25 February 2005
RCI’s 60th anniversary is a good time to look back at a history filled with remarkable success and rich anecdotes. Its a history worth discovering . . . and rediscovering. Did you know that Radio Canada International has attracted some of the leading lights in Canadian journalism over the years, including future Quebec premier René Lévesque and legendary CBC host Peter Gzowski?
Some might recall that Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King set up a shortwave service during the Second World War to inform and entertain our troops overseas with programming from Canada. But few people are aware that RCI also played a key role in promoting Canadian music. After making its debut on the international scene in 1945, RCI quickly became an ambassador for homegrown artists. Many famous names in Canadian music, including Oscar Peterson and Glenn Gould, made some of their first recordings in RCI studios.
RCI Today
▫ RCI produces programming in nine languages.
▫ More than 300 hours of programming are broadcast each week via shortwave, satellite and www.RCInet.ca.
▫ RCI programs are rebroadcast in over 75 countries through its 300 partner stations.
▫ RCI airs special programming for listeners in Florida and the Caribbean, featuring the best of CBC Radio One and Radio-Canadas Première Chaîne.
▫ Listeners from all over the world participate in RCI phone-in shows.
▫ RCI broadcasts language courses for the whole family.
▫ The daily Cyberjournal provides a roundup of the key news stories.
▫ RCI oversees the Canadian Institute for Training in Public Broadcasting, which offers radio, television and new-media training to journalists, managers and technicians in emerging democracies.
▫ Internet users can listen to live and archived programs in nine languages at www.RCInet.ca and explore a brand-new databank containing over 20,000 links pointing to nearly 200 countries.
A Special 60th Anniversary Contest for
18- to 30-Year-Olds Who Want to Build a Better World . . .
International Development Week (January 30 to February 5) and the UN-sponsored International Year of Microcredit 2005 will be marked in an original way by Développement international Desjardins (DID) and Radio Canada International . . . the two have teamed up to launch Building the Future Now!, a major worldwide contest for 18- to 30-year-olds.
What can we do in 2005 to build a fairer, more prosperous, more equitable world? Young people around the world will be challenged to answer this ambitious question in a short essay or illustration, giving them a chance to win one of two international development education missions organized by DID in partnership with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Prizes are valued at $15,000, and contestants can enter by visiting www.RCInet.ca.
RCI has also produced a series of short radio features, consisting of two- to three-minute interviews with young adults whose lives have benefited from microcredit. They hail from Africa, Latin America and Asia, and can be heard on RCIs international airwaves throughout the year.
Relive the best of RCI on CD and on the Web . . .
We also invite you to visit a special 60th anniversary section of the RCI website, jointly produced by the CBC Archives team and RCI staff. It contains a wealth of radio and TV clipswith different selections in English and Frenchthat look back at the landmark events of the past 60 years on RCI. Judith Jasmin, Maurice Chevalier and René Lévesque are just a few of the stars of yesteryear youll be able to see and hear again. Be sure not to miss this fascinating walk down memory lane at www.RCInet.ca and www.cbc.ca/archives/rci .
A complete press kit with audio and photo archives can be obtained on request – please contact: Denis Pellerin, Communications Director, RCI Promotion, Analysis and Broadcasting, French Radio Communications and RCI, (514) 597-4204
denis_pellerin@radio-canada.ca
24 February 2005
Leading satellite services company GlobeCast announced on 22 February the addition of Armenian Public Television and Radio to its Direct-to-Home European satellite television platform on HOT BIRD. The platform offers this key channel access to the largest television community in the world, with an estimated 95 million Direct-to-Home and cable homes in Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa.
GlobeCast – a subsidiary of France Telecom – manages proprietary Direct-to-Home satellite television platforms in Europe, America, Australia, Africa and Asia. In addition to its new European coverage on HOT BIRD, Armenian Public Television already is part of the GlobeCast WorldTV DTH platform in America.
GlobeCast is providing Armenian Public Television with an end-to-end turnkey solution, including contribution from its teleport in Yerevan to GlobeCast facilities in Paris via Eutelsat W1 and then turnaround to GlobeCasts Direct-to-Home broadcast platform on HOT BIRD 6. The channel is free-to-air in Europe.
Armenian Public Television is a 24-hour, Armenian-language network that offers viewers an array of live programming direct from Armenia. The programming lineup includes movies, soap operas, family entertainment, game shows, musical programs, sporting events, cultural documentaries, children shows, and news reports to keep you up-to-date with current events in Armenia. Additionally, the channel offers five-minute daily news flashes covering current events in both English and Russian language.
24 February 2005
NPR affiliate WJCT-FM selects Z Series HD Radio transmitter with Split-Level Combining solution, entire FLEXSTAR range of products and NeuStar pre-codec processors
Building on its HD Radio(TM) conversion momentum, Harris Corporation announced on 22 February that WJCT-FM, Jacksonville, Florida’s NPR affiliate, has purchased a complete HD Radio transmission package. Scheduled to go on-air in the spring, the WJCT solution includes a Z16HDS 3.5 kW solid-state HD Radio transmitter operating in Harris’ patent-pending Split-Level(TM) Combining method with an existing analog transmitter; all three components of Harris’ growing FLEXSTAR(TM) family of HD Radio products; and NeuStar(TM) HD/FM codec processors for the cleanest audio possible. WJCT expects to be the first Jacksonville area station to officially launch an HD Radio service, covering a multi-county region at 100,000 watts ERP (Effective Radiated Power). The package also will fully prepare WJCT to launch a complete Tomorrow Radio service dependent on FCC approval, including supplementary audio and data and an HD Radio simulcast of its current analog Radio Reading Service for the sight impaired.
The station will utilize Harris’ FLEXSTAR HDI-100 importer and HDE-100 exporter, introduced at the October NAB Radio show, at the studio instead of at the transmitter site. This allows WJCT to reduce bandwidth and enable supplemental audio and data at the studio, thereby reducing its STL investment by up to 25 percent. The importer feeds multiplexed supplemental audio and data to the exporter, which multiplexes the main channel audio with secondary services and sends them to the exciter in a single bit-rate efficient stream. With its hybrid analog/HD capabilities, the FLEXSTAR exciter further increases efficiency by allowing the station to pre-correct and condition both signals in a single box within the Z16HDS transmitter. WJCT will employ dual exciters for additional redundancy.
Harris’ turnkey HD Radio transmission package offers further efficiencies through its Split-Level Combining method and the Neural Audio NeuStar codecs. Using the Split-Level Combining method, WJCT will save tens of thousands of dollars by eliminating the need for a new analog transmitter that would be necessary with high-level combining. Furthermore, Split-Level Combining reduces the total power output of the analog transmitter and allows the station to transmit at the same power level, keeping power costs to a minimum. Meanwhile, two NeuStar pre-codec processors – one each for WJCT’s main and supplemental HD Radio signals – will provide the cleanest result to listeners possible by preparing and optimizing audio content prior to encoding, eliminating artifacts that reside within highly bit-rate reduced signals in the process.
Harris is providing further redundancy for WJCT with an in-house engineered switching solution that creates a combiner bypass system. In the event of a catastrophic failure, the combiner can be bypassed so the analog signal can still reach listeners throughout the region. This means that even with the loss of the HD Radio signal and/or secondary services, the primary service will remain on the air. The Z16HD also functions as a 7 kW analog backup transmitter to ensure maximum on-air reliability.
24 February 2005
Ute Schaeffer has been appointed Head of the French service of DW-RADIO. She was previously in charge of Ukrainian programming at DW.
Deutsche Welle broadcasts in French for 3 hours per day, targetting listeners in francophone Africa. Programmes can be received via short wave and satellite, and via the broadcasters online platform.
DW has more than 120 FM partner stations in west and central Africa, and can fall back on a network of 25 correspondents in all countries in francophone Africa.
15 February 2005
Friendly match on 15 February to benefit Tsunami victims will be broadcast via satellite on GlobeCast Direct-To-Home Satellite platforms worldwide
GlobeCast, the world’s leading satellite services company, will be collaborating in the Football for Hope FIFA / UEFA Friendly Match to be held between Ronaldinho XI and Shevchenko XI on 15 February 2005 at the Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona, Spain. The entire proceeds of this charity event will be donated to the FIFA / AFC Tsunami Solidarity Fund. GlobeCast will be on site in Barcelona to provide transmission, encryption and uplink to its broadcast platforms worldwide.
The top footballers in the world, led by FIFA World Player 2004 Ronaldinho and European Footballer of the Year 2004 Andriy Shevchenko, will compete in this friendly but fierce competition for a good cause. In response, GlobeCast’s broadcast professionals around the globe will work together to deliver coverage of this historic match to millions of potential viewers on every continent.
GlobeCast’s Direct-to-Home platforms will carry the game live from Barcelona to:
-Africa, via NSS-7 (C-band) and HOT BIRD 6 (Ku-band)
-Americas, via Hispasat 1C (Ku-band)
-Asia/Oceania, via AsiaSat 2 (C-band)
-Europe and Middle East, via HOT BIRD 6 (Ku-band)
This truly global coverage has been donated by GlobeCast as a token of solidarity with the victims of this terrible catastrophe. Coverage over Asia and Oceania is being provided courtesy of Asiasat, with uplink provided by Satlink.
15 February 2005
On 15 February 2005, the CBA celebrates the first meeting in 1945 which led to its existence.
The CBA was founded in February 1945 as the Commonwealth Broadcasting Conference. The first meeting, held in London, brought together representatives of a number of broadcasting organisations that had co-operated closely in reporting the Second World. It began with six members and is today an association of more than 100 broadcasting organisations in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Australasia, the Pacific, North and South America.
The title “Commonwealth Broadcasting Association” was adopted in Malta in 1974 as well as the CBA charter, which set out the principles and aims of the association stipulating that membership “shall be open to publicly owned national public service broadcasting organisations, or groups of such organisations, which are responsible for the planning, production and presentation of broadcast programmes in Commonwealth countries”. This was modified in 1995 to allow for membership of commercial companies with a commitment to public service broadcasting and to allow for affiliate membership.
Following the first conference in Britain in 1945, a subsequent meeting was again held in Britain in 1952 and then in Australia (1956), India (1960), Canada (1963), Nigeria (1965), New Zealand (1968), and then on a regular basis every two years continuing with Jamaica (1970), Kenya (1972), Malta (1974), Singapore (1976), Mauritius (1978), Australia (1980), Canada (1982), Hong Kong (1984), Britain (1986), The Bahamas (1988) Cyprus (1990), Botswana (1992), Canada (1994), Malaysia (1996), Gibraltar (1998), South Africa (2000), Britain (2002) and Fiji (2004).
The modern CBA is a respected international forum for broadcasters, promoting quality broadcasting through exchange of knowledge and skills, it runs broadcasting conferences, consultancies and training, has a number of broadcasting publications to its credit, helps broadcasters with funds in case of major crises like disasters and has recently made donations to the broadcasting organisations of the Maldives, Seychelles and Sri Lanka to help repair tsunami damage.
The CBA also runs a big bursary programme, and currently spends over £300,000 on bursaries to broadcasters each year.
As part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, the BBC’s Chairman Michael Grade gave the Commonwealth Broadcasting Lecture on 9 February 2005.
CBA will publish a book with the best of the Commonwealth Short Stories and Photographs called “The Spirit of the Commonwealth”.
