** CHINA. 13550, July 17 at 1357, Chinese talk and music at S6-S8, no
doubt a CNR1 jammer, to timesignal and off 1400*. I started too late
today for a full bandscan, as many more also close at 1400. Strangely,
13550 is not among the 146 *jammed SOH listings in Aoki/NDXC. But EiBi
has both of them possible until 1430, with SOH on 13550.1. Wolfgang
Bueschel`s exhaustive bandscan as of July 5-12 includes SOH (only):
``13550.053 S=3 0504 UT 2130-1430 SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng Chi 1-7``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 13739.241, July 17 at 1400, RHC self-knocked way off
frequency again, // 13700.0 which is somewhat weaker and both still on
the air. One of them is usually off by now. EiBi shows 13700 is Bauta,
13740 Bejucal, both until 1400. Something`s always wrong at RHC (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA [and non?]. 1600, July 17 at 1321, KUSH Cushing local
talkshow with ripple --- either CCI from an unstable transmitter or
its own? Vietnamese from KRVA The Metroplex seems in background and
would be the obvious spoiler, via high-end residual skywave almost a
bihour after LSR; but never noticed any such problem from them before;
recheck at 1354, now KUSH is clear. Other close 1600s are in AR, MO,
KS and NE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 17530, July 16 at 1404, S9 open carrier, off and back on
again; obviously VOA Grimesland in routine early check long before
scheduled only English broadcast at 1700-1830; BTW, if they did this
before 1400 anyday, would conflict with VOA Somali via Vatican; or
after 1400 Sat/Sun VOA Kinyarwanda via São Tomé, per HFCC (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also VATICAN [non]

** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1990 monitoring: confirmed UT Tue
July 16 at 0100 on WRMI 7780, JBA. Next:
2100 UT Wednesday WRMI 9955
2100 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v
0100 UT Thursday WRMI 7780
0930 UT Friday Unique Radio 5045-USB NSW

Full schedule including AM, FM, webcasts, satellite, podcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9330.00, July 16 at 0109, WBCQ-6 with WLC Radio is OFF ---
and not heard since as of 1605 UT July 17. Artie Bigley forwards twit
from Allan Weiner July 16: ``Worlds superstation off line TFN while we
tune up to higher frequencies and make improvements to the great
antenna.``. Nor have we noticed any reversions to Brother Scare on the
old 9330.1v transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 17775, July 16 at 1404, KVOH already S9+10, opening Spanish,
probably with sporadic-E boost (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** U S A. 15825, July 16 at 1404, WWCR S9+20 thanks to sporadic E
boost, so much so that it audiblizes a squeal on the #1 transmitter
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1210, July 17 at 0559 UT, WJNL Kingsley MI among
multi-station ID of the group, so fast I have never been able to copy
details, and 0600 ``news now``; top among CCI with more than one SAH,
but primarily timed at 152/minute = 2.53 Hz. The 50 kW daytimer
continues cheating all night. Now another report of this at the very
same time July 17 from Steve Zimmerman, Milwaukee WI, to the WOR io
group:

``Hi All, Per Glenn Hauser's tip, I am hearing WJNL with city-grade
sigs on peaks, but some deep fades as well. Tune-in at 0550 with a
blizzard of commercials, followed by a show engaging conspiracy
theories, then multiple IDs for MI stations on AM and FM. ToH news at
0600.

In spite of the fact that they run 50 kW ND, they are very difficult
to hear here on daytime groundwave, even though the path is mostly
over Lake Michigan. Ground conductivity in that part of MI is poor at
best, so maybe that has something to do with it. Rx: ICF-5900W and
built-in antenna. 73, Steve Zimmerman, Milwaukee, WI`` (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 88.1 WBFM, July 16 at 1342 UT, `Stardate` via KWOU Woodward
concludes with Sandy Wood saying this is her last show! She is
retiring due to health problems. We`ll miss her very much; these
2-minute capsules she always filled with a sense of wonder, whether
elementary astronomy or something intriguingly deeper. She must be
older than she sounds with her lovely voice.

I`ve always felt the Stardate website did not give enough credit to
Sandy; in fact searching on site, this is about all we can find:
https://stardate.org/astro-guide/gallery/celebrating-sandiys

``Celebrating the Sandi/ys Featured on July 4, 2016

Two key players in the StarDate and McDonald Observatory public
outreach programs are celebrating milestones in July. Sandy Wood
(left) is commemorating her 25th anniversary as the voice of StarDate
radio. Her first recording session was on July 23, 1991. And Sandi
Preston is retiring from McDonald Observatory on July 4. She is the
Observatory's assistant director for education and outreach, and
executive producer of StarDate radio.``

We heard her successor July 17 at 1458 on KUCO:

``The New Voice of StarDate
https://stardate.org/content/new-voice-stardate

Billy Henry in the studio while recording his first StarDate episodes.
Billy Henry, a voice talent, musician, composer, and college lecturer
in Austin, will become the third narrator of the StarDate radio
program in its 41-year history. He assumes the title from Sandy Wood,
who retired from the program effective July 16. Henry’s first program
will air the following day.

“I feel extremely privileged to be a part of the StarDate team,” says
Henry. “I’ve been listening for years and now I get to be the voice.
What a great experience.”

“I’ve had the privilege to work with the first two StarDate
announcers, Joel Block and Sandy Wood, and I know that Billy will
maintain the high standards these great talents have established for
the show,” says StarDate producer Damond Benningfield. “Billy and I
have worked together before, so I knew he would be a really good fit
for our style and content. I’m looking forward to many years of
working together.”

Henry is involved in many creative fields. He is a lecturer at Texas
State University in San Marcos, teaching classes in writing music for
TV and film, mixing for TV and film, and an introduction to desktop
production. He has also taught at The University of Texas at Austin,
and done sound design and other creative projects for the theater
department.

Henry has written or mixed hundreds of pieces of music for commercial
clients ranging from Chili’s to AT&T to Southwest Airlines. In 1999,
he wrote the score for the film “American Detective,” and in recent
years he has joined the world tours of The Court Yard Hounds, Shakira,
and the Dixie Chicks.

Henry also describes himself as a “maker of things,” including musical
instruments. He also has a pilot’s license and is working toward his
commercial rating.
Greetings from Billy Henry [41-second clip]``

Around here we get Stardate M-F only at 1342 UT on KGOU and relays; if
we miss that as KWOU 88.1 relay propagation from Woodward is sporadic,
via KUCO 90.1 at 1458 UT; and if we miss that, repeated on KUCO at
2358 UT. I gather there are also editions on Sat & Sun not scheduled
by our stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN [non]. 7305, July 16 at 0127, Vatican Radio IS, 0130
opening Spanish. In a surprise move, VR relay via IBB Grimesland NC
has re-expanded back to 30 minutes, after many months curtailed to
only 15 starting at 0145 (but carrier usually on at least 10 minutes
earlier), and also adding Portuguese at 0100, which I have just missed
today; per HFCC effective 15 July, both daily 250 kW at 164 degrees
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 1615 UT July 17