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.
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 | |||
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
BBC Radio 3 and World Service DJ Charlie Gillett dies
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
AWR DX Program "Wavescan" - Annual DX Contest - 2010 "Station Profiles"
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)
Thursday, February 04, 2010
2010 will be known as the year of radio
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
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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Monday, February 01, 2010
UADX has published its first Newsletter
If you want to read the Newsletter, click here
Radio Pakistan starts Tamil service
1300-1330 UTC on 11525 ISL 100 kW / 147 deg & 15630vISL 100 kW / 147 deg
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Thursday, January 21, 2010
Radio Netherlands partners AIR for co-production
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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Monday, January 18, 2010
Brighter days ahead for FM, community radio in India
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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Sunday, January 17, 2010
Radio Netherlands ties up with Web18
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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Thursday, January 07, 2010
Worldspace India team appeals to PM for intervention
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
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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Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Special Announcement for India Subscribers to WorldSpace Satellite Radio
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
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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Sunday, December 13, 2009
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
"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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Tuesday, December 08, 2009
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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Saturday, December 05, 2009
All India Radio's DRM Expansion Plans
Vineeta Dwivedi
Project Director, DRM Consortium
Information based on a presentation given earlier this year by M.C. AGGARWAL Chief Engineer (Projects) provided by AIR
About AIR
- AIR is a national service planned, developed and operated by the Prasar Bharati Broadcasting Corporation of India
- AIR has a network of 232 broadcasting centres with 149 MW, 54 SW and 171 FM transmitters.
- The coverage is 91.79% of the area , serving 99.14% of the people in the largest democracy of the world.
- AIR covers 24 Languages and 146 dialects in home services.
- In External services, it covers 27 languages; 17 national and 10 foreign languages.
Plan for 'Going Digital'
A sub-group of the Planning Commission of the Government of India on 'Going Digital' was formed headed by the Member Secretary, Planning Commission
and has laid down the migration path from analogue transmission to digital:
Step I- Delhi -2010
Step II - All mega cities -2011
Step III - All Tier II & Tier III cities -2012
Step IV - All other areas -2013
Nationwide Switch off of analogue broadcast by 2015
According to All India Radio, they adopted DRM due to the following reasons:
- DRM is the universal, openly standardized, digital radio system, endorsed by the ITU, and standardized by ETSI offering near-FM sound quality, ease-of-use and can be used for a range of audio content, text and data.
- DRM is compatible with existing AM bands (spectrum usage) and services and with other radio services . DRM operates within existing
spectrum allocations
- DRM provides an easy path of migration from analogue to digital broadcasting for a significantly large number of DRM compatible medium
and shortwave transmitters in the AIR network.
- DRM thus maximizes re-use of existing transmitters and transmission facilities
DRM Trials in India
- DRM Trials in India were carried out in Delhi in May, 2007. The trials were part of the DRM-AIR-ABU showcase project on DRM simulcast
technologies
- The principle objective of the project was to demonstrate and evaluate single channel simulcast which enables simultaneous transmission of
analogue and DRM digital medium wave signals using only one transmitter.
- The DRM-AIR-ABU Showcase Project also assessed local digital transmissions in the 26 MHz band
- Two transmitters sites in north Delhi were used for all tests.
SUMMARY OF SIMULCAST TRIAL RESULTS:
- The AM and DRM coverage using the simulcast mode was confirmed to be equivalent following a radial route from the transmitter. In some environments within this radial, DRM outperformed the AM reception
- A 100 Km coverage radius was achieved using a transmitted AM power of 96.17 KW and 3.82 KW of DRM signal.
- In the urban area, they properly covered by simulcast signal up to 15 KM more than 98% of correctly received locations
- Simulcast does not interfere significantly the transmitted AM signal using a set of representative receivers of the Indian market.
DRM Transmissions in India
- Encouraged by the trial results, AIR decided to implement DRM in Shortwave.
- 250 KW SW transmitter at Khampur (near Delhi) was modified to make it DRM compatible.
- The transmitter was adopted for analog, digital and simulcast operation.
- AIR started regular DRM service from this transmitter with a formal launch on 16th January, 2009.
- Approx 5 hours of transmission are beamed towards listeners in the UK and Europe between 2315 to 0400 IST on 9950 KHz, with an additional 3 hours of local transmission within India from 1430 to 1730 IST on 6100 kHz.
Plan For Digitalization Of All India Radio
- There are plans to introduce DRM transmissions in 34 new medium wave DRM transmitters in replacement scheme
- 36 existing medium wave transmitters shall be converted for DRM operation
- 5 new shortwave transmitters shall be installed in replacement scheme
- Installation of 2 one megawatt MW transmitters
Challenges:
- Ensuring good reception in urban area full of concrete structures & man-made noise
- Cost of conversion of Transmitters
- Availability of receivers
- Cost of receivers
- Low-power consumer receivers
Message from AIR "The most important issues shall be to make available DRM receivers at affordable cost to the vast masses of India. It is expected that receiver manufacturers in India and abroad shall address this issue as DRM is progressively implemented in the next five years".
(Excerpts from the EBU-DRM presentation by Vineeta Dwivedi,Project Director, DRM Consortium --- Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE New Delhi, India)
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Thursday, December 03, 2009
World Radio TV Handbook 2010
The Features section this year includes a look at some of the classic receivers of the Cold War period, a visit to the World Service of the BBC, a Samoan Radio Journey and our regular Digital Update.
Price: 23.00 GBP each
Order to:
You may contact them by telephone or fax on +44 (0)1865 514405 or by email: sales@wrth.com. Their phone lines are very busy and so they recommend using email. More details on http://www.wrth.com/
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
DX QUIZ 2009
In 2009 the Ardic DX Club celebrates its 11th anniversary. For 11 years it has been the primary source of information for dxing enthusiasts all over the Tamil Nadu, India. In order to celebrate this event, a quiz is being organised. The quiz is open to anyone, regardless of location or club membership. The quiz does not solely deal with Tamil Dxing, but covers very different radio aspects. Answering following 25 questions you can show your radio knowledge.
No quiz without prizes of course. You wish to contribute a prize? Please contact me! And to make the contest interesting to everybody, a few prizes will be given anomaly to entrants. So if the questions look hard, participate anyway.
Schedule
Quiz starts from 1 November 2009, Last date for the entry 30 January 2009
See the Quiz Questions on the special website http://dxquiz.wordpress.com/
Send your answers to
T.Jaisakthivel,
59, Annai Sathya Nagar,
Chennai – 600 106,
India
Mint Stamp / IRC
Every entry will get the special pennant in the memory of The External Services of All India Radio's 70th anniversary. Every entry must send one reception report of any frequency of All India Radio for the 70th anniversary special QSL. Indian listeners must send Rs.10/- mint stamp for postage and International listeners must send 2 IRC or 2 US $.
For more details
ardicdxclub (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) in
[Jaisakthivel]
///////////////////////
For Contact: Jaisakthivel,59,Annai Sathya Nagar,
Arumbakkam,Chennai-600106,India
Visit: www.dxersguide.blogspot.com
www.sarvadesavaanoli.blogspot.com
Join: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sarvadesavanoli
Mobile: +91 98413 66086
///////////////////////
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Voice of Russia Listeners Conference in New Delhi
in Russia during 2009, Voice of Russia Hindi service is organising a
listeners conference in New Delhi for radio listeners at Russian Science &
Cultural Centre, New Delhi.
The 4th Voice of Russia listeners conference will be held for two days as
foll :
Dec 15, 2009 (Tues) - 11am to 1 pm IST
Dec 16, 2009 (Wed) - 11am to 1 pm IST
Venue :
Russian Science & Cultural Centre
Embassy of Russia Cultural Department
# 24 , Feroz Shah Road
New Delhi 110001.
E - mail: delhi@russiancentre .org.in
-------
Alokesh Gupta,VU3BSE
New Delhi
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Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Community radio to roll out in Haryana
With this the number of CRS will increase to 60 in the country.
A Letter of Intent had been issued to the Institute after recommendations of Inter Ministerial Committee and seeking requisite clearances from various Ministries. The Community Radio Station is expected to be operational within three months as per the agreement.
The objective of the CRS is to reach out to the communites, particularly those who are poor, literally challenged farmers and socially culturally underprivileged people. The CRS aims to address issues that concern the community through participatory programmes, and improve the quality of life in general and agricultural activities of the farmers in particular. It will be beneficial to communities surrounding suburban areas of Hissar.
The CRS programs will be based on developmental, agricultural, health, educational, environmental, social welfare, community development and cultural programs.
Source: http://www.radioandmusic.com
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Monday, November 30, 2009
Sustainability haunts Community radio
Held at Juhu in suburban Mumbai, the two day workshop- 'Community Radio: tuning into diversity' offered guidelines on setting up, managing and sustaining a community radio station.
Operational community run stations in India like DDS Sangham, Mangalore based Radio Sarang, MVSS from Satara, Radio Bundelkhand, Radio Ujjas of Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanghatan, related their success stories which emphasized on community involvement.
More details on radioandmusic.com
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Mahila Sewa Trust's CRS starts operations at Sanand
Mahila Sewa Trust was the 49th licensee in the country to get a CRS licence.
The programmes highlight community participation. They cover different subjects including health, water, agriculture, animal husbandry, national and international events. Source: Indiantelevision.com
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Sunday, November 29, 2009
Cricket Australia and ABC Radio continue 76-year relationship
The new agreement will see exclusive ball-by-ball coverage of international Test and one-day cricket, interstate one-day and Twenty20 games on either ABC Local Radio, ABC Grandstand Digital Radio or online, at either abc.net.au/grandstand or cricket.com.au.
For broadcast details go to abc.net.au/grandstand.
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Thursday, November 26, 2009
LISTENING ON THE SHORT WAVES, 1945 TO DAY
ISBN: 0786439963
Sale Indian Price: Rs.3,964.04
ISBN-13: 9780786439966
Pages: 423
Publisher: McFarland
Weight: 1.9 Kilograms
Binding: Hardcover
Language: English
BROADCASTING ON THE SHORT WAVES, 1945 TO TODAY
ISBN: 0786436743
Sale Indian Price: Rs 4,214.96
ISBN-13: 9780786436743
Pages: 496
Publisher: McFarland
Weight: 2.3 Pounds
Binding: Hardcover
Language: English
Dimension: 10.0 x 7.2 x 1.4 Inches
Pub. Year: 2008
Order the book on the following link
http://www.a1books.co.in/itemdetail/0786439963/LISTENING-ON-SHORT-WAVES-1945/
Contact the sellers on
WebNotions Books India Pvt Ltd / A1Books India
F-18, 2nd Floor, Sector-8
Noida, U.P. 201301
India
Phone: +91 0120 4144406/07
(Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India)
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The Voice of Tigers - Pulikalin Kural – IBC Tamil
In 1990, the Pulikalin Kural started in Jaffna, whereas it withstand from various attacks over it. 23 times it get attacted but still to service again. When the people lost their lives on May 16 the voice of tigers had also stopped its service.
Voice of Tiger also live stream on
http://www.pulikalinkural.com/
http://www.votradio.com/live/live.html
They also broadcast in satellite. The details follow.
Name: NTR- Tamil
Satellite: Eurobird 9
Frequency: 11919
Polarization: Vertical
Symbol Rate: 27500
Fec : ¾
Shortwave frequency
IBC Tamil at 0000-0100 UTC on 6045 (via Nauen, Germany)
November 25, 26, 27, 2009
1000-1300 UT on 17560 KHz,
1300-1400 UT on 11510 kHz.
November 27, 2009
1400-1500 UT on 11510 kHz
1500-1800 UT on 6225 kHz
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
IBC Tamil resumed shortwave today
Another Glenn Hauser exclusive: There will be some IBC Specials to Sri Lanka (live coverage of a conference)
November 25, 26, 27, 1000-1300 UT 17560, 1300-1400 11510 kHz.
November 27, 1400-1500 UT 11510 kHz; 1500-1800 6225 kHz
(it`s been rather hastily arranged) (WRN UT Nov 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
DX QUIZ 2009
No quiz without prizes of course. You wish to contribute a prize? Please contact me! And to make the contest interesting to everybody, a few prizes will be given anomaly to entrants. So if the questions look hard, participate anyway.
Schedule
Quiz starts from 1 November 2009, Last date for the entry 30 January 2009
See the Quiz Questions on the special website http://dxquiz. wordpress. com/
Send your answers to
T.Jaisakthivel,
59, Annai Sathya Nagar,
Chennai – 600 106,
India
Mint Stamp / IRC
Every entry will get the special pennant in the memory of The External Services of All India Radio's 70th anniversary. Every entry must send one reception report of any frequency of All India Radio for the 70th anniversary special QSL. Indian listeners must send Rs.10/- mint stamp for postage and International listeners must send 2 IRC or 2 US $.
For more details
ardicdxclub (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) in
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Monday, November 16, 2009
ஐ.பி.சி. தமிழ் ஒலிபரப்பு நிறுத்தம்
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Community radio stations welcome MIB's DAVP plans
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, on 4 November 2009, passed a government resolution finalizing the DAVP advertising rates for community radio stations to Re. 1/- per second for a period of one year initially.
The circular from the Information and Broadcast Ministry on Re. 1/sec advertising rates for DAVP ads has received mixed reactions from the community radio operators in India.
The Empanelment Advisory committee has recommended guidelines for operating community radio stations to seek advertisements/ sponsored programmes from the central and state governments and other organizations. These guidelines include that the CRS should have completed three months of continuous operation for a minimum of two hours of broadcasting every day. The empanelment will be considered by DG, DAVP on a case to case basis as and when a request is required.
Details story on http://www.radioandmusic.com
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Saturday, November 14, 2009
Radio St. Helena in Chennai
The following link will gives the reception quality of Radio St. Helena in Chennai, India.
Listen RSH in Chennai
Friday, November 13, 2009
Radio Vatican listeners meet
Pastoral Oriention Centre
Palarivattom
Kochi 682025, Kerala
The head of Asia Section of Vatican Radio Rev.Fr.Alphie Ben will be attending it.
More details from
Fr. Joseph Nicholas
Telephone 0484-2806227
Email: vrkochi@gmail.com
(Jose Jacob, VU2JOS)
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Thursday, November 12, 2009
Stickers from International Radios
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FM cos may get to operate multiple frequencies
the same city, I & B secretary Raghu Menon said on Thursday while addressing a roundtable meet organised by the Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) in Delhi.
Outlining the various proposals recommended in the draft note on FM radio expansion, Mr Menon said his ministry had proposed that multi-city networking be allowed for FM radio operators provided a certain percentage of the content remains local. At present, this facility is not permitted. The ministry has also recommended that the lock-in period for FM players be reduced from the current period of 5 years.
According to Mr Menon, the ministry may also allow FM radio players to carry limited news and non-news items like traffic and local events. But the news would be allowed to be sourced only from All India Radio relays. On foreign direct investment limit in FM radio, he said that I &B ministry favoured increasing the cap to 26%.
FM radio players have been demanding that the present 10 years license period be extended to 15 years as the radio industry is in a bad financial state. But Mr Menon said that the ministry will take a decision on license extension after some time.
He added that the 15% cap on ownership of frequencies across the country will continue (no company can own more than 15% of all stations in India) but added that this did not include border areas.
A final decision on all these proposals will be taken by the Union Cabinet and an announcement is expected to be made in January next year, said Mr Menon.
The third phase of the FM Radio expansion proposes adding 790 new channels in 290 towns which have a population of over 1 lakh.
But FM players don't want auctions to begin before the music royalty row is sorted out. In the last phase, at least 90 stations were not picked up. Analysts also say for the Phase-III bids to be successful, it is imperative that the music royalty issue is sorted out first.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
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Radio station begins operations from Tirupati
The 50 watt radio station which became operational in February 2007, under licence from the Ministry of I & PR with a transmission area of 5 km. radius, had to be shifted down to Tirupati as the hills surrounding the station and the thick vegetation around was seriously impeding its transmissions.
Source: http://www.hindu.com/
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Hamfest 2009 some goodies
First day cover
Hamfest Badge
Token for the breakfast
Some of the goodies which I bought there.
Empty QSL
Morse Code Learning & practice CD by VU3SQY
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
UK based United Radio launches India operations
The company aims to provide its services to the existing operators, investors, government and the regulatory bodies. United Radio has been the consultant to Malayalam Manorma's Radio Mango and Radio City for their programming and music strategies in the past.
Details story on http://www.radioand music.com
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Tuesday, November 10, 2009
I&B proposes 26% FDI, sourced news for Phase 3 of FM radio
Addressing the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit, Soni said the Ministry was in an advanced stage of considering a hike in the FDI cap to 26 per cent from the current 20 per cent, as recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
The Ministry's draft note has been sent to other Ministries including Law and Finance, and will be presented to the cabinet after due consultation. She indicated that the third phase of FM Radio licensing will commence early next year.
Addressing a session 'The Future of Indian Media and Entertainment', Soni again stressed the need for greater self-regulation by the media to uphold journalistic ethics since the Government had no intention of state-imposed regulation.
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.
Source: http://www.radioandmusic.com
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Monday, November 09, 2009
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Dxers Guide and B09 Booklet for sale
Dear Dxers,
Now you will get the wonderful issues of Dxers Guide and B09 Booklet available for sale. Which contain the new B09 schedules and lot of Dx related information in a pack of Two books. Annual subscription is Rs. 80/- only. For more details contact ardicdxclub (at) yahoo.co.in
RMRC RSD 2009 Party live in Internet
The RMRC plans to have a live CHAT, a webcam with audio so that
DXers can tell us about their reception conditions and about themselves
during the RSD 2009 broadcasts.
The RMRC plans to start the CHAT at about 19:00 UTC on 14. November 2009.
To find the RMRC in the Internet, go to our homepage www(.)rmrc(.)de
On the homepage, on the left side, select "RMRC WebCam".
The webcam picure will be updated about every minute.
You can CHAT with us using the chat-box just below the photo.
You can hear the streaming audio by starting SKYPE.
Start SKYPE on your computer.
SEARCH for :
"RMRC" AND ("Germany" or "Deutschland") AND "All Languages"
and then hit "Find"
NOTE: be SURE to use "Germany" or "Deutschland", otherwise you get
an address in Brazil or somewhere.
The result should be: RMRC rmrcev Germany, Frankfurt
ADD this NEW Contact to your Skype list of contacts.
For other information from the RMRC, see:
www(.)rmrc(.)de/StHelena.html for Radio St. Helena information
www(.)rmrc(.)de/QSLCalendar.html for the RMRC 2010 QSL Calendar
www(.)rmrc(.)de/Webcam.html for direct access to the webcam page
These addresses must be exactly as shown (upper and lower case letters).
For RSD 2009, RSH has set up a special email address :
--- to contact the RSH studio to take part in the program and
--- to take part in the drawing for RMRC 2010 QSL Calendars.
This special email address is: radio.announcements4669(at)msn.com
It is vital to use only lower case letters in this address.
Many thanks for your help and interest and with very best greetings,
Gary Walters , Station Manager of Radio St. Helena
Harald Gabler, Lutz Winkler, and Robert Kipp
Rhein-Main Radio Club , Frankfurt, Germany
Please pass this information along to your radio club and radio friends.
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009
FM industry struggles to stay afloat as Phase III looms
Fresh huge investments by broadcasters in Phase III seem doubtful, since the current players haven't succeeded to make monetary gains from Phase II. Apart from a few broadcasters, not many who spent exorbitant amounts for acquiring licenses have been able to milk their businesses. Players have to plan their investments as they are liable to renew their licenses acquired in phase I and phase II which would lapse on completion of ten years and would be open for rebidding.
Players in the first phase - Radio Mirchi with seven frequencies, Radio City with four, Red FM with three frequencies, Radio One, Vishaka FM, Power FM, Aamar FM would have to renew their licenses. Radio broadcasters had invested exorbitant amounts towards setting up of infrastructure and haven't yet recovered costs and only a few have managed to break even. In the current scenario where only the metros seem to be contributing towards profitability of the network, it is a question if broadcasters would like to sail in murky waters by investing in the smaller towns.
Walk into earlier phases
Going back, phase I saw city-based licenses being granted for 108 stations in 48 cities. Phase I auction was done in an 'open bid' process allowing eligible bidders to raise bids in a common forum. This was changed into 'closed bidding' in Phase II licensing where bidders submitted sealed bids for each station and the top bidders were granted licenses.
101 bids were received, aggregating to a license fee of approximately Rs.4.25 billion. [Source: FICCI Ernst & Young Report, 2004]. However, 64 of the bidders defaulted, as a result of which only 37 frequencies were allotted, corresponding to a total license fee of Rs. 1.59 billion. The unusually high license fee structure and year-on-year annual escalations of 15 per cent hampered FM radio growth in the country.
For reducing the burden on the radio broadcasters in Phase I, the fixed license fee structure was changed into an annual revenue sharing arrangement along with a one-time entry fee.
With a shift from fixed license fee to revenue share model and addressable of other issues of Phase I, the radio industry looked at next phase of bidding positively. In Phase II, cities were classified into 5 categories (A+, A, B, C and D) and around 250 private FM radio stations were initiated. For increasing the economic viability of stations, TRAI recommended that the restrictions on networking of programmes within the same operator across cities be removed. This would decrease the operating costs and help FM radio attain economies.
According to the Ernst & Young report, amongst the major players only one, Entertainment Network India Ltd. (ENIL) has shown some profitability, with most of the others unlikely to do so in the near future.
Advertising
Although it is touted as the cheapest medium, radio advertising hasn't gained impetus in India. Of the total advertising spend in India, the radio industry's share is around three to four per cent. This share is expected to rise substantially over the next few years, mainly due to the wide reach in the phase III and the interior markets offered by the medium.
PricewaterhouseCoopers in its report "Indian entertainment and media outlook 2009" projected the radio advertising industry to grow at a CAGR of 18 per cent over 2009-13, reaching Rs 19 billion in 2013 from the present Rs 8.3 billion in 2008; more than double its present size. In terms of share of ad pie, it is projected that the radio advertising industry will be able to increase its share from 3.8 per cent to 5.2 per cent in the next five years.
Industry observers point out that radio broadcasters are not concentrating on growing the medium and in a competitive scenario are merely eating each others' revenue. Radio broadcasters discount their inventories and offer lower competitive prices to get advertising shares from competing players, they aver.
The bottom-line of radio industry hasn't increased and the sector needs to create value proposition for the medium, is the consensus.
The burning issues
The biggest concern for operators is that of music royalties and the third phase has been delayed mainly because the issue stands unresolved. Both the radio and the music industry are eyeing the next copyright hearing scheduled for 14 December for a solution to the music royalty issue. Absence of a nationwide radio measurement metric is restricting the potential of the medium. Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) is currently available only in four metros and the non availability of the measurement in other cities and small towns poses a hindrance for media planners to include radio in their campaigns. Also, the current allegations of the radio broadcasters about the inconsistent data from RAM has stirred the air in the advertising sector regarding the reliability of the weekly data.
As Phase II regulations do not allow radio broadcasters to own more than one frequency in a city, the industry has been pushing the issue with the ministry, as well as lobbying for multiple licenses citing differentiation issues, and increasing the current FDI limit of 20 per cent to 26 per cent.
As broadcasters press for allowing news on private FM, the Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni last month suggested that a via media should be found where the channels can be permitted to broadcast some programmes other than just playing music.
If the ministry does indeed succeed in addressing the issues recommended by the radio industry, the radio players just might hit the jackpot with Phase III.
Send in your comments to: anita.iyer@indiantelevision.co.in
Source: http://www.radioandmusic.com
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DX MIX NEWS # 597
DX MIX NEWS # 597 03 November 2009
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AUSTRALIA B-09 for CVC International via DRW=Darwin:
Chinese to China
2200-2300 on 9585 DRW 250 kW / 340 deg
2300-0200 on 15170 DRW 250 kW / 340 deg
0400-0600 on 15250 DRW 250 kW / 340 deg
0600-1200 on 17635 DRW 250 kW / 340 deg
1200-1800 on 13685 DRW 250 kW / 340 deg
English to India
0930-1230 on 15535 DRW 250 kW / 303 deg
1230-1830 on 13635 DRW 250 kW / 303 deg
Indonesian to Indonesia
2300-0200 on 15250 DRW 250 kW / 290 deg
0400-1000 on 17820 DRW 250 kW / 290 deg
1000-1300 on 9890 DRW 250 kW / 290 deg
1300-1700 on 11925 DRW 250 kW / 290 deg
BURMA(non) Freq. change for Democratic Voice of Burma in Burmese via TRW:
1430-1530 NF 9430*ERV 300 kW / 100 deg to SEAs, ex 9415 in B-08
*strong co-ch China Radio International in Chinese till 1500
CHILE B-09 for Voz Crista / La Voz via SGO=Santiago:
Portuguese to Brasil
1800-2000 on 17860 SGO 015 kW / 045 deg DRM Sun-Thu
Spanish to Northern South America
1100-1200 on 9780 SGO 100 kW / non-dir till March 13
1200-0100 on 17680 SGO 100 kW / non-dir till March 13
1200-0200 on 17680 SGO 100 kW / non-dir from March 14
Spanish to Southern South America
1100-2200 on 9635 SGO 100 kW / 030 deg till March 13
1200-2200 on 9635 SGO 100 kW / 030 deg from March 14
2200-0100 on 9745 SGO 100 kW / 030 deg till March 13
2200-0200 on 9745 SGO 100 kW / 030 deg from March 14
GERMANY(non) Some Media Broadcast changes effective Nov.2:
WYFR Family Radio in English
1600-1700 on 9870 NAU 500 kW / 150 deg to EaAf, additional txion
HCJB Global in German
1700-1800 NF 3975 WER 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu, ex 1800-1900 on 6140 ISS
Gospel For Asia in various South East Asian langs
2330-0030 NF 7240 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to SEAs, ex 7200 ISS
INDIA Some B-09 frequency changes of All India Radio, effective Oct.28:
to WeAs
1615-1730 NF 6130+DEL 250 kW / 282 deg in Persian, ex 11585
1730-1945 NF 6280@BGL 500 kW / 300 deg in Arabic, ex 7550(13620 B-08)
1730-1945 NF 7305^ALG 250 kW / 282 deg in Arabic, ex 11585
+co-ch 1615-1730 Voice of Russia in English/French
@co-ch 1700-1800 Radio Pakistan in Persian
^co-ch 1745-1945 Voice of Russia in Arabic/English/Russian
1800-1900 VOIRI in Russian
from 1900 China Radio International in Romanian/Czech
to EaAf
1745-1945 NF 7400%DEL 250 kW / 245 deg in English, ex 15075
1745-1945 NF 9415 DEL 250 kW / 245 deg in English, ex 17670
%co-ch 1745-1945 Radio Bulgaria in German/French/English/Russian
1745-1800 China Radio International in Swahili
to No/WeAf
1745-1945 NF 6120&BGL 500 kW / 280 deg in English, ex 13605
1745-1945 NF 7410$ALG 250 kW / 282 deg in English, ex 15155
1945-2030 NF 6280 BGL 500 kW / 300 deg in French, ex 7550(13620 B-08)
1945-2030 NF 7410 BGL 500 kW / 280 deg in French, ex 13605
&co-ch 1745-1800 Radio Taiwan International in Russian
1745-1945 TRT/VOT in Turkish
1800-1900 WYFR Family Radio in Spanish
1900-1945 Voice of Russia in French
$co-ch 1745-1800 China Radio International in Russian+English!!!
to WeEu
1745-1945 NF 6180*BGL 500 kW / 320 deg in English, ex 7410
1745-1945 NF 7550#BGL 500 kW / 310 deg in English, ex 11620
1945-2045 NF 6180*BGL 500 kW / 320 deg in Hindi, ex 7410
1945-2045 NF 7550#BGL 500 kW / 310 deg in Hindi, ex 11620
2045-2230 NF 6180*BGL 500 kW / 320 deg in English, ex 7410
2045-2230 NF 7550#BGL 500 kW / 310 deg in English, ex 11620
*co-ch 1830-1930 VOIRI in French
1930-2000 PRW in Ukrainain
2000-2100 DWL in Russian
2215-2230 Cyprus BC in Greek Fri-Sun
#co-ch Sat & Sun Radio Amica in Italian
1745-1800 VOA in Kurdish
1800-1900 BBC in Dari
to EaAs/SoEaAs
2245-0045 NF 6055$BGL 500 kW / 060 deg in English, ex 11620
2245-0045 NF 7305!BGL 500 kW / 090 deg in English, ex 13605
$co-ch 2300-0045 REE in French/English
!co-ch 2245-2300 WYFR Family Radio in English
0030-0045 Vatican Radio in Portuguese
MOLDOVA(non) New time & frequency for Radio Mada International in French
1530-1600 on 15640*KCH 300 kW / 160 deg to MDC Sat/Sun till Oct.18
1530-1600 on 15670 KCH 300 kW / 160 deg to MDC Sat/Sun from Oct.24
*strong co-ch BBC/DW English in DRM mode
RUSSIA(non) Winter B-09 schedule of Tatarstan Wave in Tatar/Russian:
0510-0600 on 15105 SAM 160 kW / 065 deg to FE
0710-0800 on 9860 SAM 250 kW / 058 deg to RUS
0910-1000 on 11915 SAM 250 kW / 305 deg to WeEu
RUSSIA Winter B-09 of Radio Rossii in Russian:
0500-0800 on 9840 MSK 250 kW / 260 deg to WeEu
0825-1300 on 12075 MSK 250 kW / 260 deg to WeEu
1325-1600 on 7310 MSK 250 kW / 260 deg to WeEu
1625-2200 on 5905*MSK 250 kW / 260 deg to WeEu
*strong co-ch 1900-2000 RFI in Russian
RUSSIA Winter B-09 for Voice of Russia in DRM mode:
0200-0600 on 15735 K/A 090 kW / 213 deg to SoAs Ru/Ru/En/En
0700-0900 on 11635 MSK 035 kW / 260 deg to WeEu En/Ru
0900-1400 on 7325 KLG 015 kW / 220 deg to WeEu Ru/Ru/Ge/Ge/Ru
1400-1600 on 5905 MSK 035 kW / 260 deg to WeEu Ru/En
1400-1800 on 9675 MSK 035 kW / 260 deg to WeEu Ru/En/Ge/Fr
1600-1900 on 6145 KLG 015 kW / 220 deg to WeEu Ru/Fr/It
2000-2300 on 6105 KLG 015 kW / 220 deg to WeEu Fr/Fr/Ru
UZBEKISTAN B-09 for CVC International via TAC=Tashkent:
English to India
0030-0230 on 7395 TAC 100 kW / 153 deg
0230-0630 on 11970 TAC 100 kW / 153 deg
0630-0930 on 15700 TAC 100 kW / 153 deg
Hindi to India
0100-0400 on 9425 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg
0000-0400 on 6260 TAC 100 kW / 153 deg
0400-1100 on 13630 TAC 100 kW / 153 deg
1100-1400 on 9500 TAC 100 kW / 153 deg
1400-2000 on 6260 TAC 100 kW / 153 deg
ZAMBIA B-09 of CVC International via LUS=Lusaka:
English to West Africa and Nigeria
0400-0700 on 9430 LUS 100 kW / 315 deg
0700-1400 on 13590 LUS 100 kW / 315 deg
1400-1700 on 13650 LUS 100 kW / 315 deg
1700-2000 on 13590 LUS 100 kW / 315 deg
2000-2200 on 9505 LUS 100 kW / 315 deg
ZAMBIA B-09 for Christian Voice via LUS=Lusaka:
English to South and Central Africa
0600-1700 on 6065 LUS 100 kW / non-dir
1700-0600 on 4965 LUS 100 kW / non-dir
-----------------------------
Ivo Ivanov
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Sunday, November 01, 2009
BBC iD is the new sign in system for BBC Online.
BBC iD is the new sign in system for BBC Online. It's currently being rolled out across all services that require a user to register or sign in.
On Monday November 2nd we'll be switching all of the BBC's blogs to BBC iD from the previous BBC membership system. And in the New Year our message boards and other communities will be heading down the same route.
Read more about BBC iD on the BBC Internet Blog.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2009/10/welcome_to_bbc_id.html
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Making it easier to access BBC World Service on your internet radio
From the number of emails we've received we know that internet radios are getting more and more popular.
During the first half of October, many internet radio owners wrote in to tell us that they could no longer hear BBC World Service, and were asking why we'd stopped making our internet audio available.
Internet radios are devices that connect to your home broadband connection, usually via Wi-fi, and play radio stations over the internet. Rather than being limited by stations based near to where you are, they can play any of thousands of stations from all over the world.
To get to our audio, internet radios have to read from a list of stations provided by the company that makes the device. Although we have no direct control over the links that are provided, we do work with manufacturers and database providers to provide up-to-date links.
What we found last month was that one particular database provider had an old link to BBC World Service that we hadn't kept up to date. It took us a while to find this out because of the range of different devices that we were told had problems, but they were all getting an audio loop from the BBC saying that there were no programmes. I got in touch directly with some of you and together we managed to figure out what was going wrong.
What can you do if your radio is still wrong?
In most cases, there will be a menu on your radio to help you refresh the station list. Some radios may need their firmware - the software that runs the radio - to be updated. To do this, you should be able to find instructions online or in the box your radio came in.
It is also usually possible to manually enter a link to the radio station you're trying to listen to. One of the things that we've learned from last month's problems is that it's not easy finding this information for BBC World Service. To make this easier for everyone from now on, we've created a page that contains all of the direct links to our audio.
We will keep these links up to date, and if we need to make any changes to the way we stream, we will make sure these continue to work.
As well as playing live radio stations, many internet radios can access our on-demand streams, so you can listen to the latest edition of our programmes at any time. Finding direct links to these has also been tricky for some of our listeners, so we're including them on our new 'how to' page as well.
Hopefully this new page will be useful to everyone with an internet radio, and will help you to find the programmes you're trying to hear.
Karl Kathuria is Head of Digital Delivery, BBC World Service Future Media.
_____________________
www.dxersguide.blogspot.com
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