From 1 March 2004, China Radio International (CRI) will be broadcasting in English two hours a day on mediumwave for Eastern European listeners. The broadcasts will be aired at 0700-0900 UTC on 1395 kHz from a transmitter in Albania. The programmes will be:
0700-0755 RealTime Beijing
0755-0800 Learn Chinese Now
0800-0830 News and Reports
0830-0855 Daily CRI feature programmes
0855-0900 Learn Chinese Now
CRI wants reception reports on this broadcast by E-mail to crieng@cri.com.cn.
on Feb 26th, 2004 at 14:16
Hmmm not good for Radio 10 Gold unless they can find another frequency to use long term. Won’t be problem for long until next September due to the earlier sunrises, but could play havoc if they are still using 1395 kHz next winter.
Even a blank carrier from Albania wipes out Radio 10 Gold here- on Sunday night Radio Tirana/TWR left a blank carrier on for ages after 22:00 UTC, possibly all night.
on Feb 26th, 2004 at 16:08
Well, the mediumwave situation in the Netherlands may well change again after 1st June, depending on which frequencies haven’t been activated. Unused frequencies will revert to the government, who may invite new bids. The bids submitted last year are non-refundable, so that the amounts stated on the official licence documents already issued must be paid to the government within the period of the licence, regardless of whether any transmissions have been made.
on Feb 26th, 2004 at 16:36
Lets hope they do eventually get a better frequency- the three hour switch off in the evenings is silly. There is no way that 20kW from the Netherlands can drown out a 1mW station from Albania especially as TWR no longer targets their programmes on 1395 kHz at western Europe.
The only problems likely to caused are to 10 Gold and if the Albanian station is operating for short periods overnight and in the mornings anyway the agreement for the Netherlands to cease transmissions completely whilst it is on air is fairly pointless- a use of lower power say 60 kW in the evenings from the maximum of 120 kW would surely suffice to prevent any risk of interference (-and what 1395 AM is on at the moment is nothing!).
on Feb 26th, 2004 at 17:14
TWR’s European office is located in Hilversum, and at the time they were granted this concession I believe some of the transmissions on 1395 were directed to this part of Europe. But this is no longer the case, and indeed I agree with you that there seems little reason for it now. The previous user of the frequency, Business Nieuws Radio, had a miniscule audience in the evenings, so was actually quite happy to switch off and save some money
on Feb 26th, 2004 at 17:41
There’s a risk that if the owner of the Albanian transmitter is actively marketing its capacity then there might be yet more takeup.
It would of course be very unfair if 10 Gold fans were to swamp CRI with reports of terrible reception in order to get them to give up their three hour programme.
on Feb 26th, 2004 at 20:41
This should be in fact a return after 26 years, provided that Radio Tirana relayed Radio Beijing till Albania’s breach with China in 1978. At least it’s a return on Albanian transmitters in general; perhaps others will remember if Albania was on 1394 until 1978, and if so, if this frequency was used for Radio Beijing programming then? Anyway the three 500 kW MW’s (two of them combined to a single 1000 kW on 1395) are of Chinese origin, so really suitable equipment for this purpose …
on Feb 27th, 2004 at 22:53
Why don’t Radio 10 Gold use 1008 instead, the best clear channel in Holland???
on Feb 28th, 2004 at 01:03
Maybe a frequency change to 1224 kHz is a good thing to consider.
This frequency can be used in the same location in Holland, it’s available 24/7, and retuning the transmitter does not mean a lot of technical changes.
It is a lower frequency which has a better groundwave reception, and gives less interference in nabouring Lelystad harbour.
on Feb 28th, 2004 at 10:02
Radio 10 Gold cannot use 1008 kHz because the licence is currently held by another broadcaster (Radlon). In addition to that, I have been told that Nozema is asking a highwe price for the use of their high power transmitter on that frequency than any of the Dutch commercial broadcasters are prepared to pay.
on Feb 28th, 2004 at 10:05
The decision about whether to activate 1224 kHz is that of the licensee, Ruud Poeze, who is no doubt considering all the options. It would not be a popular choice in the UK as Virgin Radio uses the adjacent channel of 1215 kHz, but this of course should not be a consideration in respect of the Dutch audience
on Feb 28th, 2004 at 13:18
Getting way off topic, I realise, but… didn’t Virgin have an upper sideband filter installed on their 1215 London transmitter in order to reduce splash to the occupier of 1224 in the Netherlands some years ago? A nice piece of co-operation, I thought.
There have been a lot of Dutch stations (including name changes) on 1224 over the years. Maybe it’s a haunted frequency.
on Feb 28th, 2004 at 14:18
I was never aware of an upper sideband filter on Virgin’s output - the splash from their tx here in Norfolk was absoulutely dreadful, rendering Dutch offerings on 1224 almost impossible to follow.
But back on topic….will Albania’s signal be omni-directional in the mornings? Or are they able to target Eastern Europe using a directional beam?
on Oct 3rd, 2008 at 10:17
Good