01:00-01:36 UTC via Canada 11.05.097 s unit reception in south central United States.
Initial reception of a continuation of this China Radio International (CRI) English language shortwave program broadcast to east coast of United States began at 01:00 with a male announcer giving a station identification call. News reporting followed quickly and was read by another male announcer. The reporting began with coverage of a revised forecast for China's economic growth by the World Bank. This news was followed by nine or ten other topics ranging from a crackdown on drunk driving in China to the construction of nuclear power stations in the country, as well as interest rates remaining unchanged in the United States. At 01:05 a special interest program segment began. The program consisted of both male and female co-host announcers, with the male announcer, named Mike, having a British sounding accent and the female announcer, Helen, sounding Chinese. The pair solicited feedback from listeners via mobile phone, email or forum participation regarding a segment centered around being a foreigner in China. A short regional weather forecast was read at 01:09 and at 01:10 the program was Identified as "China Drive". The hosts proceeded to read listener messages on the air at 01:11 and, interestingly, Mike the announcer made a reference regarding traditional meetings and mentioned the British festival on November 5 which he called "bonfire night" but is also commonly known as Guy Fawkes Day. A short news report was read by both announcers beginning at 01:14 and included interesting topics such as a declared shortage of blood donors in Beijing and the initiation of a program to entitle donors of more than 1500 mL to "unlimited" blood for life. Other news topics touched on were construction of a new Disney theme park in Shanghai and travel and accommodation prices for the upcoming China World Expo. Additional requests for listener submissions were heard at 01:18 and the program settled in for a spell that included a pre-recorded segment about foreigners living in Beijing and a local gathering called "The Long Walk" in which foreign people living in Beijing can meet and mingle with others. At 01:23 language as a barrier was discussed by Mike and Helen and then at 01:27 an upbeat pop music song entitled "22" by artist Lilly Allen was played. Station ID as well as program ID went out at 01:29 and at 01:30 Mike and Helen read some sports news which included a vast range of events, even motor racing. The foreigner topic was rehashed and discussed by both hosts until monitoring was discontinued at around 01:35, shortly after the British sounding host Mike made a remark about foreigners, tea and China.
Overall the broadcast was easy to listen to. There were a few instances where slight fading and very mild interference affected the signal but conditions for listening to Radio China International as a source of news and entertainment appear to be more than just acceptable at present. CRI's shortwave broadcasts offer a wide variety of programming. Schedules with transmission times, targets, and topics can be found at the CRI website which is linked in the sidebar of this blog.
S-3
I-3
O-3
All times are UTC.
Limited audio from the broadcast is available in .wav format here.
Additional links:
11.04.09
148,000 drunk drivers punished in China's crackdown (chinaview.cn)
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