RADIO FREE ASIA RELEASES ITS ELEVENTH QSL CARD

RFA’s eleventh QSL card honors Guglielmo Marconi

RFA’s Technical Operations Division is proud to announce the release of the company’s
eleventh QSL card in honor of the Father of Radio, Guglielmo Marconi. The card is scheduled for distribution from July 1 to August 31, 2006. Marconi was born on April 25, 1874, in Bologna, Italy. In 1901, people still thought the curvature of the earth would prevent radio signals from traveling more than 200 miles, but in July of 1901, Marconi was able to transmit across the Atlantic Ocean; this helped accelerate the development of the wireless industry. In 1909 Marconi shared the Nobel Prize for physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun. More information about Marconi, his life, and his work is available at the following Internet link:
http://nobelpr ize.or g/nobel_pr izes/physics/laur eates/1909/marconi-bio.html

Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private, nonprofit corporation that broadcasts news and information to listeners in Asian countries where full, accurate, and timely news reports are unavailable. Created by Congress in 1994 and incorporated in 1996, RFA currently broadcasts in Burmese,Cantonese, Khmer, Korean to North Korea, Lao, Mandarin, the Wu dialect, Vietnamese, Tibetan (Uke, Amdo, and Kham), and Uyghur. RFA strives for accuracy, balance, and fairness in its editorial content. As a ‘surrogate’ broadcaster, RFA provides news and commentary specific to each of its target countries, acting as the free press these countries lack. RFA broadcasts only in local languages and dialects, and most of its broadcasts comprise news of specific local interest.

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. Radio stations, like RFA, usually confirm accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL card.

RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at www.techweb.r fa.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@r fa.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.

BIG 92.7 FM hits city airwaves

Chennaiites get their fourth FM station with BIG 92.7 FM, a part of Adlabs Film Limited, hitting the city's airwaves today.

To connect with listeners, it has signed on the vivacious and talented actor Asin as the brand ambassador for Tamil Nadu, the first such move by any FM station in the country.

Having bagged licenses to roll out in 45 centres across India, the radio station, already launched in Delhi and Hyderabad, is next headed to Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata, besides the "virgin" territories of Jammu, Srinagar and Aligarh over the next month.

Announcing the launch at a press conference here, company Chief Operating Officer Tarun Katial said BIG 92.7 FM had aimed to touch 200 million listeners, that is every fifth Indian across the country, every third urban Indian and every eighth Indian in rural areas.

With an investment of Rs 400 crore dedicated to transmission equipment, infrastructure and licensing, the proposed network would be the largest ever, he added.

Company Regional Head-South Lakshmi Sharath said the programmes of BIG 92.7 FM were based on extensive research and in-depth analysis of the preferences of the people of Chennai.

The shows on the radio station would not only offer local flavour and city-connect through relevant content and interesting information and updates, but would also play music which appealed to the local tastes, she added.

The station had roped in popular TV personalities Uma Riyaz Khan and Chetan, besides famous radio jockeys like Balaji and Dheena.

Some of the interesting programmes that are in store include 'Alaipayuthe' - a special time for women to rekindle the romance in their lives and 'Ragasiyamai- where in one can share a secret which he/she wanted to get off his/her chest.

BIG 92.7 FM launched in Chennai

ARRIVES IN CHENNAI: Ms Lakshmi Sharath, Regional Head, South, BIG 92.7 FM, and Mr Tarun Katial, Chief Operating Officer, at the launch of the radio channel in Chennai on Wednesday. — Bijoy Ghosh

BIG 92.7 FM began its nation-wide roll out from here on Monday. Speaking to newspersons after the launch, the Chief Operating Officer, Mr Tarun Katial, said the station would be spending close to $1 million to promote the new channel in Delhi alone. "The programming will be different in each and every city where we are present. We will have a presence in all the six metros by the middle of October," Mr Katial added.

BIG 92.7 FM, the FM radio venture of Adlabs Films Ltd, backed by an investment of Rs 400 crore, will roll out 45 radio stations by March 2007, according to Mr Tarun Katial, its Chief Operating Officer.Speaking at the launch of BIG 92.7 FM in Chennai, Mr Katial said that the investment would go into transmission equipment, infrastructure and licensing. The company has launched the FM stations in Delhi and Hyderabad.

Next month, BIG 92.7 FM will be launched in Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata as well as in virgin markets such as Jammu, Srinagar and Aligarh. He said that 1,000 towns and 50,000 villages would be covered by the end of the financial year.

In the south, stations will be set up in Pondicherry, Tirupati, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Mysore.

The company plans to take FM radio as a medium of entertainment to rural areas, which had not yet experienced it.

The company has undertaken a research of each of the markets and the programmes are tailored to region-specific tastes.

In Chennai, for instance, there would be a slot for Carnatic music as well as tie-ups with some concerts, Ms Lakshmi N. Sharath, Vice-President, South Operations, BIG 92.7 FM, said.

Key shows will be hosted by personalities such as Mona `Jassi' Singh and Gaurav `Nandu' Ghera in Delhi, Kaushik and Sheilajit in Kolkata, Uma Riaz Khan in Chennai and Jhansi in Hyderabad. Besides popular music and talk shows there will be weather and traffic updates.

BIG 92.7 FM has signed on film actor Asin as a brand ambassador for Tamil Nadu.