Author: Vlad Palcu

Hi everyone,

First of all, it’s Easter Week, so let me wish you
all Happy Holidays!

We did get
Easter greetings and wishes from many of our listeners, for which we are very
grateful. We thought it would be nice to share some of them with you.

A blessed and Happy Easter to you all as we
recall the passion of of Lord Jesus on the cross for us and His resurrection on
that first Sunday. (Art R. Womald, Canada)

I would like to wish all of you at Radio
Romania International (RRI) and all the RRI listeners a blessed Good Friday
filled with love and hope. May the sacrifice of Jesus on this Good Friday
remind us of the power of love and forgiveness! (Rabi Sankar Bosu, India)

May the love of Jesus fill your heart with
heavenly bliss and holy desires for now and forever. Wishing you a Holy Good
Friday! (Bidhan Chandra Sanyal, India)

We also got this
card from Adrian Micallef (Malta)

… one by Ron den
Boer (The Netherlands)

…and finally one
by Prithwiraj Purkayastha.

***

This week we also get to make a trip back in time, thanks to Jack Widner (USA), who sent us a recording of our broadcast in 1989, just as the Ceaușescu regime was being toppled in the anti-communist revolution. You can listen to the recording here:

https://archive.org/details/romanianNYE

This is the description:

This week we
also got a nice message from Peter Reuderink, who lives in Woerden (The
Netherlands). He shared with us this photo of the town windmill. (FYI – the
bike speaks to Peter’s other big hobby).

This week we got
a very nice message from Bidhan Chandra Sanyal (India), who shared with us
details about an important upcoming celebration. Here is his message:

Next
April 15 is our Bengali New Year. On the occasion of Happy New Year, I wish you
all my sincere love and best wishes. Probably the Pahela Baisakh celebration started during
the time of Emperor Akbar. At that time, everyone was obliged to pay all
taxes, fees and duties by the last day of Bengali Chaitra month. On the
next day ie Pahela Baisakh, the landowners used to entertain the residents of
their respective areas with sweets. Various festivals were organized on
this occasion. This festival has evolved into a social event which has changed
its form and reached this stage today. At that time the main event of
this day was the preparation of a Halkhata. Halkhata means a new account
book. In fact, Halkhata is the process of officially updating shop accounts on
the first day of the Bengali calendar. In villages, cities, commercial
areas, old accounts are closed and new accounts are opened. On the day of
Halkhata, shopkeepers entertain their customers with sweets. This practice is
still practiced to a large extent today. But with the change of time
comes the change in everything. And that is normal. Once upon a
time Jalsar came to Banedi houses on Pahela Baisakh. With his
friends. Famous beauties Baijira used to come to perform the
ceremony. Sarengi tunes and nupur choruses created a heavenly
atmosphere. The lake was filled with the smell of bell and jasmine
flowers. It used to ring in the ears – I will spread the seeds in
the morning on that morning of Baisakh. Along with that candle and chandelier’s
mind-boggling light. In the Rabindra era, Rabindranath’s hand came -
Come, O Baisakh, come – come. The arena of literature and
culture started to develop in Pahela Baisakh. Over time, some western
Happy New Year culture also entered the place. Let it happen, but you
have to be careful not to lose your individuality. Thus, every year on
New Year’s day, Bengalis welcome the new year with a clear mind, washing away
the wear and tear of the previous year. Times may have changed, but the
joy remains the same.

A big thanks to
all of you who’ve been commending our activity!

In my opinion this shows the biggest
advantage of shortwave radio – you can listen to in on the other side of the
world. I find it quite fascinating that it is possible to hear a broadcast from
Romania in the US on in Bangladesh. Also thank you for mentioning my report in
the programme. Jakub
Denisiuk (Poland)

We also got a
heart-warming letter from Hidemitsu Miyake from Japan. Here is what she wrote:

This year, spring has come a little earlier
than usual and cherry blossoms are already about to bloom, although it is still
mid-March. I like spring best in the four seasons. Spring is a season of
flowers and the symbol of this season is cherry flowers. There are many cherry
trees in Japan. When the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, people all around
the country have hanami parties. People lay out picnic blankets and eat and
drink alcohol under the trees. There are also places where you can enjoy
Yozakura (cherry blossoms at night). The trees are lit up and lanterns line the
pathways. There is a romantic appeal in the impermanence of cherry blossoms.

That’s simply
wonderful! Hidemitsu also sent us this photo and voucher catalog.

We also say
hello to Grant Skinner (England) who sent us a letter recently saying:

RRI is
an unlimited world of information which keeps me informed about news and
culture.

From the USA,
James Renfrew also sent us a letter saying:

I would appreciate it if you could confirm
my reception by an RRI QSL. We radio hobbyists enjoy collecting these
verifications as a way of demonstrating to our friends what we have heard from
interesting locations around the world. For your information, I first wrote to
Radio Bucharest, as your station was then called, in 1988, 35 years ago!

***

A big thanks to
everyone who took the time to write to us, share their impression and comments
and many other beautiful things. Our gratitude thus goes to Jayanta Chakrabarty
(India), Bbadrunnesa Busra (Bangladesh), Najim Uddin (India), Francis Lawlor
(Ireland), Anand Mohan Bain (India), Jon Collins (Ireland), Sanil Deep (India),
Siddhartha Bhattacharjee (India), Mr. Mafhuz (Bangladesh), Bidhan Chandra
Sanyal, Ivo Sesnic (Germany), Harald Süss (Austria), Abdul Mannan (Bangladesh),
Ian Morrison (China), Paul Freeman (UK), Fariya Fariya (Bangladesh), Misayo
Tanaka (Japan), N.S. Balamurali (India), Shin Makino (Japan), Michael Naven
(USA), Jaouad Saber (Morocco), Alan Gale (UK), Fabrizio Savini (Italy), Wasif
Ahmed (Bangladesh), Christer Brunström (Sweden), Besakha Akter (Bangladesh),
Allen Willie (Canada), Guido Panebianco (Italy), Madhab Chandra Sagour (India),
Adora Athoy (Bangladesh), R.S. Vijay Kumar (India), Chris Malboeuf (Canada),
Kraig Krist (USA), Seli Aktar (Bangladesh), Urbe Islam (Bangladesh), Muhammad
Shamim (India), Rajarshi Roy (India), Toshiki Tsuboi (Japan), Motokazu Katoh
(Japan), Anika Anne (Bangladesh), Ding Lu (China), Vabna Khatun (Bangladesh),
Kamia Akter (Bangladesh), K.P. Muneer (United Arab Emirates), Payel Ahmed
(Bangladesh), Renita Rini (Bangladesh), Yaaraa Ahmed (Bangladesh), Upoma Khatun
(Bangladesh), Jawahar Almeida (New Zealand), Prothama Prome (Bangladesh), Eti
Mone (Bangladesh), Karniz Fatema (Bangladesh), Prithwiraj Purkayastha (India),
Richard Lemke (Canada), Norihiko Ide (Japan), Nusrat Jahan (Bangladesh), Nick
Packham (UK), H.M. Tarek (Bangladesh), Feona Rahman (Bangladesh), Costa
Constantinides (Cyprus), Pradip Kundu (India), Debakamal Hazarika (India), Samina
Gull (Pakistan), Abdul Hameed Majroo (Pakistan), Apsara Ape (Pakistan), Ramon
Vargas Patron (Peru), Ram Babu Kumar (India), Larry Nelson (USA), Julie Sarmile
(Bangladesh), Andrew Kuznetsov (Latvia), Anton Hapsara (Indonesia), Sutomo
Huang (Indonesia), Sakae Onozawa (Japan), Akira Takei (Japan), Shohel Rana
Redoy (Bangladesh), Nicolas Beaney-Weaver (England).

***

A lot of you
have been writing asking to email them programme and frequency schedules. While
we no longer have custom-made frequency and programme prints, we will try to
send Word documents to anyone asking in the future. In the meantime, please
refer to our website for future reference.

Here is the full
list of 2023 summer frequencies.

RRI on shortwaves: summer frequencies 2023

RECEPTION AREAS	UTC	kHz
WESTERN EUROPE	05.30 – 06.00	9,700; 11,960 (DRM)
	11.00 – 12.00	15,130;17,630
	17.00 – 18.00	13,750(DRM); 15,180
	20.30 – 21.00	9,740; 11,975 (DRM);
	22.00 – 23.00	9,740 ; 11,800
AFRICA	11.00 – 12.00	15,320; 17,670
NORTH AMERICA (East Coast)	20.30 – 21.00	11,850; 13,650
	00.00 – 01.00	9,550; 11,620
NORTH AMERICA (West Coast)	03.00 – 04.00	9,850; 11,620
JAPAN	22.00 – 23.00	9,790; 11,650
AUSTRALIA	05.30 – 06.00	17,760; 21,550
INDIA	03.00 – 04.00	15,330 (DRM); 17,790

We’ve had a
patch of really bad weather in Romania, with strong winds and a lot of
rainfall. This may account for what many of you have signaled as quite poor
listening conditions. The forecast for the week ahead looks brighter, so
hopefully things will improve.

***

As many of you
have already noticed, we have introduced text-to-speech software-generated
announcements in our programmes.

Our use of A.I. voiceover
software is merely a one-time experiment, whereby we try to keep in tune
with the latest technological advancements and what other public broadcasters
are doing.

We regard such software as a support for
journalists, allowing them to invest more time in the development of creative,
value-added content, while these A.I. voiceovers can be used in routine, less
important matters such as station announcements or the transcript of audio /
video files. This isn’t any different from what other media are using in terms
of text-to-speech software

We will be posting some of your reactions in the
upcoming roundup, so check in again in two weeks’ time!

Until then, 73!

Hi everyone,

Spring is finally
here, and we’re all happy to be able to go out again and enjoy nature as much
as possible!

We’ve got
reports of changing pastime activities or other spring-related changes from many
listeners too. For instance, Shin Makino of Japan wrote:

Japan
is getting warmer during the daytime and the weather is gradually becoming
reminiscent of spring. Butterbur sprouts have bloomed in the garden again this year, and the cherry blossom season is about
to begin.

What a wonderful
time of the year that is in Japan – and it’s also the start of the tourist
season. Hope you all enjoy it!

We also got some
season greetings from Chris Malboeuf (Canada) too:

Happy
first day of spring! Hope you’re enjoying it with the nice weather in Romania.

We return the
same message of renewed hope to all our listeners!

After last time
we said hello to long-time listeners Ian Morrison and Paul Flanagan, this time
we’re happy to greet Gunnar Green of Sweden. Here is what he wrote:

Let me please introduce
myself: I am a 69 years old shortwave enthusiast
who lives in Motala. Sweden. I have been
a DX-er for over 50 years, since 1969. I have sent some reception reports to
Radio Romania International during the years. However due to an intensive working
life there have been a shortage of time to write to you as much I would like
to. But now when I am retired and have more time I thought I should write and give
you my opinion.

We’re very happy we are part of your retirement plan, Gunnar. A very
wise choice!

These past weeks
we also got a ham card from Joseph Shipp (USA), which we thought we might share
with you.

Since the last update, we got reports
from a number of our listeners signaling trouble picking up the 6020 kHz
and 7410 kHz. Michael Naven of Rochester NY (USA) reported none of
the frequencies work due to an ongoing solar storm, something confirmed by
other listeners as well. Starting March 27, Michael did manage to pick up our
broadcasts on 9550 and 11620 kHz, although signal is
reportedly poor on the latter. We do hope reception conditions will improve as
we operate further adjustments.

Over the last two weeks we also got many
reactions to president Klaus Iohannis’s visit to Japan. Sakae Onozawa and
Teruhiko Kachi particularly reacted to an Artscape segment we broadcast on this
occasion:

By
the way, earlier this month, the President of Romania and the Prime Minister of
Japan signed the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. Dedicating to this, you broadcast
Japanese culture in Romania in the programme of
Artscape which I was very interested in. As I am not familiar with
Japanese pop-culture, I found out about sumika, Genki Kawamura, and so on not
from NHK of Japan but from RRI.! Anyway,
I am glad that Japanese culture is accepted in Romania. I hope that the friendship between Romania
and Japan will last for a long, long time. (Teruhiko Kachi)

I
was very pleased to see an article about Japanese film producer and picture
book author Genki Kawamura on ARTSCAPE today. I really like his novel If
Cats Disappeared from the World and his animated movies. But I was very
surprised because I didn’t expect RRI to broadcast an article about his
activities. I hope that the world he creates will be loved by the Romanian people.
(Sakae Onozawa)

We also got a
very heart-warming letter from Dahmani Rachid (Algeria), which we decided to
share with you below:

My friends and loved ones at Radio Romania’s
English section. Greetings of love and appreciation to all of you! The love we have with the things we enjoy can be very
positive and an important part of our lives. When it comes to a particular radio
station such as Radio Romania, this may indicate an interest in culture, music,
and current events in other societies. Radio Romania’s English division has a variety of
programs including culture, music, news and more, which means there is a lot to
enjoy and learn from. I feel that my love for this station is indescribable.
This may be because of the connection that I feel with the content and
information it provides, and I may have an interest in knowing this where all
the elements of tourist attractions gather. Since my childhood, the Romania culture drew my
attention in all its branches, and I fell under its influence, and I sought to
know this rich country, which gathered everything I long for and adore, and it
became my first and favorite destination. Regardless of the reasons, the love I feel for Radio
Romania’s English section is a beautiful thing and can be useful for broadening
my horizons and learning new things. It enables me to continue listening to the
station and benefiting from its programs to enhance my knowledge and expand my
culture.

We are very grateful so many of you often choose to write simply to appreciate
our hard work and the quality of our broadcasts – it really means a lot!

Our regards go to
everyone who took the time to write to us: Fabrizio Savini (Italy), Nasir Aziz
(Pakistan), Prothama Prone (Bangladesh), Payel Ahmed (Bangladesh), Tapan Basak
(India), Nusrat Jahan (Bangladesh), Ratan Kumar Paul (India), Madhab Chandra
Sagour (India), Misayo Tanaka (UK), Eti Mone (India), Yaaraa Ahmed
(Bangladesh), Renita Rini (Bangladesh), Upoma Khatun (Bangladesh), Karniz
Fatema (Bangladesh), Siddhartha Bhattacharjee (India), Najim Uddin (India), Zosna
Rahman (Bangladesh), Jauoad Saber (Morocco), Digvijay Sarnobat (India), Malik
Allah Bachaya (Pakistan), William Parks (USA), Costa Constantinides (Cyprus),
Jayanta Chakrabarty (India), Abdul Mannan (Bangladesh), Lamia Akter
(Bangladesh), Alokesh Gupta (India), Kari Tuovinen (Finland), Diego García Díaz
(Spain), H.M. Tarek (Bangladesh), Saif Khan (Bangladesh), Miss Mariya (Bangladesh),
Fariya Fariya (Bangladesh), Amena Amena (Bangladesh), Mark Buskirk (USA),
Rozina Akter (Bangladesh), Tarjin Ahmed (Bangladesh), Jakub Denisiuk (Poland),
Richard Lemke (Canada), Debakamal Hazarika (India)

With the switch
to the DST we also updated the list of summer frequencies, which you can find
below.

RECEPTION AREAS	UTC	kHz
WESTERN EUROPE	05.30 – 06.00	9,700 ; 11, 960 (DRM)
	11.00 – 11.00	15,130; 17,630
	17.00 – 18.00	13,750(DRM); 15,180
	20.30 – 21.00	9,740; 11,975 (DRM);
	22.00 – 23.00	9, 740; 11,800
AFRICA	11.00 – 12.00	15,320; 17,670
NORTH AMERICA (East Coast)	20.30 – 21.00	11,850; 13,650
	00.00 – 01.00	9,550; 11,620
NORTH AMERICA (West Coast)	03.00 – 04.00	9,850; 11,620
JAPAN	22.00 – 23.00	9,790 ; 11,650
AUSTRALIA	05.30 – 06.00	17,760; 21,550
INDIA	03.00 – 04.00	15,330 (DRM);17,790;

We’ve had a lot
of requests from listeners to send them custom prints of our programme
schedule. Unfortunately, we don’t do that anymore.

Also as a final
remark / request, please do not refer to the reception report form on our
website – it is still temporarily unavailable pending a proper fix. We kindly
ask everyone to submit their letters, comments, reports and suggestions to engl.rri@gmail.com or to our postal
address: Radio Romania International, 60-64 G-ral Berthelot Street, Sector 1,
Bucharest, PO Box 111, code 010165.

73

Hello everyone!

It’s been an
exciting two weeks, during which time we’ve received many interesting messages,
sent either by post or email. We are very grateful to everyone taking the time
to send us reception reports, leaving their impressions and comments or simply
writing to catch up.

Speaking of
catching up, this week we reconnected with our old-time listener and friend Ian
Morrison, who for many years has been tuning in to our station out of China.

I
have been listening to your station since 1987, back in the days when it was
Radio Bucharest, so you really are an old friend. It’s wonderful that you still
broadcast on shortwave, as so many other broadcasters from those days have
vanished.

That goes a really long way, and the
same can be said of Paul Flanagan from the United
Kingdom, who has been with us since 1978. This makes him our listener for over
44 years! Paul also enclosed the QSL he received back then as well as his own
list of reports submitted to Radio Bucharest.

This week a
number of listeners from India sent us wishes and greetings celebrating Holi or
Dol Festival. For instance, Bidhan Chandra Sanyal wrote:

Our India as well as our West Bengal is full
of festivals and celebrations. The
various festivals, rituals, customs etc. here are carrying the pre-Aryan
tradition. As a result of Aryan culture,
they have undergone some changes from time to time, but still their original
appearance can be identified. According
to the historical sources, the inheritance of the Austrian, Dravidian, Alpine,
Mongolian people here, the Bengali people have been nurturing Gajan, Charak,
Muharram, New Year, Jhulan, Holi or Dol festival since ancient times. As the essence of the festivals is practical,
so the appeal is spontaneous and sincere.
These have the influence or combination of different cultures. In this way, the essence of the Holi festival
of the past is mixed with the essence of the festival of the next era.

Many songs, poems or verses have been composed in
different ways around the festival of Holi.
The eternal appeal of these songs-poems-words-stories is for respect,
respect and absolute love to the people of all societies whether it is a city
or a village. There are many auspicious
beliefs-reforms, customs, rituals, totem-taboos about Holi in the folk
society. They stimulate man’s
self-consciousness, fill his heart with hope;
Loves the thought. People of
different religions, castes and communities come together in Holi
festival. The festival became a
gathering place for the masses. In this
meeting place, people get excited about collective emotions rather than
individual hopes and desires, happiness and sadness. And this collective emotion is the
traditional background of Bengali non-communal consciousness.

We are very
happy many of you chose to share this special moment with us, here on RRI.

A warm thank you
for writing to Allen Willie (Canada), Norihiko Ide (Japan), Apurba Kumar Pal
(India), KP Muneer (UAE), Francis Lawlor (Ireland), Jayanta Chakrabarty
(India), Igor Belevich (Belarus), Teruhiko Kachi (Japan), Madhab Chandra Sagour
(India), Debamakal Hazarika (India), Mikio Kohara (Japan), Richard Lemke
(Canada), Chris Malboeuf (Canada), Guido Panebianco (Italy), Kraig Krist (USA),
Francis Lubas (UK), Najim Uddin (India), Cyril MacDonald (Canada), Christer
Brunstrom (Sweden), Andrew Kuznetsov (Latvia), Idriss Boudina (USA), Piotr
Dembek (Poland), Michael Naven (USA), Digvijay Sarnobat (India), Paulo Rodrigues (USA), Pradip Kundu
(India), Alan Gale (UK), Peter Prichard (USA), Maria Khanim Moure (Bangladesh),
Muhammad Shamim (India), Karyono Wasmin (Indonesia) and Piotr Krupski (Poland).

Many thanks to everyone also writing us
on Facebook and WhatsApp!

We are currently
preparing the list of summer frequencies, which we will announce soon both
on-air as well as on our website, so make sure to check in every now and then
for updates.

The picture
above was taken by Hans Verner Lollike of Denmark in his own garden! And since
in many spots around the globe spring is slowly setting in, on behalf of
everyone here at RRI we wish you a wonderful warm season, with good tidings and
cheer!

73!