Wavescan NWS261

* Theme - 00:00

            “Birthday Serenade” - Willi Glahe

* Opening Announcement - 00:15

            Welcome to “Wavescan”, international DX program from Adventist World Radio

            Researched and written in Indianapolis, produced in studios of shortwave WRMI

            Program outline

                        1. Tribute to Shortwave WYFR - 8: The Final Years with Walter Lemmon

                        2. Indian DX Report: DXpedition Bay of Bengal

                        3. Australian DX Report

* Tribute to Family Radio Shortwave - 8: The Final Years with Walter Lemmon - 01:02

            In the continuing saga about the long and illustrious history of the shortwave station that finally  became WYFR and then WRMI, we pick up the chain of events in the middle of the year 1953.  At this stage, station WRUL, as it was at the time, was on the air at Hatherly Beach with five transmitters:-

                        3 @ 50 kW, 1 @ 20 kW and 1 @ 7 or 80 kW (with or without a huge power amplifier).

            On June 30, 1953, the 5 WRUL transmitters were officially released from service with the Voice of America and the station was reverted back to regular programming under its ownership with Walter Lemmon.  The usage of the Boston studios had ended two years earlier and WRUL had established a New York office at 1 East 57^th Street, which according to the city address list, is the location for the voluminous fashion icon Louis Vuitton store.  A few blocks away was the location for the original production and on-air studios of the Voice of America.                    

            At the same time as WRUL was released from VOA service in mid 1953, so also was the Westinghouse shortwave station WBOS at Hull, located at the end of the Nantasket Peninsula out from Boston.  Westinghouse then closed this station and sold the equipment to WRUL at Hatherly Beach.          The leftover equipment from the two transmitters WBOS & WPIT at Hull was incorporated into the WRUL facility, though never as a separate transmitter unit.  At this stage, WRUL was no longer an official relay station for the Voice of America with programming from VOA and the Armed Forces Radio Service.

            Then, in 1960, the 65 year old Walter Lemmon relinquished control of the station, selling it off to Metro Media in New York.  At this stage, the same five transmitters were still in use:-

                        3 @ 50 kW, 1 @ 20 kW and 1 @ 80 kW.

            MetroMedia, that is the Metropolitan Broadcasters of New York, also owned mediumwave WNEW, as well as a small network of radio and television stations across the country.  They transferred the studios for their new shortwave acquisition into 4 West 58^th Street, the location of the famed Paris Theatre, quite near to Central Park.  This new suite of radio studios was titled the Worldwide Communication Center.

            However, MetroMedia retained the usage of the Hatherly Beach shortwave station for just three years only after which they sold it off to the International Educational Broadcasting Corporation IEBC in Salt Lake City Utah for $1¾ million.  This change of ownership was effective on October 10, 1962, and a new on air slogan was introduced, Radio New York World Wide, though the old and familiar callsign WRUL was still retained.  At this stage, the same five transmitters were on the air, though they were now listed as 4 @ 50 kW and 1 @ 80 kW.  A total of eleven antenna systems were in use.

            Soon after IEBC obtained WRUL at Hatherly Beach, this organization morphed into Bonneville International both of which had close ties with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, the Mormons. 

            Interestingly, there was a previous attempt on the part of the Mormon Church to go shortwave and this was back in the year 1939.  At that time, the experimental shortwave broadcasting station W9XAA was on the air in Chicago with a 500 watt transmitter located at suburban Downer’s Grove.              This shortwave station was owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor, who also operated the well known mediumwave station WCFL.  The Chicago Federation of Labor in Chicago wanted to sell its co-owned shortwave station W9XAA to mediumwave KSL in Salt Lake City Utah. 

            They lodged a request with the FCC to sell the station, increase its power, and move it to Saltair, near Salt Lake City.  However, in September 1939, the FCC denied this request; and so this first attempt on the part of the Mormon Church to establish a shortwave station came to nothing.

            Returning to the story of the Boston shortwave station, we might add, that in the year 1964, the long standing Adventist radio program, Voice of Prophecy with the illustrious Dr. H. M. S. Richards was on the air from the shortwave station WRUL twice each Sunday.  At both 1200 & 1900 GMT, as it was in those days or UTC as it is today, this half hour program was noted on all four active transmitters in parallel, on 11950 15385 15440 & 17760 kHz.

     Audio Insert

            Voice of Prophecy, historic version, program sign on

            The vigorous radio entrepreneur Walter Lemmon was born in New York City on February 3, 1896, and on March 1, 1967, he passed to his rest at Old Greenwich Connecticut, age 71. 

            He gained a B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering at Columbia University in New York City.  As 

Lieutenant Walter Lemmon with the Coast Guard he was appointed as a wireless operator onboard the navy vessel USS “George Washington”, and he also served as Wireless Operator for President Woodrow Wilson at the Versailles Peace Conference in France in 1919.  While the ship was anchored in port at Brest Harbor in coastal France, he made a series of experimental radio broadcasts containing news about the Peace Conference. 

            On the return journey across the Atlantic, Walter Lemmon aboard the “George Washington” presented several broadcasts of recorded music for the benefit of nearby ships and for listeners along the eastern seaboard of the United States.  When the ship was still 300 miles from port, he persuaded President Wilson to make a special July 4 radio broadcast to the United States.

            Wilson did indeed make the brief speech in between music items during the Independence Day broadcast, though he stood so far away from the microphone that his words were not heard clearly in the broadcast.  A news reporter subsequently re-read the speech which this time was transmitted quite clearly.

            Ten years later, Walter Lemmon became the general manager for shortwave station W2XAL in Coytesville New Jersey, a station that he bought two years later and ultimately transferred to Boston in association with TV experimenter Hollis Baird.  Lemmon manager the Boston shortwave station WRUL for a period of nearly 30 years, running from 1931 right up to the year 1960, developing it into one of the world’s largest and most powerful shortwave stations in the middle of last century.

            Walter Lemmon invented the 3-gang tuning condenser which he sold to RCA for $1 million; and he also invented the radiotypewriter which enabled typed messages to be transmitted by radio and instantly received on a similar typewriter anywhere in the world.  He was also an executive with the IBM Corporation; and in addition to his management of shortwave WRUL, Lemmon was the manager for an early FM station, WGCH 95.9 MHz in Greenwich Connecticut.

            Walter Lemmon sold his shortwave station WRUL in 1960, he went into retirement at the age of  64, and died seven years later.  By this time, his shortwave station was now on the air under the new callsign WNYW.  

            But that’s a story for next time.

* Program Announcement - 09:58

            Allen Graham

* Indian DX Report - 10:49

            Prithwiraj Purkayastha: Bay of Bengal DXpedition

* Australian DX Report - 13:28

            Bob Padula

* Music of the World - 26:10

            Indonesia: Bali gamelan

* Closing Announcement - 26:27

            Thanks for listening to “Wavescan”, international DX program from Adventist World Radio

            Researched and written in Indianapolis

            Next week:-

                        1. FoA Philippines - 7: Tunnel Radio at Corregidor

                        2. Japan DX Report

            Two QSL cards available - AWR & WRMI

            Wavescan address:-

                        Box 29235

                        Indianapolis

                        Indiana 46229 USA

            Wavescan @ AWR.org

            Jeff White, shortwave WRMI

* Music Outrun - 27:29

* Program Ends - 28:55

Fund to promote community radio

ABU News
20 February 2014

While presenting the interim budget for 2014-2015, India’s Finance Minister P. Chidambaram outlined a USD $16 million (Rs 1 billion) fund to promote community radio throughout the country.

Asia Radio Today reports that 90 percent of the funding will be earmarked for building community stations and the remainder will help the industry market itself through workshops organized annually by the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry.

Recently, the I&B Ministry also introduced a scheme that funds 50 percent of the equipment costs to new and established community radio stations.Over the past ten years, the government received nearly 1,277 applications for community radio stations, but until December 1, 2013, only 161 stations were operational.  223 applications were under process and 616 applications had been rejected.

http://www.abu.org.my/Latest_News-@-Community_radio_in_India_gets_$16_million_boost.aspx

International Tamil Radio: Trends and Challenges

Wavescan NWS260

* Theme - 00:00

            “Birthday Serenade” - Willi Glahe

* Opening Announcement - 00:15

            Welcome to “Wavescan”, international DX program from Adventist World Radio

            Researched and written in Indianapolis, produced in studios of shortwave WRMI

            Program outline

                        1. Focus on Asia Philippines - 6: Navy Wireless Station at Cavite

                        2. NASB Report: Jerry Plummer WWCR, Shortwave Transitioning

                        3. Bangladesh DX Report

                        4. Review: Australian Radio History, Dr. Bruce Carty

* Focus on Asia Philippines - 6: Navy Wireless Station at Cavite - 00:48

            The Cavite Peninsula on the edge of Manila Bay in the Philippines has played a pivotal role throughout the lengthy eras of Philippine history.  The Cavite Peninsula is located on the edge of modern Metro Manila and the name comes into the Spanish language from an ancient word in the Tagalog language, Kawit, meaning a hook, which is the geographic shape of the peninsula.

            The earliest settlers on Cavite came from Borneo Sulu some time during the dim distant past; and because of its deep water anchorage, this location became a moorage for ocean going Chinese junks involved in international trade.  The Spanish began their rule of the Philippines at Cavite in 1571; and ¾ century later, the Dutch came and made their attack against the Philippines at this same location.  The British followed in 1672 with an attack on the Philippines at Cavite, though their rule lasted for only two years.

            The American era began on May 1, 1898 with an attack against the Spanish at Cavite.  Nearly ½  a century later, the Japanese invaded the Philippines and their attack against Cavite itself began on December 10, 1941, just three days after Pearl Harbor.  A little less than three years later, the Americans returned to Cavite; and ultimately the area was officially handed over to the Philippine government on September 1, 1971.

            It was back in the Spring of 1903 that the American navy procured 20 sets of Slaby-Arco wireless equipment from Germany, both transmitters and receivers.  One of these sets of wireless equipment was installed at the American navy base at Cavite, and  a year later the station was taken into regular service for Morse Code traffic, on September 5, 1904. 

            The original callsign back then was UT, though this was changed on October 1, 1908 to the more familiar internationally recognized callsign NPO.  Back then, the transmitter was described as a composite unit rated at 5 kW and radiating on 500 kHz.

            During the year 1915, two tall towers were erected at the American navy base at Cavite and these were 141 feet and 134 feet tall.  The operating power was increased from 5 kW up to 25 kW and station NPO identified as Radio Sangley, honoring the name of the American Naval Station, Sangley Point.

            In the early 1920s, three new self supporting radio towers were erected at Cavite, each at 600 feet tall.  When these came into use for supporting the antenna system at NPO, this naval radio station was sending out in Morse Code 2,000 words daily on longwave13900 metres (21.5 kHz) to the navy receiver station in San Francisco.  It is stated that these three tall towers were visible from Manila City, ten miles distant.

            The usage of shortwave for international radio communication was implemented at the Cavite radio station in the early 1920s.  For example, it is recorded in the year 1926 that station NPO was utilizing two shortwave channels 3548 and 4283 kHz.  Then, in 1929, an additional six shortwave transmitters were installed at NPO, each at 10 kW.

            During the 1930s, the PanAm Seaplane Clippers, passenger and freight service, called at Cavite once each week in their flights between the United States and several Pacific locations.  A color postcard from this era shows the PanAm Clipper moored at Cavite, with the skyline in the distance.

            On December 10, 1941, a Japanese air raid badly damaged the radio station at Cavite setting the radio station building on fire, and damaging one of the tall towers. 

            Beginning just five days later, on December 15, 1941, eight daily special programs were beamed to the Philippines on shortwave for rebroadcast via 12 mediumwave and shortwave stations in Manila.  Some of these relay programs were picked up at Cavite and rebroadcast on their transmitters also.  Then when the Japanese took over Manila, Cavite continued to re-broadcast the program  information from California for a few additional days, apparently from temporary facilities.

            Soon afterwards, on January 2 of the next year, 1942, the order was given to evacuate Cavite.  When the Americans returned three years later, they found the three towers still standing.

            The famous wireless station at Sangley Point, the American navy base at Cavite in the Philippines, is an example of  the widespread network of huge wireless stations established by America in strategic locations around our globe.  As the well known writer and editor stated in Popular Communications a few years ago, “The Cavite station was a most historic wireless facility, a well known landmark.”  That statement came from the pen (or maybe the typewriter) of the late Tom Kneitel, writing under the pseudonym Alice Brannigan.

* Program Announcement - 06:45

            Jeff White

* NASB Report - 07:17

            Dr. Jerry Plummer WWCR: Shortwave Transitioning

* Bangladesh DX Report - 13:41

            Salahuddin Dolar

* Australian Radio History - 18:19

            A most remarkable compendium of radio history comes from Dr. Bruce Carty, under the title, Australian Radio History.  This lively and colorful presentation of more then 100 pages is amply illustrated with early radio memorabilia that vividly portrays the more than 100 years of collective wireless and radio history throughout the continent of Australia.

            An introductory timeline, stretching from the ancient 1906 right up to the modern 2009, gives a progressive view of wireless and radio events throughout the Commonwealth, beginning with Australia’s first official wireless communication (across Bass Strait to Tasmania) and ending with the introduction of digital TV in five state capital cities.  Also listed is a brief life sketch of many of the leading radio personnel in the early days of radio history in Australia, 

            Several feature articles tell the story of early significant events in full detail.  Among these interesting feature articles is one that lists and describes early radio receivers manufactured by the well known radio company in Australia AWA.  This listing in the year 1926 describes the crystal set receiver as well as the more recently developed superheterodyne receiver.

            Another feature article tells the story of a portable shortwave transmitter in use for remote broadcasts by mediumwave station 2UW in Sydney in 1932.  This transmitter with its associated equipment was carried by two men, and the occasion was the long list of celebrations for the official opening of one of Australia’s major tourist icons, the Sydney Harbour Bridge.   

            Another feature article tells the story of an important amateur radio broadcasting station in Brisbane back during the 1920s.  This station, 4CM, was owned and operated by Dr. Val McDowell with 20 watts on 800 m (375 kHz longwave) and it was heard throughout eastern Australia as well as in New Zealand, and also on Ocean Island out in the Pacific some 2,000 miles distant.

            Every mediumwave callsign ever in use in Australia, all 700 of them, is listed chronologically by state, with an outline history of each station; experimental, amateur broadcast and fully licensed radio broadcasting stations.  We take a look at some of the interesting facts that Dr. Bruce Carty has listed in his new book:-

              * Australia’s first licensed radio broadcasting station was not 2SB-2BL as often quoted but rather           station 2CM which was granted License No 1.  

              * All the fish in the aquarium at 2KA died during the first day of operation at their new studios in              Penrith, New South Wales.

              * Radio station 6WF in Perth opened with the use of a 10 kW transmitter obtained from Radio                Luxembourg in Europe.  The original 6WA transmitter also came from Radio                     Luxembourg.

              * Australian personnel have established radio broadcasting stations at 6 different locations in                  Antarctica.

              * Station 2UW in Sydney operated a relay station 2UX in Wagga Wagga with all programming                 on relay from 2UW via the well known shortwave station VK2ME.

            * Station 2BH in Broken Hill relayed some of the programming from 5AD in Adelaide which was             recorded and sent by train to Broken Hill.

            * In 1946, station 2XL in Cooma reported that a railway train was lost and they asked any                         listeners if they knew where the train was located to report the information to the radio                  station.

            * In 1933, 3KZ in Melbourne used all available hair dryers from one of their client advertisers in                order to keep their transmitter on the air during floods.

              * The announcer at 3AK in Melbourne lowered a rope from the open studio window to which the           morning newspaper was tied.  He retrieved the paper each morning and from its pages                read the bulletin of early morning news.

              * All local train services were suspended when the tower at 3WR Shepparton fell across the                   railway line in 1934.

              * The announcer at station 5CL in Adelaide held the microphone outside the studio window to                 broadcast the hourly chimes from the clock on the GPO building.

            Throughout the book, there are many illustrations, some in black & white and some in color.   On an introductory page, you will find the reproduction of  the front page of a brochure advertising Australia’s first serious attempt at radio broadcasting from a train; the Great White Train with station 2XT aboard.  There is a photo of the good ship “Kanimbla” with its 50 watt broadcasting station 9MI aboard. 

            You will also find a QSL card in color from Australia’s first radio broadcasting station station 2CM; a photo of 3YB aboard the motor vehicle and the railway train; a reproduction of the motor vehicle license plate showing 7HO on 864 kHz; and a photo of the mobile broadcasting station “in the islands”, 9AO.

            The author of “Australian Radio History”, Dr. Bruce Carty, has spent a lifetime in Australian radio in several different states and he writes from a rich knowledge and experience in the radio scene.  We are grateful also, Dr. Carty, for your acknowledgement of our DX host, Dr. Adrian Peterson, in your  informative pages.  Dr. Carty may be contacted at Bruce.Carty@bigpond.com.

* Music of the World - 25:10

            Brazil: Rhythms of Brazil, instrumental & vocal

* Closing Announcement - 25:35

            Thanks for listening to “Wavescan”, international DX program from Adventist World Radio

            Researched and written in Indianapolis

            Next week:-

                        1. Tribute to Shortwave WYFR - 8: The Final Years with Walter Lemmon

                        2. Australian DX Report

            Two QSL cards available - AWR & WRMI

            Wavescan address:-

                        Box 29235

                        Indianapolis

                        Indiana 46229 USA

            Wavescan @ AWR.org

            Jeff White, shortwave WRMI

* Music Outrun - 26:44

* Program Ends - 28:55