footage of brutal prisoner
interrogations - a reminder, if it were needed, of what can happen to
those who fall foul of
the fundamentalist regime.
With their combined diet of pop music, news of the free world, political
punditry, modern literature, 21st-century youth culture and even on-air
English lessons, the overall result of these stations is that millions of
Iranians can now savour the taste of democracy from afar, even if they
can't live it first-hand. Some see the exile-run media as a tool for
social empowerment, particularly for students who have in recent days led
demonstrations against the hardline Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's
supreme leader.
"People call in from Iran and speak openly in favour of democracy and
democratic values; they say their non-elected supreme leader should be
ousted," says Fereydoun Hoveyda, the late shah's last ambassador to the
United Nations and now a senior fellow and executive member of the
National Committee on American Foreign Policy, an independent think-tank
in Washington. "In previous years they would be wary of saying such
things, but not now. People have had it with these mullahs."
There have been complaints among some exiles that the programming is run
by and directed at followers of the late shah, who advocate a return to
the extravagant glory days of a monarchist regime.
The head of National Iranian Television - a pro-American satellite
station based in west Hollywood - is former rock star Zia Atabay, 61, a
member of the shah's one-time social elite. Known in his heyday as the
"Tom Jones of Iran", he was chased from Iran after the 1979 Islamic
revolution, in which the shah was deposed in favour of fundamentalist
rule. Three years ago, he launched NITV.
His aim was to make money by providing entertainment such as films and
cookery programmes to a domestic Iranian-American audience. But the plan
changed one night when a technician at the satellite up-link in Miami
flicked the wrong switch. Suddenly, NITV in California started getting
calls from viewers in the Iranian capital.
"Everybody in the studio, all of us were crying," Mr Atabay recalls in a
documentary for CBS. "After 20 years, we feel we are back at home. They
kicked us out, they took our passports, but we came back."
Despite it being illegal to own a satellite dish in Iran, demand for them
grew as word of NITV spread. Tales abounded of Iranians selling their
carpets and even their kidneys to afford one. But the cost of upgrading
NITV to operate a jam-resistant signal is crippling and the station risks
going under. Like other US stations run by exiles, it relies on
advertising revenue, donations, sponsorship, subscriptions and even
charity "telethons".
Ambassador Hoveyda believes that, far from expounding a return to the
past, the broadcasters have helped foster consensus among exiles about
Iran's future. "They have established dialogue between exiled Iranians
inside and outside the United States who are now, after 25 years,
convinced that the best thing for the future of Iran is a democratically
elected government," he says.
(South China Morning Post Jun 20, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
Iranian dissident said abducted in Baghdad
[what radio station would this be? Andy.]
An Iranian man who runs a Baghdad-based radio station opposed to the
Tehran regime was abducted by four gunmen in front of his home in the
Iraqi capital Thursday, his Iraqi wife told AFP.
Nader Mohsen al-Barki, 49, operated the opposition station here since
1988, Nada Abdul Karim said.
The four armed men "forced him into their car and sped away," she said.
Abdul Karim charged that the Iranian regime was behind the kidnapping,
saying her husband had "no enemies in Iraq."
(AFP via A.Sennit-HOL Jun 20, 2003 for CRW)
L.A.-Based Satellite TV is Crucial Link for Protesters in Iran
By Sandra Marquez, Associated Press
June 20, 2003
http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/6887640p-7837301c.html
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Reza Fazeli was a household name when he fled Iran in
1979, abandoning a career as an actor and film director.
He's back in front of the camera today, but in a much different role -
news anchor for one of four Los Angeles Iranian television studios that
beams satellite broadcasts every day into Iranian living rooms.
When rumors surfaced of an explosion at Tehran University during recent
student protests in the capital, Fazeli asked his listeners for
information. Within minutes, the phone lines were lit up and faxes were
pouring in from Iran, where it was 2 a.m.
"When I get faxes back, I know they are hearing me," said Fazeli, 68.
The student uprisings have given a focus for the U.S.-based satellite
broadcasters, which the Iranian government has condemned for stoking
unrest.
To many protesters, the satellite broadcasts are a lifeline to the
outside world from a country in which the media are tightly controlled.
Despite an official ban on satellite dishes, some estimates claim about
35 percent of the Iranian population has access to one. Others claim the
figure is much lower and only the rich can afford them. Still, the
information spreads on tapes and in phone calls.
"With satellite TV channels, we can see what is happening and we can tell
other friends," said one caller to Fazeli's show from Iran who identified
himself as Reza, a 28-year-old student of English literature.
Reza, who asked that his last name not be published for fear of
retaliation, said the satellite broadcasts gave him courage and made him
feel part of a larger movement.
"They are the most important things," he said. "Here, we have no real
news."
But some also see dangers in the broadcasts. Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, an
Iranian journalist who was jailed a few years ago, said the
California-based stations fill a void but often merely advance the "rumor
mill."
"In the absence of active national media, foreign-based media become more
powerful," he said. "But because these TV stations have no
representatives on the ground here, they are incapable of understanding
and gauging the real situation in the country."
The student unrest in Tehran has deep support from the estimated one
million Iranian exiles who live in the United States. Los Angeles, dubbed
Tehrangeles by some exiles, is home to the world's largest Iranian emigre
community.
Fazeli's Azadi Television - one of four satellite television stations and
two radio stations that transmit directly from here into Iran each day -
is a gleaming new station that opened six months ago with an initial
$600,000 investment. The U.S. government says the stations are
independent; it gets its message out to Iran through its own
Farsi-language station, Radio Farda.
The recent wave of student protests against Iran's hard-line,
anti-American clerics, the largest in months, have led to sometimes
violent clashes between students and pro-government militia.
The demonstrations show discontent with President Mohammad Khatami's
failure to deliver promised political and social reforms, said Reza
Pahlavi, heir to Iran's dethroned monarchy. His father, the late shah of
Iran, was overthrown in 1979 during the country's Islamic revolution.
Pahlavi, 42, is now heard regularly on the U.S.-based broadcasts. He
praised the technology that is allowing millions of Iranians to see what
is happening in their country and know that the rest of the world is
watching.
"Thank God for technology. Thank God for satellite television. Thank God
for the Internet. Thank God for cell phones," Pahlavi told The Associated
Press from his base in Falls Church, Va.
A vocal proponent of self-determination for the Iranian people, he is
emerging as an unlikely symbol of democracy.
"The average man on the street understands today that a prerequisite to
democracy is secularization, that is a separation of religion from
government," Pahlavi said.
In Tehran, though, many demonstrators say they aren't in the streets to
support the heir to the Peacock Throne.
"Our slogan is 'no to the leader (Ayatollah Khamenei), no to the shah.'
Our movement is a peoples' movement, not an American movement," said one
protester.
Yet sentiment cuts the other way, as well.
"Their news is good and honest. They are accurate; not the lies we get
from the media here," an elderly man in Tabriz said of the U.S.-based
broadcasts. He asked not to be named.
Half a world away, on Westwood Boulevard in Los Angeles, where Iranian
exiles mingle at bakeries, bookstores and music stores that cater to the
tastes and sounds of their homeland, the country's recent unrest has been
a topic of animated discussion.
"If they ask me, 'Are you willing to take one week of vacation and join
them (the student protesters), probably I would say no," said Nima Amini,
32, a commuter airline pilot who left Iran when he was 19.
He said the student movement "is very pure" but questioned the motives of
wealthy exiles who he believes will only try to reclaim their social
standing if reform succeeds in Iran.
But he also acknowledged that the U.S. broadcasts have been crucial to
sustaining the calls for change in his homeland.
"It also gives them some hope, that people on the other side of the ocean
have heard them and they care," Amini said. "At the end of the night,
they can go home and see themselves on the satellite. This is the
positive side."
(Associated Press Jun 20, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
Iranian-Americans demonstrate in support of repressed students in Iran
By Tom Harrigan, Associated Press
June 21, 2003
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/06/21/stat
e2038EDT0115.DTL
LOS ANGELES -- About a dozen people chanted and waved signs outside the
federal building in West Los Angeles Saturday in support of student
protesters jailed by Iran's hard-line clerics.
"They have been jailed by the hundreds," said Bita Sotoudah, 25, a
California State University, Fullerton, student came to the United States
with her family 20 years ago.
The small group waved green, white and red Iranian flags and carried
signs in English and Persian. One read: "Our Young People Are Working for
Freedom."
"Through satellite television, people in Iran are going to see this,"
Sotoudah said.
There are an estimated 1 million immigrants from Iran living in the U.S.
Minoo Javid, 55, of Los Angeles, said she learned of the demonstration
from a flier distributed at the Iranian food market where she works.
"This is a demonstration to show support for freedom of speech, freedom
of my land, freedom of our students and better life for Iranian people,"
she said.
The Islamic clerics who govern Iran are unelected and "religion is good
for people but not for running a country," said Javid, who emigrated to
the U.S. 20 years ago.
On Wednesday, President Bush noted the clashes between pro-clergy
hard-line militants and student-led protesters in Iran that left dozens
injured and many more behind bars. He called the protesters "courageous
souls who speak out for freedom."
(Associated Press Jun 21, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
Satellite Channel Has Grand Vision
By David Rennie, London Telegraph
June 21 2003
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/20/1055828496817.html
Los Angeles - It is noon in North Hollywood and Zia Atabay, a retired
Iranian pop star they once called the Tom Jones of Tehran, is alone on
his tiny sound stage in a former porn studio at the wrong end of town.
Sitting in front of a crudely painted backdrop, Mr Atabay addresses the
armed forces of Iran, a country he last saw 23 years ago.
Soldiers, he declares, must rise against the Islamic elite and the
thuggish religious militia it has used to crush unprecedented protests
sweeping Tehran for more than a week.
It would be easy to dismiss Mr Atabay and his three-year-old satellite
television network - the grandly named National Iranian Television. But
in Iran, whose young population is losing patience with a quarter-century
of Islamic rule, NITV is taken very seriously indeed.
In Tehran it is 11.30pm and another night of running protests is winding
down. As has happened every evening, viewers in Iran are taking the risk
of telephoning NITV with eyewitness reports.
Emails and faxes have poured in, describing stand-offs and strikes.
Demonstrators call for help on mobile phones or send warnings of road
blocks.
Mr Atabay listens gravely to an anonymous caller.
A militiaman was attacking a protester, she relates excitedly, when a
uniformed soldier intervened by shielding the demonstrator with his body.
"The army is of the people, for the people," Mr Atabay tells the camera,
confident some officers and men will be watching. "The thugs are for the
few."
Senior clerics have ordered young Iranians not to watch the "evil"
satellite channels, and there are repeated accusations that NITV is a
CIA-funded tool of American aggression.
Mr Atabay says he does not want CIA funding, but he is still positioning
for expansion.
"Let's say the Iranian Government is going to be gone in five or six
months. I believe our market is going to be 70 million people," he says.
"For now, this is a patriotic campaign for me, but if we have a new
government, we will turn to culture, information and entertainment.
"I will be the first in the new television market," he said. "I have to
be ready."
(London Telegraph Jun 21, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
Area Media Goad Iran
Broadcasts in 'Tehrangeles,' with largest Iranian bloc outside Iran, make
waves.
By John Gittelsohn, The Orange County Register
June 22, 2003
http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=44834§ion=NEWS&su
bsection=FOCUS_IN_DEPTH&year=2003&month=6&day=22
A Santa Ana attorney thought a show debating American politics would be
popular on Iranian-American television, but viewers soon changed his
mind.
"They were far more interested in solutions for Iran," said Maziar Mafi,
a Santa Ana attorney who co-hosts a weekly program on Channel One TV, a
Farsi-language network based in Reseda. "We were getting calls about
people dying in Iran and they were saying, 'Who cares about Democrats and
Republicans?'"
For the past two weeks, Mafi has devoted his program, "The Other Colors,"
to debating a bill of rights for Iran, where freedom of speech, religion
and assembly are alien ideals. More than 6,000 viewers have e-mailed his
show's Web site, Mafi said, and about 60 percent of them live in Iran.
"Iranians don't have experience with democracy," said Mafi, 41, a
Democrat who unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Newport
Beach, in 2000. "We want to give them a model."
Channel One is one of four Farsi television news stations based in
Southern California that reach Iranians here and abroad via satellite.
The networks compete for viewers in Southern California, in large part,
by raising the hackles of the government in Iran.
In other words: Bad news for Iran is good news for Iranian-American
broadcasters.
Iranian student protesters have thronged the streets of Tehran since June
11, shouting slogans and honking horns in the biggest anti-government
demonstrations in years. Some of the protesters said news reports from
California spurred their turnout.
"With satellite TV channels, we can see what is happening and we can tell
other friends," a caller identifying himself as Reza, a 27-year-old
English-literature student in Tehran, told North Hollywood-based Azadi
Television last week. People have "taken refuge in watching these TV
stations because they talk about their daily concerns," Jilla, a
homemaker in Tehran, told The New York Times.
As the protests spread, Iran stepped up efforts to block illegal foreign
broadcasts, confiscating unlicensed satellite dishes and using mobile
microwave transmitters to jam reception. Officials warned Iranians
against falling prey to the foreign programs.
"Be careful not to be trapped by the evil television stations that
America has established," former President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani warned in
a sermon in Tehran. Some of the Southern California-based broadcasters
took the attacks as a badge of honor, delighting in irritating the
Iranian regime, fielding calls from American news reporters seeking
comment.
"I have to hurry," Kambiz Mahmoudi of Irvine, vice president of Channel
One, said in a phone interview. "Newsweek is on the other line."
But many others said the local media is only a bit player in Iran's
unrest. They worry that the Iranian government will use foreign influence
as a pretext for brutal repression.
"The regime is very dictatorial, and people there are thirsty for
information," said Fred Zandpour, associate dean at California State
University, Fullerton's College of Communications and a native of Iran.
"But for the media here to take credit for what's happening is an
exaggeration."
The Iranian government faced mounting popular challenges long before
President George W. Bush called it part of the "axis of evil." In 1997,
voters overwhelmingly backed a secular president, Mohammad Khatami, and
they have grown increasingly frustrated over his inability to exert
power. A stagnant economy is fueling grievances among youth in a country
where two-thirds of the population is younger than 30. The
California-based TV stations have a history of mobilizing antigovernment
actions.
After Sept. 11, thousands of Iranians staged pro-American candlelight
vigils at the broadcasters' urging. Weeks later, bigger crowds used
celebrations surrounding two Iranian national team soccer matches as
pretexts to hit the streets and protest. Southern California is home to
an estimated 500,000 Iranian-Americans - including about 100,000 in
Orange County - the largest Iranian community outside Iran. Most fled
after the 1979 Islamic revolution, building an affluent exile community
dubbed "Tehrangeles." Many still dream of returning or, at least, helping
transform Iran from afar.
But aside their from common opposition to the current regime,
Iranian-Americans are politically divided. Some want the heirs of the
ousted Shah of Iran restored to power. Some advocate socialism. Others
espouse a secular, Western-style democracy.
There seems to be a TV channel or program for each faction. In the past
three years, new technology and low satellite transmission costs -
$15,000 to $40,000 a month - have brought a dozen Farsi-language TV
stations to homes from here to Tehran. By some accounts, Tehran has more
rooftop satellite dishes than mosque minarets, although many dishes have
been camouflaged to guard against confiscation.
The Southern California TV channels - airing a mix of news, talk and
advice programs - are Azadi Television in Chatsworth, Channel One in
Reseda, National Iranian TV in North Hollywood and PARS TV in Tarzana.
Station managers deny accusations they receive financial support from the
U.S. government, which broadcasts radio in Farsi through the Voice of
America and Radio Farda, a pop music station launched in September.
Instead, the TV stations depend on commercials, paid programming by
immigration lawyers, and on-air fund-raising campaigns.
"They show all these emotional scenes of people crying and getting killed
on the streets and the money flows to them," said Ben Mokri, 23, an
Iranian-American video producer and student at the University of
California, Irvine. "I'm skeptical."
By all accounts, foreign media reach only a small slice of Iran. In a
country of 66 million, only 420,000 had Internet access in 2002,
according to the CIA. Most connections are phone modems, too slow to
download a television program. And Iranians can turn to many unofficial
sites sources besides foreign broadcasts.
"A lot of people have web logs," said Arezou Bakhtjou, an interpreter who
moved from Tehran to Mission Viejo in January. "They aren't like real
news, but they tell what's going on immediately and they have pictures
and a lot of emotions. They show how people are unhappy with everything
like unemployment and repression and the dress code."
Farsi broadcasters in Southern California say it's not easy to avoid
Iranian politics. KIRN/670 AM, entertains listeners with Lakers games,
music and advice shows in Farsi, but shuns religious topics and steers
clear of taking political positions.
"Our job is to provide news. We don't take sides," said John Paley,
manager of the station, which was founded in 1999 and reaches listeners
in Iran via the Internet.
KIRN talk-show host Suzi Khatami said her audience tunes in for nightly
interviews with Farsi musicians, actors, writers and artists.
"They want to hear about culture here in Hollywood," she said, taking a
break from a show she aired lived from Irvine on Thursday during an
Iranian-American trade show.
There's one rule she follows: Don't take phone calls from listeners on
the air.
"If you open the lines, it goes to politics," she said. "So, I never do
that."
(Orange County Register Jun 22, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
TV Stations Based in U.S. Rally Protesters in Iran
By Nazila Fathi, New York Times
June 22, 2003
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/international/middleeast/22TEHR.html?ex
=1056859200&en=1b0e0a99a40cc2f0&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
TEHRAN, June 21 - Jilla, a prosperous homemaker, has been trying to
outwit the Iranian government's campaign to jam Persian-language
satellite television stations based in Los Angeles.
First she adjusted her satellite dish. Then she attached an empty can.
She even tied a pot lid to a mop, and stood the lid upright facing the
dish. No luck.
"I have become restless; I have no idea what's going on with the
protests," she said, staring helplessly at a European music channel.
Jilla, 46, said her family and friends were taking part in the protests
against the government, which spread to other cities in Iran.
The protests sprang up on June 11 and were made to order for the
stations, which oppose the government and are eager to add to the
pressure.
President Bush has also seized on the issue, insisting that the
government take heed of the protesters.
Channel One, which has been broadcasting live 24 hours a day during the
protests, has become extremely popular. Shahram Homayoon, an Iranian
journalist based in Los Angeles, has been the station's on-air host for
up to 21 hours a day, and he said in a telephone interview that he was
determined to continue, "until people reach freedom."
The programming includes a summary of the news in Iran and patriotic
music. But for most of the day, Mr. Homayoon fields phone calls from
Iranians — broadcasting the experiences and emotions of the demonstrators
back to their own country.
A weeping mother called to say that her son had been arrested and that
she feared she would never see him again. If the authorities harm him,
she said, she will become a suicide bomber against the government.
Another woman called to say that she was badly beaten after being
arrested and held for three days.
One man called to suggest that depositors withdraw money from Iranian
banks because the government was using the money "to buy batons and
weapons against people."
In Iran many of those who came to the demonstrations said they did so
after listening to the foreign broadcasts. "I thought I should come if
everyone else is coming," said Ahmad, a 34-year-old civil servant, who
attended a rally with his wife and 3-year-old daughter.
The protests began as a reaction by a few hundred students at Tehran
University against plans to privatize Iran's universities. The same day,
four satellite broadcasters in Los Angeles — National Iranian TV (better
known as NITV), Azadei, PARS TV and Channel One, which are all opposed to
the government here — began calling on viewers to join the students.
That night, thousands of protesters drove to the dormitory area of the
university after midnight, snarling traffic and honking their horns.
A week ago at Friday Prayers, the former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, warned Iranians not to pay attention to the foreign
broadcasts. "Be careful not to be trapped by the evil television networks
that Americans have established," he said.
The minister of information, Ali Yunessi, said America was waging a
psychological war against Iran.
This is not the first time these stations, which are illegal here but are
popular among people of all classes, have mobilized Iranians. The
stations called people to candlelight vigils in support of the victims of
the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. A few weeks later, they helped
create an antigovernment demonstration after the national soccer team won
a World Cup match.
Political analysts in Tehran believe that the success of the stations is
partly a result of the crackdown by hard-liners against the free press in
recent years. Nearly 100 pro-reform journals and newspapers have been
closed since 1997, and circulation has dropped to just over one million,
from more than three million, since 1997, according to the Ministry of
Culture and Islamic Guidance.
In addition, the state-run television monopoly is widely seen as little
more than a propaganda arm of the government.
It referred to those arrested as "antirevolutionary hooligans and thugs,"
largely ignoring the violent attacks last week on the demonstrators by
vigilante groups believed to be controlled by the country's supreme
clerical leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"People have lost their confidence in the domestic media," said Mashalah
Shamsolvaezin, a journalist and political scientist living in Iran. "In
the absence of active national media, foreign-based media have become
powerful," he said. "But because they do not have reporters on the
ground, they are incapable of understanding the real situation in the
country and so their major role becomes stirring noise and spreading
rumors."
The foreign stations are also viewed with suspicion because of their
support for Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former shah of Iran.
Still, people have "taken refuge in watching these TV stations because
they talk about their daily concerns," said Jilla, the homemaker.
"When they harass women for their Islamic dress or they bust young
people," she said, "the stations report them. I feel the world has become
a small place and the opposition's TV and radio stations can bring
change."
(New York Times Jun 22, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
Voice of Southern Azerbaijan from a transmitter in Azerbaijan
The clandestine station Voice of Southern Azerbaijan on 9375 kHz is
indeed broadcast from a transmitter in Azerbaijan. The Azeri version of
the text quoted in DXLD 3104
http://www.cehreganli.com/xeberler/radiok1.txt directly refers to the
Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications. (NB. This text is written in
simplified Azeri ortography without special Azeri characters. The station
name is spelled "Güney Azerbaycanin sesi"). The Azerbaijani state radio
is already transmitting twice daily to listeners in "Southern Azerbaijan"
(i.e. northern Iran) via the MW transmitter in Pirsaat on 1296 kHz
(B.Trutenau-LTU Jun 25, 2003 in DXLD 3-113)
USA's Radio Farda targeting Iran gets new director
Text of press release by US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) on 30
June
Washington, DC, 30 June 2003: Andres Ilves, a veteran broadcast
journalist, has been named director of Radio Farda (www.radiofarda.com),
a Persian-language service aimed at young listeners in Iran, the
Broadcasting Board of Governors (www.bbg.gov) announced.
Ilves, whose appointment is effective immediately, is currently the
director of Radio Free Afghanistan, which broadcasts in Dari and Pashto.
A graduate of Princeton University, Ilves started working for US
international broadcasting in the 1980s.
"Andres' strong commitment to broadcasting will help provide the people
of Iran with the information they need about their country and the
outside world," said Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, chairman of the BBG, which
supervises all US nonmilitary international broadcasting including the
Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio
Free Asia (RFA), Radio/TV Marti, Radio Sawa and Radio Farda.
Launched in December 2002, Radio Farda broadcasts news, information,
public affairs and entertainment to Iran 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. Based in Washington and Prague, Radio Farda is a collaboration
between RFE/RL and VOA. The radio's target audience is listeners under 30
who make up about 70 per cent of Iran's population.
Since pro-democracy protests got under way in Iran in early June, Radio
Farda, broadcast on AM, shortwave, digital audio satellite and by
internet, has played an important role in providing information to people
inside the country.
As director of Radio Free Afghanistan, which is run by RFE/RL, Ilves has
helped coordinate a 24-hour stream of news and information to
Afghanistan, which includes 12 hours of programming from VOA in Dari and
Pashto. Ilves will continue to serve as director for the Prague-based
Radio Free Afghanistan until a replacement is found.
The BBG is an independent federal agency which supervises all US
government-supported non-military international broadcasting, including
the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL);
Radio Free Asia (RFA); Radio and TV Marti, Radio Sawa and Radio Farda.
The services broadcast in 65 languages to over 100m people in 125 markets
around the world. Nine members comprise the BBG, a presidentially
appointed body. Current governors are Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson,
Joaquin Blaya, Blanquita W. Cullum, D. Jeffrey Hirschberg, Edward E.
Kaufman, Robert M. Ledbetter, Jr., Norman J. Pattiz and Steven Simmons.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell serves as an ex officio member.
Source: Broadcasting Board of Governors press release, Washington, in
English 30 Jun 03 (BBCM Jun 30, 2003)
...............................................................
Misc - IRAQ
US FORCES CLOSE NEWSPAPER, TV STATION ACCUSED OF "INCITEMENT" |
Text of report by Iran-based radio station Voice of the Mujahidin on 17
June
The US troops have closed a newspaper and a television station in Holy
Al-Najaf that are run by a newly-formed Islamic organization, the Supreme
Council for the Liberation of Iraq, headed by Mahdi al-Awwadi. Press
reports said that US troops stormed the newspaper offices and arrested
all the staff. They also stormed the television building, which was
previously used as a post office, in Al-Kufah and arrested the employees.
The Americans accuse the newspaper and the television station that are
run by the Supreme Council for the Liberation of Iraq of promoting
incitement, in violation of the law that bans incitement against the
occupation troops.
Source: Voice of the Mujahidin, in Arabic 0700 gmt 17 Jun 03 (via BBCM
via DXLD 3-108)
In Volatile Iraq, US Curbs Press
US issues an order against inciting attacks on minorities or US troops.
By Ilene R. Prusher, Christian Science Monitor
June 19, 2003
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0619/p01s01-woiq.html
BAGHDAD - The once occasional attacks on US soldiers here are growing
deadlier, and more frequent: Wednesday, a US soldier was killed and
another wounded in a drive-by shooting. And outside the former Republican
Palace, now the headquarters of the US administration, US troops killed
two Iraqis during a protest by former Iraqi soldiers that spiraled out of
control.
At least some of the fuel for the anti-American fire, US officials here
charge, is being pumped out by new Iraqi media outlets.
L. Paul Bremer, the top US official here, says a new edict prohibiting
the local media from inciting attacks on other Iraqis - and on the
coalition forces - is not meant to put a stopper on the recently uncorked
freedom of speech.
"It is intended to stop ... people who are trying to incite political
violence, and people who are succeeding in inciting political violence
here, particularly against women," Bremer said at a press conference
Tuesday.
Iraqi journalists are not taking kindly to the restrictions. Among the
scores of new publications that have flooded Iraq's newsstands since the
US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, the broadsheet As-Saah is
one of the most widely read. In a front-page editorial Wednesday, the
paper's senior editor let readers know what he thought of the country's
liberators: "Bremer is a Baathist," the headline reads.
In an interview, editor Ni'ma Abdulrazzaq says the press edict decreed by
Bremer lays out restrictions similar to those under Mr. Hussein. Not long
ago, an uppity writer could easily be accused of being an agent for
America or Israel. "Now they put plastic bags on our heads, throw us to
the ground, and accuse us of being agents of Saddam Hussein," the
editorial reads. "In other words, if you're not with America, you're with
Saddam."
"Mr. Bremer, you remind us of Saddam," the column continues. "We've
waited a long time to be free. Now you want us to be slaves."
It is not clear whether or not such incendiary language would be
considered a violation of the new media policy that Bremer, as head of
the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), recently introduced. According
to CPA Order Number 14, media are prohibited from broadcasting or
publishing material that incites violence against any individual or group
"including racial, ethnic, religious groups, and women"; encourages civil
disorder; or "incites violence against coalition forces." Violators, if
convicted, will be fined up to $1,000 or sentenced to up to one year in
prison.
To be sure, many papers are full of scathing rebuke for the US forces,
and sometimes peppered with far-fetched and incendiary reports. The
average Iraqi reader might be led to believe that American soldiers are
raping Iraqi girls, and undressing Iraqi women with night-vision goggles.
Other reports allege that soldiers steal money during house searches.
For decades, Iraqis have lived in a state in which all news outlets were
controlled by Mr. Hussein, and by his son Uday in particular. Testing the
waters, the first papers to start publishing after the regime's fall
tended to be affiliated with formerly exiled political parties. But now
the market is awash in newspapers, some of them put out by journalistic
novices. "Candy merchants in the markets have become publishers, and
junior writers have become senior editors," says Mr. Abdulrazzaq, sitting
in his newspaper office, his television tuned to al-Manar, a satellite
channel run by Lebanon's Hizbullah movement.
Not unlike al-Manar, which reports with a fundamentalist Islamic slant,
As-Saah was founded in late April under the aegis of a Muslim religious
movement. But the paper recently decided to break away from the Unified
National Movement, a Sunni Muslim group, says Abdulrazzaq, so it could be
totally independent of pressures to conform to its outlook.
For Abdulrazzaq, working as a journalist under Hussein's regime was like
writing in a self-imposed straight jacket. Abdulrazzaq says he was
arrested "only" twice. Reporters knew where the red lines were and
wouldn't dare cross them, he says, but even reporters who praised Hussein
would sometimes wind up in jail - or dead. Now, he fears, journalists who
should be learning how to break out of the boundaries of the past are
learning to keep practicing self-censorship.
For example, he says, he had already pulled two articles which he feared
would result in action against his newspaper. A story he postponed but
plans to run this Saturday, he says, centers on "American soldiers saying
bad things about the Koran and insulting it."
Criticism of the new guidelines has grown, although some of the
frustration may be based more on rumor about what the policy entails,
rather than on reality. The edict on "Prohibited Media Activity" was
released last week in
English - but only Wednesday in Arabic.
Bremer has reiterated that the point of the new press policy is not to
hamper free speech or stifle criticism of the US-led administration here.
"We very much believe that the freedom of expression should apply to
Iraq," Bremer said. "But we need to balance that with a need to protect
minorities from violence."
(CS Monitor Jun 19, 2003 via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
IRAQ Iraq Media Dossier.
During the war in Iraq, we published a large number of media nx items,
and these were in reverse chronological order so the latest information
was always at the top of the page. We've now reorganised these reports
into narrative form, starting on the first day of the war - and edited
where appropriate in the light of subsequent information. We hope this
will make it easier to follow the fascinating story as Saddam's media
structure collapsed and was gradually replaced by a variety of new radio
and TV stns. The story isn't over, of course, and we'll continue to add
to it in the weeks and months ahead.
http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/iraq.html
(A.Sennitt-HOL RNWMN NL Jun 20, 2003 via BCDX 626)
Iraq/USA: Paper interviews TV official on Iraqi Media Network
The Iraqi Media Network (IMN) has now replaced the information ministry,
which has been dissolved by Paul Bremer, the ruler of Iraq installed by
the Bush administration, to run the media activities in Iraq, begins a
report by the Baghdad-based newspaper Al-Hilal.
Al-Rikabi, a TV official, explained that the IMN was run by Iraqi cadres
from inside Iraq in collaboration with foreign experts and coalition
forces, pointing out that the organization is a free independent
institution, financed by the interim coalition authority, continues the
report.
He condemned the dissolving of the information ministry as hasty, urging
Bremer to find employment within the IMN for former ministry staff.
Al-Rikabi pointed out that Iraq is now becoming a private media
environment, creating competition within the industry.
He said, "We are now trying to prepare the new generation of media men
who have the ability and courage to say the truth without fear or
courtesy".
He promised to install new TV and radio networks in Iraq, adding that the
inability to transmit news bulletins was due to a lack of studio and
newsgathering resources.
Source: Baghdad Al-Hilal in English 20 Jun 03 p 6 (via BBCM Jun 20, 2003)
Iraqi Media Network TV on air, carries news bulletin from Baghdad
At 1545 gmt the Iraqi Media Network TV station was carrying a caption
saying: Iraqi Media Network welcomes you in its test transmission. This
caption was repeated several times afterwards.
This TV station is received on the 11106 MHz [see below -CRW] frequency,
horizontal polarization via Eutelsat W1, 10 degrees east.
The TV station was relaying entertainment programmes such as songs from
the Egyptian Dream TV. The TV station was trying to obscure,
unsuccessfully, the Dream TV logo.
At 1600 gmt, the Iraqi TV relayed a news bulletin [see below].
The female announcer said: I am Zaynab Salim. I greet you from Baghdad
and present to you today's main news headlines.
Then the male announcer said: I am Ra'd Nabil from the Iraqi Media
Network.
Then Salim and Nabil took turn to present the news headlines:
1. Two elements from Iraqi army who were participating in demonstrations
were killed in Baghdad by coalition forces yesterday. Round-up of
people's opinions complaining from lack of security and order. Video
showing joint patrols composed of men from coalition forces and Iraqi
security men. TV shows members of coalition forces holding children who
lost their parents. One of the soldier is quoted as saying: we are among
citizens and children and the way they deal with us facilitates our
mission.
2. Report over video, with people's opinions, on lack of security and
highlighting problems facing transport sector in Baghdad.
3. Hundreds of Iraqis demonstrate in Baghdad demanding jobs and calling
for speeding up formation of Iraqi national government.
4. Report over video on problems faced by Iraqi citizens as financial
institutions, shops and others are not accepting the 10,000-dinar
banknote. Round-up of Iraqi people's opinions on this issue. Several
people complain that they have been to various banks and shops but nobody
is accepting the 10,000 dinar-banknote.
5. Report over video on port activities at Umm-Qasr harbour showing
arrival of imported car from UAE. US officials are shown attending
ceremony of arrival of first merchant ship carrying cars from UAE.
6. Oil Ministry source said oil to be pumped as of next month. Report
over video.
[From the contents and the tone of this TV station, it appears
pro-American or American-backed].
The TV went off air at 1617 gmt.
Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 20 Jun 03 (via BBCM Jun 20,
2003)
Typically .. no Symbol rate ... according to my receiver it's 4050. I
managed to get them and now 11.35 they are showing Cartoon..monesters,
inc and it's just repeating itself!!!! A screen with a door scene with
some options : Play , Bonus Materials, Scene Selection, set up.
Well .. correct me if I'm wrong .... but the frequency should be in GHz
not MHz...right?? Anyway I can receive that satellite I'll double check
tomorrow around 11.00 UTC ..and will let you know. Funny enough the
lyngsat web doesn't say anything about these new frequencies. check it
out : http://www.lyngsat.com/ew1.shtml
(T.Zeidan-EGY Jun 21, 2003 for CRW)
THE ROLE OF BROADCAST MEDIA IN INFLUENCE OPERATIONS IN IRAQ
Perhaps this isn't anything new, but I was struck by the following
sentence:
"The Iraqi National Accord, a grouping of former-Ba'athists, continues to
run three radio stations -- Radio Sumer (formerly Radio Tikrit), Two
Rivers Radio, and The Future (al-Mustaqbal) -- in cooperation with the
CIA and Jordanian intelligence."
I don't recall Jordanian intelligence being mentioned previously in
connection with Sumer/Tikrit. But then, I don't recall lots of things...
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/watch/Policywatch/policywatch2003/758.htm
(washingtoninstitute.org via A.Sennit-HOL Jun 24, 2003 for CRW)
ANALYSIS: IRAQ'S MEDIA FREE-FOR-ALL |
Text of report by Tarik Kafala of BBC News Online dated 27 June 2003
All over central Iraq, independent radio and television stations are
suddenly emerging to fill the void left by the destruction and collapse
of the old national broadcaster.
In Najaf, Kerbala, Kut and Hilla engineers and technicians who used to
work for the Iraqi national station have taken over relay stations and
started broadcasting.
Iraqis are enthusiastically embracing the possibilities of a free media
after years of heavy censorship. Alongside these do-it-yourself radio and
TV stations, dozens of newspapers representing every kind of political
viewpoint are suddenly available.
For now it's a kind of media Wild West. Anyone who can grab a relay
station and get a radio or TV station off the ground becomes a station
manager. Anyone who can get hold of a printing press, or even a
photocopier, is suddenly a newspaper editor.
The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the US or UK military only
step in to close down a station or newspaper if it is found to be
promoting the Ba'th Party, the party through which Saddam Husayn ruled
Iraq, or if the output incites violence.
That is the extent of the current media regulation - the CPA clearly has
more urgent priorities. But this may not be the case for long. The
coalition is already consulting media law experts on a regulatory
framework for the media and may soon be licensing papers, stations and
frequencies.
Ingenuity
Under the old regime the regional stations simply relayed programmes
produced in Baghdad. The system was heavily centralized and tightly
controlled.
The people taking over the relay stations are showing extraordinary
ingenuity and determination.
In Kut a 67-year-old man spent seven hours fitting a radio aerial 55
metres up an electricity pylon. The pylon has no ladder and was not
designed to be climbed.
Abu Musa, a short man built like a miniature weightlifter, gives himself
the grand title of "mast manager, Kut Radio and Television". "It was hot
and very windy, but I tied myself to the girders. I took water up with
me. There was no electricity running through the wires, so there was no
real danger. I was more worried about the American planes and
helicopters," he said.
Abu Musa and his colleagues spent the three weeks immediately after the
collapse of the Iraqi regime hiding two trucks, one containing a TV
production facility and transmitter, the other a radio station and
transmitter.
They were built by the Iraqi regime in anticipation of the bombing by US
and UK planes of the fixed TV and radio stations during the invasion.
When the regime evaporated and the looting began, Abu Musa and others
moved the trucks every night, hiding them under camouflage under trees,
in ditches and in isolated farm building to keep them safe. Now they are
running Kut TV and Radio from inside the walls of the compound of a
former Saddam Fedayeen headquarters, which has been looted right down to
the door frames.
Independence
At the moment the new stations are mainly broadcasting music, Koran and
poetry readings, and programmes recorded from various Arab satellite
stations - particularly news programmes and football matches.
In Najaf, Kerbala and Kut station staff were making rough and ready TV
and radio reports on topical local issues - the high price of public
transport, the re-opening of a school, CPA attempts to restore water and
electricity, some insect that is attacking the local date trees ("from
Iran," I was told).
The computers, video recorders, cameras and everything else used to run
the station are borrowed from the staff or locals who want to support the
station. Each piece of kit has a white label on it recording the owner's
name, their address and the date of the loan. Each station insists it is
the first independent station in the new, free Iraq.
In Kerbala, station manager Kahlil al-Tayyar said that the Najaf station
was being paid for by the Iranians. In Najaf, Ali Kashif al-Ghitta
insisted the station manager in Kerbala was in the pocket of the
Americans. The Najaf station's motto is "peace, reform, neutrality".
In fact the CPA was trying to establish good relations with all the new
stations in the area. US or UK soldiers are making great efforts to
encourage these stations, sometimes paying salaries, sometimes supplying
broadcast equipment.
Propaganda or public information
The arrangement is that the coalition forces provide some technical and
financial backing in return for the broadcast of public information
announcements that the CPA needs communicating to Iraqis. This
arrangement does not always go smoothly. The station manager in Najaf
said the US Army was leaning on him to carry what he viewed as
pro-coalition propaganda.
"We are an independent station. The CPA can't tell us what to say. They
want us to tell everyone how good the governor they have appointed is
when he is a crook and a Baathist," Ali Kashif al-Ghitta said.
The US Army insists it is only trying to get essential information across
to Iraqis.
The threat of the withdrawal of salaries paid by the CPA hung over the
conversation.
And there are other dangers. A van with the station's logo on it had its
back windows shot out. According to the station manager local political
groups were trying to intimidate the station into reporting in a certain
way.
Baghdad TV
In the capital, what is left of the Iraqi national station is being taken
over by the Iraqi Media Network (IMN), a radio and TV station sponsored
by the coalition.
Journalists at the IMN insist they are completely independent of the CPA.
In its earliest days, the IMN battled with coalition officials who tried
to screen broadcasts. Hero Talabani, the wife of Kurdish leader Jalal
Talabani, was briefly given a leading editorial role until the IMN staff
threatened to walk out.
On the day I visited the IMN, they were out on strike. The station had
been on air for four weeks without any of the staff getting any pay at
all. The strike was ended when the CPA paid salaries for about 50 staff.
The coalition plan is to relay the IMN's broadcasts across the country,
making it into the new national broadcaster.
Relations between coalition officials and the IMN have improved recently.
The CPA is spending tens of millions of dollars on installing production
facilities, equipping offices and strengthening transmission. And now it
is even paying salaries.
Iraqis who have watched the channel are aware that it is backed by the
CPA and treat it as such.
"What do you expect? Of course they want their own channel and they need
to get their message across. We won't really have a free media until the
occupation is over," one Iraqi journalist said.
Source: BBC News Online, London, in English 27 Jun 03 (via BBCM via DXLD
3-114)
...............................................................
Misc - RUSSIA
RUSSIA EXTENDS RADIO LIBERTY LICENCE |
Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax
Moscow, 25 June: Russia's authorities have extended the Radio Liberty
licence. "Radio Liberty's licence expires on 3 July, and we have decided
to extend it for another five years," First Deputy Press Minister Mikhail
Seslavinskiy told Interfax on Wednesday [25 June]. Yelena Rykovtseva,
editor-in-chief of the Radio Liberty Moscow office, hailed the decision.
She told Interfax that "this decision is particularly welcome for us, as
three weeks ago we received a letter from the Press Ministry saying there
was a candidate for our frequency. And although we received no warnings
and believed that our licence would be extended, some uncertainty
remained."
Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1727 gmt 25 Jun 03 (via
BBCM via DXLD 3-114)
...............................................................
Misc - SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi dissident stabbed in London
There's a clandestine TV connection in this story.
http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews_detail/0,1227,200203-1-9,00.html
(onenews via A.Sennit-HOL Jun 23, 2003 for CRW)
Messengers' from Saudi government assault opposition figure in London
LONDON (AFP) - Saad Faqih, the spokesman for a London-based Saudi
opposition movement, was wounded at his London home late Sunday by two
men who claimed to have a "message from the Saudi government," a source
close to him said.
Faqih himself later told AFP by mobile phone from Saint Mary's Hospital
that the men had said it was "a message from the Saudi government". Saad
Faqih is the spokesman for the Islamic Movement for Reform in Arabia
(IMRA).
A spokesman for the hospital in north London said Faqih had apparently
been knifed but that his wounds were "not very serious" and he was
expected to be able to leave the hospital shortly. Faqih said he had been
struck with a metal object on the face, the legs and the body. His
aggressors were white, "apparently British" and spoke English.
To get him to open the door the two men had pretended to be plumbers
answering an emergency call, Faqih said.
IMRA was set up in 1996. Saad Faqih has since December 2002 run an
Arabic-language radio station, Voice of al-Islah, broadcasting programmes
highly critical of the Saudi government out of London.
(AFP via A.Sennit-HOL Jun 24, 2003 for CRW)
also at http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/tue/jun24w18.htm
(brunei-online.com Jun 24, 2003 via J.Dybka-USA for CRW)
...............................................................
Misc - SOMALIA
Radio Hargeysa must have replaced its transmitter over the past few
months. Earlier this year it was more-or-less on channel (7530) and
operating USB with a carrier, so OK to listen to in AM mode. Now it is on
7530.6 or so and the carrier is so heavily suppressed that listening in
AM mode is impossible. Even in USB mode
the audio sounds very rough. A pity, as the signal strength is
reasonable.
(C.Greenway-KEN Jun 18, 2003 in DXLD 3-109)
...............................................................
Misc - SPAIN - HISTORY
Dies Posting liegt zwar schon etwas zurück, heute hat mir Karel Honzík
aus Pilsen Folgendes in einer PM geschrieben:
Here is what I have found on REI:
How to listen to the World, 7th Edition, 1973
Broadcasting stations of clandestine, exile, intelligence, liberation,
and revolutionary organizations - by Lawrence E. Magne, USA
Radio Espana Independiente
Nominally the station of the Spanish Republican Government (recognized
only by Mexico), but effectively the station of the Spanish Communist
Party (PCE), it has broadcast in Spanish, Catalan and Basque to Spain
from various locations since 1939, making it the oldest station of its
type still on the air. Currently, it broadcast only from Cluj, Rumania,
sharing facilities with Radio Free Portugal, but until 1972 it was also
relayed via Radio Budapest, Hungary. The station maintains an editorial
office in the Paris Republican Government's headqurters, from where QSL
cards were formerly sent. Now, however, verifications are being
postmarked "Prague," suggesting the dissident pro-Soviet faction of the
Spanish Communist Party headqurtered in Prague is verifying the
transmissions put by the goverrning "independents" in Paris.
The station, like Radio Euzkadi, is jammed by RadioNacional Espana
broadcast transmitters in Arganda, which bepp and growl.
0600-0655 on 7690v, 10110v, 12140v, and 14482-14505v kHz
1300-1355 on 10110v, 12140v, 14482-14505v, and 15507 kHz
1600-2315 on 7690v, 10110v, 12140v, and 14482-14505v kHz
2005-2025 (Tues-Sat) on 15185 kHz
1800-2300 (irr. Brief transmissions) on freqs in the 25 and 19 meter
bands.
ANN: S: "Atención a las ondas volantes. Habla Radio Espana Independiente,
Estación Pirénaica," and "Aquí Radio Espana Independiente".
INT-SIG: Soft chimes, then first bars of "Himno de Riego," the National
Anthem of Republican Spain. S/off: lively folk melody.
V. by Picasso QSL card, probably the most beautifle QSL card in
existence. Re. In Spanish, French and English to Box 359, Prague 1,
Czechoslovakia.
PUB: Various questions concerning Republican Spain can be answered by
Srov. Manuel Martinez Feduchy, Chargé d'Affaires, Spanish Embassy, 9
Valle Londres, Mexico, D.F., Mexico.
(K.Honzik-CZE Jun 21, 2003 via M.Elbe-D in A-DX)
...............................................................
Misc - SRI LANKA
Ultimate item on this week`s On the Media (June 20) is about the V. of
Tigers, LTTE station; penultimate is an interview with Nick Grace about
clandestine radio in general. Details and audio links:
Clandestine Radio
Radio stations with a political agenda are virtually as old the medium
itself. Throughout the 20th century, these gadfly stations have irritated
governments of the nations that receive their signals. Recently, more and
more underground radio stations have begun operating above ground. Brooke
talks with Nick Grace, Managing Editor of clandestineradio.com, about the
range and influence of clandestine radio stations worldwide.
The Tigers' Roar
The young cease-fire between the Sri Lankan military and the Tamil Tiger
rebels is again in jeopardy, after the Tigers rejected the government's
latest compromise proposal. Meanwhile, ethnic minority Tamils continue to
tune into 'Voice of Tigers' - the radio station run by the guerrillas.
Miranda Kennedy reports from Sri Lanka on the official broadcast outlet
of the unofficial Tamil homeland http://www.wnyc.org/onthemedia/
(G.Hauser-USA Jun 21, 2003 in DXLD 3-111)
...............................................................
Misc - USA
Army gears up psychological operations
New headquarters at Fort Bragg will turn out leaflets, broadcasts faster
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/2661364p-2468211c.html
(via A.Sennit-HOL Jul 1, 2003 for CRW)
...............................................................
Misc - USA - HISTORY
Iva Tells Her Tale:
She was pardoned by a president for a crime she never committed. Yet Iva
Toguri's name remains synonymous with the treachery of 'Tokyo Rose.' Now
she's hoping a film will set the record straight
By Erling Hoh/CHICAGO
Far Eastern Economic Review
June 26, 2003
http://www.feer.com/articles/2003/0306_26/p054current.html
George Stephanopoulos: Remember, even Tokyo Rose only got six years.
Cokie Roberts: Well, and . . .
George Stephanopoulos: I don't think he [John Walker Lindh] is going to
get the death penalty.
Cokie Roberts: . . . George brought up Ezra Pound. Ezra Pound pleaded
insanity and ended up serving more time than Tokyo Rose and all the rest
of them combined . . .
--This Week, ABC Television, December 9, 2001.
THE ORIENTAL GIFTSHOP sits on West Belmont Avenue in northern Chicago. A
cavernous store, it's filled with Japanese records, lacquer Kleenex
boxes, futons, Japanese wrapping paper and Fukagawa porcelain. A faint
trace of incense lingers in the musty air. Young people from the
neighbourhood browse among books on Zen Buddhism and buy belts for their
taekwondo classes.
Few of these shoppers probably realize that the store belongs to the
family of Iva Toguri, the woman dubbed "Tokyo Rose," who in 1949 was
convicted of treason against the United States during World War II and
sentenced to 10 years in jail. Fewer still understand that her story
represents probably one of the most remarkable miscarriages of justice in
American legal history.
"She doesn't come into the store any more," says Joanne Toguri of her
Aunt Iva. "She is very private." Aged 86, Iva Toguri lives quietly by
herself in Andersonville, the city's old Swedish enclave. "She doesn't
say anything, and we don't ask anything," adds her oldest nephew,
William. Her family and friends all guard her privacy with the same care.
Yet for more than a decade, the Hollywood producer Barbara Trembley has
been fighting to bring Iva's story to the silver screen. And late last
week, the director Frank Darabont, with movies such as The Green Mile and
The Shawshank Redemption to his name, announced that he will be doing
precisely that. "This is a stunning true-life story," said Darabont, who
is in talks about a screenplay with Christopher Hampton (Dangerous
Liaisons, The Quiet American). "It's about enormous personal courage and
integrity in the face of rabid public sentiment, media villainy, cultural
and racial hatred, and startling judicial injustice."
A Hollywood movie could be Toguri's last chance to set the record
straight. "I don't want what happened to me to happen to anybody else,"
she said in a statement. "When this production comes to pass, it will
clear the air resulting from the weight of the myth and name 'Tokyo
Rose'."
Perhaps, but despite an unconditional presidential pardon from President
Gerald Ford in 1977, Toguri's link to the mythical Tokyo Rose lives on in
the minds of many. When National Geographic marked the 20th anniversary
of the end of the Vietnam War, it sought out Trinh Thi Ngo, alias "Hanoi
Hannah," and compared her treasonous broadcasts with those supposedly
made by Tokyo Rose. Even respected TV commentators regularly group Tokyo
Rose with some of America's most infamous traitors.
"Myths die hard," says Ron Yates, the Chicago Tribune's correspondent in
Tokyo from 1974-77, and one of the few journalists to interview Toguri.
"People always want to believe fiction before fact. Others simply cannot
believe that the U.S. government could have been so cruel and calculating
as to rig a trial with witnesses who were forced to lie."
Those witnesses were George Mitsushio and Kenkichi Oki, two
Japanese-Americans who collaborated with the Japanese during the war and
renounced their U.S. citizenships. In interviews with Yates in the
mid-1970s, they confessed that they had been coerced into lying about
Toguri by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Justice
Department. Yates's articles were instrumental in bringing about Toguri's
1977 presidential pardon. "Of all the stories I have done, this has to be
the most satisfying," says Yates today. "Because it was journalists who
got her into trouble in the first place."
One of the top stories on every reporter's list after Allied forces
landed in Japan in August 1945 was an interview with Tokyo Rose, the
siren of the Pacific who, according to legend, had taunted American GIs
with her sultry, seductive voice. The only problem was that Tokyo Rose
didn't exist. Whereas Mildred Gillars, alias Axis Sally, was a real
person whose virulently anti-Semitic broadcasts from Berlin were amply
documented, Tokyo Rose was a myth--a composite fantasy assembled out of
the several women who had broadcast for the Japanese during the war.
One of them was Iva Toguri, a Japanese-American born in California who
had become stranded in Japan after travelling there to visit a sick aunt
just before the December 1941 Pearl Harbour attack. At the time, many
Japanese-Americans in Japan renounced their U.S. citizenships, but Iva
refused. To make ends meet, she worked as a typist at the Danish embassy,
a piano teacher, and later as a typist at Radio Tokyo. It was there that
she was ordered by the Japanese to work as a radio announcer on the
programme Zero Hour. The show was produced by Maj. Charles Cousens, an
Australian prisoner-of-war who, after threats, had consented to broadcast
for the Japanese, but was surreptitiously trying to sabotage the
country's propaganda effort. He had selected Iva for two reasons: she
stood on the Allies' side, and, in Cousens' words, had a "gin fog" voice.
The content of her broadcasts, which Iva presented under the name "Orphan
Ann," were innocuous, and none of the accusations levelled against
her--including the claim that she notoriously referred to U.S. troops as
"orphans of the Pacific"--were ever substantiated by the Americans' own
monitoring of her broadcasts. Furthermore, there were several
Japanese-American women broadcasting for Radio Tokyo at the time, all of
whom had renounced their American citizenships. One of the many cruel
twists in Iva's story was that, by remaining loyal to her country, she
opened herself to the accusation of treason against it. Several more bad
decisions and tragic turns were to follow.
Even before the Japanese surrender in 1945, the U.S. Office of War
Information had stated that "there is no Tokyo Rose; the name is strictly
a GI invention . . ." But for the press pack the hunt was on: At Radio
Tokyo, the reporters Clark Lee and Harry Brundidge were pointed in Iva's
direction. When they met her at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on September
1, 1945, they offered her a contract for an exclusive interview with
Cosmopolitan magazine worth $2,000, and asked her to sign a document
identifying herself as "the one and only 'Tokyo Rose'." Iva, lured by the
large sum and unaware that Tokyo Rose would become the symbol for
everything hateful the Japanese had done during the war, signed the
contract and gave the interview.
She never received the $2,000: Cosmopolitan told the reporters that they
would not pay a traitor. In October, 1945, she was imprisoned for one
year at the Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, before the U.S. Attorney General's
office finally concluded that "the identification of Toguri as 'Tokyo
Rose' is erroneous."
In 1948, the newborn child of Iva and her husband Filipe d'Aquino died
and, later that year, Iva was arrested again and sent back to the U.S. to
stand trial. D'Aquino was allowed to enter the country to serve as a
witness for his wife's defence, but had to post a bond guaranteeing his
return to Japan. The two remained married until 1980, but never saw each
other again.
For the trial, which began in July 1949, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
effectively wrote a blank cheque to have Toguri convicted. At a total
cost then of $750,000, the trial was the most expensive to date in U.S.
history. Scores of witnesses were flown in by the prosecution to testify
against Toguri. She was defended on a shoestring by Wayne Mortimer
Collins, a San Francisco lawyer who had made his name fighting for the
underdog.
"My father did not believe that whispering in the ears of power or
accommodating belief to the needs of popular opposition movements were
true guarantors of civil liberty or human dignity," says Collins' son,
Wayne Merrill, who after his father's death continued the fight that led
to Toguri's presidential pardon. "It was this that allowed him to stand
against the current with the beginning of the war, when patriotism ran
rampant and Japanese internment, citizenship denaturalization proceedings
against German-Americans and prosecution of religious conscientious
objectors became the order of the day."
When, after 13 weeks, the jurors announced they couldn't reach a
decision, Judge Michael Roche did not rule it a hung jury, but instead
reminded the jurors of the length, expense and importance of the case,
and urged them to reach a verdict. Finally, based on Oki and Mitsushio's
perjury, Iva Toguri was declared guilty on one of the eight counts of
treason. She was fined $10,000, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Upon
her release on parole in 1956, she was served with a deportation notice
for being an undesirable alien, despite the fact that the establishment
of her citizenship had been crucial to her conviction. Collins
successfully challenged the deportation order.
Given her first fateful meeting with journalists, it's hardly surprising
that Iva Toguri has since maintained a Greta Garbo-like silence. In the
past 40 years, she has granted only a handful of interviews. "She comes
out of an era when there was an enormous hatred towards the Japanese,"
says Ron Yates, who interviewed Toguri in 1991. "She doesn't want
publicity, but she wants her story told."
"The story Iva wants to tell is the story of the heroism of the people
who stood up for the truth," adds Dafydd Neal Dyar, a retired U.S. Air
Force technical sergeant in Seattle who has proposed a monument in Iva's
honour with this dedication: "To the loyalty and courage of Iva Ikuko
Toguri. She never changed her stripes."
(via N.Grace-USA for CRW)
------------xxxxxxxxxx Feedback xxxxxxxxxx----------------------
At least one CRW reader noted that I changed the intro-text to each CRW
issue !
Now; why did you not add French as language of CRW?
Or ; pourquoi vous n’ajouté pas le français comme une langue de CRW ?
(M.Kallel-TUN Jun 20, 2003 for CRW)
The cause is quite easy, your contribution in French is the first
contribution in French CRW ever received ! My own knowledge of French is
not good enough to watch Frech website or list. And the the only French
articles that appered in CRW were used from Hauser DXLD where every now
and then Frech contributors send in materials. If we can expect more
French logs I'll of course the intro-text once again !
(M.Schöch-D Jun 25, 2003 for CRW)
------------xxxxxxxxxx Sources xxxxxxxxxx----------------------
Thanks to the following contributors : Andy Sennit, Anker Petersen,
Arnaldo Slaen, Edward Kusalik, Hans Johnson, Jill Dybka, Max Watts,
Mohamed Kallel, Nicolas Eramo, Tarek Zeidan, Wolfgang Büschel
Source Abbreviations:
A-DX : A-DX-mailing list-Austria
BBCM : BBC Monitoring-UK
BCDX : Broadcast DX-Germany
CDX : Cumbre DX-USA
ConDig : Conexion Digital-Argentina
CRW : Clandestine Radio Watch-Germany
DXLD : DX Listening Digest-USA
DXW : DX Window-Denmark
HCDX : Hard-Core-DX-mailing list-USA
JAP : Japan Premium-Japan
OBS : Observer-Bulgaria
QIP : QSL Information Pages-Germany
RMO : Radio Marti Observer-USA
TDP : Transmitter Documentation Project
BBCM items are Copyright BBCM 2003.
______________________________________________________