From news.cs.tut.fi!news.funet.fi!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!nic-nac.CSU.net!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!psgrain!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!alberta!ve6mgs!usenet Wed May 4 08:35:26 EET DST 1994 Article: 4944 of rec.radio.info Xref: news.cs.tut.fi rec.radio.shortwave:30693 rec.radio.info:4944 Path: news.cs.tut.fi!news.funet.fi!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!nic-nac.CSU.net!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!psgrain!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!alberta!ve6mgs!usenet From: 70247.3516@CompuServe.COM (George Wood) Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave,rec.radio.info Followup-To: rec.radio.shortwave Subject: SCDX 2199 Date: Tue, 3 May 1994 08:12:50 -0600 Organization: Finnish University and Research Network Lines: 427 Message-ID: <$scdx2199.1994@ampr.org> Approved: rec-radio-info@ve6mgs.ampr.ab.ca ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: MediaScan :: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2199--May 3, 1993 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2199 All times UTC unless otherwise noted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- BROADCASTERS IN CYBERSPACE: More and more broadcasters are going online on the Internet, the global network of networks, which has something like 40 million users. SWEDISH RADIO--Sweden has more Internet users per capita than any other country in the world, and media here are going online as well. Swedish Televison has been announcing an Internet address. And Swedish Radio has more ambitious plans. Kent Berggren of Swedish Radio's Information Technology Department is reponsible for setting up our network, and we interviewed him into today's edition of MediaScan. Swedish Radio's Science Department, recently relocated to Uppsala north of Stockholm, is now connected the Internet. Initially this is being used to provide a mailbox for listeners, but ultimately journalists will have access to research reports on academic databases. The national pop and rock channel P3 and the classical music channel P2 have also been connected to Internet, and the other departments are due to follow. We've received letters from two listeners asking about Radio Sweden's activities on the Internet. Velleni Giovanni in Italy wants to now if the Electronic Edition of MediaScan is available on the Net, and Bruce Brolsma, who seems to be in the United States, although it's hard to tell from his Internet address, wants to know if there are any plans for Radio Sweden to make available feature articles or newscasts in digital form for distribution via the Internet. First of all, we have an Internet address, which is actually a CompuServe mailbox which is accecssible from the Internet. That address is: 70247.3516@compuserve.com The MediaScan bulletins are uploaded to a variety of places twice a month. There's the HamNet Forum on CompuServe and a similar section on America Online, the Radio Netherlands/NOS bulletin board and the PICS Online RBBS in New Jersey. They should also be found on the Shortwave Echo on Fidonet, and relayed as well on radio amateurs' packet radio bulletin boards. As far as the Internet is concerned, I'm really not sure all the places where the bulletins can be found now, but one sure place is the Usenet news group called rec.radio.shortwave We have plans to establish ourselves on the Internet in a bigger way, with access to frequency schedules and perhaps even newscasts. Hopefully we'll be able to insert files of digital sound from interviews in these online bulletins. But that's still in the future. USA--Internet access seems to be everywhere. In the United States, the NBC Nightly News often ends with an Internet address, which (if I recall correctly) is: nightly@rca.ge.com National Public Radio announces an Internet address for contributions to the puzzle competitions in the Sunday version of "Weekend Edition": wesun@clark.net MTV has established itself on the Internet at MTV.com Because images and music are being digitalized, the MTV section not only includes information, you can also download digital recordings of new releases, and even view video, if you've got the right equipment. The service has been set up by VJ Adam Curry, who recently announced he was quiting (apparently the freedom of cyberspace has soured him on working for a giant company like Viacom). MTV.com is to get a new name. And according to the February 6, 1994 edition of the "San Francisco Examiner", Adam Curry is set to become a host on C/NET, the cable network specializing in computers and video-age information. Thorsten Koch's "Internet Guide to Shortwave Broadcasters" (see below under "Publications") lists a number of stations like Radio Sweden who have mailboxes, such as Radio Netherlands, Monitor Radio, Radio for Peace International in Costa Rica, Radio Havana Cuba, HCJB in Ecuador, and Radio Austria International. The Voice of America is starting to make extensive use of the Internet, with news and schedules available through what is called a gopher server at: gopher.voa.gov Radio Japan is offering similar information at: gopher.ntt.jp ("Internet Guide to Shortwave Broadcasters") BBC--Another station which is about to establish itself on the information super highway in a big way is the British Broadcasting Corporation. Right now the "Write On" program on World Service announces "...Internet subscribers can find the BBC address on the shortwave users bulletin board." But the entire BBC is getting involved in the Internet much more extensively, by setting up something called the Networking Club. We interviewed the Networking Club's Project Director Peter Ryding, who told us that the club is set for launch in early June. It will allow members who join to have access to a computer bulletin board called "Auntie" (for non-Brits, the BBC is often referred to affectionately as "Auntie Beeb"), as well as access to the Internet. It's being set up as part of BBC Education to introduce and train the British public in the joys of computer networking. The BBS will carry information about the BBC, about programs concerned with computers, fact sheets about many BBC programs, and in the longterm the public will be able to communicate with program-makers. Internet users from outside the UK will be able to access information about the BBC, and will be admitted to Auntie itself if they pay the small monthly subscription fee. Initially the service will be text-only, but sound and image files will be included later. CNN/INTEL--Chip-maker Intel has announced it is forging an alliance with the Cable News Network to offer a software package that provides a rudimentary interactive version of CNN's TV news programming over networks of personal computers. By digitally compressing the TV signal, Intel will solve the tricky problem of transmitting video and sound over a network. each channel will take up less than 5% of a typical computer network's bandwidth. Initially, users will be able to do little more than store TV clips for later viewing. But eventually they will be able to meld those clips with data from online information services. ("The Economist") EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS: ASTRA--the German TV channel VOX was still on Astra at 10:00 hrs UTC on Tuesday, even though some reports said they only had enough money to last through the end of April. The Chinese Channel, which uses UK Living's transponder 34 between midnight and 4:00 AM British time, has chosen to encrypt in Crytovision, rather than Videocrypt. (James Robinson) There have been some strange teletext experiments on British Sky Broadcasting's transponder 47 on Astra, due to become Sky Sports 2, using page 666. (James Robinson) British Sky Broadcasting is to lease 40 digital audio subcarriers on Astra to Digital Music Express for an 86 channel direct-to-home audio service later this year. ("Satnews" and "In Orbit") EUTELSAT--From May 1st Super Channel was to carry Dutch and German sound subcarriers. ("In Orbit") It hasn't happened yet. Following the delays caused by the Ariane crash in January, Eutelsat is negotiating with General Dynamics to launch its Hot Bird Plus satellite. (AP) Hot Bird Plus is to be placed at 13 degrees East, alongside the existing Eutelsat II-F1 and Eutelsat II-F6, scheduled to be launched by Ariane later this year. INTELSAT--There's an audio tone on the 7.38 MHz audio subcarrier on Intelsat 601 on the Parliamentary Channel (11.055 GHz). Another in-store audio service, from British Home Stores, has begun on the Wire-TV transponder (11.505 GHz) on 7.38 MHz. (James Robinson) NETHERLANDS--There's been a major re-organization of Radio Netherlands, the Dutch World Service (and home of "Media Network"). Broadcasts in Indonesian, Arabic, Portguese, and French are going off the air. That will leave only Dutch, English, and Spanish direct broadcasts. Shortwave broadcasts in Dutch to Western Europe will increase from 3 to 10 hours a day. And there will be 3 hours a day of broadcasts in English to Western Europe. The changes will result in 70 job cuts, out of a total work force of 450 worldwide. (AP) FRANCE--On April 12th, France began transmissions of digital audio broadcasting to the region around Paris. Unfortunately, there are as yet no consumer receivers for DAB. (France Inter via BBC Monitoring) MIDDLE EASTERN MEDIA NEWS: ORBIT--The Orbit Communications satellite TV and radio network is currently broadcasting a promotional film about its forthcoming services at 17:00 hrs UTC daily on the 4080 MHz transponder on the Arabsat-1D satellite at 20 degrees East. Orbit services are uplinked to the satellite from Italy. According to the film, the 20 channel service will include: Orbit I, Orbit II, Orbit News (including ABC, CBS, and NBC), Super Movies, BBC Arabic, Orbit Sports ESPN, Music Now, the Hollywood Channel, the First Egyptian Channel, the Second Egyptian Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Fun Channel, America Plus, All News Channel, CNN, C-SPAN, Radio Orbit for Classical Music, Radio Orbit for Pop Music, Radio BBC in English, and Radio Orbit for Arabic Music. (BBC Monitoring) TURKSAT--The second Turksat satellite, Turksat 1-B, is to be launched on July 12th from French Guyana. This follows the loss of Turksat 1-A in the Ariane crash in January. The new Ariane launch will also carry Brasilsat B. (Anatolia News Agency via BBC Monitoring) ASIAN MEDIA NEWS: CHINA--A massive explosion at China's Xichang space launching center in Sichuan last month destroyed a USD 25 million weather satellite, and has dealt a new blow to the country's launch program. The April 2 blast killed at least one person, injured more than 20, and destroyed a laboratory along with the first Fengyun 2 geostationary weather satellite. "Newsweek" magazine says the accident is likely to delay six launches scheduled for later this year. (Reuters) MTV AND STAR--A month after dumping BBC World Service Television from one of its Asiasat channels, apparently to appease the Chinese, Rupert Murdoch's Star-TV has split with MTV, over revenues. MTV says it will launch English and Mandarin Chinese music video channels on the Apstar 1 satellite due to be launched in July, switching later to the more powerful Apstar 2, set to go up in December. The English channel will be in the clear, the Mandarin Channel will be by subscription. (Reuters, AP) NORTH AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS: BLOCKBUSTER--The planned merger of Blockbuster Video and Viacom looks increasingly unlikely. There's speculation on Wall Street that telephone companies or the Walt Disney Company may make a run at the video retailer instead. (AP) DIRECTV--DirecTV is to begin offering its direct satellite service in five US cities by June. Viewers will use a USD 699 satellite system and 18 inch antenna to pick up 150 channels of programming, although at launch around 75 basic, subscription, and pay-per-view channels are to be offered. Full national roll-out is slated for September or October of this year. (After the launch of the DBS-2 satellite.) ("Satnews") TCI--Tele Communications Inc. says it will deliver its first full-scale digital television programming service to 20 rural American communities by early 1995, with up to 300 channels available within a year of launch. General Instruments will provide digital set-top boxes for the service. ("Satnews") Presumeably this is a satellite service, although it might be intended to be sent over telephone lines. LATIN AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS: HCJB/TWR--Religious radio broadcasters HCJB in Ecuador and Trans World Radio have begun three months of satellite tests. During the time TWR plans to put at least 6 radio stations on the air in Latin America. Tentatively, three stations will be added each month from July through December, totally 26 stations by the end of 1994. The 24 hour satellite service is known as ALAS, "America Latina via Satelite", and is the first Christian radio satellite network to be established in Latin America. (TWR via BBC Monitoring) A lot of North American shortwave listeners would probably love to have HCJB on a clear analog audio subcarrier on a North American satellite. They won't be able to access ALAS. AFRICAN MEDIA NEWS: BURUNDI--Radio Burundi was heard again on 6140 khz on April 15th for the first time since March 27th. (BBC Monitoring) PUBLICATIONS: SATELLITE TIMES--The publishers of "Monitoring Times" magazine in the United States are launching a new magazine for satellite monitoring. Called "Satellite Times", it should appear in August, and will initially be bimonthly. It's intended to cover every phase of satellite communications, including commercial, military, broadcasting, amateur, scientific, government, and even private satellite systems. There will also be news from NASA, satellite launch announcements, technical information, product announcements, and equipment reviews. Most of these topics are international, and besides a North American TVRO column, there will also be an International TVRO column. A charter 6 issue subscription will cost USD 17 in the US, USD 24 in Europe for surface, USD 26 for air mail. More information from: Satellite Times, Box 98, Brasstown, NC 28902, USA. (Tel. 1-800-438-8155 in the US, international +1-704-837-9200.) INTERNET ACCESS--One of the best introductions to the Internet around is "The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog" by Ed Krol, available from O'Reilly & Associates. A good way to keep to date with changes is "Wired" magazine from San Francisco. And a very user-friendly program to interface with the complexities of the Internet is called World Wide Web. Thorsten Koch has sent us his "Internet Guide to Shortwave Broadcasters". Thorsten writes: Originally, this is a list I have compiled for the German DX club ADDX e.V. The intention of this list is to give a directory to the Internet's users who are in the (especially: shortwave) broadcasting business. There are many FAQ's in Usenet's rec.radio.shortwave group such as: "How can I email station ...?". I hope that this list will reduce these questions and have compiled a compilation of many station's addresses. Also included are some club addresses and specialist's addresses. This list is not a list of "Undocumented EMails addresses" ! The addresses have been authorized be the owners of the addresses. I also included some gopher, ftp and Usenet news info, maybe there will be more infos in future issues. Thorsten Koch ----------------------------------------------------------------------- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This list is available through 1) regular updates through Usenet's rec.radio.info & rec.radio.shortwave 2) on ftp server ftp.funet.fi: /pub/dx/text/general.lists/Guide.ADDX 3) for the German speaking population: Diese Liste ist - in einer speziellen deutschen Ausgabe - auch gegen DM 1,00 Rueckporto erhaeltlich erhaeltlich ueber die ADDX e.V., Leserservice, Postfach 130124, D-40551 Duesseldorf ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Contributions - changes, corrections, news - to this + + list are always welcome. For any reprinting permis- + + sions in DX-publications or commercial use please + + consult + + + + Thorsten Koch + + Eichenstr. 107 + + D-26131 Oldenburg + + Germany + + + + Internet: thorsten.koch@informatik.uni-oldenburg.de + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweden Calling DXers/MediaScan is the world's oldest radio program about international broadcasting. Radio Sweden has presented this round-up of radio news, features, and interviews on Tuesdays since 1948. It's currently broadcast on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. Radio Sweden broadcasts in English: Europe and Africa: 16:15 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz 17:30 hrs on 1179, 6065, 9655, and 15390 kHz 20:30 hrs on 1179, 6065 and 9655 kHz 21:30 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz, and 22:30 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz Middle East and Africa: 17:30 hrs on 6065, 9655, and 15390 kHz 20:30 hrs on 6065 and 9655 kHz Asia and the Pacific: 11:30 hrs on 13775, 15120, and 15240 kHz 23:30 hrs on 11910 kHz and 01:30 hrs on 9695 and 11695 kHz North America: 12:30 and 13:30 hrs on 15240 and 17870 kHz 02:30 and 03:30 hrs on 6040 and 9850 kHz South America: 00:30 hrs on 6065 and 9850 kHz The broadcasts at 16:15, 17:30, 21:30, and 22:30 hrs (and weekends at 20:30) are also relayed to Europe by satellite: Astra 1B (19.2 degrees East) transponder 26 (Sky Movies Gold/TV Asia/Adult Channel) at 11.597 GHz, audio subcarrier at 7.74 MHz, Tele-X (5 degrees East) (TV4 transponder) at 12.207 GHz, audio subcarrier 7.38 MHz. Radio Sweden is also relayed to Europe via the World Radio Network on MTV's transponder 22 on Astra, audio 7.38 MHz, daily at 20:00 hrs UTC. Radio Sweden can also be heard on WRN's North American service on ASC-1, on SCOLA's transponder 23, audio 6.20 MHz, daily at 00:00 and 20:00 hrs. Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283, from MCI Mail or CompuServe to the CompuServe mailbox 70247,3516, from Internet to 70247.3516@compuserve.com, or to SM0IIN at the packet radio BBS SM0ETV. Reports can also be sent to: Radio Sweden S-105 10 Stockholm Sweden Contributions should be NEWS about electronic media--from shortwave to satellites--and not loggings of information already available from sources such as the "World Radio TV Handbook". Clubs and DX publications may reprint material as long as MediaScan/Sweden Calling DXers and the original contributor are acknowledged, with the exception of items from BBC Monitoring, which are copyright. We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition, Sweden Calling DXers, and our programs in general. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to this week's contributors Good Listening!