Radio Seagull on Facebook
By Martin Wallis
14 April 2026
An article from our regional radio and TV station ‘Omrop Fryslan’ in the Frisian language:

It was such a great plan: the red lightship Jenni Baynton from Harlingen would go out to sea again, to make radio broadcasts from behind anchor. So the foundation behind the ship wanted to raise money for the maintenance, which is much needed. But it won’t continue. The diesel is too expensive.

The Jenni Baynton is the last ship that still broadcasts radio. It has a similar history to that of Radio Veronica. It started as a sailing lighthouse in 1949. After that, it was also a disco when it was located in Rotterdam.

In 2005, the Friends of the Lightship foundation bought it and the volunteers turned it into a functional ship again. Between 2005 and 2015, for example, Radio Waddenzee could be heard from the ship. The
ship would anchor in the Wadden Sea for five weeks. Not only to make radio, but also for other cultural events. And although the ship’s engines do not use much diesel when it is at anchor, electricity is needed. This is also generated on the old ship with diesel.

According to the board of the Friends of the Lightship foundation, the price of diesel has recently become so high that the cost of electricity on board can rise to 300 euros per day. Then the whole action would no longer generate any money, but money would have to be added.

The money would be used for a shipyard overhaul. The last shipyard overhaul the ship received was in 2009. The Friends of the Lightship foundation therefore wants to make the ship look good again. Volunteers usually maintain the ship, but for a major overhaul it has to go to a shipyard and the costs to do so are high.

 From June 1 to July 7, the ship will not be anchored at sea, but with its ropes on the shore in Harlingen. This also has an advantage, says the board: it will now be much easier for visitors to get on board.

It is possible that the ropes will still be loose for a while with the Tall Ships Races. These will be in Harlingen from July 3 to 6. The board is now investigating whether this is possible. “That beautiful red
lightship as a gatekeeper at the entrance to the harbor to welcome the sailing ships does have some extras”, says the board.

Mike Terry to nordx iog (2026-04-15)

Re.: https://mediumwave.info/2026/04/10/russia-178/

Most of these names are spelled incorrectly. MWlist shows correct ones, except for De-Kastri, named after Marquis de Castries, who sponsored the expedition of the French explorer La Pérouse (the first European to sight the bay where the settlement is located).
https://mwlist.org/mwlist_quick_and_easy.php?area=2&kHz=765
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-Kastri

Alexander Miatlikov to WOR iog (2026-04-10)

Radio Vostok Rossii (Радио Восток России) is the last remaining large MW station in Russia. They broadcast on 765kHz from various sites from Khabarovsk Region in the Russian Ear East, which is 788 thousand square km, more than twice the size of Japan.

In Tokyo, as YBS Radio (Kofu, Yamanashi) on 765kHz and NHK-R2 Akita on 774kHz(500kW) were gone in March 2026, 765kHz has been a clear channel since the beginning of April. Then I can receive this Russian MW station with good reception in early evening hours (around 1000UT). It’s been a really long time since I last listened to the Russian station on MW!

As E-mail address of this station is not made public, I asked it on the “contact” form at their home page.  They soon informed me of the address. I sent reception report in Russian with receiver screen and sample recording to this address, they promptly replied with eQSL in pdf format. As the stuff of this station understand English, reception reports in English may be also accepted.

Using Frequencies
  MW – all 765kHz
    20kW at Khabarovsk / Komsomolsk-na-Amure
    5kW at Bikin / Vyazmsky/ Troitskoye/ Berezavy/ Zinmermanovka/ De-kashin/ Bogorodskoye/ Chegdemyn / 
       Yagodny/ Sovetskaya Gavani
   FM
     Khabarovsk 103.7MHz (main station)  Komsomolsk-na-Amure 88.9MHz
     Amursk 100.9MHz  Sovetskaya Gavani 103.6MHz  Vanino 105.6MHz  
     Vysokogrony 102.8MHz  Polina Osipenko 102.3MHz  Chumikan 101.1MHz   Ayan 102.0MHz   
     Okhotsk 102.9MHz  

URL:  http://vostoknews.ru   (in Russian)
Mailing Adress:   Dzerzhinsky Street 36, Khabarovsk, Russia 680000
E-mail address for reception report:   <adm –at- radiovostok.ru>
Telephone:   +7 4212 42 02 82

I received the important notice from the staff (?).  The station will cease all MW transmission within a year, replacing to FM. 5kW MW relay stations in the southern half of the region will be also closed and moved to some FM frequencies. The reasons are increasing cost of MW transmission and decreasing MW listeners in the region. 

Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan to WOR iog (2026-04-10)

A fire early Tuesday morning destroyed the transmission building for a 50,000-watt FM station and its colocated AM signal on the Delmarva peninsula.

103.3 WESR(FM), “The Shore,” is licensed to Onley-Onancock, Va., and serves Virginia’s Eastern Shore region.

It broadcasts from a tower site in Tasley that is also home to its sister AM station, the country-formatted 1330 WESR(AM), and its 105.7 FM translator. As of Wednesday, the three signals were off the air.

The Tasley Volunteer Fire Company arrived after receiving a call for a fire at the station’s tower site and reported the structure was fully involved, according to WBOC(TV).

According to station owner Charlie Russell, both the AM and FM can be heard again via their online streams, and Russell said that the station is working to secure a backup transmitter, with the hopes of returning to the air soon.

He expressed gratitude to the emergency services that arrived quickly on scene.

The AM signal goes back to 1958 from the Accomack County tower site, according to its FCC license record. The 103.3 FM signal signed on 10 years later.

IRCA iog (2026-04-10)

A relay of Coast FM Tenerife is currently on 1575kHz (06.20UTC) // to stream at  www.coast.fm at good levels.
Reported transmitter site Sligo Ireland with 0.15kw. ID heard at 06.29UTC

John Hoad, Burnley to MWCircle iog (2026-04-05)

Major AM Changes Coming For Auckland New Zealand

A major broadcasting shake-up will start in Auckland New Zealand in mid-April, as a project gets underway to start dismantling the 2 RNZ transmission masts at Henderson in West Auckland.   The northern and southern masts are 91 and 70 years old respectively.  In all, 15 radio stations rely on them for their AM services.

There are 8 on the 122 metre high northern mast in Sellwood Road – Radio Waatea on 603 kHz, Humm 702, BBC World Service 810, Chinese Voices 936, Newstalk ZB 1080, Rhema 1251, Radio Tarana 1386 and Radio Samoa 1593, and 7 on the 153 metre high southern mast at Lincoln Road – 531PI on 531kHz, RNZ National 756, Parliament/Sanctuary 882, APNA 990, Ake 1179, Gold Sport AM 1332 and Sport Nation 1476.

Since Friday morning, BBC World Service 810 has been broadcasting a message each hour announcing that after 35 years on the Auckland airwaves, they will close down at midnight NZT (1200 UTC).  Press reports indicate that a total of 6 stations will be leaving the Auckland AM band to enable transmissions to be eventually trimmed back from 2 masts to one.  Besides BBC World Service, press reports have identified others departing AM as Pacific Media Network’s 531pi, Gold Sport 1332 and Sport Nation 1476.   I anticipate these closures on the northern mast will enable RNZ National 756, Parliament/Sanctuary 882 to be transferred from the southern mast, pending the planned construction of a new single mast at the northern site.

At this stage the sixth planned AM departure has yet to be confirmed, but my guess is that it could be either APNA 990 or Ake 1179.  We do know that 531pi is to be allocated an alternative FM frequency for 5 years (previously protected for a possible RNZ Youth Network).  

RNZ has made the call to dismantle both masts and rebuild a new one on the northern site – this would meet RNZ’s transmission needs, including the vital emergency broadcasting functions, said RNZ chief technology officer Mark Bullen.  He said “RNZ has a primary responsibility to prudently use its funding to create public media content for audiences.  That means we need to ensure all infrastructure investment is affordable while also providing the best value to New Zealanders. RNZ is not established as an infrastructure provider to other broadcasters who have independently secured AM licences from the Crown”.  

Work on decommissioning the ageing infrastructure and building the new mast in Selwood Road Henderson starts later this month.  RNZ will eventually sell the commercially valuable southern site in Lincoln Road, Henderson after removal of the mast. In recent years RNZ had tested an alternative new South Auckland transmission site at Awhitu on the shores of the Manukau Harbour, but this appears to have been flagged due to budget cuts by the Coalition Government. 

Bryan Clark, Broadcast News Editor, NZ DX Times (2026-04-04)

This was quite a surprise last night. 1150 ZYJ617 Rádio Cabugi do Seridó from Jardim do Seridó in the State of Rio Grande do Norte.
It was booming in last night and initially I thought it was a European pirate.  Listening live, I was able to match it to the station’s web stream and this morning I’ve found some “Cabugi” and “Super Rádio Cabugi” ids.
It was audible from 2200 utc when my recording started to around 0000 utc when another station, still to be investigated, came up  It went off at 0020 utc.
It appears only once in the all-time log, so it looks like they forgot to reduce power from 5kW to 0.25 kW.

Brief Super Rádio Cabugi id attached The format tended to be the YL talking and then music mainly Brazilian but Celine Dion noted too.

Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland to MWCircle iog (2026-04-02)

Canadian Radio News – Jon Pearkins.
Quite a few Radio employees in Canada will be getting a raise on April 1st. The federal minimum wage increases on that day, from $17.75 to $18.15 per hour. All federally-regulated industries must comply with the federal minimum wage. It is interesting to note that all four of the AM stations with big Ratings numbers, as shown below, are simulcast on FM. Admittedly, two are on FM HD channels. Some of those FM listeners are completely unaware that an AM station exists that broadcasts the same programming. Case in point was a Car Shuttle driver who was complaining to me about the poor reception of the CBX Nested FM Repeater near where I lived, who kept listening to the signal dropouts without switching to CBX-740. There used to be a debate about the Canadian Ratings that allowed AM/FM station pairs to be reported together, rather than separately. I was working at CHQM AM and FM in Vancouver in June 1971 when management was celebrating being #2 in the Vancouver market for the first time in their decade long history. The published ratings combined the AM and FM into one number even though they were separately programmed nine hours a day. From Advertisers’ perspective, it makes sense, especially if Sales highlights a discounted rate for advertising on both stations during non-simulcast periods of the day.

All times Eastern Local {sic} Time (ELT).

680 ON Toronto CFTR 9.6% of Adults aged 25-54 listened to CFTR in the latest Ratings, giving the All News station #3 in the Toronto market. This number includes listeners to simulcast 13 kW CKIS-FM HD2 Toronto.

690 BC Vancouver CBU 18.9% of radio listeners 12 years of age and older listened to this CBC Radio One station in the latest Ratings, giving them #1 in the Vancouver market. This number includes listeners to simulcast 100 kW Mono CBU-2-FM Vancouver.

770 AB Calgary CHQR Seems to have started running 50 kW non-directional at night by March 12th when KATL Miles City MT was heard in Edmonton AB, dominating CHQR. Reports since then of CHQR reception come from as far away as Virginia and the Mexican border in Arizona. They are licensed non-directional days and may have a similar license as CHED-880 Edmonton AB, which is allowed to run 5 kW non-directional at night if technical issues do not allow them to run their licensed night pattern.

800 QC Montreal CJAD Of Montrealers who favor English language radio, 33.5% of those 12 years of age and older listened to CJAD in the latest Ratings, giving them #1 in the Montreal (Anglo) market. This number includes listeners to simulcast 43 kW CITE-FM HD2 Montreal.

860 ON Toronto CJBC Last issue looked at the CJBC call letters beginning 100 years ago with the Jarvis Street Baptist Church, the “JBC” in CJBC. This issue looks at the history of the CBC-owned CJBC. It began on the evening of December 2 1936 under the call letters CRCY, on 1420 with 100 watts, revamping a transmitter from CKNC, a Canadian National Carbon Company radio station that lost its license one month prior, just before the CBC was formed. The CRC call letter prefix had been inherited from the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, which the CBC had been formed to replace. The CBC needed a second radio station in Toronto because its main station, CRCT, could not be heard at night in many areas thanks to interference from XERA’s new 500 kW transmitter on or near the same frequency as CRCT-840. On the evening of November 1 1938, CRCY became CBY, after the CBC received permission to use call letters beginning with CB. CBY remained on the air after the demise of XERA in 1939, but was renamed CJBC on November 15 1943, in preparation for a new CBC English language network debuting January 1 1944. A power increase from 1 kW to 5 kW was also planned for CJBC. CJBC became the lead station for the new CBC Dominion Network and CBL-740 remained the lead station of the renamed CBC Trans-Canada Network. After the two networks merged into one in the early 1960s, CJBC evolved into a full-time member of CBC’s French language AM network.

960 ON Mississauga CKNT Application to double the amount of third language programming from 20% to 40% of the Broadcast Week, 6:00 AM to Midnight seven days per week. The CRTC is accepting public comments until April 8th. The tone of the application implies that the station cannot survive financially without this change.

1010 AB Calgary CBR 16.6% of radio listeners 12 years of age and older listened to this CBC Radio One station in the latest Ratings, giving them #1 in the Calgary market. This number includes listeners to simulcast 7 kW Mono CBR-FM-1 Calgary.

1290 MB Winnipeg CJRC Noted in the wee hours of March 29th with continuous South Asian pop vocal music with short “You’re listening to…” Splitters in between. The English language-only Splitters are required to prevent the programming from being defined as Ethnic Programming by the CRTC, as it would be if the Splitters were in a South Asian language. CJRC is severely limited in the amount of Ethnic Programming that they can air.
Tips from Theo Donnelly and Andy Reid.

IRCA DX Monitor April 4, published March 30 via WOR iog (2026-03-30)

Philippine AM station sign-offs are really fun because they are in English & very thorough. They even give the names of their engineers & their license numbers. I think all stations play the Philippine National Anthem after that.
Another kind thing they do is give their call letters in English at the top of the hour.  The FMs aren’t as EE friendly. Some give their calls & some don’t. Like so many US FMs, they are more interested in giving their slogan. So where is “101.1 Wonder Radio?.” It’s in Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, I think. I was in Zamboangita, Negros Oriental, when I heard them, which is about 60 miles NW of Cagayan de Oro along a straight salt water path. Zamboangita is about 350 miles south of Manila, in the central Philippines region, known as the Visayas.

Stan Weisbeck, Spokane, WA to IRCA iog (2026-03-30)

Radio Six International 1467 kHz.
Good strong signal in the UK last night.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for 204 metres it suffered some fading I guess from the “Luxembourg Effect”.

Mike Terry to nordx iog (2026-03-29)