I was in the Florida Keys for a few days and one Cuban station that came in very clearly was "Radio Reloj" (pronounced ray-LOH). In the Keys, you can hear it on 570 and 950. Even if you can't get it too clearly, you can still hear its timebeats through the static, like our own WWV on shortwave.
For those unfamiliar with time stations, you hear a clunk every second. And when the minute changes you hear a beep. So it makes it very easy to set a clock to these signals. (Canada also has a time signal station on shortwave like this, as do other countries.)
But at the same time, Radio Reloj has anchors reading news stories over the clunks. Middays it's a male/female anchor team. Late nights it seems like they go with a sole male anchor, reading stories not just about "Presidente Fidel Castro" but also el presidente de los Estados Unidos, George Bush en la Casa Blanca (the White House).
The anchors try to make their stories end just before each minute's "beep". They say "Radio Reloj" (Clock Radio), then we hear the beep. They announce the time "diez minutos" or ten minutes after the hour. Then there's a sort of brief morse code signal we hear to underscore the time check.
I noticed the woman anchor had a hard time finishing her stories in time for the beep when the minute changes. She often had to speed up her delivery and was still finishing her story after the beep. Then she quickly said "Radio Reloj. Ocho Minutos." Then we'd hear the morse code signal a few seconds late.
Of course, broadcasting as everything else in Cuba is dictated by the government, not the listeners. There are no commercials or even PSAs. But I wonder why someone in charge thought an all-news radio station (with no actualities and no features that I heard) should also be on the time signal ststion. Or why the time signal station is on AM and not SW. Or why Cuba needs its own time signal station in the first place.
Maybe David knows if Radio Reloj pre-dates Castro or did his administration put it on two of Cuba's more powerful radio stations. And funny that both frequencies are on one notch away from two of Miami's largest reach AM stations in English, 560 WQAM and 940 WINZ.
Also in the Florida keys, 1140 Radio Marti is the most powerful station on the AM dial, even though it's directed to Cuba, has no call letters, doesn't show up on www.radio-locator.com and is so highly directional you have trouble hearing it Miami. (Is it 50,000 watts 24/7 or does the U.S. govt put out more watts than they legally should?) It was an interesting mix of news and talk shows (in my limited understanding of Spanish).
Other than Radio Reloj, Cuba also has some talk and music AMs but I didn't listen much with my limited knowledge of Spanish and limited interest in Cuban music. However, on one station, I heard Dancing in The Dark by Bruce Springsteen in the midst of more contemporary sounding Spanish music. That was a surprise.
The Keys are appartently too far to hear any Cuban FMs... or maybe there are no FMs in Cuba? Or are they limited in their wattage so none make the 90 miles across the Gulf of Mexico to Key West? I didn't have the opportunity to disconnect the cable on my motel's TV and try putting rabbit ears on the set to see if I might pick up Cuban TV at night. I wonder if anyone in the Keys can pick up Cuban TV signals? Actually without cable you'd likely be almost TV free in the Keys. I believe that only Key West has a TV station, a UHF Spanish station aimed at the Miami market via cable must-carry rules. Fort Myers and Miami are too far to pick up any reliable signals over the air for TV or FM.
And nearly every Miami Spanish AM station had alternate Spanish programming underneath it at night in the Keys. So I guess Castro is trying to block out Miami AM Spanish talk stations with Cuban stations whenever possible.
Gregg
[email protected]
For those unfamiliar with time stations, you hear a clunk every second. And when the minute changes you hear a beep. So it makes it very easy to set a clock to these signals. (Canada also has a time signal station on shortwave like this, as do other countries.)
But at the same time, Radio Reloj has anchors reading news stories over the clunks. Middays it's a male/female anchor team. Late nights it seems like they go with a sole male anchor, reading stories not just about "Presidente Fidel Castro" but also el presidente de los Estados Unidos, George Bush en la Casa Blanca (the White House).
The anchors try to make their stories end just before each minute's "beep". They say "Radio Reloj" (Clock Radio), then we hear the beep. They announce the time "diez minutos" or ten minutes after the hour. Then there's a sort of brief morse code signal we hear to underscore the time check.
I noticed the woman anchor had a hard time finishing her stories in time for the beep when the minute changes. She often had to speed up her delivery and was still finishing her story after the beep. Then she quickly said "Radio Reloj. Ocho Minutos." Then we'd hear the morse code signal a few seconds late.
Of course, broadcasting as everything else in Cuba is dictated by the government, not the listeners. There are no commercials or even PSAs. But I wonder why someone in charge thought an all-news radio station (with no actualities and no features that I heard) should also be on the time signal ststion. Or why the time signal station is on AM and not SW. Or why Cuba needs its own time signal station in the first place.
Maybe David knows if Radio Reloj pre-dates Castro or did his administration put it on two of Cuba's more powerful radio stations. And funny that both frequencies are on one notch away from two of Miami's largest reach AM stations in English, 560 WQAM and 940 WINZ.
Also in the Florida keys, 1140 Radio Marti is the most powerful station on the AM dial, even though it's directed to Cuba, has no call letters, doesn't show up on www.radio-locator.com and is so highly directional you have trouble hearing it Miami. (Is it 50,000 watts 24/7 or does the U.S. govt put out more watts than they legally should?) It was an interesting mix of news and talk shows (in my limited understanding of Spanish).
Other than Radio Reloj, Cuba also has some talk and music AMs but I didn't listen much with my limited knowledge of Spanish and limited interest in Cuban music. However, on one station, I heard Dancing in The Dark by Bruce Springsteen in the midst of more contemporary sounding Spanish music. That was a surprise.
The Keys are appartently too far to hear any Cuban FMs... or maybe there are no FMs in Cuba? Or are they limited in their wattage so none make the 90 miles across the Gulf of Mexico to Key West? I didn't have the opportunity to disconnect the cable on my motel's TV and try putting rabbit ears on the set to see if I might pick up Cuban TV at night. I wonder if anyone in the Keys can pick up Cuban TV signals? Actually without cable you'd likely be almost TV free in the Keys. I believe that only Key West has a TV station, a UHF Spanish station aimed at the Miami market via cable must-carry rules. Fort Myers and Miami are too far to pick up any reliable signals over the air for TV or FM.
And nearly every Miami Spanish AM station had alternate Spanish programming underneath it at night in the Keys. So I guess Castro is trying to block out Miami AM Spanish talk stations with Cuban stations whenever possible.
Gregg
[email protected]
