Victor Goonetilleke, a long time correspondent to Media Network, lives just outside the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo. He sent this e-mail on Tuesday morning.
The tragedy is horrendous. Some of the video is frightening and so pathetic.
All of us are OK but working flat out trying hard to organize some emergency amateur radio communications. We’re [...]
Posts from ‘December, 2004’
Amateur Radio Role in Tidal Tragedy
The Weblog is now taking a break until 4th January
Because of the ongoing renovation of my house, I am taking a Christmas and New Year break in the UK this year. Normal service will be resumed here on 4 January 2005. This is the first time for 21 months that we have taken a break of any kind. I would like to take this [...]
NOS loses out to John de Mol in fight for live soccer
Dutch public broadcaster NOS has failed in its attempt to secure the rights to the main package of live soccer matches from the Dutch Premier Division. For three years starting next season, those rights have been won by media magnate John de Mol, whose new commercial TV channel is due to launch just as the [...]
China Central Television being investigated by auditors
According to a report in today’s South China Morning Post, Chinese auditors have begun a seven-month investigation into the finances of state-owned China Central Television (CCTV). The station is under fire for irregularities in its accounting systems, employment structure and management. According to officials, audits of state-owned media such as CCTV are not routine, and [...]
Greater US public diplomacy effort urged in Horn of Africa
Former US Ambassador to Ethiopia David Shinn, speaking to faculty and students at the American University of Beirut December 20 on “Islam and Conflict in the Horn of Africa,” said it is vital to reorient US approaches to the region. He called for greater public diplomacy (people-to-people) efforts and radio broadcasts in more languages that [...]
Japan may lift ban on data communications via power lines
Japan plans to launch a debate on lifting a ban on using power lines for data communications, enabling people get access to the Internet at high speed, an official said today. “We are preparing to hold talks of a study group early next year,” said an official at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and [...]
Talpa Radio International is new owner of Flemish 4FM
Dutch commercial broadcasting group Talpa Radio International, owned by John de Mol, is the new owner of Flemish commercial radio station 4FM. The takeover follows a management buyout at 4FM last summer. Erik de Zwart, Director of Talpa Radio International, says 4FM was a great investment opportunity. “4FM has seen strong growth in the past [...]
BBC Praha
The “real” BBC Czech service is on one floor of the Czech news agency. BBC operates its own FM network in the Czech republic, with 5 hours a day in Czech at prime time - the other 19 hours are BBC World Service in English. A staff of 40 now run the operation in the [...]
In Search of the Beeb 2
Nope…Turns out some one has taken the old BBC logo and adapted it for their own purposes…it is a solarium called the Beck Box Club.
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In Search of the Beeb 1
Just round the corner from Radio Free Europe, I spotted what I thought must be the BBC Czech Service, now operating from Prague instead of expensive London. There’s the office I thought….
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No Bells for the New Year
The “liberty” bell logo used for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty will disappear from corporate websites starting January 1st 2005. In many of the new target areas for Radio Liberty/RFE the bells are too closely associated with Christianity. In order not to be labelled as part of any “Crusade”, the Prague based station is [...]
No Tape In Site
Journalists at RFE-RL use some of the most sophisticated software for newsroom journalism I have seen. Certainly no tape recorders around for years.
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The details….
That poster close up. Click it to enlarge. I remember now…it was Box 1969, Mount Vernon, New York. Media Network listener Erik Swedburg sent me a whole cassette of these early 1960’s radio commercials to go with the poster campaign.
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Shot from the Inside With History
The Internet department of RFE/RL has a poster on the wall with a curious history. The campaign “The In Sound from the Outside” was done when the CIA was funding the station directly. Domestic radio adverts in the US encouraged citizens to send English language books to an address in Mount Vernon. These would be [...]
Quick Getaway When Needed
The inside of RFE-RL is such that when they leave, it won’t take long to dismantle. As tenants, they are not allowed the make structural alterations to the building, so the studios are in containers which have literally been parked on the floor.
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