NASB NEWSLETTER www.shortwave.org
June 2008
IN THIS ISSUE:
NASB/USA
DRM Annual Meeting, Part I
Introduction to WWCR
DRM
Newsbits
World Christian Broadcasting News
Radio Free Asia QSL
Monitoring Times Offer
TDP
Radio
Grove Enterprises
Fundamental Broadcasting Network
NASB
Mailbag
NASB
Board
2008
EDXC
“No Other Medium has the Universality of Shortwave”
NASB Representatives Speak at TWR Staff Meeting
Cary,
North Carolina (May 8, 2008) - With the beautiful background of a North
Carolina forest visible through the glass walls of the Trans World Radio
auditorium, TWR’s John Summerville welcomed everyone to Cary and the
headquarters’ weekly staff meeting. He noted that this meeting was being
broadcast live via the Internet to TWR sites around the world.
NASB
President Jeff White thanked TWR for hosting this 20th annual meeting of the Association, and gave a
preview of the day’s activities. He said that TWR had asked NASB personnel to
talk about the viability of shortwave radio in today’s world in the midst of
new technologies like satellite and the Internet.
Allen
Graham of NASB associate member HCJB summarized a document prepared by former
BBC World Service audience researcher Graham Mytton. Mytton’s research shows
that the area of the world with the most access to radio in general is North America. But in terms of shortwave households, the
highest percentage is in sub-Saharan Africa.
The lowest percentage of shortwave households is in North America and the Caribbean. The amount of weekly shortwave listening is
highest in sub-Saharan Africa. In general,
Mytton’s studies show that where more local stations are available, there is
less shortwave audience. Mytton asserts that the audience for shortwave remains
large and consistent.
Often,
he said, people don’t know that they are shortwave listeners. “They don’t know
if they’re listening on AM or FM or shortwave or DRM or IRS or whatever,” said
Allen Graham. “It doesn’t matter. What they’re looking for is the content.”
Stations need to offer something that is not available on the listener’s
domestic media. “What attracts listeners,” explained Graham, “is when
international broadcasters provide something that they otherwise can’t get.”
Mytton
stated that there are large shortwave audiences in countries such as Nigeria, Tanzania,
Egypt, Pakistan, Burma,
Cuba, Syria and Somalia, and that shortwave
audience “will remain large and eager” in these countries. Only shortwave can
overcome all local regulations and problems such as local broadcasts being
pulled by governments because of political problems.
“Many
people say the Internet is the shortwave radio of the 21st Century,” continued Graham. “But Internet is
not available in many of the places we broadcast to.”
In
summary, Graham cited Mytton’s conclusion that “No other delivery mechanism is
capable of sending material over huge distances without interference and with
virtually no cost to the receiver. No other medium has the universality of
shortwave.”
NASB
Vice President Mike Adams, of Far East Broadcasting Company, spoke about what
we can do to mitigate some of the negative trends in shortwave radio. Adams sees a challenge caused by more local media choices
and a general decrease in the shortwave audience in certain regions of the
world. FEBC is taking a two-pronged approach to dealing with this situation in
the affected areas.
“I
just came back from Mongolia,”
said Adams. “We have an FM station in the
capital city, Ulaanbaatar.
Half of the nation lives in Ulaanbaatar.
If you put on a station that covers the capital city, you’ve reached half the
nation in Mongolia.
Have you reached the whole nation? No. There are still a lot of people
scattered widely across a huge country. Shortwave radio has this advantage of
reach -- one service covering a nation. So we do both.”
Adams went on to say that even in a
country where the shortwave audience is declining, “You can be the station that
people listen to.” He said a lot of shortwave stations sound “Robotic” with
canned half-hour programs. In Indonesia,
he said that a lot of air talent has gone from shortwave to FM stations, taking
the listeners with them. CVC (Christian Vision) has six hours per day of
shortwave programming to Indonesia.
They say their audience response is increasing, with thousands of letters
monthly. CVC’s programming is not automated; it has live hosts. “It’s a real
live program like you get on a local station,” said Adams.
“So shortwave content can be live, engaging, like local radio.”
Adams said we could think of defining
shortwave differently. “I would even challenge us to think about shortwave as a
local radio outlet,” he said. “It just depends on how you manage the content.
Say for example we said that a shortwave transmitter that reached into a nation
is now the service for Shanghai,
rather than it’s a Chinese national service. It doesn’t matter that the
shortwave signal will land a bunch of other places. If we have content and
information related just to that city, we can create a local radio service that
just happens to be delivered over shortwave radio.”
“Just
because a local FM station reaches a local community doesn’t make it community
radio,” continued Mike Adams. “It’s only when you talk about what matters to
the community, engage in the community’s issues and problems, and content
that’s packaged and looks like it’s built for your town and your people in your
city. Then people engage in community radio, and shortwave could even be a
medium for community radio.”
Adams said that FEBC is continuing to use
shortwave to reach certain niche groups. He said many minority language groups
in Southeast Asia -- “isolated people groups,”
as he called them -- will continue to be avid shortwave listeners for many
years to come.
Another
niche for international broadcasters is humanitarian disaster response,
according to Adams, such as the tsunami in Asia.
FEBC has created an “FM radio station in a suitcase” for use in those types of
situations. It is going to be used in India in the near future. This will
enable international broadcasters to get the information that people need to
them as soon as possible after disasters.
Allen
Graham of HCJB embraced Adams’ comments about
the need for format changes in shortwave content. He said it even happens at
his own station, “where our automated system plays this 30-minute program for
this Christian broadcaster, and 30 minutes from [another one], but there’s
nothing that brings all that together so that there’s one complete sound for
that station. If we can do that, we’re going to have a lot more impact in going
into our communities. Otherwise it’s four or five or six different radio
stations maybe within a three- or four-hour program, because there’s nothing
that really brings that together except for that 30-second ID every half hour.”
Graham
also expressed the view that there is still a lot of need for shortwave to
reach indigenous populations in South America, in places like the Andes and the Amazon. Shortwave is still very popular in
these rural regions. He said that some of HCJB’s broadcasters travel to
isolated areas of the Amazon and find that they are well-known “radio stars.”
Don
Messer, former chairman of the DRM Technical Committee, pointed out that with
DRM transmissions it is possible to transmit four different programs or
languages on a single shortwave channel. Mike Adams added that “A special DRM
service for Shanghai,
for example, could work.”
Allan
McGuirl of NASB associate member Galcom International mentioned that his
company is in the process of developing a “fix-tuned” shortwave receiver that
will switch automatically to multiple frequencies. He said Galcom is seeing an
increase in requests for shortwave receivers.
In
response to a question from the audience, Allen Graham explained that HCJB has
been given a six-month extension for the dismantling of additional towers at
its Pifo transmitter site in Ecuador,
since the construction of the new Quito
airport has been delayed.
Following
the TWR staff meeting, the NASB and USA DRM meeting attendees were given a tour
of the TWR headquarters building and treated to a coffee break sponsored by
TWR.
------
Remarks by TWR President Thomas
Lowell to NASB Annual Meeting
Thomas
Lowell has worked with Trans World Radio for 44 years. He went to Bonaire in 1965, when TWR’s station there was
broadcasting on shortwave. (Today it is mediumwave only.) He served two years
on Guam, where KTWR broadcasts on shortwave.
Later, he returned to work with TWR in the United States until he retired as
president six years ago. He stayed on as Chairman of TWR’s Board of Directors.
In November of 2007, TWR’s president resigned, and the Board asked Lowell to step back in as
president on an interim basis. An outside search committee is currently looking
for a new president.
Lowell explained that TWR has a
long history of shortwave broadcasting. It currently transmits some 105 hours
per week on shortwave -- most of it from its facilities in Guam and Swaziland, but also via leased time in Albania, Monaco
and Russia.
Lowell said:
“We don’t consider ourselves a shortwave broadcaster per sé.” He said the word
“radio” doesn’t even appear in TWR’s mission statement or vision statement.
TWR’s founder, Dr. Paul Freed, “was not a radio person, but he recognized that
the way to reach the masses was via radio.” TWR began broadcasting from Tangier, Morocco
in 1954, transmitting across the Straits of Gibraltar to Spain.
Following
are some excerpts from Lowell’s remarks at the
opening of the NASB-USADRM annual meetings in Cary on May 8:
We continue to
recognize that communication at its most basic definition is all about the
message. It’s the message you communicate, the method that you use to do the
communication, and what you expect that message to accomplish. As professionals
in the media industry, we have to be conscious of all three of these areas or
we will fail to meet our global communication expectations.
Our audience
speaks many languages, and we have endeavored to focus historically on the
major languages of the world. However, in recent years we have included some of
the lesser, minor, languages -- if you can call them that. We speak primarily
the “heart” language of the people. Even though people may speak English as a
second or third language, our interest is speaking their heart language -- the
language they use at home, the language they speak with their friends, the
language that they use at work. Presently we broadcast in 225 languages and the
number continues to grow.
Another
challenge is to relate culturally the message to the people we speak to. We’ve
found that the best solution to this challenge is to use members of our
audience communities in the production of our programs. Our mission is to
assist the local church around the world, and we use their people to produce
programs.
Our hope is that
the end result will be changed lives, because changed lives will produce
changed citizens, and changed citizens result in changed countries. Thus as a
broadcaster, we attempt to bring positive impact on the societies to which we
broadcast. The 300,000 or so listener responses we received last year indicate
how much the audiences appreciate the messages. We know that the size of our
audience in many countries is in the hundreds of thousands, and perhaps in the
millions according to research institutions such as InterMedia.
Our focus this
week is to study how or in what manner we communicate. Research tells us that
the demise of shortwave broadcasting is very, very premature. We do acknowledge
that statistics indicate the number of shortwave listeners in the world is
shrinking or declining, but this is not consistent across the world as many
political hotspots are turning back to shortwave radio. We also do not know
what revitalization will occur due to digital shortwave broadcasting, and we
look forward to that in the future.
We at TWR stand
on the principle that the means is not the primary factor. Our main commitment
is to communicate the message of the Bible to as many people as possible and to
do this in a cost-effective manner. Thus we must consider the medium most
people use in their daily lives, and see if we can use the same medium in a
cost-effective way. Sometimes we are restricted from broadcasting locally
because of political or religious factors. Other times, geography or other
barriers limit our ability to deliver our message in a way the majority of the
people use the media. Our local staff strive to be relevant in our content and
as relevant in our delivery mechanisms as possible.
I want to
applaud your efforts as an association in educating people about the strengths
of shortwave broadcasting. Many in our part of the world are not aware of the
millions of people who receive their current events and entertainment by
shortwave radio.
I remember
coming back from living overseas where I lived with shortwave radio, listening
primarily to news that was coming from a number of different organizations. I
came back here to a country that was shortwave ignorant. I found myself trying
to educate people that I came in contact with on what shortwave radio was all
about and how vital is was to many people in our world today.
Today in 2008 there are people who are listening to
shortwave radio. And I am also grateful that you devote yourselves to the
benefit of our broadcast community with a type of innovation that has resulted
in the DRM standard. We’re grateful for the new DRM equipment and the receivers
that are becoming available. May I encourage you during these days to strive to
make these innovations and technologies available to the most people possible.
We are in the business of mass media, and we look forward to your efforts in
these days to work together so that shortwave radio will be a mass media tool
available to our global community for many years in the future.
------
“DRM Will
Succeed, and Cheap Receivers are Coming Very Soon”
DRM Update
at the 2008 USA
DRM Annual Meeting
Adil Mina grew up in his native Lebanon
listening to radio stations from around the world on a large shortwave radio,
with all of the inherent static, fading and interference. Eventually he would
find himself working for Dallas-based Continental Electronics - an NASB member
and premier manufacturer of shortwave transmitters. For the past 43 years he
helped to design, build and commission many high power mediumwave and shortwave
transmitters and systems all over the world. Lately he has been traveling
around the world selling shortwave transmitters to religious, government and
commercial stations.
Mina is a true believer in
shortwave. “I can really tell you that shortwave is alive and it is going
forward,” he told the USA DRM annual meeting in Cary, North Carolina
May 8. He admits that sales have been a little slow during the past four or
five years. “Except for some huge numbers of transmitters that have been sold
to China
during the period from 2000 to now, shortwave has been a little bit quiet,
especially in the building of new stations.” But he says that even with a
worldwide recession, many international customers are still making plans to
modernize and buy new transmitters.
Why is Adil Mina so bullish on
shortwave? “I once asked a friend from Saudi Arabia if he was going to put
all of his programming on satellite. He said: 'Mr. Mina, do I look that stupid?
Do you think for one moment I would trust my broadcasting to anyone who
controls a satellite or a local radio and who could shut me off at any moment
they desire?' There's what the beauty of shortwave is. Whatever your faith and
your belief in shortwave is, it is justified. Shortwave -- no matter how many other
ways of broadcasting are invented in the world – DAB, DMB, DVD, whatever it is
– is still the only medium that you can broadcast from your backyard to any
country in the world.”
“What's happening today,” explained Mina, “is
that we finally realize that we, the technical people, should help you [the
broadcasters] make that sound clear and make it practical. And that's what DRM
is all about. It allows you to broadcast your program with clarity.”
But Mina admits that DRM is not quite where it
should be today. “I'll be very honest about it,” he said. “DRM is about two
years behind, in our opinion. It's not because of transmitters or antennas or
exciters. It's because of the receivers. I would estimate we are about two
years behind.”
The DRM Consortium began 10 years ago at a
meeting in China.
For 10 years the Consortium was led by Chairman Peter Senger of Deutsche Welle.
Most DRM administrative responsibilities during this time have been centered at
Deutsche Welle. But Senger had to retire in March of this year due to German
law, and his project director Anne Fechner has also retired. The BBC stepped
forward to take over the leadership of DRM. Everything is being moved to Bush
House. The BBC's Ruxandra Obreja is the new chairperson. Unlike Peter Senger,
Obreja is not a technical person. The BBC believes DRM has matured, according
to Mina, and thus they nominated a person with business development background
instead of technical background to be the chairperson. Mina said "Ruxandra, with her experience
in business development, will do a great job in promoting DRM worldwide."
Until three and a half years ago, DRM was a
digital system for longwave, mediumwave and shortwave – up to 30 Megahertz.
Then DRM Plus was introduced. Now DRM works with frequencies up to 108 MHz –
basically FM, so it can compete with IBOC/HD Radio. Unfortunately, Mina points
out, no major transmitter manufacturer has yet made FM transmitters with DRM
Plus because they have spent too much developing IBOC/HD Radio transmitters.
“We are still looking for somebody to jump on top of it,” says Mina.
Now back to the receivers, and the reasons why
they aren't readily available yet. “Part of the reason,” says Mina, “is maybe
we took our time on the standard – deciding what we want the receiver to do. We
had a lot of debate and a lot of discussion. What should the receiver have in
it? Should it be simply a small receiver that you can buy on the street in Hong
Kong or Taiwan
hopefully for $10? Well, you can't do that. Most of us were hoping for a $50
receiver to replace what I call the regular or standard $10 or $15 shortwave
receiver that you can buy in Asia today.
“Some of the receiver manufacturers said:
'I'll wait maybe until you finish your DRM Plus. Why do I want to make one
receiver and then possibly have to combat some of the others?'. Some
manufacturers said I will combine DRM with DAB and come up with a receiver that
some of the early ones – most of them – do.
“But for whatever reason, even though we had
Sony as a key member of DRM on the Steering Board – and we had Bosch also and
many of the others – none of them really came up [with a receiver], even though
they were the key people who helped us, and helped Dr. [Don] Messer – one of
his subcommittees – to come up with a specification. None of them – Sony,
Panasonic or what I would call the big people – the key people who were driving
DRM – and I give them a lot of credit; they really pushed and promoted it –
none of them came up with a receiver. It is disappointing, I think, to me and
to many of the others.
“So what I would call some of the secondary
players introduced receivers. Many of them were waiting, like everybody knows
today, for an IC chip – the good chip, the right chip. We do have some
receivers now – Roberts, Morphy Richards, Himalaya.
These are some of the receivers that you see today. Many of us have got the
software receivers. But even some of the early receivers, in six to eight hours
the batteries were gone. They were just eating batteries like crazy.
“So the receiver that all of us are looking
for is still the small receiver, the inexpensive receiver that will have a good
battery life. That's what most people are looking for. It's the one that should
be like your Blackberry, your telephone, that can sit for two days, three days,
without you having to go back and charge it.”
But Mina is hopeful. New chips were introduced
a few months ago by Analog Devices, and a new receiver is expected to be built
in India.
“We've seen the prototype,” said Mina. “They're very encouraged. And we hope
that we will have the $100 receiver.”
That $100 receiver could be a major
improvement on the current situation. “When we started talking about the $100
and the $200 receiver – that was six years ago,” said Mina. “Well, there are
receivers you can buy today for 200 euros. The 200 figure we were hoping for
six years ago is here, but it's in euros, and that's 300 dollars. Many of us
are still hoping for the $100 receiver.”
Mina is also encouraged about what's coming
out of China.
His friends at Thomson Broadcast found and worked with Dr. Lin Liang who
founded a private company, Newstar Electronics, that plans to make DRM
receivers. “I have seen three of these small receivers,” said Mina. “Today the
design is being completed on these receivers – a very, very small receiver.
This is the new star that is coming from China, that is going to make DRM a
success.”
The new Chinese receiver will have a small LCD
screen, a built-in photo album, a GPS and a DRM receiver. “What's going to make
DRM are these devices,” Mina believes. “You're going to step out of your
airplane. You're going to travel to any city you want. You're going to pull it
out, and right there you're going to have a DRM receiver. You're going to
receive your program with good quality anywhere in the world. This is what is
going to be the success of DRM in my opinion.”
Mina says there are many other DRM receivers
that are being developed right now. Students at LeTourneau University
are working on a receiver. Three to five different groups in China are
working on receivers. There is also a group in South Africa working on a DRM
receiver, specifically for use on shortwave.
There had been talk in the business that the
Chinese would have a lot of DRM transmissions on air in time for the Olympics.
“That's not going to happen,” said Mina, “But eventually we will see DRM
broadcasts in China.”
Explains Mina: “The reason China
will develop DRM receivers is that all of the transmitters they're buying are
DRM-ready. One transmitter is broadcasting DRM, but all of the others are
ready. Why would China
use DRM? China
uses shortwave to talk to their own people. Because of that, they will go to
DRM to cover their own territory. People in rural China need shortwave.”
“DRM will succeed,” concluded Mina, “and the
cheap receivers will be coming very soon.”
Mina said that most shortwave transmitters
bought during the last 20 years that have solid-state modulators are ready for
DRM with a minor modification and new exciter. Older transmitters with
high-level plate modulation can be modified for DRM. “We have done many of
them. We just finished one in Saipan. We put
new solid-state modulators on them, and they're ready.”
Although DRM isn't being used on mediumwave in
the United States, there
have been very successful mediumwave simulcast tests in Mexico, Brazil
and India.
There are also regular DRM broadcasts on mediumwave from many broadcast
organizations in Europe.
Mina sees great potential for DRM on
shortwave. A TCI International study showed that five transmitters could cover
all of the United States
with a high-quality DRM signal. “We need a UPS, a DHL, a trucking company.
Somebody will have the vision to use DRM and send messages or programs over a
large area with a single transmitter.”
If you order a new shortwave transmitter today
from companies like Continental, there's no extra cost for DRM capability; it's
already built in. If you need a DRM exciter for an existing transmitter, it's a
slightly different story. “Our exciters are still a little bit too expensive,”
said Mina. “We acknowledge that. But prices have come down, and hopefully can
come down more.” He mentioned that HCJB is trying to develop a low-cost DRM
exciter, which if successful could cause the big companies to drop their
prices.
Mina said prices are still a bit prohibitive
for most potential 26 MHz DRM operations. A TCI study showed that a 200-watt AM
transmitter could cover the San Francisco Bay Area with one antenna – providing
the FCC would license it. “But exciters are still 40,000 to 50,000 euros,” he
lamented. “That is discouraging.” He noted that IBOC exciters cost around
$20,000.
Finally, Adil Mina thanked former Technical
Committee Chairman Dr. Don Messer for all of his contributions to DRM. Messer
retired from the DRM Consortium at the end of March, although he is still
working hard to promote DRM in the United States. “If you want to get
an experimental license for DRM, don't try to do it on your own,” cautions
Mina. “Contact Dr. Messer.”
------
What's Happening
with DRM in the United
States?
Dr.
Donald Messer left
the DRM Consortium at the end of March. Some months earlier he had relinquished
his role as Chairman of the Technical Committee of the DRM
Consortium. He is now actively involved in promoting DRM in the United States.
At the USA DRM annual meeting May 8 in Cary, North Carolina, he talked about some of the activities he
has been involved in during the past several months regarding DRM transmissions
from the US to the US.
Messer
said there are two major elements involved in domestic DRM broadcasting in the US.
One is getting the FCC to approve domestic shortwave broadcasting, which is not
permitted currently. Experimental testing is needed for this. The second
element is building a constituency by doing developmental work to be able to
convince the FCC that domestic DRM has value, includes local content, etc. Thus, we are dealing with getting digital modulation
approved in the HF broadcasting bands for domestic use.
As
far as mediumwave is concerned, Messer agreed with those who have said that it
has to be an analog-DRM simulcast on adjacent channels. “You can't disturb the
analog transmissions,” he said. He noted that very successful simulcast DRM
mediumwave tests have been conducted in Mexico,
Brazil and India.
Messer
explained that DRM+ includes all the broadcasting bands above 30 MHz and below
108 MHz. He insists that “there is some activity, although very limited, in the United States with regard to trying
to get experimental licenses for DRM+.”
But
shortwave is where most of the activity is with DRM in the United States.
Messer divides this into three categories: local coverage on 26 MHz, regional
coverage, and traditional shortwave broadcasting for long-distance coverage.
On
26 MHz, Messer said transmitters of 200 watts or less can provide local
community radio services. He noted 26 MHz is a natural alternative for the FCC,
given the controversy about using channels within part of the existing FM band
for low power FM community radio stations. Using DRM on 26 MHz would reduce the
political pressure that the FCC is receiving from both sides – the NAB on one,
and – for example -- universities and religious organizations on the other.
These low-power DRM stations would cover 10-100 square miles. Messer says at
least three organizations are working with him on developing DRM tests on 26
MHz for local coverage, but no experimental licenses have been issued yet.
The
second category of DRM on shortwave is a medium-range regional service. Messer explained
that he has been working with a group that has filed an application for at
least two years of experimental operation in Alaska, and the FCC has recently accepted
that application for evaluation. “Alaska is
roughly twice the size of Texas,”
said Messer. “so you're talking about a fairly large regional coverage.”
The
plan is to use a 10 or maybe 20 kHz DRM signal with up to four languages of
audio to cover the entire state using old 100-kilowatt Defense Department
transmitters near Fairbanks.
Says Messer: “The Cold War ended, so the transmitters are up there and are not
being used.” He says he is working with a company located near Fairbanks
that would eventually like to provide a digital audio service throughout the
State of Alaska.
Does he think the project will be approved? “My guess is that the FCC
evaluators will approve this application sometime before the end of this year
when the cold sets in and the sun doesn't rise anymore. We will have the
antenna field constructed in accordance with a very good antenna design. Then
starting next year when the snows go away... we will start experimental
broadcasting.”
Messer
cites two key reasons why he thinks the FCC will approve the Alaska application. First of all, he says
there isn't much information about ionospheric propagation at latitudes of
around 60 degrees north with regard to how a digital signal such as DRM would
work for a broadcasting service. “So this is pioneering,” he says.
Secondly,
the Alaska population outside of Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau is sparse. Taking
this to a global level, Messer says: “If a country has half its population
living in three cities, what about the other half?” He criticized some Voice of
America research in parts of the world like West Africa
that has been used to downplay the importance of shortwave in favor of FM and
Internet. Messer asserts that often this research has not taken rural areas
sufficiently into account – areas that still depend largely on shortwave.
“Without
trying to minimize the value this has to Alaska,”
he said, “this is transportable to other places in the U.S. Just think
about – if I can use the phrase – the “red states” in the United States.
A lot of them are sparsely populated – the Dakotas, Montana,
up and down the Rocky
Mountain area.”
The
final category of DRM on shortwave is “traditional” shortwave for long-distance
skywave coverage, but aimed at a domestic audience. Messer said TCI
International did some research showing that five transmitters could cover the U.S. with a DRM
signal “at power levels that are consistently lower than what you're used to.”
He said it remains to be seen if existing shortwave stations in the U.S. or other
commercial concerns will show an interest in the possibility of domestic HF
broadcasting. As for the U.S. Government, “the IBB is prohibited from doing
this, but I can tell you there is some interest in trying to help us out with
some domestic broadcasting.” He noted that IBB is a DRM member.
Messer
realizes that the big challenge in the long term for these domestic shortwave
DRM applications is that the FCC would have to change its rules to permit
domestic broadcasting of digital signals from the U.S.
to the U.S.
In
summary, for DRM on mediumwave in the United States, Messer says “the
technical capability is there. I think the market there depends on how well HD
Radio does in the mediumwave band over time.” For shortwave – local community
services, Alaska-type regional services, and long-range DRM services – the
question is, “are there markets – perhaps niche markets – in the U.S. for this
kind of broadcasting? The kinds of things I am talking about within the U.S. will
require at least 1 to 2 to 3 years of testing. By that time, if there aren't
consumer receivers ready, forget you heard this speech.”
Meanwhile,
Messer pointed out that there are currently shortwave DRM transmissions to the United States from Canada,
Bonaire, French Guiana and other sites. And
“nobody can prevent some Mexican entrepreneur from broadcasting out of Chihuahua or something like
that as long as it's coordinated with the HFCC.”
------
Introduction to WWCR
NASB's
newest member station is WWCR in Nashville,
Tennessee, which rejoined the
Association after a hiatus of several years. Brady Murray and Jason Cooper of
WWCR attended the NASB Annual Meeting in Cary
and gave a brief introduction to their station.
Murray explained that WWCR is
co-located with its sister AM station WNQM. There are a total of five
transmitters on site, each operating 24 hours per day. WWCR/WNQM have 14 hourly
employees, three managers and an engineer. Some 350 independent programmers
have airtime on the stations.
Jason
Cooper was particularly impressed by the DRM sessions in Cary. “I've been interested in DRM for a long
time,” he said, “and locally, I don't know if I was just in a bad pool of
people or whatever, but every time I would try to talk about it or get it
going, I would just get it pooh-poohed, you know. So I met Mike [Adams] in England, and it
was like the first positive voice I'd heard about DRM. And then I find all of
you guys, and it's just great being in like-minded company.”
WWCR
will co-host next year's NASB-USADRM annual meeting in Nashville along with World Christian
Broadcasting.
------
Don Messer interviewed on “Ask WWCR”
Jason Cooper and Brady Murray from NASB
member station WWCR interviewed Don Messer at the annual meeting in Cary. WWCR has a bi-weekly 15-minute program called
"Ask WWCR" (5070 kHz Saturdays at 8:45 pm EDT) in which they
broadcast the interview in three parts.
At press time, the interview segments were also on WWCR's website, www.wwcr.com.
------
DRM Has New Website
News release from Fanny Podworny, Communications
and PR Assistant, DRM Consortium
The Digital Radio Mondiale website www.drm.org has, as of May, a dynamic new
look. While it remains the most comprehensive and accurate source of
information about the DRM standard and global digital radio, the site now has a
more user-friendly feel with exciting improvements in design, content and
navigation.
The new website www.drm.org now has:
- An improved look and feel – Enhanced graphics and the homepage “DRM a Unique
Global Solution” provide Internet visitors with a better user experience.
- Clearer navigation – Web pages work in intuitive and consistent ways, making
it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for and know where they
are within the website.
- A more logical structure – The website is clearly targeted at three groups -
listeners, broadcasters and manufacturers.
- A wealth of information – DRM broadcast schedules; receivers on the market;
the latest on DRM+; technical downloads, and more.
Click and view the new DRM website on www.drm.org.
DRM-Capable Equipment Displayed at NAB 2008
A variety of DRM members showcased
DRM-capable equipment at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in
Las Vegas in
April.
Continental
Electronics Corporation Showing:
• Continental
DRM products and solutions
• TRANSRADIO
DRM exciter
• Fraunhofer
DRM content server R4
Dolby
Laboratories Inc Showing:
• The
integration of Coding Technologies and Dolby Technology Solution
HARRIS
Broadcast Showing:
• DRM
Capable 3 DX50 AM Transmitter
• DRM
content server, modulator
• 1kW
DAX transmitter, simulcast and full digital DRM transmissions
Hitachi Kokusai Electric Showing:
• Hitachi Kokusai DRM products and solutions
• Shortwave
Broadcasting System
• All
Solid-State 10kW DSB/DRM SW Transmitter
Nautel
Ltd. Showing:
• Nautel
products and solutions for DRM
Thomson
Broadcast & Multimedia AG Showing:
• Thomson
DRM products and solutions
• DRM
Content Server, Cirrus Stratus Modulator Exciter
• DRM
Commercial Receivers
TRANSRADIO
SenderSysteme Berlin AG Showing:
• New!
Exciter DRM DMOD3
• Fraunhofer
DRM content server R4
[Source: DRM Consortium]
------
President of Madagascar
Visits NASB Member World Christian Broadcasting
by
Paul Ladd, WCB
It's
not every day that a head of state visits World Christian Broadcasting's
headquarters in suburban Nashville, but staffers
were ready when President Marc Ravalomanana of Madagascar arrived in town for
World Christian Broadcasting's annual benefit dinner in May.
When
staff got word of President Ravalomanana's impending visit, there were a lot of
arrangements to be made and not much time to take care of them. The U.S. Secret Service customarily provides
protection for foreign leaders when they're in America and agents made several
visits to World Christian's building to prepare for Ravalomanana's
arrival. Agents also visited the hotel
where the presidential party would stay, as well as the venue for the dinner
itself. WCB staffers also began making
preparations for the President and those who wold accompany him to the U.S.
President
Ravalomanana and his party arrived on Wednesday, May 8 at a hangar on the
campus of Nashville
International Airport. They were escorted by Madagascar's chief envoy to the U.S.,
Ambassador Jocelyn Radifera and his wife Erna; and Earl Young, a friend of
World Christian Broadcasting and also President of the U.S.-Madagascar Business
Council. Also in the party were
presidential staff, including medical and press officers. Several World Christian Broadcasting staffers
were on hand to greet the visitors, who were soon hustled into waiting cars and
driven to their hotel.
That
evening, President Ravalomanana and his wife Lalao were guests of honor at a
dinner hosted by World Christian board member Caroline Cross at her home. Also in attendance was former Tennessee
Governor Winfield Dunn.
Thursday
morning, WCB staff gathered in the conference room for the President's
arrival. The guests arrived shortly
after 9 AM and President Ravalomanana greeted each staff member, after which he
sat down for an interview in the KNLS studio.
Next,
the party headed to Lipscomb
University where
President Ravalomanana spoke at a brief convocation and then a luncheon and
news conference arranged by WCB and Lipscomb staff. Ravalomanana, Lipscomb officials and
officials from World Christian Broadcasting discussed ways they might be able
to work together in the future.
Prior
to the benefit dinner, a reception was held in President Ravalomanana's honor
at the Embassy Suites Cool Springs.
Distinguished guests in attendance included Mayor John Schroer of
Franklin and Chuck Blackburn, husband of Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, who
was in Washington
for a vote.
------
2008 WCB Nashville Benefit Dinner
by
Rob Scobey, WCB
The
banquet hall at the Franklin Embassy Suites had space for 700. Kathy Caudill was already expecting a
capacity crowd at World Christian Broadcasting's 2008 Spring Benefit
Dinner. The invitations for the dinner
had already gone out. Other than the WCB
website, there was no practical way to get out the late word that Madagascar's
president would attend. The people came
anyway. And so did the president – with
the protection of our U.S. Secret Service.
It
was this determined President Marc Ravalomanana who had donated the 84 acres
for the new radio station, Madagascar World Voice. And the crowd gave him a standing ovation as
he and his wife Lalao entered the room.
The president said: “From the new
radio station, you will send a message from Madagascar to many countries of the
world. The content of this message is,
'Let's shape this world around our Christian values.' In the end, we'll not be
able to come up with a rose garden. But we'll be able to leave [the world] with
less poverty, more peace and security, and better opportunities for future
generations.”
After
the President spoke, WCB President Charles Caudill presented him with a
painting of irises, the state flower of Tennessee. The painting is the work of Murat Kaboulov,
husband of WCB Russian language specialist Marina Aboulova. World Christian Broadcasting Vice President
Andy Baker then introduced the 2008 video “The Next Step, to Cover the Earth,”
which includes interviews with those working on the construction site in Madagascar.
------
World Christian Broadcasting Update
by
Andy Baker, WCB
The
containers that had been held up at the port in Madagascar have been released. After being detained for 170 days, the
containers which held needed building supplies finally were delivered to our
radio station site. The next shipment will
contain the transmitters that will power the antennas. A water well has been dug. A 1-1/2 mile security fence has been
built. Earth anchors have been placed to
support the towers and curtain antennas.
A generator building, guard house, staff home, transmitter building and
tool and equipment buildings have been built.
The first of three diesel powered generators has been placed and is now
providing electricity. The towers and
curtain antennas have arrived on-site, and the towers will be raised in the
fall of 2008. The fourth antenna to Madagascar will
also be raised later this year. The
three 100,000-watt transmitters are now being built in Mesquite, Texas. They are digital-ready, and when digital is
in use they will provide an FM quality signal and be capable of four
simultaneous broadcasts.
------
Radio Free Asia
Releases Second Radio Pioneer QSL Card
(News
release from Radio Free Asia)
April 2008 Radio Free Asia is proud
to announce the release of its 21st QSL card honoring German physicist and
radio pioneer, Heinrich Rudolph Hertz (1857 - 1894). Hertz was the first to
broadcast and receive radio waves. He demonstrated the existence of
electromagnetic waves by building equipment that not only produced radio waves,
but also detected them. His experiments with electromagnetic waves led to the
development of the wireless telegraph and the radio. His name is also used for
radio and electrical frequencies: hertz (Hz). The QSL card will be issued for
all valid RFA reception reports from April 1 – June 30, 2008. This is the
second in our series of QSL cards honoring radio pioneers. Future QSL cards
will include other radio pioneers like Nikola Tesla, Reginald Fessenden, and
others.
More information
about Radio Free Asia, including our current broadcast frequency schedule, is
available at www.rfa.org. RFA
encourages listeners to submit reception reports. Reception reports are
valuable to RFA as they help us evaluate the signal strength and quality of our
transmissions. RFA confirms all accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL
card to the listener. RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at www.techweb.rfa.org (follow the QSL
REPORTS link) not only from DX’ers, but also from its general listening
audience. Reception reports are also accepted by email at qsl@rfa.org, and for anyone without Internet access, reception
reports can be mailed to: Reception Reports, Radio Free Asia, 2025 M. Street
NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036 United States of America. Upon request, RFA
will also send a copy of the current broadcast schedule and a station sticker.
------
A Standing
Offer to Shortwave Broadcasters from Monitoring Times
Monitoring Times is a monthly
magazine about radio. You, as a
broadcaster, ARE radio. In a sense,
advertising your station and getting people to listen to it is what you are all
about. Our English Language Shortwave
Guide section in each month's Monitoring Times is like a phone directory,
showing people how to find you. To be
sure the information we provide about your station will be accurate, send us
your updated frequency list and schedule on a regular basis.
To be sure your information is
correct and to keep current with what listeners are hearing and saying, you
should also receive Monitoring Times. As
long as your station's English language broadcasts are listed in the Shortwave
Guide section, you are eligible for a free subscription to the electronic
edition of the magazine, called MT Express.
Just let us know the name of your station, the contact person and the
e-mail address to which we should send notification that the next issue of MT
Express is available for download. Send
this to us at: editor@monitoringtimes.com.
To test out how it works, you can
download a sample issue of MT in pdf format right now at www.monitoringtimes.com/MT/html/free_issue.html. You may choose to download the low or high
resolution magazine (large or smaller file size).
All we ask is that you place
Monitoring Times on your media list to receive schedules, updated and
programming and industry news. You may
send any information to Rachel Baughn, MT Editor (editor@monitoringtimes.com) for distribution, or you may send
schedules directly to Gayle Van Horn, Frequency Manager (gaylevanhorn@monitoringtimes.com).
Station program producers who find
items in MT that might be of use in their programs are welcome to quote from
these items as long as they give credit to Monitoring Times.
------
TDP Radio –
Worldwide Radio
NASB associate member TDP Radio
brings you the best dance and trance mixes of the moment by talented DJ's
worldwide. You can tune in every Saturday
to our digital radio broadcasts in DRM as follows:
To Europe
from 4 to 6 PM Central European Time (1400-1600 UTC) on 6015 kHz.
To North
America from 12 to 2 PM Eastern Daylight Time (1600-1800 UTC) on
11900 kHz.
Or you can listen to our 24 hour
Internet radio station. TDP Radio is an
official affiliate member of the DRM Consortium (www.drm.org). DRM is the
new digital standard for worldwide radio broadcasting.
TDP Radio is looking for new
talent. You can contact our program
manager Daniel Versmissen for more information.
If you have any questions regarding TDP Radio, feel free to contact one
of our staff members:
Program Manager: Daniel Versmissen (daniel@tdpradio.com)
Technical Manager: Ludo Maes (ludo@tdpradio.com)
Mail: TDPRadio
P.O. Box 1
2310 Rijkevorsel
Belgium
Phone: +32-33-147800
Fax:
+32-33-141212
------
Grove
Enterprises Catalog
We are often asked where you can buy
shortwave receivers, books and other items in the U.S. Grove Enterprises, which publishes Monitoring
Times magazine, is one of the major mail-order providers of shortwave radios
and related items in North America. In their current catalog, you will find
scanners, receivers, WINRADIO PC-based receivers, antennas, tuners, preamps,
filters, multicouplers, speakers, test equipment, books and software. You can download a copy of their current
catalog at: http://www.grove-ent.com/html/printed_catalog.html
------
Fundamental
Broadcasting Network
NASB member Fundamental Broadcasting
Network (FBN) is a listener-supported Christian radio network for the
family. It is a ministry of Grace
Baptist Church in Newport, North Carolina (Clyde I. Eborn,
Pastor). Their flagship station is WOTJ
on 90.7 MHz FM in Newport. There are local FBN affiliates on AM and FM
in Alabama, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New York, North
Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and
Wyoming. FBN operates two 24-hour
shortwave stations transmitting from Newport: WTJC (Working Till Jesus Comes) on 9370 kHz,
and WBOH (Worldwide Beacon of Hope) on 5920 kHz, plus an Internet streaming
service at www.fbnradio.com. You can contact FBN at 520 Roberts Road, Newport,
NC 28570
USA. Telephone +1-800-245-9685. E-mail:
fbn@fbnradio.com.
------
NASB
Mailbag
Deborah Proctor, General Manager of
WCPE FM in Wake Forest, North Carolina, writes:
“I wanted to thank you for letting John Graham and me attend the
shortwave broadcaster's conference last month.
I learned a great deal about both DRM+ and IBOC-FM and it was especially
helpful to hear from some of the engineers who were involved with both. Thank you for the opportunity to learn and
for giving me more information to help me make decisions for WCPE (FM).”
------
Meet the
NASB Board
Partial transcript of the
Voice of the NASB report on HCJB's DX Party Line program on May 17, 2008
Allen Graham: Well on today's DX Party Line, as we do the Voice of the
NASB, we're actually doing it at the recent meeting of the NASB -- the 20th
annual meeting of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters. And
here's the producer of the Voice of the NASB, Jeff White.
Jeff: Thank you Allen, and I've brought some guests into the studio here
with me today. We actually have five of the six NASB Board members with
us. My Vice President, Mike Adams, from Far East
Broadcasting.
Mike: Hello, this is Mike, and I do a range of engineering jobs for Far
East Broadcasting. I'm the Engineering Coordinator at our international
office, and I'm recently managing the international disaster radio
project. So we spent a little bit of time talking about that -- how
shortwave radio can be used as a tool to respond to disasters, and our FM radio
in a suitcase -- how we've been using that in responding to disasters. So
its been fun to meet the rest of the members here and get together with lots of
other people doing shortwave and see what they're doing.
Jeff: And then we have Glen Tapley, who's with WEWN in Alabama, Eternal Word Broadcasting.
Glen, tell us what you do.
Glen: Well let me just first say I'm glad I'm no longer the new guy on
this Board of Directors [laughter]. I work as frequency manager for
WEWN. I'm also affiliate engineering manager for our television side, and
just do the day to day engineering and whatever happens to come along and what
everybody wants done, I'll do.
Jeff: And we have our newest
member of the Board of Directors, Bill Damick of Trans World Radio, where we
are right now. Bill has been on the NASB Board for all of about 30 minutes now, so what do you do,
Bill?
Bill: Well I'm involved in two capacities with Trans World Radio.
One is in contextual research of desk research, learning about the areas that
we broadcast into so we can advise our programmers. And also in
partnership development, working with other Christian ministries to find new
ways to use media in what they do overseas.
Jeff: And I was tempted to say our “oldest” member of the Board of
Directors, but I shouldn't say that. He hasn't been on the longest, but
well -- Adrian Peterson of Adventist World Radio.
Adrian:
Yes, thank you. And to state that I am the oldest is indeed true.
And I'm grateful for health at my age. But anyway, it's a privilege and a
pleasure to be a part of the NASB event and activity here at the Trans World
Radio facility, and nice to be on the DX program with you again, Allen.
My work with Adventist World Radio is in the area of international relations,
which involves listener response and program development and production
and so on. And interestingly, at the present time in our DX program
Wavescan, which is coordinated and produced in the AWR studio in Singapore,
we're in the middle of a DX context -- the alphabet DX contest regarding QSL
cards. The initial mail response is very interesting. There is some
concentration of mail coming in from Latin America, which is not one of our
main target areas from Asia. And the
other fact is the large number of mail responses are coming in from many
different countries on different continents. So it's a privilege to be
here again at the NASB event.
Jeff: And Allen I should mention that the sixth member of the Board who's
not with us is Charles Caudill of World Christian Broadcasting in Nashville, Tennessee,
which operates KNLS in Alaska, and they're
building the Madagascar World Voice, I believe it's called, in Madagascar.
Charles couldn't be with us because he has to host a visit by the President of
Madagascar this week. So that completes the Board.
[Jeff White, NASB President and Board member, is general manager of WRMI in Miami. The NASB has
two officers who are not members of the Board: Dan Elyea, is in charge of
the WYFR transmitter site in Okeechobee, Florida, is NASB Secretary-Treasurer;
and Thais White of WRMI in Miami is Assistant Secretary-Treasurer. Ed
Bailey in Houston, Texas is the NASB Legal Counsel.]
------
Preliminary
Programme of 2008 European DX Council Conference Announced
from EDXC Secretary General Tibor Szilagyi
(tiszi2035@yahoo.com)
Dear DX Friends all over the world. The preliminary programme of the EDXC
Conference 2008 in Vaasa, Finland has just arrived. All conference activities are in
English, unless otherwise noted. Please note that this conference agenda is
subject to change without notice. All times Finnish local time (UTC+3).
Friday, 5 September 2008
15.00- The DX reception will be opened.
17.00- The DX Service will be opened.
18.00-20.00 Opening of the conference, DX quiz, lectures.
20.00-20.30 Greetings from the officials of the city of Vaasa at the hotel.
21.00-23.00 The evening party (snacks and beverages) at
the barbeque area.
21.00- Listening and other activities (the DX
shack is open).
Saturday, 6 September 2008
07.30-09.30 Breakfast.
09.30-11.00 The official opening of the conference,
introduction of the international guests, lectures.
11.00-15.00 Sightseeing (incl. lunch + English-speaking
guide): the city of Vaasa and the Kvarken Archipelago, Finland's first
World Natural Heritage on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
12.00-14.00 Items in the Finnish language, the
introduction of the 50th anniversary history book of the Finnish DX
Association, hearing of the board of the FDXA.
15.00- The official photograph of the
conference.
15.15-1900 Lectures and panel discussions: the latest of
the SDR radios and equipment, FM panel summarizing the FM summer 2008, MW
results of the season 2007-2008, introduction of the Scandinavian Weekend
Radio.
18.00-20.00 Sauna
20.00-23.30 The EDXC conference banquet. Banquet dinner,
speech, entertainment, prizes and awards, lottery, auction.
23.00- Listening and other activities (the DX
shack is open).
Sunday, 7 September 2008
08.00-10.00 Breakfast
09.30-11.30 Meeting of the European DX clubs,
international panel.
11.30-12.00 Check-out of hotel rooms.
12.00-13.30 The final session of the conference.
13.30- Departure to the EDXC Baltic tour.
For more
information about the 2008 EDXC Conference, see the meeting's website: http://www.netikka.net/edxc2008/
How to reach Vaasa?
Vaasa is
located on the west coast of Finland
by the Gulf of Bothnia, about 400 km north-northwest of Helsinki.
It is said to be the sunniest city in Finland.
|
By train: There
are several daily train connections to Vaasa.
Usually, you will have to change trains at Seinäjoki, about an hour's trip
away from Vaasa.
For connections from Helsinki, Tampere, Turku
and elsewhere, please check www.vr.fi.
By bus: Vaasa is served by numerous bus connections from all
over Finland.
Please check www.expressbus.fi
for details.
By ferry: Vaasa has a regular ferry connection to Umeå, Sweden.
The service is, however, somewhat limited. Please see RG Line for more
details. If you are coming from southern Sweden
(including the Stockholm area) and wish to
take a ferry, we recommend ferries from Stockholm
to Turku
(?bo). These run more frequently, and you can spend a night on board,
enjoying the beautiful archipelago. Note that there is a direct train
connection from the Turku harbour to Tampere and further to Vaasa (via Seinäjoki). The ferry liners are
Viking Line
and Tallink Silja Line.
Our conference
hotel: Hotel Silveria
is located about 1.5 km south of the Vaasa
city center (see this
Google Map). The local buses no. 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9 will take you
near the hotel.
|
------
NASB Members:
Adventist World Radio
Assemblies of Yahweh
EWTN Global Catholic Radio
WEWN
Family Stations Inc.
Far East Broadcasting Co.
Fundamental Broadcasting
Network
La Voz de Restauracion
Broadcasting, Inc.
Le Sea Broadcasting Corp.
Radio Miami International
Trans World Radio
World Christian Broadcasting
World Wide Christian Radio
NASB
Associate Members:
Comet North
America
Continental Electronics
Corporation
Galcom International
George Jacobs &
Associates
Hatfield and Dawson
Consulting Engineers
HCJB World Radio
IBB
TCI International, Inc.
TDF
TDP
Thomson Inc.
VT Communications
National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters
10400 NW 240th Street, Okeechobee,
Florida
34972
In totale recuperate 195 aziende del gruppo Isaias