| I imagine at least a few Rantburgers are ham radio guyz. This information is from http://www.w4uvh.net/dxlatest.txt, which looks to be a very bare bones ham radio blog. Scroll down to USA for this story, it looks like there's a lot of good info on his site. Via DCRTV, an outstanding DC radio and TV blog. |
** U S A. Rumors have reached us about imminent drastic cuts in the output of VOA, RFE/RL and possibly other IBB outlets, on shortwave, as of Feb. 1. If you find your favorite, or any such frequencies missing, that may be why. Please report your monitoring results on this. PS: Happy birthday, VOA! (Glenn Hauser, Jan 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:
THE VOA IS DEAD
Circle February 1, 2006, on your calendars. That's the day VOA ceases
to be a significant global broadcaster on shortwave. Note the last-
minute nature of this communication and the non-sequiturs given as
reasoning for this death blow. VOA dies so that radios MartÃ, Fardá,
Sawa and Al Hurra can live? Gimme a break. Norm Pattiz may be gone,
but his sorry legacy lives on (John Figliozzi, NY, Jan 31, dxldyg via
DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 5:43 PM
Subject: Transmission Reductions
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2006 07:45:00 -0500
From: George Moore, Director of IBB Engineering and Technical Services
Gentlemen, Fiscal Year 2006 and 2007 budget constraints for the
Broadcasting Board of Governors require implementation of across the
board efficiencies so that our overall broadcast mission can
concentrate on its support of this country's war on terrorism. The
nation's need to secure and bolster its defenses against terrorism,
the terrible damage and cost of recovery caused by hurricane Katrina,
added to an already high U.S. Government budget deficit, means that
our broadcasting mission must become more focused.
In realignment of funding for 06 and 07, we have to reduce shortwave
transmissions throughout the network for most of our broadcast
services. Approximately 90,000 transmission hours will come off of the
network. These reductions will provide greater flexibility within the
network for Engineering to realign its transmission assets to achieve
maximum effectiveness for its target areas. Operational orders
implementing these reductions will be sent to all stations in the next
few days, effective February 1st, that will provide further details of
the individual station reductions. In addition to these reductions, it
is possible that further efficiencies will be necessary to meet the
budgetary goals and objectives that have been established by the
President.
As you may "read" into this message, the next few years are going to
require the Agency to make very difficult decisions. I'm providing you
with as much information on the budget situation as I can at this
time. You may use the information in this email to brief your staff,
as they will be concerned when they see the reduced schedule.