martedì 13 marzo 2012

Adventist World Radio Returns to Sri Lanka!

Already, astute international radio monitors on all continents have become aware that Adventist World Radio is making a return visit to the island of Sri Lanka. For a period of nearly 40 years, AWR programming was on the air from the radio broadcasting service in Colombo Sri Lanka, beginning in the year 1950. Then when the shortwave station KSDA on the island of Guam became fully functional, the Asian programming from Adventist World Radio was transferred to this new station.

After a quarter century absence from the radio broadcasting scene in Sri Lanka, AWR is now returning to this island once again, but this time from another station, the large shortwave station that was on the air previously with the programming of Deutsche Welle. This is the story.

It was back in the year 1950, at 8:30 am local time on Sunday morning October 1, 1950, that the first broadcast of the "Voice of Prophecy" radio program went on the air from the shortwave service of Radio Ceylon, as it was known in those days. During that era, the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon was on the air with just two shortwave transmitters, one at 100 kW and another at 7½ kW, both located at Ekala, a dozen miles north of the national capital, Colombo. This was the first Adventist broadcast from Radio Ceylon, and it was also the first syndicated Christian broadcast from this station.

As time went by, Radio Ceylon became the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, and the Adventist radio programming over this station was organized as the original Adventist World Radio in Asia, AWR-Asia. It was at the end of the year 1988, that the final AWR broadcasts ended over SLBC Colombo, in favor of AWR's own shortwave station, KSDA Guam.

Beginning on Sunday March 25, AWR will again be heard from Sri Lanka, and this time, from the large Deutsche Welle station located near Trincomalee on the eastern coast of the island of Sri Lanka. It is intended that these broadcasts from this new AWR location will be on the air for a period of a little over three months, terminating at the end of June this year.

The reason for the temporary transfer of AWR programming from KSDA Guam to ex-Deutsche Welle Sri Lanka is so that technical personnel can perform antenna maintenance on Guam on curtain antennas 1 & 2, and also for the installation of an additional curtain antenna at the same location.

International radio monitors around the world are invited to submit reception reports on the temporary AWR usage of the Trincomalee shortwave station. A special QSL card honoring the temporary return of Adventist World Radio to Sri Lanka is under preparation, and this will be available only from the AWR address in Indianapolis in the United States. Reception reports via the postal system, together with a suitable form of return postage are preferred, though email reports will also be welcome.

The AWR scheduling for the new Sri Lanka broadcasts can be obtained from the AWR website, and from your favorite radio websites and radio magazines. A copy of this schedule for the new A12 Broadcast Period is also attached.

It can also be remembered that the long time AWR DX program, "Radio Monitors International", was "born" in the Torrington Square studios of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and the first broadcast went on the air on Sunday June 1, 1975. Thirty seven years later, and a few thousand scripts later, we are still on the air with the same DX program, though the title was modernized in more recent time to "Wavescan". The scheduling for "Wavescan" beginning on Sunday March 25 is given below:-

Sundays UT
1200-1230 Wertachtal   Germany    17535 kHz     250 kW
1530-1600 Wertachtal   Germany    15255         250
1600-1630 KSDA         Guam       11750 & 15360 100 
1630-1700 Trincomalee  Sri Lanka  11740         125
2230-2300 Trincomalee  Sri Lanka   9730         125

The AWR DX program, "Wavescan", is researched and written in Indianapolis by Dr. Adrian. M. Peterson and it is recorded in the studios of Radio Miami International WRMI by Jeff White. The scheduling for "Wavescan" via WRMI for the new A12 broadcast period will be obtainable from the WRMI website. Two QSL cards are available for the broadcast of "Wavescan", one from AWR and another from WRMI.
"Wavescan" is also on the air from shortwave station WWCR, and likewise, their new scheduling will be available from their website (Adrian Peterson, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST)