DX Waves #1

Namaskarm ! Welcome to the First edition of “DX Waves” weekly DX program produced by South Asia Radio.

I would like to start this edition of my report with some updates from Dxing World.

We all know, two major shortwave stations are leaving airwaves this month.

One is Radio Canada International and the other is Radio Nederlands.

We have prepared a feature on the history of RCI.

Radio Canada International is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Until 1970, it was known as the CBC International Service and was sometimes referred to as the "Voice of Canada" in its early years.

The idea for creating an international radio voice for Canada was first proposed as far back as the 1930s. Several studies commissioned by the CBC Board of Governors in the late 1930s had come to the conclusion that Canada needed a radio service to broadcast a Canadian point of view to the world.

By the end of 1944, both the production facilities and the transmitting plant were ready for test broadcasts. These tests, which began on December 25, 1944, were broadcast to Canadian troops in Europe in both English and French.

In early 1945, it was announced that the CBC International Service was ready and would go on the air for real on February 25 using the name the "Voice of Canada".

By 1946, the CBC International Service had expanded to include regular transmissions in Czech and Dutch.

In November 1946, daily broadcasts started to the Caribbean in English. There were also Sunday night programs broadcast in Spanish and Portuguese.

The CBC International Service played a major role in covering Canada's Centennial celebrations in 1967. Ceremonies from coast to coast were carried over short-wave to the world on July 1, 1967 as Canada marked its 100th birthday.

In July 1970, the service was renamed Radio Canada International.

The change took place because it was felt that RCI should have its own identity, separate from the CBC domestic network, even though RCI had just been fully integrated into the CBC system.

On November 7, 1971, RCI inaugurated its new 250 kW transmitters which were five times more powerful than the existing units. This significantly improved RCI's signal quality in Europe and Africa.

In early 1991, facing further budget deficits, the Government ordered an across-the-board budget cut. Every ministry and Crown corporation, including the CBC, was required to participate.

After evaluating its own budget, the CBC decided it could no longer pay for Radio Canada International without extra funding from the federal government.

To save the service, RCI Program Director Allan Familiant announced a major restructuring that took effect on March 25, 1991.

Six of the 13 languages — Czech, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Polish, and Portuguese — were discontinued.

And while the English and French services survived.

On April 4, 2012 an approximate 80% budget cut to the International service from $12.3 million a year to $2.3 million a year. These changes will effectively end broadcasting by RCI via shortwave and satellite. RCI News service will end, and the Brazilian and Russian sections will be cut.

All shortwave transmissions (including those from the Sackville Relay Station), satellite, and all broadcast programming will end on June 26.

All contractual and temporary staff, along with fully two-thirds of permanent staff will lose their jobs.

Also, China Radio International, an important user of RCI Sackville will have to find a new shortwave relay site.

Here is one real recording of RCI on  07^th April 2012 about the future of RCI.

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Now this sound is going to be history… We can’t hear it through airwaves…

We are reaching the end of the first edition of “DX Waves”. We welcome your comments and suggestions. You can send reception reports for this broadcast. Correct reception reports will be awarded specially designed e-QSL. Here is our email ID for sending your DX contributions and reception reports: dxing@in.com. Visit our blog www.dxhobby.blogspot.com for more DX news and updates.

The next edition of “DX Waves” will be aired on July 1^st 2012, Sunday.

Thank you for listening to the First Edition of “DX Waves”.
73’s
Good bye.