Reporting From The Fox Tower: BBC Radio Five

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Long Wave and Medium Wave, 1995

WELCOME to another visit to my radio listening archives, this time going back to 1995, for the logs of broadcasts heard on Long Wave and Medium Wave.
As always, housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). Transmission power in watts or kiloWatts (kW). Logs transcribed from the original notes.

October 1995: Long Wave

31 October [1995]: 1934 UTC: 198 kHz: BBC Radio 4 via Droitwich, Burghead, Westerglen, all 50 kW transmissions. 'File on 4' reports on the Newcastle MIND group, Barnardo's, MenCap, Age Concern.
31 October: 2023 UTC: 252 kHz: Atlantic 252 Music: Blur 'Country House', D:Ream 'U R The Best Thing' Telephone call from Catherine in North Wales. Whitney Houston 'When You Exhale', R.E.M 'What's The Frequency Kenneth', Janet Jackson 'Runaway', Bryan Adams 'Summer of '69'. Promotion for Beverley Hills (morning crew), ad break: MacDonald's 'Pocahontas' promotion, Dan Francisco plays Mariah Carey 'Fantasy'. 500 kW transmission from Ireland. Music from Sophie B Hawkins 'As I Lay Me Down', Jade 'Don't Walk Away'. Tina Arena 'Heaven Help My Heart'.

26 March [2000]: 20 UTC: 198 kHz: Strong to good reception of BBC Radio 4 BBC News Sport: Motor racing Brazil Formula 1 won by Michael Schumacher. 'Feedback' with Roger Boulton, Topics include American accents on BBC Radio 4, homophobia, BBC news reports, BBC Talents, Steve Wright on BBC Radio 2, The Budget on BBC Radio 4 & BBC Radio Five Live, BBC Radio via the BBC website.

July 1995: Medium Wave

29 July [1995]: 1850 UTC: 567 kHz: RTÉ Radio 1 'A Sense of Place' A Protestant man talks of having to leave his home. Broadcast via Tullamore. Gaelic News at 19 UTC 'Nuacht' details of release of IRA prisoners, news from Bihac in Bosnia. 'Hill People' Pat Feeley visits Co Limerick.
29 July: 1915 UTC: 585 kHz: BBC Radio Scotland via Dumfries transmitter: 'Travelling Folk' music show featuring Alison Sherry and Martin O'Connor. Details of a forthcoming festival. News from Ballyshannon, Greg and Duncan, interview with Adam MacNaughton.
29 July: 1940 UTC: 603 kHz: BBC Radio Four via Tyneside transmitter, Newcastle. 'Saturday Night Theatre: A Vital Flaw' production based in wartime, lead character 'Felix'.
29 July: 1958 UTC: 612 kHz: RTÉ Radio 2FM via Athlone transmitter, Ireland. News: IRA releases, Scottish police charges regarding terrorism. News from an Irish Church Minister, Bihac in Bosnia. Lotto: 1 6 16 31 36 37 Bonus: 2. Music from Stone Roses, Blur, Boo Radleys. Details of M-People in concert. '7up sponsors Beat On The Street with Dance Nation, Live at Longford'.
29 July: 2020 UTC: 648 kHz: BBC World Service - BBC For Europe News, 'From The Weeklies': MP resigned the past week, World War Two criminals, including Japanese fighters. President Clinton outlines new policies for the United States of America.

29 July: 2038 UTC: 675 kHz: Radio 10 Gold via Lopik, Holland. Music.
29 July: 2045 UTC: 693 kHz: BBC Radio Five News and Sport.
29 July: 2048 UTC: 873 kHz: AFN [American Forces Network] via Frankfurt, Germany. American-based programming.
29 July: 2051 UTC: 909 kHz: BBC Radio Five News and sport.
29 July: 2057 UTC: 1053 kHz: Talk Radio UK An ad for Gary Newbon, 'Janet's Planet' is on the air.
29 July: 21 UTC: 1062 kHz: Denmark, Kalundborg transmitter. Speech.
29 July: 2109 UTC: 1089 kHz: Talk Radio UK 'Janet's Planet'.
29 July: 2115 UTC: 1107 kHz: AFN via Frankfurt, Germany. American-based programming.
29 July: 2136 UTC: 1170 kHz: Great North Radio, North East England.
29 July: 2140 UTC: 1179 kHz: Radio Sweden News of shipping in the Nordic seas, Bill Schiller visits the Gothenburg Maritime Museum.
29 July: 2152 UTC: 1215 kHz: Virgin Radio Music, also on 1242 kHz.
29 July: 2231 UTC: 1386 kHz: Radio Netherlands Music from Elton John 'The One'.

29 July: 2345 UTC: 1512 kHz: BRT Brussels News headlines, newspapers: Government, student jobs, stimulants for lorry drivers. [?] 'Music From Flanders'.

All for now.

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Sunday, February 11, 2018

My DX Archive: Spring 1994

WELCOME to the second Sunday of February, a busy sporting Sunday with the Winter Olympics underway, the Six Nations Rugby tournament continuing and football fixtures being played. We are also days away from Valentine's Day, which will also mark the midpoint of the month.

Reporting From The Fox Tower takes you back to March 1994, as the starting point of memories of the Springtime of that year, for the logs of radio broadcasts heard at the time.
Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz), MegaHertz (MHz) and/or metrebands (m). Transmission power in watts or kiloWatts (kW). Logs transcribed from the original notes.

March 1994 : Medium Wave

15 March [1994]: 1945 UTC: 603 kHz: BBC Radio Four, UK. Feature regarding abortions in the USA.
15 March: 2004 UTC: 612 kHz: RTE 2FM, Republic of Ireland. Sports Update, 'That Petrol Emotion' in concert tonight.
15 March: 2006 UTC: 648 kHz: BBC World Service, UK. News: UK tried to stop Sweden, Finland, Austria and Norway entering the EU. Troubles in Estonia.
15 March: 2012 UTC: 693 kHz: BBC Radio Five, UK. Live football: Arsenal 0 - Torino 0 (Half Time).
15 March: 2035 UTC: 909 kHz: BBC Radio Five, UK. Live football: Arsenal 0 - Torino 0 (Second Half).

15 March: 2038 UTC: 1053 kHz: BBC Radio One, UK. Dance music. Also broadcasting on 1089 kHz.
15 March: 2055 UTC: 1179 kHz: Radio Sweden. Music programme.
15 March: 21 UTC: 1215 kHz: Virgin Radio 1215, UK. News: UK to get another national commercial radio station - Speech / talk / phone-in based programming. Music: James 'Sit Down', Pearl Jam 'Jeremy'.
15 March: 2115 UTC: 1386 - 1494 kHz: Radio Moscow, Russia. Listeners Letters: Letter from Northern Ireland.

March 1994 : Short Wave

17 March: 20 UTC: 5920 kHz: BBC World Service, UK. News headlines in 'News English' followed by Ukrainian service.
17 March: 2010 UTC: 5960 kHz: Deutsche Welle, Germany. English for Europe 20 - 2050 UTC. Meeting of the Anglo-German Association. Today's German papers: EU to find fishing rights for Germany. Mark Rossman: 'Hits in Germany': Bruce Springsteen, Tori Amos, D:Ream. DW investigates St Patrick's Day celebrations in Cork. Also available on 7170 kHz, 9615 kHz & Astra 1A satellite. Address: 50588 Cologne, Germany. 'Germany Today' ends, 'Tourism' programme.
17 March: 2145 UTC: 9750 kHz: BBC World Service 'Newshour'.

Radio Moscow QSL, 17 March 1994

17 March: 2205 UTC: 9890 kHz: Radio Moscow News: Russian MIG 29s to fly in South America. Demonstrations in French cities over social policies. Pakistan may join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Fire extinguished at Ukrainian nuclear plant.
17 March: 2225 UTC: 9915 kHz: BBC World Service English to the Caribbean 'Network UK' Rugby sport.

March 1994 : FM

20 March: 1650 UTC: 89 MHz FM: Manx Radio (Isle of Man) Good reception. 'Solid 60s Show' Helen Shapiro. News: Helicopter crash in Northern Ireland. Colin Parry (Father of IRA victim Tim Parry) places a white carnation in Warrington. The family of Jonathan Ball also attend.

April 1994 : Short Wave

4 April: 1615 UTC: 6065 kHz: Radio Sweden Strong to good reception. Feature regarding Swedish Children's television: Barney Bear, Alfie Atkins, Pippy Longstocking.
14 April: 1134 UTC: 5955 kHz: Radio Netherlands (Holland) Strong to good reception. News: Rwanda. Weather: Sunny. Newsline: Greece in the European High Court. Media Network: Jonathan Marks saw Phil Collins in concert on Saturday. Deutsche Welle relay in Kigali. BBC, Adventist World Radio, WCSN and TV Radio Marti, on UHF, in Florida & Cuba.
15 April: 1847 UTC: 6040 kHz: Voice of America 'Special English', 'Mosaic'. Wartime memories from a man who was in his '20s at the time. Letter from a listener in Malawi, 'how do you choose names for kids?'.

Voice of America QSL, 15 April 1994

15 April: 1855 UTC: 6100 kHz: Radio Yugoslavia Female host talks of writers and the Baltics, Greece. Next broadcast: 2030 UTC, 9620 kHz.
15 April: 1910 UTC: 6195 kHz: BBC World Service 'Outlook': Man tries to buy an aircraft.
15 April: 1916 UTC: c.7195 kHz: Radio Romania International Press Review. Electoral campaigns, several European countries to take part in 'World Trade 94'.
15 April: 1942 UTC: 9760 kHz: Voice of America English to Europe via Gloria (Portugal) 'The Magazine Show' Monday hosts the Boston Marathon. Pat Bodner previews the race, including a runner from 1928, Johnny Kelly. 100th anniversary of a recording by Betty Smith.
15 April: 1958 UTC: 9765 kHz: Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran Listeners Special, music. Letters from Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, Holland. L Groubert from Cincinatti, USA. Letter from Japan, in Japanese. D J Powell from Switzerland. American listener asks how he could work on shortwave radio. Iranian geography: 62000 miles. Male & female host. Letter from India. Postal address: PO Box 33 34 Tehran Islamic Republic of Iran. Programme close at 2025 UTC.
15 April: 11 UTC: 9535 kHz: Swiss Radio International, Switzerland. Strong to good reception. News: US helicopters, Rwanda. 'Dateline': Italian politics, UN in Yugoslavia, Japanese politics, World Health Organisation leads fight against polio.

Swiss Radio International QSL, 15 April 1994

15 April: 2030 UTC: c.9410 kHz: BBC World Service 'Science in Action' to Africa.
15 April: 2035 UTC: 9615 kHz: Deutsche Welle 'German by radio' female host, verbs.
15 April: 21 UTC: 9700 kHz: Radio Bulgaria News: Military arms to pass through Bulgaria. No change in former Yugoslavia. UN to send equipment to blue helmets. German politician visits Bulgaria.
23 April: 0844 UTC: c.6295 kHz: Adventist World Radio Strong to moderate reception. Joanna Lim presents nutritional information, food magazine show. 'Lifestyle Magazine'. Address: AWR, 39 Brendan Street, London W1.
24 April: 1136 UTC: 5955 kHz: Radio Netherlands 'Happy Station' with Pete Myers. Strong to good reception. Telephone call. An Indian man gets married today. Music from Madonna. Gerry MacDuff writes from Canada. Letter from Martin Cowin, Cumbria, England - Me! - "Who puts the 'Happy Station' programme together?" Music from Ella Fitzgerald. Also heard at 1530 UTC.

May 1994 : Short Wave

14 May: 1913 UTC: 6040 kHz: Voice of America 'Newsline': Chancellor Kohl of Germany. Conference featuring Czech Prime Minister and the Danish foreign minister. President Clinton nominated Judge Brier for Supreme Court, Clinton hails change in South Africa. Transfer of power from Israel to Palestine. Report regarding the forthcoming soccer world cup, world cup postage stamps, US postage stamps of Elvis Presley. Music: 'Hound Dog'. 'Press Conference USA' reviewing Apple Macintosh computers.

14 May: 1956 UTC: 6195 kHz: BBC World Service 'From The Weeklies'. World news at 20 UTC: BBC Worldwide.
14 May: 22 UTC: 9445 kHz: Voice of Turkey News: Heavy fighting in Bosnia. Turkish-Cypriot community asks to be recognised. Heavy fighting in Azerbaijan. Refugees caught between Somalia and Yemen caught in rebel crossfire. 'Press Review': Neo-nazis fight in Germany. 'Outlook': EU meeting in Luxembourg. 'DX Corner': Lagos 1 on 4990 kHz, Chad on 4910 kHz. 4890 kHz - RFI. 05 UTC 4770 kHz Africa.

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Thank you for visiting Reporting From The Fox Tower - And keep listenin'!