swissinfo/Swiss Radio International (SRI) is to broadcast its last shortwave and satellite radio programmes on October 30, 2004. As SRI goes off the air after nearly 70 years, a chapter in Swiss radio history comes to an end. swissinfo/SRI will in future focus exclusively on its multimedia news and information platform, www.swissinfo.org, which is available [...]
Posts from ‘October, 2004’
Al Jazeera confirms plan for English language channel
The Arab satellite news broadcaster al-Jazeera has made the formal announcement of its plan to set up an English language TV channel. The new channel is to provide 24-hour news coverage and is intended to act as a counterbalance to Western channels such as CNN and BBC World. Al-Jazeera International will strive to be independent [...]
New radio for Afghanistan offers rewards for capture of Bin-Ladin
A new radio station for Afghanistan, Radio Peace (Solh), has been heard on shortwave, the Dxing.info web site reported on 22 October.
The station is said to be a new phase in USA psychological warfare for Afghanistan. Previous psyops operations, under the name Information Radio, used weaker airborne and naval transmitters. The report says that [...]
ANP takes rival Novum Nieuws to court
Tomorrow a court in Amsterdam will hear a case brought by news agency ANP against its smaller rival Novum Nieuws, which supplies news to a growing number of Dutch broadcasters, including Radio 10 Gold. ANP accuses Novum of routinely breaking into its news stream using false passwords, a charge that is refuted by Novum. In [...]
New XM satellite receiver with time-shifting to be launched
Delphi Corp., the in-vehicle entertainment and electronics company, and XM Satellite Radio yesterday announced what they describe as a major milestone in consumer electronics - The Delphi MyFiâ„¢, the first personal, portable XM2GO satellite radio that delivers XM’s Ultimate PlayListâ„¢ anytime, anywhere - at home, at work, in the car and now, on the go. [...]
BBC global news chief says journalists must ask difficult questions
An international committee, chaired by the Director of the BBC’s Global News Division, is being established to investigate the dangers facing journalists around the world and to recommend ways to protect them in their work. Richard Sambrook, who is responsible for leading the BBC’s overall international news strategy across radio, TV and online, announced details [...]
Legendary broadcaster John Peel dies of heart attack
British broadcaster John Peel has died of a heart attack while on a working holiday in the Peruvian resort of Cuzco with his wife Sheila. He was 65. John Peel’s radio career spanned almost 40 years. He first became known through his show The Perfumed Garden on offshore station Radio London. After Radio London closed, [...]
Joker filing bogus radio and TV changes with the FCC
Someone apparently with inside knowledge of the computer system at the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been busy filing bogus applications for changes in the details of radio and TV stations in California. The bogus entries relate to such things as changes of transmitter site and changes of address. The FCC says it’s aware [...]
Report says Pay TV piracy a huge problem in Asia
The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets (CLSA) have issued the second annual report on the cost of pay-TV piracy in the region. It covers Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The report says that the cost of pay television piracy in [...]
Pakistan: PEMRA to grant 10 new licences
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) will grant 10 new licences to satellite television channels and FM radio stations after Ramazan. An official said yesterday that PEMRA had conducted three public hearings in Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar to grant licences. He said the authority did not believe in pre-censorship, but it had provided broad [...]
A legend returns ….The Laird is back!
Scotland’s most successful radio show makes its comeback for shortwave and web listeners worldwide on November 6th.
Jack McLaughlin’s Ceilidh began on floating station 242 Radio Scotland in 1966 as the antithesis of the BBC’s rather prim style of presenting traditional Scottish music. The ship borne station came to an end, but the show continued on [...]
Iran reintroduces shortwave for Europe and North America
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) is reintroducing shortwave transmissions beamed to Europe and North America for the new winter broadcasting season. According to the IRIB Web site, English will be available to Europe at 1930-2030 UTC on 6110 and 7320 kHz, and to North America at 0130-0230 UTC on 9580 and 6120 kHz. Other [...]
BBC says reports of huge staff cuts are “speculative”
The BBC has dismissed as “speculative” a report in today’s edition of The Times that the Corporation is poised to cut its workforce by 6,000. A BBC spokesman told the AFP news agency that the figures quoted in The Times were “purely speculative at this point”, adding that four reviews on different aspects of the [...]
Indian public broadcasting journalists threaten to strike
Unionised employees of Indian public broadcaster Prasar Bharti have threatened to stop programme production work across the country from 13 November if the Government refuses to allow promotion of programme executives to the production cadre. “If the Information and Broadcasting Ministry fails to resolve these long-pending issues, the onus for any disruption of programmes in [...]
Zimbabwe’s state broadcaster denies bankruptcy imminent
Zimbabwe’s state broadcaster has denied newspaper reports that its news department is unable to pay its journalists and faces bankruptcy, state radio reported today. Chris Chivinge, head of Newsnet, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) news department, dismissed as false reports that said Newsnet is relying on loans from Radio Zimbabwe, the only one of the [...]
