Happy Birthday! Ten Today!

A SHORT but important post. It was ten years ago this day that this blog came into being. You can link back to that very first post here. I would be interested to learn who the anonymous comment was posted by, I am sure that person made themselves known to me at the time, but due to the passage of time, it seems my memory may have mislaid that information!

Thank you to everyone who has visited this blog over the ten years, I have no plans to retire this blog anytime soon; To the contrary, you may have noticed the background template has been updated and expanded, something I did have in mind to mark the tenth anniversary of this blog.

If you would like to browse any of the posts from the past ten years, then you will find them all in the Blog Archive listed on the left of the page.

Enjoy the weekend.

Wallpaper of the Beach, 5 October 2015

OKAY, maybe not a beach, but not far off. Wallpaper of the Week is Wallpaper of the Beach this week, something this particular fixture reverts to from time to time. As a previous post included a link to Laura Robson's blog, then this week's wallpaper is an image Laura posted on social media almost twelve months ago; Surfboard aerobics in the Caribbean. It is an awesome image.

Enjoy.

That elusive fixture...

TWO DAYS ago, I posted what I thought was the roundup of the September fixtures for Carlisle United Football Club, but I was foiled by the fixture planner's computer, as the final fixture was this evening. So, here is that elusive fixture :

Sky Bet League Two - Season 2015-2016

Results for September 2015 :

League: Tuesday 29th: Leyton Orient 1 - United 2 (Attendance: 4408)

Good work Blues.

Sporty bits, September 2015

Sky Bet League Two - Season 2015-2016

Results for September 2015 :

Johnstone's Paint Trophy, Round 1: Tuesday 1st: Port Vale 1 - United 0 (Attendance: 2571)

League: Saturday 5th: United 3 - Barnet 2 (Att: 4925)

League: Saturday 12th: United 2 - Dagenham & Redbridge 1 (Att: 3871)

League: Saturday 19th: York City 2 - United 2 (Att: 3692)

Capital One Cup, Round 3: Wednesday 23rd: Liverpool 1 - United 1 (Att: 42518)

(After Extra Time, Liverpool won 3-2 on penalties)

League: Saturday 26th: United 0 - Newport County 1 (Att: 4402)

United still have one September fixture, away at Leyton Orient in Sky Bet League Two, on Tuesday 29th.

United have six League fixtures in October: Stevenage, Morecambe, Exeter City, Northampton Town, Wycombe Wanderers and Yeovil Town.

Laura the Explorer

As this is a sporting post, I shall link blogging and sport once again, courtesy of British tennis player Laura Robson, who has her own blog, Laura the Explorer, which I hope you will enjoy reading. Next summer will see the next Olympic games in Rio, a subject Laura has posted about on social media from time to time, as she hopes to represent Team GB on the tennis courts. To round off this post, here are some images of Laura representing Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics. Enjoy.

SUPERGIRL.

STILL Love this Asos cover from November 2014 - How to be a Supergirl by Taylor Swift.

Have a good week.

Wallpaper of the Week, 13 September 2015

THE next few weeks will lead up to the first anniversary of the release of 1989, Taylor Swift's album, written, recorded and produced with Max Martin and Johan Shelback.

The above image, this week's Wallpaper of the Week, is Taylor performing Welcome To New York, in New York, on the eve of the album release.

This week, Taylor tweeted that during the ongoing 1989 World Tour, she was honoured to perform Love Story in St Paul, on what was the seventh anniversary of the release of the song.

Enjoy.

He only saw her in his dreams.

MISS Taylor Alison Swift has released her latest single from her album '1989' and here is the accompanying video. This is 'Wildest Dreams', which, as of the evening of Monday 7 September, had amassed 36.1 Million views since the video was published on Taylor's official Vevo video channel on Sunday 30 August.

Enjoy.

Putting August to bed.

AUGUST is coming to a close, it is the Bank Holiday weekend and here on RFTFT is a feature which has been neglected for a very long while - A monthly round up of Carlisle United results and a preview of fixtures for the following month. As the new football season has begun, here are the results for August 2015 :

Sky Bet League Two - Season 2015-2016

August 2015

League: Saturday 8th: Mansfield 1 - United 1 (Attendance 4146)

Capital One Cup, Round 1: Tuesday 11th: United 3 - Chesterfield 1 (Att 2950)

League: Saturday 15th: United 4 - Cambridge United 4 (Att 6354)

League: Tuesday 18th: Plymouth 4 - United 1 (Att 6071)

League: Saturday 22nd: United 1 - AFC Wimbledon 1 (Att 5949)

Capital One Cup, Round 2: Tuesday 25th: QPR 1 - United 2 (Att 5501)

League: Saturday 29th: Hartlepool 2 - United 3 (Att 4935)

United have seven fixtures in September, beginning with a trip to Port Vale for the first round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, whilst later in the month, United visit Anfield, the home of Liverpool FC, in the third round of the Capital One Cup.

Medium Wave Roundup, August 2015

A RATHER warm Sunday was spent listening to the Medium Wave band and here is what I could hear. Log times in UTC (GMT); Frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) :

• 1240 UTC: 1170 kHz: TFM 2, 320 watts via Stockton-On-Tees for Teesside. Music from Bobby Brown, Billy Ocean, ID for TFM 2. Music: Fleetwood Mac, ad break. News. Music from The Proclaimers, Dire Straits, Kate Bush. Good reception.
• 1325 UTC: 1215 kHz: Absolute Radio, up to 200 kW via Moorside Edge, West Yorkshire. Ad break, ID for Absolute Radio. Music: Queen 'Hammer To Fall', James Bay 'Hold Back The River'. Good to fair reception.
• 1400 UTC: 1242 kHz: Absolute Radio, 1 kW via Stockton-On-Tees. Music from The Waterboys 'Whole Of The Moon', Fatboy Slim 'Praise You'. Live from the Edinburgh Fringe. Good to fair reception.
• 1435 UTC, 1341 kHz: BBC Radio Ulster, 100 kW via Lisnagarvey, County Down, Northern Ireland. Male speech. Moderate reception.
• 1600 UTC: 1557 kHz: BBC Radio Lancashire, 250 watts via Oxcliffe, Lancashire. Piano accompanied by Operatic vocals. Moderate reception.

That's the list of broadcasts I heard in August.

Wallpapers of the week.

Guess who? It's Taylor!

Thank you August.

#LazyBlogging - 2 August 2015

Taylor Swift.

Enjoy.

Wallpapers of the Beach, 27 July 2015

THE SWIFT. Rolling Stone. Amazing combination. Enjoy.

To find out the origins of these images, take a look at the post below. 

Until next time...

Wallpapers of the week, 19 July 2015

ON September 25, 2014, Rolling Stone magazine published issue 1218 and the cover story was The New Life of Taylor Swift. It is to that issue of the magazine that this edition of Wallpapers of the week references. Yes, this edition is Wallpapers - Plural - As you get two this week, both taken from the stunning on location beach photo shoot for the magazine article. Enjoy.

Saturday Shortwave - July 2015

ONE WEEK ago, I spent the evening tuning the upper echelons of the Shortwave band. I was listening from 1900 UTC (GMT) on Saturday 11 July 2015, starting on the frequency of 17790 kHz Shortwave. Times in UTC (GMT); Frequencies in kHz (kiloHertz). Here is what I heard:

• 1909 UTC; 17790 kHz : Okeechobee, Florida is scheduled to be on the air, on this frequency, at this time, broadcasting to Africa. I am not sure if I heard a broadcast, as there was noise. I maybe could hear a voice - Wasn't sure.
• 1922 UTC; 17855 kHz : Music on this frequency in the 16 metreband, female speech. Reception: Moderate. Spanish language, male and female voices, music. Transpired to be Radio Exterior de Espana, Spain, broadcasting to North America via Noblejas, Spain. 200 kW transmission. Possibly the 'Tablero Deportivo' programme.
• 1945 UTC; 17885 kHz : Males in conversation. Reception: Moderate. Female speech, music. This is the BBC, Hausa language to Africa via Ascension Island, 250 kW transmission.

That concludes the Shortwave logs, until next time. To conclude this post, I shall add a couple of pictures, with captions to explain. Enjoy.

107.5 Eden FM is the not-for-profit, voluntary Community radio station for Penrith and the Eden Valley.

October 2014, Eden FM studio 1: Left to right: Martin Cowin (Presenter / Director), Lee Quinn (Chairman), Rory Stewart (MP for Penrith & The Border).

Midsummer Medium Wave logs

FRIDAY 3 July 2015, the evening of, was spent beside the Roberts R881, tuned to the Medium Wave band and here is what I heard. Times in UTC / GMT; Frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) :

• 1925 UTC; 999 kHz : Rock FM 2, Preston. Music: The Cutting Crew, speech, ad break. Johnny Cash 'Ring of Fire'. James Blunt. Elvis Presley 'Burning Love'. The Style Council, Maroon 5. Presenter: Ray Rose. Transmission: 800 watts via Longton for Preston - Blackpool. Reception: Moderate to poor.
• 1952 UTC; 1008 kHz : Groot Nieuws Radio, Veenendaal, HOL (Holland). Music, English lyrics, female vocalist. 'Groot Nieuws Radio' translates as 'Great News Radio'. Dutch language service. Reception: Moderate to poor.

Sometimes, the Medium Wave band can be chaotic, and at 2012 UTC, on the frequency of 1035 kHz, came so many possibilities. Some of the programming I heard included female speech, male speech, music: Bob Marley 'One Love'. Just some of the broadcasts on the frequency included Lyca Dilse (Crystal Palace, London), BBC Radio Sheffield (BBC Asian Network), Northsound 2 (Aberdeen), WestSound (Ayr). Reception: Moderate to poor.

• 2035 UTC; 1044 kHz : Cadena SER, SER Euskadi, Radio San Sebastian, Spain. Male and female speech. Transmission: 10kW (kiloWatts) via San Sebastian, Spain. Reception: Poor.
• 2044 UTC; 1053 kHz : TalkSport, Droitwich. Ad break: Vodafone. NatWest T20 Cricket. Male hosts speaking of the FIFA Women's Football World Cup, men's FIFA World Cup, Le Tour de France. Newcastle United Football Club recruit Steve Mclaren as head coach. Tweets. Transmission: Up to 500 kW via Droitwich. Reception: Good.
• 2059 UTC; 1071 kHz : TalkSport, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Speech, ID, news headlines. Wimbledon Tennis: Heather Watson (GB) takes Serena Williams (US) to three sets; Williams wins. 1kW via Wrekenton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Reception: Moderate to poor.
• 2108 UTC; 1089 kHz : TalkSport, Moorside Edge. Speech: Male hosts, films, birthdays. The new head coach of West Ham United is Slaven Bilic. Up to 400 kW via Moorside Edge (North England). Reception: Moderate.
• 2127 UTC; 1107 kHz : AFN Europe, Germany. Speech, ad break, music: Neil Diamond 'Song Sung Blue'. AFN Europe is Armed Forces Network Europe; the American Forces broadcaster in Europe. Transmission via Amberg, Grafenwoehr, Vilseck, Germany.

It could have been the battle of the BBC Locals on 1116 kHz at 2138 UTC, I could hear female speech. Broadcasts listed on the frequency: BBC Radio Derby (1kW) and BBC Radio Guernsey (500 watts), plus whatever else was coming in from Europe at the time.

• 2214 UTC; 1125 kHz : RTBF VivaCite, Wavre, Belgium. Speech - Not BBC Wales.

The battle of the commercials was taking place on 1152 kHz at 2230 UTC. I heard conflicting music tracks from Rose Royce 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore', Whitney Houston, male speech. On this frequency at that time were LBC (London), Clyde (Glasgow), Free (Birmingham), Metro (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), Key (Manchester) and Smooth (Norfolk / Plymouth). I could hear more than one broadcast!

• 2245 UTC; 1161 kHz : Tay 2, Dundee. Music: Crowded House 'Fall At Your Feet', Dionne Warwick? 'All The Love In The World'. Male speech, female speech, ID for Tay 2. Madonna? 'Caught In The Middle'? Reception: Good to moderate. Transmission: 1.4 kW via Greenside Scalp, Dundee. Promo, ad break: Homebase. Midnight news bulletin. ID. Music: Elton John 'Rocket Man', Dexys Midnight Runners 'Geno'. Gerry Rafferty 'Baker Street', Chris Rea 'Auberge / Let's Dance'. Ad break: Motorbikes for sale. George Harrison 'My Sweet Lord'.

At 2325 UTC (GMT), I called it a night.

Baby now we got Bad Blood.

ONE week has passed since Taylor Swift released the Music Video of  Bad Blood, taken from the album 1989.

I'll bring you the video at the close of this post, before that I will bring you the cast list of the short film - But first, meet Catastrophe, Arsyn and Mother Chucker :

The cast list of Bad Blood is as follows :

TAYLOR as Catastrophe

Selena Gomez as Arsyn

Cindy Crawford as Headmistress

Cara Delevingne as Mother Chucker

Mariska Hargitay as Justice

Ellen Pompeo as Luna

Martha Hunt as Homeslice

Jessica Alba as Domino

Serayah as Dilemma

Karlie Kloss as Knockout

Kendrick Lamar as Welvin Da Great

Lena Dunham as Lucky Fiori

Hailee Steinfeld as The Trinity

Ellie Goulding as Destructa X

Gigi Hadid as Slay-Z

Hayley Williams as The Crimson Curse

Zendaya as Cut-Throat

Lily Aldridge as Frostbyte.

I have whet your appetite more than enough, so here is Bad Blood!

Enjoy.

Another first for Abbie

REPORTING FROM THE FOX TOWER has, for a long while, supported the career of Miss Abbie J Steele and her career as an actress, director and model took another huge step this month, when Abbie featured in her first music video, which I will bring you in a moment.

First of all, to bring you up to speed with Abbie and the support this blog has given her, click here to go to the October 2014 post 'Autumn with Abbie', which is the most recent post on this blog to feature Miss Steele. That post includes links to previous posts featuring Abbie.

You can also find out more about Abbie by visiting her website; Follow her on Twitter and 'Like' her Facebook page.

Here are some stills of Abbie in the video :

Here is the video : Desire - Under Your Spell.

Enjoy.

A few notes...

THIS IS how a Saturday night rolls with me. Yes, it is this exciting.

This blog will reach the milestone of a decade later this year, I am considering refreshing the look of the page, which has remained the same since creation. That's for another day.

THURSDAY 7th May was a mixed day. I was in the congregation at Warcop to say goodbye to Neil, a gentleman I knew all my life and will be remembered. The sun shone brightly over St Columba's.

A visit to the Memorial Hall in Brough followed, so I could cast my votes in the Parliamentary and District elections. The Memorial Hall has been in situ for ninety years, respecting those who fought in the Great War a century ago.

I spent a short while mid afternoon listening to the Short Wave band on my radio. I heard WWCR-1, Nashville TN USA, on the frequency of 15825 kHz, broadcasting English to Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. The programmes I heard were 'Tell It From Calvery' and the Radio Bible Hour. Reception was moderate.

I also heard Radio Africa (Pan American Broadcasting) on 17790 kHz. The programme I heard included a female vocalist. Reception was moderate.

The evening was taken over by the reults of the General Election - I don't think any extra views need to be added to the events!

Those are the notes I wished to add to this blog. Do continue to visit and support!

An evening by the radio.

Wednesday 22 April 2015 : I sat in the bedroom of my home, under a sky which was still very blue in the evening dark, complete with a bright crescent moon. At 20:02 UTC, I was tuned to 954 kHz Medium Wave, ready to spend a couple of hours listening to whatever I would hear. Over the years I have collected much information about the broadcasts I could have heard, many frequencies were recognisable, though after a long day, there were moments of brain fade, so where I could not conclusively find the information I required in my own sources, I found information online which concurred with my notes. Here are the broadcasts I heard on that Wednesday evening - Times are UTC (GMT); Frequencies are kHz (kiloHertz) :

• 20:02 UTC, 954 kHz : CRo Plus, Male and female speech, with jingles, stabs and breaks. Czech language. Moderate reception via Brno, Czech Republic, 200 kW (kiloWatt) transmission. To 2016 UTC.
• 2034 UTC, 954 kHz : Onda Cero Radio, Live commentary of football. Spanish language. Onda Cero broadcasts from Madrid, Spain, 20 kW. Moderate reception. To 2043 UTC.
• 2053 UTC, 972 kHz : Radio Nacional, Spanish language, affected by propagation. Football commentary. Transmission from Lugo, Spain. To 2116 UTC.
• 2116 UTC, 981 kHz  - I was torn an confused. I was unsure of my languages and nations. My sources were contradictory; The old said Algiers - The language I could hear was French and the Algerians do speak French, don't they? The new said Czech Republic. The broadcast was a mix of speech and music, which to my ear was French. I heard Radio Algerie Chaine 2, which broadcasts around 300 to 600 kW. To 2125 UTC.
• 2125 UTC, 990 kHz : Cadena SER, Speech from two males in the Spanish language. Time pips at 2130 UTC. Cadena SER via Monte Archanda, Bilbao, Spain, 10 kW. To 2136 UTC.
• 2136 UTC, 999 kHz : Rai Radio 1, Female and male voices, live from Turin, Italy. Female is the dominant speaker.Propagation playing its part in reception. Relay of the Rai Radio 1 FM service via Volpiano, Torino (Turin). 50 kW. To 2146 UTC.

Sleep was calling me by that point, so at 2146 UTC (10:46pm BST), I signed off on 999 kHz. I enjoyed the evening listening to that busy band.

Goodnight.

Love Miss Sharapova.

MISS MARIA SHARAPOVA is the subject of this post on RFTFT, as Sunday 19 April 2015 is Maria's twenty-eighth Birthday. I present four pictures from the last year celebrating Maria and her achievements. Enjoy.

The first image, above, is Maria celebrating winning in Paris with the trophy, August 2014.

Above : Maria on court, September 2014.

Above : Mexico, Acapulco, February 2015.

Above : Mexico, Acapulco Beach, February 2015.

Happy Birthday Maria!

The Cyclists are coming...

DURING the past week, the route of the 2015 Tour of Britain was announced and two of the stages have a start or finish here in Cumbria. First is the start of stage three on Tuesday 8 September. The cyclists will start the stage in Cockermouth, travelling north along the coast from Maryport to Silloth-on-Solway, through the Solway Coast AONB [Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty] to Carlisle and then into Scotland, for the finish at Floors Castle, Kelso.

Stage five, as pictured above, takes place Thursday 10 September, starting in the Northumbrian town of Prudhoe, on to Hexham, where the route goes north to join the Military Road, following the line of Hadrian's Wall westwards, entering Cumbria to pass through Brampton before heading south to Cumrew, Plumpton and Dockray, then taking in Aira Force and Ullswater. The route then turns northeasterly to Penrith and Melmerby - The final part of the stage is the climb to Hartside.

Start planning your place on the route now!

News from the 19 Metre Band

THE 19 Metre Band is part of the Short Wave radio band and I listened to that particular spectrum of radio frequencies on the evening of Tuesday 10 March 2015. Follows is a list of what I heard that evening; As always, times in UTC (GMT) and frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). Station names contain a link to their website.

• 2057 UTC, 15490 kHz : Radio Exterior de Espana, Spanish language football commentary, believed to be Real Madrid v Shalke in the Champions League. This broadcast was directed to the Middle East and Asia. Reception was moderate to poor. To 2113 UTC.
• 2119 UTC, 15580 kHz : Voice of America, Music - LOUD music - on Short Wave! Ariana Grande 'The Only One'. The family of Marvin Gaye are suing Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over the song 'Blurred Lines', which samples a Marvin Gaye song. Rihanna 'Don't Stop The Music'. Mark Ronson 'Uptown Funk'. Fergie 'LA Love'. The presenter is Larry London. One Direction 'Little Things'. This was the 'Border Crossings' / VOA1 programme, English to Africa via Greenville NC [North Carolina] USA (An IBB transmission site). Reception was good. To 2139 UTC.
• 2143 UTC, 15610 kHz : WEWN (EWTN) Radio, English speech from the show 'Kresta in the Afternoon', presented by Al Kresta, 'Brought to you from Catholic Business Pages .com'. The show closes prior to the top of the hour, IDs for EWTN and WEWN, broadcasting from Birmingham AL [Alabama] USA. Frequency announcement for this hour [2200 UTC]: 15610 kHz. 'EWTN Newslink' carries the latest news stories from the Vatican. For the next two hours, the show is 'Catholic Answers Live'. Reception is good. To 2200 UTC.
• 2209 UTC, 15770 kHz : Overcomer Ministry, speech carries over the airwaves from Okeechobee FL [Florida] USA (WRMI - World Radio Miami International transmitter), the broadcast is the voice of Brother Stair on the Overcomer Ministry, broadcasting from Okeechobee to Europe and America. Includes a break for music. Brother Stair talking about the Second World War, the Japanese attack on the American base Pearl Harbour. Break for music. Reception was fair. To 2221 UTC.

Good to hear America with so much content in a contracting Short Wave band! Enjoy.