[IRCA] Korea: Jayu FM 97.7 -> 97.8

["Chris Kadlec" <beaglebass@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

An update for those who keep track of East Asia, though it will be of interest mostly to Japanese listeners who regularly catch this network:

JAYU FM (former 97.7, South Korea) moves to 97.8
vs. ECHO OF UNIFICATION (97.8, North Korea)

As part of the ongoing radio war on the Korean Peninsula, there are even more changes on the FM dial. I don't believe the station broadcasts on SW or ever has, but it's in relation to the shuffling of Echo of Unification on SW 6250, which returned to its old 97.8 blowtorch signal out of Haeju.

Jayu FM (translated as "Freedom FM") has been moved from its long-time spot on 97.7 in the Seoul metro area and bumped up to 97.8 to be smack on the same frequency as Haeju, which runs at about an ERP of 100-200 kw. from along the sea. In addition to that, the transmitter at Seoul Namsan (Seoul Tower) about 25 miles to the south has turned its 97.8 jammer back on as well. The move applies only to the main Paju/Yeoncheon transmitter site and not to its other signals on 94.5, 96.1, and 100.6 elsewhere along the border to the east. The move to a frequency that South Korean radios cannot generally tune to indicates its desire to focus solely on North listeners as opposed to what had always appeared as a station, like RFK on MW, feeding propaganda to Seoul residents as well as running local ads at times. In addition, it also will serve as a second jammer to 97.8 Echo of Unification in the northern suburbs to prevent South Koreans from tuning into Echo of Unification, which is drastically more powerful than the Seoul jammer.

This means there are now signals on 97.8 in Seoul, east Paju, and Haeju, all within 70 miles (113 km.) of one another aiming in different directions. 97.8 Haeju aims southeast at Seoul, 97.8 Paju aims west toward Haeju and Kaesong, and 97.8 Seoul I believe is omnidirectional to cover the city right from downtown.

Haeju and Seoul had long been battling it out on 97.8 until Haeju's signal turned off in 2015. The signal was parallel to 684 Kaesong and 1080 Haeju broadcasting six hours a day, two hours in the morning, two in the afternoon, and two at night. Both signals, the former of which was extremely intermittent to begin with, switched off in late December last year in favour of numerous FM outlets from Haeju to Kaesong, which lies in the Seoul metro area, leaving the south's government scrambling to set up FM jamming transmitters it was lacking, having concentrated on MW until that point. All former MW propaganda signals along the border area migrated to FM signals recently, harder to block for the south and in mountainous Korea, easier to pick up in areas where the jammer signals don't reach so well. 97.8's signal from Haeju reaches about 120 miles (193 km.) on average, i.e. about 50+ miles (80+ km.) beyond Seoul, which lies 20 miles (32 km.) from the border.

97.7 (now 97.8) is one frequency featured in my Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide.

A full 24-minute clip of their sign-on sequence recorded last summer can be heard here:

http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Jayu_FM_Sign_on.MP3

-Chris Kadlec
 Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide
 http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/seoul/
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