Canada

After two-week setback, new Niagara station CFAJ 1220 AM debuts Monday.
After some technical difficulties, Niagara’s newest radio station is set to go live Monday morning.
CFAJ-AM, occupying the former CHSC slot at 1220 AM, debuts at 6 a.m. Sept. 25 with morning show hosts Steph Mizi and Danny Zzzz, two weeks after the original launch date.
General manager Praveen Amirtharaj says a combination of “software issues” and a week-long internet outage forced the station to delay its first day.
[….]
https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/entertainment/after-two-week-setback-new
-niagara-station-cfaj-1220-am-debuts-monday/article_af495b28-0ab5-5b50-
8522-d8ad6d5680d2.html

Andy Reid to WOR iog (2023-09-23)

Czechia

Translated from Czech
Country Radio will start broadcasting from the Liblice transmitter on October 1st.

From the tallest building in the Czech Republic, the transmitter in Liblice near České Brod, radio broadcasts will be broadcast again. From October 1, České Radiokomunikace (CRA) will start broadcasting Country Radio here on medium wave 639 kHz

The transmission antenna will be the current pair of antenna masts with a height of 355 m.

“Operational tests are already underway at the transmitter in Liblice, including occasional transmissions to the antennas. Regular broadcasting will start on October 1st, and the masts will be permanently under high voltage,” said the press release of České Radiokomunikace.

The original broadcast of Czech Radio from the Liblice transmitter on medium waves ended at the end of 2021. The distinctive landmark of the Central Bohemian Region will therefore see a new use after about a year and a half.

https://www.lupa.cz/aktuality/country-radio-zacne-od-rijna-vysilat-z-vysilace-liblice/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=rss&fbclid=IwAR0hWlv2qQIaxt9l
O65DwtfAH3zSdx6M5wcETqiRZunBX2nLOXz8MGV6DUA

Ydun Ritz (2023-09-23)

United States

Good Karma Brands will conclude its LMA of Emmis Communications’ “98.7 ESPN” WEPN-FM New York when its contract comes to an end in August 2024.

The programming on the station will relocate back to 1050 WEPN and their digital platforms when the deal comes to an end around August 31, 2024. 1050 WEPN currently airs the national ESPN Radio lineup.

Good Karma owner Craig Karmazin told the New York Post, “We’re committed to serving the New York sports fan and with the combination of our AM signal, the ESPN New York App, podcasts, smart speakers, YES and other additional audio and video distribution, investing in an FM signal was not relevant in the way it was a decade ago.” The Post reports that Emmis

ESPN Inc. began leasing the former “98.7 Kiss-FM” from Emmis in April 2012 in a deal that started at $8.5 million per year and increased by 3.5% annually. Good Karma took over the operations of the station when it purchased the local radio assets of ESPN in December 2021. The lease of 98.7 to ESPN would lead to CBS Radio acquiring then 101.9 WRXP New York in October 2012 for $75 million to bring Sports 660 WFAN to FM to keep up with WEPN. Outside of brief time when WEPN’s Michael Kay Show would outperform WFAN in afternoons, the battle has been pretty much one-sided in WFAN’s favor due to WEPN’s partial reliance on needing to clear some of the national ESPN Radio lineup.
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/258983/good-karma-brands-to-end-98-7-new-york-lma-in-2024/

Lance Venta, RadioInsight (2023-09-19)

Lithuania

Translated from German:
https://www.radioeins.de/programm/sendungen/medienmagazin/radio_news/beitraege/2022/lenta_1557.html
The two medium waves on which programs intended for foreign countries are already broadcast from Lithuania should not be enough: the aim is also to reoccupy the 666 kHz frequency.

A frequency tender is currently underway with a deadline of November 6th. There are likely to be concrete plans behind this that have not yet been disclosed.

The medium wave 666 kHz is the former main frequency of the first radio program from Vilnius. Its shutdown in 2009 marked the end of AM broadcasts from broadcasters in the Baltics as a whole. In Estonia and Latvia, this step was already taken in 1998/1999.

The tender specifically mentions Sitkunai near Kaunas as the transmitter location. This continues the unexpected revival of this station.

It was only in 2017 that the broadcasting network operator LRTC kicked out the last users and completely cleared out the technology building. If this address can no longer be de-cluttered with a photo collection, we recommend taking a look at what conditions existed when the business was still running.

The continuation of the 1386 kHz frequency, supported by US authorities, including the German-language broadcasts from Polskie Radio, was only possible from a different location. Accordingly, observers were astonished when broadcasts from Sitkunai began again.

The transmission of Russian-language programs was observed for the first time on August 5, 2022 on 1557 kHz. Since then it has been running in the evenings.

It is a Dutch project that will officially be called “Radio Pravda”. However, this name is not used anywhere. On air and online it is just called “Nascha Lenta” or “Radio Lenta”.

Lenta is actually the name of a Russian online newspaper founded in 1999, from which the Riga-based Medusa project split off in 2014. As far as we can tell, the broadcasts on 1557 kHz have nothing to do with this.

It doesn’t look like it has a Ukrainian background, such as Lenta.ua, which is now operating in Kiev, but rather a simple hijacking of the well-known brand.

While nothing is known about the journalistic background of these broadcasts, a relevant report offered all the details about the technology. The transmitter from a Canadian manufacturer that was active in the Netherlands on 1008 kHz until the beginning of 2019 is connected to one of the antennas still present in Sitkunai.

The chronicle included information that no one wanted to give at the time, namely the transmission power used in the last operating phase of the Zeewolde medium wave station: it was 50 kW.

Kai Ludwig, Radio Eins (2023-09-10) via Herbert Meixner in A-DX iog (2023-09-12)

Ukraine

1278 Petrovka/Kurisovo/Odessa
https://www.radioeins.de/programm/sendungen/medienmagazin/radio_news/beitraege/2022/ukraine_mittelwelle.html

That links to
http://www.frocus.net/main.php?lng=en&rzd=E-TV&pag=area&g=4632#emiter_table
The coordinates show the Kurisovo (ukr. Kurisove) transmitter, also known under the name Petrovka.
The pictures on frocusat simply don’t match the Google Earth pictures. There is the big ARRT antenna with the cage antenna. You can clearly see the cirle with the mounting.

http://www.frocus.net/images/antennas/ua/Petrivka/SW-ant_EMNIP_3.jpg
Does anybody know where that antenna is? That one doesn’t have the ARRT cage, but other interesting stuff like the 4 wires connecting the guy wires together at the top level.
Another antenna is connected to it, see the first guy level, such also exist in Ekaterinburg.
The other antenna was шпренгельная антенна, another type of cage antenna that looks completely different.
The smaller antennas on the left side also look different.

https://vcfm.ru/vc/f-indexo.htm
Here Одесская ОГТРК [Odessa OGTRK] is named for some low power MW transmissions.
Is that
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%9E%D0%A0%D0%A2%D0%9F%D0%A6
?
46°27’00.0″N 30°44’27.6″E
That is a freestanding tower.

Marco (2023-09-12)

Norway

1611 Transmitter feed repaired, back since August 10th. Transmission hours greatly extended.

LLE-4 Radio Northern Star, 400 watts, temporary schedule: 0459-2205 UTC.
Automated and live assist Classic Rock and Pop from both sides of the Atlantic with announcers Sue,
Howie, Ron and Rosko etc.
VFG (Gospel programming) 17 hours per week, 6 hours Saturdays and Sundays, 1 hr weekdays.
Northern Star is rotating on 1611// 5895 kHz with Kysten/The Coast, our FM 93.8 MHz (Classic Country,
Country & Irish, General Scandinavian and Gospel Music).
1611 heard in 16+ countries.
5895 heard in 30+ countries.
Reports: 1000@northernstar.no

Svenn Martinsen 2.9.2023 to Arctic Radio Club via WOR iog (2023-09-04)

Ukraine

1278 is audible here, but not very strong.
http://kiwisdr-dorohoi.ddns.net:8073/?f=1278.00amz7

If the signal comes from курисово [Kurisovo], the distance is about ~400 km.
I assume the ARRT antenna is being used: 46.99341518966428, 30.896262571618276

The smaller cage antenna (шпренгельная антенна) collapsed betwenn March
2020 and July 2021, according to Google Earth pictures.
46.991058757749634, 30.889149353921177

Some smaller ones exist next to the transmitter building, but I don’t think that these are capable for high power broadcasts on MW.

Marco (2023-09-01)

Italy

Radio Centrale Milano is testing on 1575 kHz. You can already listen to Centrale Milano via an internet stream. The station intends to start broadcasting via mediumwave from Alessandria, Italy, as well. Despite a power of only 10 Watts and a distance of 840 kilometers the reception was pretty good August 28th, 23h UTC in the Netherlands. During the tests the station transmits a pulse with increasing pitch. That results in a very interesting waterfall on the HDSDR as you can see in my YouTube clip: https://youtu.be/LYMIMVohT_w

Enzo from Centrale Milano wrote in an email:
Yes, we are testing our site near to Alessandria where we are authorized to use the 1575khz formerly in charge of the Italian Rai and now assigned to us.

The test are performed with a 50mt folded dipole and 10w carrier. We are authorized to 1kw and it seem we will reach you again probably much better ! The regular programs currently available online will be soon activated replacing the test tones and increased (in quality and number of direct ‘on air’) starting from January next year.

I’m 60y/o, owner of the radio and very happy to meet person as you, with your passion for the radio. Congratulations for you ability to capture a so low signal coming from so far away !

You will receive soon our QSL, for the moment thanks again and stay tuned !
Report by Peter Reuderink: https://petersdxcorner.nl/
Thanks to a tip from Hugo Matten: https://hugosdxhoekje.wordpress.com/

Peter Reuderink (2023-08-31)