New DRM Steering Board leadership elected

The DRM Consortium has elected its new leadership for the next two years and agreed its broad strategy based on continuity, development and growth of the DRM standard worldwide during its General Assembly held at the headquarters of Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) in Hilversum, Netherlands.

The Steering Board, which runs the DRM Consortium and sets its strategy and implementation, now includes five new companies: Digidia, Rfmondial, Nautel, Christian Vision and Voice of Russia. They join fifteen other companies that have existing representatives on the Steering Board and together strengthen the Consortium.

Ruxandra Obreja, Head of Digital Radio Development, BBC World Service was re-elected as the Chairperson of the DRM Consortium for the next two years. The Steering Board also elected two vice Chairs – Jochen Huber, Transradio and Ludo Maes, TDP. Lindsay Cornell, BBC and Michel Penneroux, TDF were re-elected Technical and Committee chairpersons respectively. Alexander Zink, Fraunhofer Institute, was confirmed as Treasurer of the Consortium for the next two years.

The two day conference (24th-25th March 2010) was attended by many DRM members and supporters from around the world who not only took part in the elections but discussed the progress of DRM technology and the challenges faced by the introduction of digital radio in general and DRM in particular. All members unanimously agreed that DRM has made great progress in the recent years including minimum receiver requirements, the extension of the DRM standard to include DRM+ and official adoption of the standard in Russia and India. The assembly urged receiver manufacturers not to overlook the growing demand for digital receivers and to bring appropriate products to the market.

The General Assembly is the largest decision-making body of the DRM Consortium which meets every two years for an extraordinary meeting to elect the governing bodies and representatives to oversee Consortium's activities in spreading the use and take-up of DRM digital radio technology.

> Click to read the full release.
http://www.drm.org/fileadmin/media/downloads/DRM_GA2010_releasev2.pdf

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Amazing collection of QSL

Amazing collection of QSL cards of Pradip Kundu, Tripura using his 2 band
analog receiver.

Thanks to Babul Gupta, Kolkata for scanning & uploading the images ...

http://picasaweb. google.com/ babulgupta/ QSLFromPradipKun du?feat=email#

(Alokesh)

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Passport 2009: Moving On

It's no secret — Passport 2009 is to be the last in an annual series that began in 1984. Now, the time is nigh to further phase down that operation by shuttering this website. Timing is inexact, but the wire should be snipped late this month.

Long, Strange Trip

In Deadspeak, this has been one long, strange trip. It started some 40 years back, when my first and wonderful wife was having increasingly serious personal problems. These led me to quit what I had been doing so I could watch over her fulltime.

Alas, this left me pretty much cooped up with little else to do. So, restless, I purchased a Drake R-4B receiver, which I still have, and became absorbed by digging through the boundless offerings of shortwave broadcasting.

It was fascinating, yet frustrating because of stations' technical and content shortcomings. Never one to keep my trap shut, I let blast with critiques and suggestions, and in due course wound up consulting professionally. (Cynics might conclude, in the spirit of Lyndon Johnson's explanation of why he retained J. Edgar Hoover, that they preferred to have me on the inside pissing out rather than the outside pissing in.)

It was fantastic work — especially victories against the KGB's vast jamming firewall — but the base of viable clients was thin. In 1980, after several unforgettable years, that client base all but vanished, thanks to shifting political winds. We scrambled into survival mode.

Our most useful assets for public consumption turned out to be within our frequency management activities. First, our team of monitors and experts from intelligence and other backgrounds was top-drawer. Second, we had what was generally recognized as the world's premiere database of shortwave spectrum occupancy.

Thus it was that the idea of publishing a world band database was born out of desperation.

But it wasn't to be a slam dunk. Until then, our "database" had been a internal pencil-and-ruler exercise like what Roger Legge had been preparing at the Voice of America. Obviously, this had to be computerized if a book were to be timely and attractive enough for public sale.

PCs Appear in Nick of Time

Since 1961, when I had had the good fortune to land a summer job at IBM-Paris, I'd been working on and off with mainframe computers and database development. However, in the early Eighties the attractiveness of renting mainframe time began to fade as the embryonic world of PCs with hard disks — "Winchesters" — came into being.

We first committed to a DEC Rainbo system with a 5 Mb disk and a hard-wired Pascal compiler, but it had development issues. So we wound up purchasing, instead, an IBM PC-XT with a then-astonishing 10 Mb "fixed disk" and RAM upgrade to the maximum-allowed 256k. This was the lone demonstration unit which had just arrived at a major Princeton outlet in advance of XTs being nationally introduced for sale. Thankfully, I was able to persuade a young lady there to part with it anyway, as we needed something fast.

Still, with nearly every dime we had going to lawyers, we nearly didn't make it. First, finding affordable programming talent to properly turn my specs into a working program was a huge hurdle. U.K. professor John Campbell, like Patton at Bastogne, ultimately came to the rescue. But only dogged persistence allowed us to overcome the main hurdle: a Federal lawsuit from an existing publisher.

Tarted Out for Survival

A small edition, dubbed Radio Database International, was ultimately released in early 1984, with the title eventually morphing into Passport to World Band Radio. But this was preceded by several near-death experiences, among them:

In late 1983 our legal counsel in New Jersey warned that we needed to produce something soon in print if we were to prevail in the lawsuit. Alas, we didn't have enough time to input the massive volumes of data into our lone PC, and there were no rentals or funds for a second machine.

So, one of our female co-conspirators dressed in her best approximation of a ditsy young thing married to some rich guy. Thus tarted out, she proceeded to a Philadelphia department store.

There, she cooed to an eager salesman that for Christmas she just might be amenable to getting a computer for her husband. She also pointed out that she couldn't be certain Daddy Warbucks would care for it.

Not wishing to miss out on a juicy sale, the salesman suggested she could take home a fully equipped PC and peripherals. If hubby wasn't pleased by his lavish surprise, she could return it weeks hence, in January — not incidentally allowing the salesman to collect his commission.

Thanks to this creative tomfoolery and the resulting round-the-clock keyboarding, we were able to successfully publish a first bare-bones edition within weeks.

Rise and Fall of World Band Radio

The rest, you may know. In the best of times sales were over 80,000 units a year, and for one snapped-fingers instant Passport was actually a national top-ten best seller.

But that was over 15 years ago. World band radio gained vigor during the buildup to WW II, and of course during the War. After that, the Cold War with its ideological bent kept the field thriving. But once the Berlin Wall came down, questions arose as to why these government broadcasts were taking place in the absence of any major conflict.

So, some reinvented themselves, while many phased down or terminated their shortwave operations. Add to that Sony's near-downfall, the growth of the Internet, and even the possible fading away of print publications — and it's sadly evident that the time has come to shutter Passport's declining operation.

Great Folks, Grand Times

It has been a fantastic quarter century creating and growing this book. I can but wish that everybody could experience what I have: the opportunity to do work that makes you excited about going to the office and getting cracking.

And what a pleasure to have had such exceptional folks as colleagues! Heading the roster has been the amiable Tony Jones, who was central to Passport's success from 1982 to the end. Without him, the book simply wouldn't be have been what it was.

One of life's eternal truths is that you don't know who your friends are until the chips are down. So it's worth recalling that early on, when we were threadbare, being sued and few gave us any chance of succeeding, we were fortunate enough to have had in our corner the likes of Don Jensen, Noel Green, David Meisel and Pennsylvania attorney Brian Price. During Passport's 25-year run there were a good hundred other angels, including Craig Tyson, Mike Wright, Jock Elliott, Rik Mayell, David Zantow and Rob Sherwood, who turned their exceptional skills into meaningful results. That's only some, and the names of certain others can never be made known. But you know who you are and how much your roles have meant.

The same holds for those who have read and supported Passport over the years. Especially, thank you, thank you and thank you for your many recent kind comments. We had precious little of this warmth when we started, and the difference cannot be overstated. It has thrown sunshine on otherwise difficult moments, even as we're gently pulling down the curtain.

–Lawrence Magne
(Source: Passband.com)

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Radio Free Asia releases fourth Radio Pioneer QSL Card

Radio Free Asia announces the release of the fourth QSL card in its Radio Pioneer series. The card honors Russian physicist, Alexander S. Popov. Popov demonstrated that a receiver could detect the electromagnetic waves produced by lightning discharges in the atmosphere many miles away. In 1895, Popov was able to receive and detect the radio waves produced by an oscillator circuit. In 1897 he successfully sent a ship-to- shore transmission over a distance of 3 miles and then persuaded Russian naval authorities to begin installing radio equipment in its vessels; just two years later he had increased the distance of ship-to-shore transmissions to 30 miles. Popov is credited with being the first to use an antenna in the transmission and reception of radio waves. The QSL card below will be issued for all valid RFA reception reports from April 1 - June 30, 2010.

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. More information about Radio Free Asia, including our current broadcast frequency schedule, is available at http://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 athttp://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.

(AJ Janitschek)

BBC Radio 3 and World Service DJ Charlie Gillett dies

Gillett turned down an offer to present BBC Two's The Old Grey Whistle Test BBC Radio 3 and World Service presenter Charlie Gillett has died after a long illness, aged 68. Known as a champion of world music, the Lancashire-born broadcaster passed away in a London hospital on Wednesday, his family has confirmed. He contracted an autoimmune disease, and last week suffered a heart attack. Gillett is credited with discovering Dire Straits in 1976 after playing Sultans of Swing from their demo tape on his Radio London show Honky Tonk. 'Sorely missed' He also wrote an acclaimed history of rock'n'roll, The Sound of the City, in the 1970s. World Service director Peter Horrocks said he was an inspiration whose spirit of adventure and passion for the rich diversity of global music opened the ears of the world. "His broadcasts brought together music and radio fans from far flung corners of the globe," he said. "His postbag was one of the biggest, most affectionate and diverse in Bush House, which confirmed his special place in listener's lives. He was a very special broadcaster and he will be sorely missed." Gillett stood down from his regular slot on Radio 3's World on 3 for health reasons two months ago, with fellow presenters Lopa Kothari and Mary Ann Kennedy covering. Gillett was part of a panel who first coined the term "world music" Charlie Gillett: Your memories The station's controller, Roger Wright, said at the time: "Radio 3 has always valued Charlie's immense knowledge and passion for world music which has been much enjoyed by listeners." Gillett, who was born in Morecambe and brought up in Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, discovered several stars of world music while on Radio London. They include Youssou N'Dour, Salif Keita, and the young singer of Portuguese fado music, Mariza. In the mid-70s he formed a partnership with his dentist and went on to manage Kilburn and the High Roads, whose lead singer was Ian Dury. Notable successes on his label and publishing company, Oval Music, were Lene Lovich's Lucky Number and Paul Hardcastle's number one hit 19. The DJ also turned down an offer to present BBC Two's live music show The Old Grey Whistle Test. In 1979 he moved to commercial station Capital Radio, where he began to feature music from around the world. More recently he appeared on BBC London. He was known to millions of listeners for his World Service programme Charlie Gillett's World of Music. He is survived by his wife Buffy, their daughters Suzy and Jody, their son Ivan, and two grandchildren. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

AWR DX Program "Wavescan" - Annual DX Contest - 2010 "Station Profiles"

It's that time of the year again! Yes, we're talking about our big annual
DX contest here in "Wavescan". The title for our big 2010 DX contest is
"Station Profiles", and here are the details for all five parts in this year's
contest:-

A. Five Station Profiles:

Make a list of five different radio stations for which you would like to
have a "Station Profile" presented on air in a coming edition of "Wavescan".
You may suggest five different radio stations, or the radio stations in five
different cities, or in five different countries, or any combinations of
these designations. These radio stations may still be on the air, or they
may now be silent. You may choose only shortwave broadcasting stations, or
shortwave communication stations that have been used also for broadcasting.

B. Five Paragraphs:

You are invited to write just one short paragraph about each of the five
stations you have chosen in the above list, and state why you have chosen
that particular station.

C. Five Photocopies:

You are invited to search your QSL collection, and where possible, provide a
photocopy of a QSL from each of the five radio stations in your above list.
These photocopies should be in color if possible, but black & white is also
acceptable. If you do not have a QSL from any of the stations you select,
then you should indicate the reason why you do not have a QSL; such as for
example, the station is now silent, or you are unable to hear the station in
your part of the world, or they do not verify reception reports, etc.

D. Three Reception Reports:

You are invited to send in at least three reception reports on any
transmission from Adventist World Radio on any station, shortwave,
mediumwave and FM.

E. Three Radio Cards:

Where possible, you are invited to include three radio cards for the
Indianapolis Heritage Collection with your contest entry. These cards may
be old or new, and they may be QSL cards, reception report cards, or picture
cards of radio stations, etc. (Not valid for this contest are amateur cards
nor CB cards.)

Other Contest Details:

Well, there you have it, the details for our "Wavescan 2010 Station Profiles
DX Contest". This contest will run through the month of July 2010, and all
contest entries should be postmarked at your local post office anywhere in
the world on any date up to the end of the month of July, and they should be
received at the AWR post office address in Indianapolis no later than the
end of the month of August 2010.
Return postage in the form of currency notes in an international currency,
or mint postage stamps, or IRC coupons would be welcome. Where possible, a
self addressed return envelope, business size or half quarto size, would
also be welcome.
The awards for this year's contest will be similar to all previous contests.
There will be a special award for the world winner, one of the Jerry Berg
radio history books; and World Radio TV Handbook 2011 for each continental
winner. In addition, there will be other special awards as well as AWR
souvenirs and radio curios for many participants. There will be special
awards for listeners in Africa responding to this year's contest.
You can remember that all reception reports will be verified with a
specially endorsed AWR QSL card. Please remember that it will take a period
of many months to process all of the reception reports, but each will in due
course be verified. In addition, and over a period of time, it is our
intent to present in our Wavescan DX program, many, and perhaps all, of the
"Station Profiles" as submitted in this year's DX contest.
When we present each of these specific "Station Profiles" in our "Wavescan"
program, we will also call on-air the listener who made the suggestion.
When the listener hears his name in the program, he can send in a reception
report and receive a specially endorsed QSL card.

The only address for the AWR Station Profile DX Contest is:-
Station Profile DX Contest
Box 29235
Indianapolis
Indiana 46229 USA

(Dr.Adrian Peterson, Adventist World Radio)

------

Alokesh Gupta

New Delhi, India

2010 will be known as the year of radio

The way the world changed in the first decade of the 21st century can be gauged by the year-end covers of two prominent magazines. Time Magazine (Dec 7th issue) called this decade the "Decade from Hell". In contrast, Business Today's cover (Dec 27th issue) called this decade "India's best decade." Clearly, the center of gravity of the world of business has shifted towards the East!

While Indian industry battled the slowdown of 2009 rather bravely, and the Indian economy still grew at over 7 per cent, the advertising industry wasn't that lucky. As the downturn hit the ad industry, the bean counters took over and the focus of CEOs shifted towards management of bottom lines.

The first item to be cut was obviously the advertising line. Most media companies - who rely heavily on advertising for revenues - saw revenue drops of between 5 and 25 per cent in the first nine months of 2009. While the last quarter of the year looks better, the overall growth in 2009 is still expected to end negative.

There were more companies recording revenue de-growths than those recording positive growths. For every one Colors coming in and grabbing new revenues, there was a Star Plus and Zee that lost revenues heavily. The sum total: negative growth. Borrowing the terminology of business news channels, the "market width" was negative!

The few media companies that recorded positive growths in revenues did so on the back of inorganic growth (some parts of the business did not exist last year). Or they were in the early part of their growth cycle (hence last year's comparative revenue base was small). In other words, the quarters were incomparable.

Detail story on http://www.indiantelevision.com/

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AIR to get 2 MW DRM transmitters for Gujarat, W Bengal

All India Radio (AIR) has placed an order for the supply of two 1000 kilowatt DRM capable medium wave transmitters. These will replace old analogue transmitters of same capacity at Chinsurah (West Bengal) and Rajkot (Gujarat), with state-of-the-art solid state transmitters.

The new Megawatt transmitters can be operated in analogue, in simulcast or in DRM mode with automatic change-over between these three operational modes. The transmitters shall provide coverage to very large areas in the Indian sub-continent as well to the West, North, East and Southeast Asia.

This significant purchase was revealed at the recently concluded Broadcast Engineering Society (BES) India's conference in New Delhi, attended by exhibitors and participants from all over the world. The need for cheaper digital radio sets and content innovation was highlighted by speakers during the event.

All India Radio has already chosen DRM as the technology for converting its vast analogue network to digital. This is part of its digital radio switchover strategy where more than 40 transmitters are to be made DRM capable in the near future. AIR is already broadcasting in DRM from one of its high-power shortwave transmitter located at Khampur near Delhi that covers an area of approximately 800 kilometre radius.

The DRM Consortium says the development underlines the commitment made by India to new technology in general and the DRM standard in particular.

Source: http://www.radioandmusic.com/

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UADX has published its first Newsletter

After a break of about 17 years, the Union of Asian DXers has risen like aphoenix from the ashes. The UADX has published its first Newsletter sinceJuly 1993 as a PDF file on the DXAsia website, edited now, as then, by mygood friend Victor Goonetilleke in Sri Lanka. Familiar UADX names such asGerhard Werdin, Sarath Amukotuwa & Sarath Weerakoon will also be helpingVictor, who says that the first edition of the E-Newsletter is meant as anintroduction and sample. The next edition is scheduled before the end ofFebruary. I hope SWLs and DXers amongst our readership will support thisventure.Victor has also written an article about Eclipse Monitoring on 15 January2010. A UADX blog will also be starting soon. Thanks to Alok das Gupta andhis son Abhishek for technical help in getting this material online.http://www.dxasia. info (Andy)

If you want to read the Newsletter, click here

Radio Pakistan starts Tamil service

Radio Pakistan starts Tamil service from 1 Feb 2010
1300-1330 UTC on 11525 ISL 100 kW / 147 deg & 15630vISL 100 kW / 147 deg

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Radio Netherlands partners AIR for co-production

Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) has entered into a new partnership with All India Radio (AIR) for co-production of a show - Earth Beat.

Both organisations will work together in the co production called Earth Beat India. The programme will be broadcast nationally by AIR in English and Hindi every two weeks.

RNW had partnered with the Gyaan Vani radio channels promoted by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in December 2009 for the same show.

The Earth Beat team sees monitoring the earth's heartbeat as our task. They look at our footprint on this world and run stories of the people trying to make that footprint lighter.

Earth Beat India is looking at what we create, develop, conserve and destroy; meeting and challenging the people who are making these changes. It is about questioning the way we live now and exploring the issues that will affect our common future.

RNW offers international stories with new opinions, green gadgets and green wash while AIR brings the Indian perspective. This co production seeks to bridge the approach of developed and developing countries on environmental issues. The presentation is in hands of Chhavi Sachdev and Poonam Girdhani.

Commenting on the partnership, RNW Director General Jan Hoek says, "As an international broadcaster we make daily productions in 10 languages and we work together worldwide with more than 3000 partner radio stations. With this new cooperation we embrace our 11th language Hindi and a major party in India."

RNW works together in India with amongst others Private FM, IGNOU University Radio, various websites, cable TV service and now with State broadcasters.

Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli comments, "I am happy that All India Radio and Radio Netherlands Worldwide have joined hands in co-producing and broadcasting a series of radio programmes called 'Earth Beat' on their networks. The issues pertaining to environment and sustainability of growth are globally relevant. I hope these programmes will assist in promoting proper awareness and interest of our audiences. I am also hopeful that the two organizations will be able to expand the areas of mutual cooperation and assistance."

AIR will broadcast the English episodes of Earth Beat India from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Panaji, Shillong and the National Channel of AIR, while the Hindi versions of Earth Beat India will be broadcast from Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Bhopal, Jaipur, Shimla, Ranchi, Raipur, Rohtak,Port Blair and Itanagar at the respective radio stations.
------------------------------
Source: http://www.radioandmusic.com/

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Brighter days ahead for FM, community radio in India

Although 2009 did not begin so well for private FM radio with the government adamant that it would not permit the broadcast of news and delayed the launch of the third phase of FM, the year ended on a somewhat brighter note. The shutting down of Worldspace Radio channels in India did prove a dampener at the end of '09, however.

Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni told the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit in November 2009 that a note was being finalised for the cabinet to recommend an increase in foreign direct investment limit and allowing Akashvani-sourced news on private FM radio channels.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, just last week, recommended that the foreign investment in private FM should be increased from 20 per cent to 49 per cent, following a reference made to it by the I&B ministry earlier in the year. This may come as a boost to the private FM radio sector.

And Airtel Digital TV announced that it would replace the 10 Worldspace Satellite Radio channels on its DTH platform with 10 All India Radio channels from 1 January 2010. This replacement would be automatic and at no additional cost for all subscribers of the Music Plus Top Up and for those who were receiving the Worldspace channels as part of their subscription pack.

A senior official of the ministry confirmed in an interview with Radioandmusic.com that the FM Phase III would be announced within this financial year – that is, before 31 March. The ministry had initiated a draft Cabinet note on Phase III of private FM radio broadcasting which was at the stage of inter-ministerial consultation.

The official also said that the ministry was not very happy with the slow growth of community radio in the country since it had to be understood that 'community radio can change the face of local broadcasting'.

The government is therefore, according high priority to this sector and is organising consultation workshops in different parts of the country to increase awareness of the advantages of local radio stations. Beginning with one in Rajasthan (Tilonia) in November 2009, other such workshops were held in Meghalaya (Shillong), Haryana (Faridabad), and Madhya Pradesh (Chanderi), and Tamil Nadu (Tiruchendur) before the year closed.

A workshop had also been held earlier this month in Kerala (Wayanad), while four others planned so far were in Karnataka (Budhikote),
Maharashtra (FTII in Pune), Uttar Pradesh (Allahabad), and Uttarkhand (Tehri Garhwal) before the end of the financial year 2009-10.
Further, he confirmed that it had adopted a painless procedure for obtaining licences for operating community radio stations.

The ministry says it encourages setting up of the Community Radio Stations as CRS promises to provide opportunities to the local communities to express themselves, and empower women. The main aim of starting the CRS in educational institutions is to provide different and useful information to the people in nearby villages.

Although community radios were allowed since April 2005, the Central Government in December 2006 had liberalised the Policy on Community Radio by bringing in the civil society and voluntary organisations, agricultural universities, ICAR institutions, Krishi Vigyan Kendras etc, under its ambit. The policy was liberalised to allow greater participation by the civil society on issues of development and social change. Earlier, only educational institutions were permitted to launch community radio channels.

The government in late 2007 also announced that existing community radio operators can take advantage of the revised guidelines for new operators and get their broadcast permission extended to five years from three years.

Under the new guidelines,limited advertising and announcements relating to local events, local businesses and services and employment opportunities shall be allowed. The maximum duration of such limited advertising will be restricted to five minutes per hour of broadcast.

A total of 48 Community Radio Stations are presently functioning in 16 states and union territories which included 42 from educational institutions and six from non-governmental organisations. Twenty letters of Intent have been issued in 2009, taking the total to 189 LoI so far. A total of 584 applications, including 240 applications from educational institutions, have been received from various organizations for setting up CRSs. While 79 had been rejected, a total of 316 applications were under process.

Tamil Nadu has the largest number of CRS – ten, followed by Uttar Pradesh with six, Delhi and Karnataka with five each, and Maharashtra with four. The number of stations in other states – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal - varied between one and three.

There are 251 private FM Radio Channels in the Country, and the government earned revenue of Rs 1330 million between 2006 and September 2009 from private FM radio stations. FM Radio broadcasting was first launched in the country in 1999.

Private FM channels, supported by TRAI and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), have for long been demanding that they should be allowed to broadcast news on their channels. At present, this is permitted only on the channels run by All India Radio.
Earlier, Phase III of FM Radio expansion had been deferred to resolve certain issues primarily relating to royalty for music. However, the changes contemplated in the Copyright Act will help resolve this issue. The third phase is expected to cover a total of 92 cities, according to the plan drawn up by TRAI.

While the ministry wanted that the news, if permitted, should be taken from Prasar Bharati (All India Radio), the TRAI as well as FICCI Radio Forum have been insisting on news agencies being the source of news.

Maharashtra has the largest number of private FM stations – 31 – followed by Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with 21 each and Rajasthan with 19. Kerala has 17 stations, while Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have 16 each. West Bengal has 15 channels, Karnataka has 14, Andhra Pradesh has 13, and Punjab has 12 stations.

Delhi has eight private FM stations, followed by Jharkhand with seven, Haryana with six, and Chhatisgarh and Orissa, with five each. All the other union territories besides Delhi have a total of five stations. Assam has four, Goa has three, and Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, and Sikkim have two each, while Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura have one each.

Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Uttarakhand do not have any private FM station at present.

The Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2009 Round 2 data on the radio industry, released by the Media Research Users' Council (MRUC) on 8 January 2010, again showed Radio Mirchi as the lead FM radio station across India. However, compared to the IRS 2009 R1 data (Radio stations - last one week), the listenership of the FM station has seen a decline of 2.36 per cent from 41,416,000 in R1 2009 to 40,438,000 listeners in this round.

What is interesting to note is that unlike in R1 2009, wherein almost all the Top 10 FM stations had witnessed growth, only two of the Top 10 FM stations have witnessed growth in listenership this time, while others have witnessed a marginal decline.

Radio Mirchi, Big FM, Red FM, Radio City, AIR FM Rainbow, Suryan FM, AIR FM Gold, Radio Mantra, Radio One and My FM comprise the top 10 FM stations in the all India market.
Red FM has registered the highest growth in listenership in R2 with a 24.15 per cent increase from 14,993,000 in R1 2009 to 18,614,000 in R2. Ranked second is Big FM with a listenership of 20,380,000 in R2 as compared to 20,381,000 in R1 2009, thus making for no significant gains in its listenership. Ranked third is AIR FM Rainbow, which has seen a marginal 3.88 per cent decline in listenership from 22,153,000 in R1 2009 to 21,293,000 in R2 2009.

Source: http://www.radioandmusic.com/

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Radio Netherlands ties up with Web18

Dutch International public broadcaster Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) has entered into a partnership deal with Web18, the internet and mobile arm of Network 18.

Under the deal, RNW's international news will be published on Web 18's portal In.com. Additionally, RNW players, with live radio and music programmes such as Euro Hit 40, European Jazz Stage and Live at the Concertgebouw, will be available online.

Says RNW director general Jan Hoek, "We want to strengthen our position as one of the five most influential international broadcasters in the world. One of the means to sustain that position is through investing in new digital technologies. This partnership in India is a big step for RNW, as it gives us access to the country's enormous and important online market."

Web18 CEO Lakshmi Narsimhan avers, "We at Web18 are extremely enthused with the collaborative initiative being launched with RNW. We hope this partnership will further the cross-cultural understanding among the music enthusiasts from both countries while strengthening media ties on a more global level."

SOURCE: http://www.indiantelevision.com/

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Worldspace India team appeals to PM for intervention

300 employees of Worldspace India have, in a letter to prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh sent on Tuesday, urged for immediate government intervention to ensure that the the radio service continues in India; and that the exit of the radio service be allowed only after following the due process applicable to any other media or telecom service in India.

The letter written to the PM also urges the government to ensure that the sale of the satellite assets impacting the India operations is duly publicized in India; and a just and equitable solution to the employees, subscribers, distributors, dealers, vendors, customer service support agencies is provided for. The Worldspace India team also wants the PM to intervene to issue appropriate orders to restrict the reentry of Liberty Media/Worldspace from providing the services in the guise of a new entity without proper resolution of the issues as above and protection of the stakeholders.

To recap, Worldspace Inc which announced that it was closing India operations from 1 January 2010, had entered into a deal with Liberty Media for take over of its operations. While Liberty acquired the Worldspace India assets, in mid December, it decided not to acquire Indian operations, leaving employees and subscribers in the lurch.

The worried employees state in the letter that they are losing their jobs 'without proper notice, compensation or settlement of their benefits and dues. Former employee dues have not also been paid.'

The letter also mentions that over 150000 subscribers who have invested in the radio receivers and advanced up to 24 months of subscription charges in advance will neither be provided the service nor will be refunded the subscriptions advanced.

'The Border Security Force (BSF) has recently placed orders and purchased receivers and subscriptions. Government institutions/departments such as Indian Metrological Department (IMD), Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and even Press Trust of India users are currently using the Worldspace satellite system to provide timely information. IMD and INCOIS are providing critical data and emergency warning to naval ships, coastal agencies and will now be forced to switch off without notice and any time to look for alternate options', the letter states.

According to the team, music labels and the copyright societies have not been paid royalties for the broadcasts impacting the music industry, widening the gap between broadcasters and copyright owners. More than 200 vendors who have provided goods and services to Worldspace may lose over 20 crores of their dues, they say.
'Several hundreds of distributors and dealers who are currently stocking the products after paying for the same in advance would also be facing huge financial loss as well as customer ire. Several hundreds of channel partners across the country who have invested heavily in the setting up of the infrastructure in supporting the installation, customer care and subscription renewal will not be provided any compensation. Premises have been taken in various cities for offices on lease basis and the landlords will have to approach the local courts to receive back their Premises. All stakeholders involved in the local operations will be forced to involve in multiple litigation in India, which will be rendered ineffective', the letter mentions.

While Worldspace and Liberty Media have cleared their liabilities including employee dues and followed the due process in every other country, certain loopholes in our system are being misused to escape from their responsibilities of orderly closure of the business. In the name of legal process and legal advise, they have delayed notifying the stakeholders and relying on the legal advise provided, as alleged by them, they have completely disregarded the due process of law and equitable interest of all stakeholders, while deciding to close the business in India, the team says.

'We, the employees also have to face the risk of facing all the legal action for improper closure of the India operations. The employees are at a huge risk of facing customer and vendor legal action (civil and criminal action)', the letter ends.

Liberty Media and Robert Schmitz the current Chief Restructuring Officer of Worldspace , Inc., USA wants to escape from the liabilities in India while retaining the assets for encashing the India business opportunity in India at a later date. the letter says.

Source:http://www.radioandmusic.com

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Radio City enters cyber space with live online radio

Music Broadcast Private Limited (MBPL) owned radio venture Radio City has ventured into the internet radio space with a live online radio christened 'Fun ka antenna'.

Although many FM radio stations in India have their presence on the web, Radio City could well stake claim to becoming the first Indian radio station to stream live music over the web.

The station, hosted on Radio City's website Planet Radio City, broadcasts shows for 10 hours from 10 am to 8 pm. These shows are hosted by different RJs for each slot just like a commercial FM station.

Source: http://www.radioandmusic.com/

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Special Announcement for India Subscribers to WorldSpace Satellite Radio

Dear customer,

On December 31, 2009, the WorldSpace satellite radio broadcast service will
be terminated for all customers serviced from India.

This action is an outgrowth of the financial difficulties facing WorldSpace
India's parent company, WorldSpace, Inc., which has been under bankruptcy
protection since October 2008. The potential buyer of much of WorldSpace's
global assets has decided not to buy the WorldSpace assets relating to and
supporting WorldSpace's subscription business in India. As a consequence,
WorldSpace, Inc. must discontinue its subscriber business in India. Your
subscription contract is with WorldSpace, Inc., a US company that is in a
bankruptcy proceeding in the United States. The company recognizes that you
may have paid for services to be rendered beyond the termination date, but
is not in a position to offer a refund for any unused portion of your
subscription.

You may have a potential remedy under the U.S. bankruptcy law. You may file
a claim under the claims procedure that is intended to protect creditors of
the bankrupt company. Sometime early next year, a claim servicing company
will send notice to all creditors listed by the company. In order to ensure
that you receive timely notice, we would request that you send the following
information by mail or email to Rakesh Raghavan at WorldSpace, Inc.
headquarters in the United States.

1. Name
2. Address
3. Email
4. Subscription Account Number
5. Date of Subscription
6. Length of Subscription
7. Amount paid for your current subscription

Send this information to: By email -- CustomerServiceUS @ worldspace.com or
by regular mail – Rakesh Raghavan, WorldSpace, Inc. 8515 Georgia AV, Silver
Spring, MD 20910 USA.

Our sincere apologies for this circumstance.
s/ Robert Schmitz
Chief Restructuring Officer
WorldSpace, Inc.
---------------------
Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi

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Airtel DTH to replace WorldSpace with AIR channels

Airtel DTH is all set to replace WorldSpace services from its platform with
10 radio channels of All India Radio

Indian subscribers to WorldSpace radio services are praying for a miracle so

that it can continue to broadcast signals beyond 31st December. However,
there is a thin line of hope for the continuation of WorldSpace operations
in India.
Airtel direct to home (DTH) that offers WorldSpace radio services to
subscribers in India said that from 1st January, it will replace WorldSpace
with 10 radio channels of All India Radio (AIR).
According to sources, Airtel DTH will start sending messages to subscribers
from Thursday. Interestingly, just last month, Airtel DTH's chief marketing
officer, Sugato Banerji, had said that when other DTH service providers
selected AIR FM channels, Airtel went for WorldSpace and this was a key
differentiator.
India accounts for over 95% of WorldSpace's worldwide subscriber base with
over 450,000 subscribers, more than 50% through the Airtel DTH pay-TV
package. However, WorldSpace India was not earning enough cash from its deal

with Airtel DTH. The DTH services provider offered 10 channels of WorldSpace

for Rs10 per month or Rs120 a year, with subscribers to its Rs200 package
and above getting the radio channels absolutely free of cost.
At the same time, WorldSpace charged Rs2,000 per annum for its 40 channels.
So in a way, the deal was not profitable for WorldSpace but helped it to
increase subscriber base in the country.

Secondly, the emergence of FM channels throughout the country, especially in

the metros, proved to be a major hindrance to WorldSpace's growth. There
were a few factors that worked in favour of FM channels. The major factor
was the ease of listening to FM channels while travelling across the city.
Due to licensing limits, WorldSpace was not able to offer the same.
According to analysts, the radio services business in the country is worth
Rs830 crore and it will grow by a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of
14% to Rs1,600 crore over the next four years. The Indian government had
announced the bids for phase III licenses across 700 frequencies in about
200 cities. This will further boost growth of FM channels in India.
Recently, US-based Liberty Media Corp bought all debt of WorldSpace through
its unit Liberty Satellite Radio LLC. Earlier this year, Liberty Media
rescued another satellite radio service provider Sirius XM from bankruptcy
by providing a timely loan of $520 million. In return, Liberty Media secured

40% stake in Sirius XM.
According to media reports, Mel Karmazin, chief executive of Sirius XM, had
said that the company may partner with fellow satellite radio services
provider WorldSpace, which is also partially controlled by Liberty. He said
that the deal most likely would involve using its relationships to help the
struggling company build satellite radio equipment and connect with
automakers, with Liberty adding financial support.
WorldSpace has revenues of $4.70 million as of 30th November; however,
during the same period, its operating expenses and reorganisation costs
stood at $52 million. WorldSpace had $1.10 million unpaid post-petition
debts outstanding for end-November that were supposed to be paid in
December.
According to media reports, Liberty Media, which has bought the assets of
WorldSpace, is most likely to redirect it towards Western Europe, which
boasts of 300 million vehicles on the road. The other possibility is that
Liberty Media may use these WorldSpace assets to target South America,
especially Brazil, which has hardly any players in the satellite radio
space. This could mean robust growth for the company.
The question whether Liberty Media would continue WorldSpace's India
operations or use the assets for other lucrative regions, remains
unanswered. The only thing we can say at this moment is that WorldSpace
radio services will be no longer present in India from 1st January, unless
of course, there is a miracle!

http://moneylife. in/article/ 8/3012.html

---------
Alokesh Gupta
New Delhi

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ADXB-OE QSL-Action in cooperation with Radio Slovakia International

Dear Listeners,

Together with Radio Slovakia International, the Austrian DX Board (ADXB) is sponsoring an initiative for a special QSL card for correct reception reports between 1 November-2009 and 31 January 2010.

This is part of the celebrations on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of ADXB, the only Austrian DX club.

The special QSL card may be earned under the following conditions:

• Irrespective of club affiliation, any correct reception report about a transmission of Radio Slovakia International between 1 November-2009 and 31 January 2010 will be honoured with a special QSL card.

• Only ONE special QSL card will be issued per operating frequency.

• Any reports that do not compy with these conditions shall be verified with a standard card from Radio Slovakia International (RSI), and shall not count towards the statistics of the ADXB sponsored initiative.

• The reception report must be submitted via the following address: ADXB, P.O.B. 1000, A-1081 VIENNA, Austria.

• All six language services of Radio Slovakia International shall take part in the initiative. These are: Slovak, German, Russian, Englich, French, and Spanish.

• The handling fee is 1 IRC, 1 USD or 1 EUR. The fee is determined for the cost recovery of ADXB-club, whereas RSI isn´t eligible to receive handling fees.

The QSL cards will be sent directly from Bratislava. Please check the websites of ADXB-OE ( www.adxb.at) and Radio Slovakia International ( www. rsi.sk ) for the current transmission schedule. Information is also available by snail mail.

All transmissions originate from the Slovak short wave centre at Rimavska Sobota.

If you have any further questions, please contact ADXB, P.O.B. 1000, A-1081 VIENNA, Austria, or use the following e-mail address adxbsuess@aon.at in German, English, French, Italian or Spanish.

Have fun and lots of success!

Harald Süss

Meow FM enters Himachal

Meow FM channel, a 24-hour station of the India Today group, has launched its services in Shimla on 104.8 frequency. "The Meow experience is full of good music, sensible talk, humour and live interaction," said head of programming, Shimla station, Shraddha Mishra. The Shimla FM channel was launched by Chief Minister P K Dhumal.
"The Shimla station will cover nearby areas including the towns of Bilaspur, Solan, Sarahan, Kasauli, Mandi, Kufri, Rohru and Narkanda," he said.
- Himachal.us 14/12

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DDH47 147.3 khz in QRSS 3

DDH47 147.3 khz in QRSS 3

In Honor of Nobelprize Winner Marconi and Prof. Ferdinand Braun a special transmission will be Date:

10. Dec 2009 Time: Start 2300 UTC

Frequ. 147,3 kc

Mode: QRSS 3

PWR: 20 kW

The weather forcast transmitter Pinneberg DDH47 will stop RTTY ( 50 Bd) transmission in between 10. Dec 2300h UTC and 11. Dec 001 UTC In this timegap, the TX will be used for a special event transmission. Short words in QRRS 3 will be transmitted. After the transmission You may confirm the receiving at a shortwave frequency or via Internet ( QRG and adress will be given later) You may check propagation every day / night at 147,3 Kc DDH47, because the TX is working 24 Hours.
More details on
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDH47 (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India Via IWØHK)

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