** CANADA. 6070, July 21 at 0601 UT, CFRX with new Art Bell show, `Midnight
[sic] in the Desert`, running 8 seconds behind 7490 WBCQ. Apparently not leaving
a hole for stations to insert any network or local news on the hour. Bell`s
website affiliate list has now added CFRX at the top as a SW outlet, besides
CFRB 1010 at the bottom. Schedule is 04-07 UT Tue-Sat; see also USA. This logged
on the PL-880 inside with whip only, as everything else disconnected for T-storm
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 9782.7 & 9797.3
approx., July 21 at 0457 just before close-down, JBA carriers, spurs from very
strong CRI relay on 9790.0 halfway between them. Therefore this is the same
transmitter as for RHC 9550 at 12-13 UT which I reported:
``9542.8 and
9557.2, approx., July 19 at 1228, JBA carriers matching about 7.2 kHz away from
VG 9550, so spurs from this RHC transmitter. 9550 RHC at 11-13 is the 250 kW
Titán-5 transmitter, on the A-16 HQ 2/2/0.2 antenna toward San Francisco. I was
going to cite the other frequencies Titán-5 uses for checking spurs there, but
it`s the only RHC transmission; elsewhen presumably for spy numbers and/or China
relays. If one does find 7.2 kHz spurs around any of those, that would clinch
it``. So now it`s clinched. But surely there are more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 9315, 9965, 11935, 12070, July 21 at 0120,
for at least the third night, all four R. Cairo transmitters are missing. I
still haven`t seen a single reply to my yesterday`s query whether any/all other
R. Cairo transmissions be silent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** GREECE. 9420, July 21 at 0458, Greek music, poor signal, so
VOG is on tonight; 11645 Dabanga via Vatican has a rumbling het, presumably also
VOG, as not on 9935 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO.
After a morning of summer snow, July 21 at 1558 UT, fades in sporadic E analog
CCI on 2.
1601 on 2, Televisa-5 net bug in LR, animation amid
CCI
1604 on 3, Play-Doh ad with no CCI, // 2 with CCI
1605 on 2,
promo for Ridículos show on net-5
1610 on 2, f bug in LR = Televisa 4
Foro net
1617 on 4, algo video, no bug, but 1618 MATUTINO EXPRESS on set
background, letters so large you can see only part of them at a time as the
rotate; little CCI.
1622 on 3, net-5 animation almost snow-free in color
1624 on 4, Scotch-Brite, Smartphone, USACell, VICHY, Kleenex, Bayer,
Nuevo RAID (``ride``) ads, back to show `Sin palabras, torneo de
verano`
1627 on 5, now strong video here, PSA for MOVER MEXICO.
1632 on 6, some DX video starting here, 1636 net 5 bug LR, as I wrap
this report; more to come? If MUF keeps going up I`ll have to head to the porch
for FM DX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 104.5,
KZZW Mooreland (Woodward market) is stunting. Due to T-storm I am relegated to
safely bandscanning FM on portable PL-880 rather than SW with longwire, July 21
at 0532 UT encountering synth male voice with countdowns and aphorisms. There
are two countdowns in a row as little as 6 seconds apart, such as ``Z minus 3
days, 15 hours, 27 minutes, 54 seconds`` which means Zero-hour will be Friday
July 24 at 2100 UT. Fifteen is pronounced ``fifteem``.
In between every
second countdown an aphorism is inserted, some silly, occasionally profound, or
hilarious, and often unreadable due to poor dixion of the robot. Some are
timeless; some are local; Barney the flight attendant/waiter occasionally
appears. Examples, not necessarily verbatim thru my scribbling:
``We are
bringing this [s?]lag to the Tri-State area, and Oakwood [and Canton, and other
towns]``
``OK, Lambert(?), enough of this In-Balance stuff; it`s time to get
Un-balanced``
``We have 100,000 watts of awesome and we`re not afraid to use
it``
``Boom --- ready or not, here comes the voice from the
south``
``Billy Jean is not my lover``
``This is the second softest thing
I`ve ever felt``
``There`s more than one way to look at a problem, and they
may all be right``
``Coffee, tea or milk?``
``She`s breaking up, captain;
she can`t take much more``
``We have a really big shoe tonight; a really big
shoe``
``The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or
one``
``Remember, computers cannot think for themselves; they are just like
everyone else in your office``
``I`ve got the right shoes, the right dress; I
don`t know why you don`t love me`` Etc., etc., etc.!
By 1553 UT recheck,
there are *three* countdowns in a row between aphorisms instead of two ---
giving us a little more time to copy them. KZZW IDs are frequently integrated,
occasionally mentioning it`s on Facebook, Twitter: 1045KZZW. There is some
repetition of non-local aphorisms if you listen long enough, but seems always
mixed in with new material. Length of the aphorisms varies widely, but
countdowns resume to the second.
Except, comparing to WWV around 1300
UT, I calculate that KZZW is running about 9 seconds slow. This reminds me a lot
of what WKY 930 was doing a few years ago as it was transitioning to La
Indomable format. I wonder who produces this stunting countdown stuff. The new
KZZW`s original format, as I have reported, was ``In-Balance`` music, i.e. an
audacious mixture of hymns and short popular classics, never identified by
title. Earlier on July 20 afternoon I was still hearing them playing
``Hallelujah Chorus`` as I tuned across.
Quibbles: KZZW is licensed for
only 60 kW ERP. Reception here some 90 miles away is as usual marginal, but is
getting a bit of morning tropo boost. Depending on whip antenna orientation,
there can be QRM from the 250-watt KRXO translator in closer OKC, and on the
DX-398 even mixing produced between KOFM 103.1 plus KCRC 1.39 MHz = 104.49 MHz
with KOFM audio --- these stations are *not* at the same site, rather
competitors.
KZZW fades out for a while at 1417, but gets a big boost
for a few wobbly seconds at 1422 via airplane scatter; thank you, Vance jets
which must fly right over populated Enid and crash only occasionally (and I
suspect jet fuel exhaust fallout accounts for too much grimy dust accumulation)
(Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. RF32, July 21
around 0200 UT, WQOS306, Enid is off the air. Had been on as recently as July
20. It`s the ``TV-OK`` intercity relay from Enid to Lamont for an alleged
channel 35 translator. Main channel of KXOK-LD, RF-31 had been off the air for
many months, but the ``relay`` kept running automatically? with nothing but
infomercials, usually without audio, on 31.1, PSIP as M-Fox and TVAzteca but
really nothing but color bars on 31.2 and 31.3. Clueless Suddenlink cable in
Enid, headend a block away from TV-OK on the Broadway Tower, kept and keeps
wasting cable channel 15 with ``! Weak Signal`` instead of simply picking up the
32 RF, lacking 31 --- but useless programming anyway. Now what?
[non]
RF31, July 21 around 1500 UT, despite antenna aimed at OKC, longtime lack of
local KXOK-LD, and some tropo enhancement from the north bring in the Wichita
Univisión affiliate, with some breakups during novela. PSIP only as Univisi but
it`s really megawatt KDCU-DT, Derby KS, which W9WI.com lists as remapping to
46.1 --- no, it doesn`t; and with a 46.2, UniMAS --- no, there isn`t (Glenn
Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA [non]. 9860, July
21 at 0606, very poor signal presumably from the NBC relay via Brandon,
AUSTRALIA;
6075, July 21 at 1217, good signal from NBC via Shepparton,
AUSTRALIA, during song, then 17 past 10 time-check, announcer with 3 questions
about the games, listeners required to text in 3 answers to each and win a
prize, 1220 a song from Fiji. Text number sounded like 16423. (How can text
numbers be only 5 digits? Does that mean there are no more than 99,999 of them
in the entire world?).
Remember these frequencies are to close in a
couple days due to expense; closing 12025 earlier makes sense as that was for
other islands during the games only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** SLOVAKIA [non]. 9955, July 21 at 1230, R. Slovakia
International opening English via WRMI admits at the outset that it`s the July
20 program, so they are always a day late; Prague at 1200 too? No jamming at
first, but pulsing soon builds up, as the still yoked Cubans are pissed at the
central-European ex-Commies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U
S A. 7490, July 21 at 0459 tune in to WBCQ with gold ad not synchronized with
9330 but both interrupted at 0500 WBCQ quick jingle/bell IDs which are
synchronized. This is the much-hyped début of `Midnight [sic] in the Desert`,
Art Bell`s radio revival (what else has he been doing all these years?), but
rather anticlimactic since he really came back 25 hours earlier with a test run.
Back to program and now 9330 and 7490 are almost synch a reverb apart.
// 5085 WTWW-2 is timed on a 46-second delay. During the next local
commercial break, July 21 at 0559, WTWW is instead filling with electronic music
loop, maybe provided by AB feed. When programming resumes after 0600, now it`s
31 seconds behind 7490. And then 7490 is lagging behind 9330 by about one
second. These variations can be blamed on each frequency using a different
internet feed. Also on CFRX: see CANADA.
97.5, July 21 at 0524 UT, KPAK
Alva OK, ``The Rock`` promo ID, and NO Art Bell (yet?), despite being on his
station list both for Alva and nearby Kiowa KS --- I suspect this alleged
affiliate has something to do with WBCQ`s Scott Becker being a resident of Kiowa
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report dispatched at 1637 UT
July 21
