Author: Vlad Palcu

Hi
guys!

It’s
still that wonderful part of the year when (I hope) most of us enjoy their
well-deserved summer holiday. We’ve had an action-packed summer here in Romania
with many headline-grabbing events and some really hot weather too. But more
importantly, we have received so many messages from you, which is why today’s
most is a bit longer than usual, as we thought we would share some of the
interesting ones.

***

One
of the first messages we received at the start of August was sent by Bidhan
Chandra Sanyal of India, who never misses an opportunity to remind us of the
highlight events of each month. This time around our listener wrote to us about
the International Friendship Day (July 30). Here is his message:

Friendship
ties one person to another. Only like-minded people can successfully form
friendships. It can develop at different stages of our life. Friendships are
usually formed between people of the same age, mindset and temperament. International
Friendship Day is celebrated on 30 July. However, in India, Bangladesh,
Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and USA, the first Sunday of August is marked as
Friendship Day.

In
1930 Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards, organized Friendship Day. He
organized this day on 2nd August, so that everyone can celebrate the festival
of friendship together. But soon everyone realizes that this is a trick to sell
greetings cards.

International
Friendship Day was proposed on July 30, 1958 by the World Friendship Crusade. This
organization promotes the establishment of a peaceful culture through
friendship. On July 20, 1958, the idea of ​​celebrating World Friendship Day came
to Dr. Ramon Artemio Braco. He was having dinner with his friends in Puerto
Pinasco, Paraguay. It was then that the merry group of friends gave way to the
World Friendship Crusade. This organization works to develop selfless and
humanitarian friendships irrespective of caste, colour, religion, language,
gender. After this, in 1998, Nan Annan, the wife of the then Secretary General
of the United Nations, Kovi Annan, identified the Winnie the Pooh cartoon
character as the Ambassador of Friendship.

On
April 27, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly officially declared July 30
as the International Day of Friendship. The United Nations invites all states
to observe this day according to their own ideology and culture.

Friendship
between individuals, states, cultures will ensure peace. Besides this, it will
create bridges between different nations. International Friendship Day was
started for this purpose. Theme of International Friendship Day 2023:- Sharing
Human Consciousness Through Friendship continues to focus on building
meaningful connections and friendships between individuals.

On
this day friends celebrate each other with friendship bands, cards, gifts. While
hanging out with friends, spend time with each other. Extend your hand of
friendship on this year’s Friendship Day. Forget hatred, violence, differences
and embrace everyone.

Thank
for sending this beautiful message, Bidhan. We hope it reaches as wide an
audience as possible.

***

One
of our loyal listeners from Italy, Guido Panebianco sent us a number of reports
and messages in the last weeks, reporting good reception conditions on his
frequency. Here is a snapshot of his receiver he enclosed.

***

From
Mexico, Roman Moreno wrote to us praising the wonders of SW listening.

I
am from a small town in the north of Mexico. Desertic, dry area…. our summers
are between 40 -50 degrees C.

When
I was a kid, before dawn, 4, 5 a.m…..and for some reason I was awake, I used to
turn on the radio…. And I found out I could get radio signal from very very far
away places, cities in Mexico….

I
was amazed. How can an old radio received that far away radio stations ??? I
loved it.

I
didn’t know anything about Short Wave Radio…I found out about SW many years
later….

At
the beginning, I had a small notebook…where I used to write the stations I
get…. But, it turned so difficult to get SW radio stations, that i was just
glad when I found one. And I didn’t used my small notebook any more. And focus
in find the stations. I’ve gotten signals from Brazil, China, Cuba, Costa Rica,
USA (Cuba and USA are near form Mexico). From Europe, only you and Bulgaria.

I
thought QSL cards were a myth nowadays….. you know, send the QSL card, in a
post office…. I haven’t seen a letterman here in Mexico in years…..

I
guess now is different. I’ve never received any QSL. Hope to still getting your
signal, guys….!!!!

Dear
Roman, we’re so happy you are able to pick up our station and others across
continents. SW listening can indeed be fascinating to those who have a curious
mind for other cultures. We wish you good listening conditions and hope to hear
more from you soon.

***

At
the start of the month, we were touched to receive a very nice message from
Fred Waterer (Canada), who sent us a message celebrating his first QSL report
sent 45 years ago on that very day. Here is an excerpt from his email:

I hope this email finds you well.

I am a long time listener to RRI programs, going back
to the days when you were known as Radio Bucharest. I have been listening since
1978. One of the most interesting broadcasts I ever heard was in December 1989
a few days after the dictator Ceaucescu was executed.

I try to catch your programs as often as I can. Your
signals into North America where I live (St. Catharines Ontario, Canada near
Niagara Falls) are often some of the best on the shortwave bands.

Tonight (August 2, 2023) I listened at 0300 UTC on
9850 kHz. I would rate the SINPO as 44434

This is a special report for me as 45 years ago to the
day and even the minute, 17 year old me submitted his very first reception
report which was QSLed by HCJB in Quito, Ecuador for a broadcast on 11915 kHz
at 0340 UTC.

In 1978 shortwave listening was brand new to me and I
had no idea it would become a lifetime hobby.

It has been a long time since I sent for a QSL so I
decided in honour of 45 years of listening I would send one tonight at the
exact same time as I did in 1978. I picked Radio Romania International as it
has a reliable signal and lots of interesting programming and music.

It was wonderful to read your message, Fred, made us
all emotional. So nice to hear RRI was part of your festive moment. And it’s
wonderful to hear from passionate DXers such as yourself, who haven’t given up
their hobby after so many years. We’re honored to have you as part of our
community!

You can check out the QSL Fred was talking about below

***

From
Canada, Richard Lemke wrote to us to say that the Canadian International DX
Club is this year celebrating its 60th anniversary. Congratulations on this
special occasion Richard. We know you are a proud member since 1984, and that
RRI has been one of your favorite radio stations over the years. It’s really an
accomplishment I’m sure many of our listeners look up to.

***

As
always, we have also received a number of letters arriving at our office
through regular mail. It makes us nostalgic when we get these letters, which
remind us of the good old days when the Internet and electronic mail were ideas
in a distant future. So take the messages below as a tribute to everyone still
writing letters the ‘old-fashioned way’.

Grant Skinner (England)

Congratulations
to Radio Romania International, you have terrific shows. Keep up the good
work.

Thanks,
Grant. Your letters have kept coming to our office throughout the years, and
they are a constant reminder to everyone on the team of how we used to
communicate with you in the old days. Thanks for your constant efforts!

Mark Williams (USA)

I
do not request or expect a QSL for such a brief report after so long a time.
However, I’ve kept my ear on Romania for decades. Sadly, I must tune in via
live stream.

How
I long for the good old days of SWL! Obviously, I kept my log books and page
through them from time to time.

I
very much enjoy your music segments, particularly those with rustic flavor.
Also, your weekly jazz program.

It’s
never late to reconnect, Mark! And it sure made our day you did. Mark actually
submitted a report for a 1990 (!) broadcast on 11940 kHz he caught in Hanau
(Germany). The programme mostly dealt with Romania post-Ceaușescu. It’s a reminder to all our other
listeners – if you find a dusty report in the drawer you forgot to post, now is
the time! J

Paul Hayes (Ireland)

Have
been off the bands for a while. Good to hear Radio Romania again.

Thanks
for tuning back to RRI, Paul. It’s always good to hear from you.

Johannes Lammi (Finland)

Dear
RRI English Section, I’m Johannes Lammi, 17-year-old student, electrician
apprentice and of course a regular RRI listener. I live in Espoo, Finland, but
spend most of my weekends in Nurmijärvi, Finland. I love to listen to SW radio
and prepare to write my reception reports by hand. I guess I’m a little ‘old
school’, but that doesn’t bother me!

Dear
RRI English Section. I last wrote to you some weeks ago. Nothing that
interesting has happened her in Finland since then. My summer work in a
construction site began 1.5 weeks ago as an electrician apprentice. I have
continued to listen to RRI many times during these weeks.

We have to say it’s highly unusual to get hand-written letters from 17-year-olds, and it makes us really happy to hear it. Thanks for tuning in!

Hidemitsu Miyake (Japan)

Hello!
Over the past few days the temperatures in Hiroshima have regularly been over
30 degrees. I wonder whether we are going to experience a heat wave as we did
last year. Please accept this report of my reception of your station, I hope
you will find it of interest.

Thanks
for your letter, it is just wonderful! I feel closer to your country now.

As
daylight hours have been getting longer I find myself stopping by somewhere on
the way home from the office more often than not.

The
school uniform has changed from the winter one to the summer one. It’s getting
hotter these days.

Your
letters are always an inspiration to us, Hidemitsu. It is always a joy when we
read your name on the envelope. Take care and enjoy the rest of the summer!

***

From
Japan, Yoshio Anda sent us a reception report and enclosed a video. We’ve taken
a snapshot to share with the rest of you.

***

Mikio
Kohara (Japan) sent us a report in August, also saying:

Summer
festivals and fireworks displays are held in various parts of Japan from the
end of July to August. Many of these events started as Obon event. Obon is
one of the Buddhist events. In Buddhism, it is believed that the spirits of
family ancestors come back to this world during the Obon period between July
and August, and a series of events take place to commemorate them. And, Obon is
regarded as one of the most important family occasions of the year in Japan.
Although Obon is not an official holiday, many offices, shops and restaurants
are temporarily closed for business during this period. Due to this measure,
many employees can easily plan and go back to their hometowns for family
gatherings and visit a family grave. Recently, there are people who go on
overseas trips because it is a summer vacation. This year, it will be closed
from August 11th to 16th, 17th for Obon. But, now, Typhoon No. 7 is moving
north in the Pacific Ocean, and there is a high possibility that it will
continue to move north with a strong wind area, making landfall on the Kii
Peninsula on the morning of the 15th, and approaching Osaka and Kansai area.
The maximum instantaneous wind speed is expected to be 40 to 60 meters, so I am
worried that there will be damage in various places. Due to the typhoon, trains
and planes will be suspended, and highways will be closed, which will have a
great impact on the ability of people returning to their hometowns to return
home for Obon.

It’s
very interesting to learn about Obon, Mikio. Sorry to hear the typhoon is
giving the population trouble. It’s never easy when faced with such extreme
phenomena, although many in your region have grown accustomed to them.

***

Early
in August Mohamad Haidir Hasim (Malaysia) wrote the following message:

Hello
and greetings to Radio International Romania.

Firstly,
I would like to introduce myself. I am Mohamad Haidir Hasim from Pulau Pinang,
Malaysia. I recently got involved in the hobby of listening to shortwave radio
broadcasts, particularly in March. Sometimes, I can hear Radio International
Romania’s broadcasts from my home in Pulau Pinang and also in my hometown in
Selangor. Although Malaysia and Romania are separated by more than 8000km, when
I hear broadcasts from Radio International Romania, I feel like Malaysia and Romania
are close to each other. I also want to share with you about the community of
shortwave radio listeners in Malaysia, which has a group on the social media
platform Facebook. The name of our Facebook group or community is Short
Wave and AM Listening Malaysia, where we share the broadcasts we manage
to receive, including those from Radio International Romania. I hope Radio
International Romania can provide moral support to our community so that we can
remain loyal listeners to your broadcasts and other radios. I wish Radio
International Romania to continue and even thrive and become even better. Radio
International Romania is my favorite radio station, and I will strive to listen
to your broadcasts. In conclusion, thank you for broadcasting happiness, truth,
and enjoyment to us throughout the existence of Radio International Romania.

Our
listener was very happy to pick up our station and sent us a snapshot of the
receiver he used.

Thank
you for this very nice message, Mohamad, we are happy to learn RRI means a lot
to you and your community.

***

From
the Netherlands, Peter Reuderink sent us a message describing reception
conditions for August. Here is what he adds:

I
am 61 years old, and started listening to shortwave radio 44 years ago when I
was 17. What made me listen then still makes me listen today. There is no
better way to get a feel for culture, politics and what goes on in a country
than listening to their radio programs. On the basis of your news bulletin, I
concluded that Romania prioritizes government expenses, national culture,
Romanian contribution to security and safety in NATO and EU… and I applaud
Romania for that! Wish that was as high on the agenda in The Netherlands.

Dear
Peter, we’re glad to have you in our community of listeners. SW listeners such
as yourself are hard to find these days, as most have switched to online
listening in the digital era. Thanks for staying loyal to our station for such
a long time.

***

Here
is also what Alan Gale (England) wrote to us earlier this month:

Romania’s
month of ‘Oven’ seems to have really lived up to its name, but things have been
very different here, and after the warm and unusually dry months of April, May
and June, the months of July and August so far have been very cool and wet,
with July being the wettest month on record ever, with nearly 300% of the
annual rainfall. This was all down to the position of the Gulf Stream, which also
caused the high temperatures in southern Europe, but I’m not complaining, as I
do not like the heat, and don’t think I could have stood the temperatures that
have been seen in Romania this year. I hope things are a little cooler now and
feeling a lot more comfortable/

Dear
Alan, temperatures have indeed been unusually high of late, all the more with
July being declared the hottest month in history. Let’s hope we won’t get too
many heatwaves this August.

***

To
give just one of the many examples of receivers our listeners use to pick up
our station, here is the equipment Saleem Akhtar (Pakistan) uses to tune in to
our programmes.

***

As
always, we get a variety of posts on our Facebook page from listeners
commenting on our programmes. From Pakistan, Muhammad Aqeel Bashir wrote: The programs are always
well-produced and informative, and they provide me with a valuable source of
entertainment and education. I appreciate the wide variety of programs that
Radio Romania offers. I appreciate the timely and informative posts that Radio
Romania shares on Facebook. I’m grateful for the opportunity to connect with
other Romanians and people interested in Romania through Radio Romania’s
programs. Radio Romania’s Facebook posts are a great way to stay connected with
Romania, even if I’m not able to visit in person. Thank you, Radio Romania, for
providing such a valuable service! Keep up the good work!

Muhammad
Saleem Akhtar also wrote briefly Keep up the good work!

***

It’s
now time to mention some of our listeners who took the time to send reports,
feedbacks or comments regarding our broadcasts. Many thanks to Tomasz Kotas
(Poland), Sam Loh (Malaysia), Stig Hartvig Nielsen (Denmark), Tapan Basak
(India), Jaouad Saber (Morocco), Najim Uddin (India), Malik Allah Bachaya
(Pakistan), Rob den Boer (the Netherlands), Vicențiu Tudor (Canada), Anand Mohan Bain (India), Teruhiko
Kachi (Japan), Albert Ewing (USA), Toshiki Tsuboi (Japan), Riski Rosianto
(Indonesia), Madhab Chandra Sagour (India), Philippe Schaetti (Germany),
Etienne Sertyn (Belgium), Bruce Lee (Australia), Rajarshi Roy (India), Marc
Soens (Belgium), Siddhartha Bhattacharjee (India), Christer Brunström (Sweden),
Francis Lawlor (Ireland), Ratan Kumar Paul (India), Chris Malboeuf (Canada), Eddy
Prabowo (Indonesia), Timofeyev Uhra (Kazakhstan), Ciro Ciaramella (Italy), Michael
Naven (USA), Rafael Gustavo Grajeda Rosado (Mexico), Simon Rudd (United
Kingdom), Scott Josenhans (USA), Fachri Ilyas (Indonesia), Kevin Ryan (USA), Zidong
Wang (Beijing), Tarun Sethi (India), Taylor Fosha (USA), Hans Verner Lollike
(Denmark), Sakae Onozawa (Japan), Viet Anh Pham (Vietnam), Joandric Ávila
Fernández (Costa Rica), Hiromichi Kinoshita
(Japan), Ding Lu (China), Shin Makino (Japan), Srihadet Kraikupt (Thailand).

73!

Dear friends of RRI,

The time has come to put our listeners in the spotlight.

As many of you already know, we have launched a new initiative devoted to creating more online content addressing listeners of RRI. We have thus introduced a new section on our website, each week presenting the profile of a new listener. The goal is not only to introduce listeners to different types of equipment, listening habits and new technologies used across the globe, but also to create a vibrant community of RRI listeners and a platform for exchanging ideas, feedback and thus establish long-term bonds.

If you wish to contribute and make your profile known to our community, you must provide a set of information and data about yourself, including the following:

Ø Full name, age, country of origin, profession and other interests (photos are recommended, but remain optional)
Ø Listening habits (your DXing background + a list of stations you monitor/listen to)
Ø Type of DXing equipment used (photos are recommended, but remain optional)
Ø Associations: DX clubs, federations, organizations, etc.
Ø RRI frequencies used
Ø RRI programmes of interest
Ø Contact: email / SWL call signs

Please fill in this form to help us centralize
information we will use for the new online section.

By
filling in the forms belonging to RRI you consent to the storage of your
personal data in the RRI database and to its processing for information,
marketing and advertising purposes. RRI complies with the provisions of the
General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on personal data protection.
RRI will no longer store and use your personal data, upon your specific
request, by e-mail.

Hello everyone!

Hope you are all
enjoying this summer and staying safe! You too have probably heard reports of
heatwaves hitting various parts of Europe, North America and Asia. We urge all
our listeners to take all the precautions in order to hydrate, stay cool and
avoid prolonged exposure to heat. Please follow the specific recommendations in
your area.

Just for the
sake of an example – I’ve just returned from a holiday in Greece with several
code red alerts in place against extreme heat. Wildfires affected the islands
of Rhodes and Corfu, with thousands of tourists evacuated from these areas. One
of our listeners, Mikio Kohara (Japan) wrote to us describing the situation in his
area: In Osaka, the rainy season is over and summer is in full swing, and the
temperature reaches 35 degrees every day. Some people get heatstroke because of
the heat. Because the sun is shining, many people use parasols when walking
outside, even though it is not raining. There you have it – the heat is
causing trouble pretty much everywhere. So once again, stay safe and whenever
you’re indoors, listen to RRI J

***

As usual, we got
plenty of messages at our office addresses in the last two weeks. This week we
got a message from Riaz Ahmad (Pakistan), which reads as follows: You will be
very happy to know that I am attached with Radio Romania since 1992. I also
have some postcards and program guides of Radio Romania international. Now I am
also a regular listener of Radio Romania but now not on SW while on Radio
Romania website. That is a great and best source of knowledge and information
for me. Thanks for sticking with us for so long, Riaz. We’re happy you’re
enjoying our broadcasts.

***

One of our regular listeners from Japan, Teruhiko Kachi
wrote to us last week saying One
of my favourite programmes is People and Places. The
programme is somewhat similar to The History Show, but I enjoy it
differently because the latter focuses on historical events, whereas the former
introduces the people and places themselves.

Last week’s People and
Places, featuring Doina Cornea and Alba Iulia, was particularly
impressive. I knew some of Alba Iulia’s historical position, but this was
the first time I had heard about Doina Cornea’s courageous actions
under the Ceauşescu dictatorship,
and I was impressed. I was also interested in her involvement with Radio
Free Europe. We, the listeners of RRI, can get to know her through your
station, but how many Romanians, especially young people, know about her? Do
they learn about her in their school lessons?

We’re not sure about school
curricula, but local authorities are actually doing their best to spread the
word about Doina Cornea’s stand against the communist authorities. She was one
of the most acclaimed dissidents in the communist era and her actions inspired
a whole generation. Thanks for your interest, Teru. I’ll let Mihaela know you
enjoyed her segment.

***

From Canada,
Richard B. Langley wrote to us this week to say:

Just checking
in to say that from time to time I am still listening to Radio Romania
International. It is nice to get news and the other programming directly from
Europe especially from a country so close to the war in Ukraine especially now
that Russian attacks come very close to Romania’s borders.

I recently acquired a KiwiSDR software-defined
shortwave radio and it does an excellent job of receiving RRI’s DRM broadcasts
(along with an indoor magnetic loop antenna) directed to Western Europe in
French at 20:00 UTC on 11975 kHz and English at 20:30 UTC on the same frequency
such as today, 25 July 2023 (see attached screen shots). These DRM broadcasts
are frequently received with very few if any dropouts especially for the
English broadcast, which is aimed almost directly at New Brunswick although
intended for the U.K. and western Europe. It’s nice especially to hear the
Romanian music selections in near studio quality. I also get good
reception for the DRM Spanish programming broadcast at 21:00 UTC on 13650 kHz
directed towards South America.

You can check
below the two snapshots Richard enclosed for further details about his
feedback.

Like many others in the last month, Richard too inquired about the arrival time of
QSLs for 2023. Unfortunately, we’re still having an administrative conundrum,
which prevents us for the time being from printing any QSLs for 2023 (with no
plans to prepare digital ones as of yet). So once again, we ask all of you to
be patient, and just like previous years, we assure you that every report you
send will be rewarded with the corresponding QSL as verification, as per your
entries stored in our database.

We are sorry
about it and hope you remain our loyal listeners!

***

To end, a shout
to other listeners who sent messages and feedback this fortnight, including:
Andrew Kuznetsov (Latvia), Atsuhiko Takezawa (Japan), Saleem Akhtar Chadhar
(Pakistan), Muhammad Aqeel Bashir (Pakistan), Antonio Aspan (Brazil), Najim
Uddin (India), Reginaldo Naldy (Brazil), Tarun Sethi (India), Timofeyev Uhra

Alexandrovich
(Kazakhstan), Azhar Ain Naqvi (Pakistan), Akiyoshi Teraoka (Japan), Chris
Malboeuf (Canada), Ratan Kumar Paul (India), Norihiko Ide (Japan), Siddhartha
Bhattacharjee (India), Igor Belevich (Belarus), Malik Allah Bachaya (Pakistan),
Jaouad Saber (Morocco), Sardar
Munir Akhter (Pakistan), Joandric Ávila Fernández (Costa Rica), Masahiro
Kobayashi (Japan), Tomasz Kotas (Poland), Alex. Choroba (Germany),

Debakamal Hazarika (India).

Hello
guys!

Despite
the summer holidays being in full swing, we continue to receive a lot of
messages at our office.

Most
importantly, we were overwhelmed by the large number of contributions for our
new online section – Listeners of RRI, which we will be posting continuously
starting this month on a weekly basis. As each of you has been informed in our
messages, we will notify listeners whose profiles we will be posting shortly
before the content is posted online.

Thanks
again to everyone who took the time to fill in our forms, and we invite
everyone else who hasn’t had the opportunity to do so to send their information
to our station if they want their profile to be shared across our community of
listeners.

***

Our
listener Sanil Deep (India) was featured in the LIMCA World Records twice in
the ham radio category. We’ve shared below an article about this published by New Indian Express News, as well as a
couple of photos sent by our listener. Congrats are in order, Sanil! You are an inspiration to all of us and we are
very proud to have you in our community of listeners.

***

Also
last week, Michael Andersson (Sweden) sent us a number of reports. Michael is
also monitoring a number of Radio Romania stations, including our Music,
Culture and News and Current Affairs channels. This time, the reports were sent
for Radio Cluj-Napoca, Radio Romania Music and Radio Romania Culture. We’ve
added below the three screenshots Michael took while using SD Runo.

***

This
week we got a message from a first-time listener – Phạm Việt Anh (Vietnam).
Pham is actually new to shortwave listening (he started in 2019) and was able
to pick up our station. Here is what he wrote:

I
used to have always dreamed of catching a shortwave station from Europe because
many have left the shortwave band. And in 2022, when playing with a Kiwisdr
website located in Europe( a website that supports real-time shortwave
reception), I found out that Radio Romania International was still live on
shortwave. After that, I looked for your website and looked up your radio
frequency schedule. At first, I could not listen to your program directly at
home because the frequency I tuned to is not beamed to my location, and the
signal was very weak. After many attempts, I finally managed to receive your
signal the previous month, which made me very happy ????. I love your
program very much. It keeps me informed of current affairs, what is unique
about Romanian history and culture, what are picturesque places of interest to
visit, and especially, I am very keen on the music of your country, the songs
presented in your program are really beautiful!

Thanks,
Pham, for your words of appreciation, they mean a lot to our team. Looking
forward to hearing more from you soon!

***

We
got really hot weather in Romania this week, with several overlapping alerts
against extreme heat and heat waves. This Thursday, for instance, temperatures
exceeded 40 degrees Celsius in Bucharest (with real-feel temperatures going
much higher, of course). Some of our listeners too have been monitoring the
weather across the globe. Mei Lin (China) said temperatures are really high in
his local area as well and sent us this message:

The World Meteorological
Organization announced that according to preliminary data, the world has just
experienced the hottest week on record. In addition, the past June was also the
hottest June on record in the world. The sea surface temperature reached a new
high and the Antarctic sea ice range was at a record low.According
to a recent report released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service Center of
the European Union, which is closely cooperated by the World Meteorological
Organization, the temperature in June 2023 was a little more than 0.5°C higher
than the average temperature from 1991 to 2020, breaking the previous record in
June 2019.The high temperature lasts until July, which is usually the
hottest month of the year. According to preliminary data, the average
temperature of the global surface above two meters reached the highest point on
record on July 3, which was 16.88℃, breaking the daily record
of 16.80℃ in August 2016. After that,
the temperature broke this record again on July 4, reaching 17.03℃.The global temperature has
hit a new high and sounded the alarm! I hope everyone will take care of
themselves. Don’t go out unless necessary, to avoid the scorching sun!

Thanks for the update, Mei! We will extend your words of
caution to all our other listeners!

***

Also
this week Hans Verner Lollike (Denmark) wrote in from the Island of Askoe,
where he and his wife, Inge-Lise, are spending 3 relaxing weeks. He also
enclosed this beautiful photo, with the village church in the background.

Thanks
for making our day brighter, Hans! Enjoy the relaxing holiday!

***

To
end, let us also thank everyone else who took the time to greet us and send us
letters / messages: Francis Lawlor (Ireland), Tapan Basak (Pakistan), Art
Wormald (Canada), Malik Allah Bachaya (Pakistan), Tomasz Kotas (Poland), Madhab
Chandra Sagour (India), Richard Lemke (Canada), Siddhartha Bhattacharjee
(India), Alan Gale (England), Kraig Krist (USA), Najim Uddin (India), Jayanta
Chakrabarty (India), Saleem Akhtar Chadhar (Pakistan), Šimon Kulich, Šimon
Kulich (Slovakia), Igor Belevich (Belarus), Sakae Onozawa (Japan), Sudhir
Pandey (India), Norbert Faynot (France), Ratan Kumar Paul (India), Marc Soens
(Belgium), Muhammad Aqeel Bashir (Pakistan), Siddhartha Bhattacharjee (India),
Nasir Aziz (Pakistan), Teruhiko Kachi (Japan), Andreas Gregor (Canada), Misayo
Tanaka (Japan) and Andrey Novgorodsky (Ukraine).

That’s
all for now! Stay tuned!

73

Hi, everyone!

Were very happy to announce the start of our new online segment, where we will be posting the profile of listeners who wanted to share their information with our community of listeners. Your contributions have arrived in large numbers, which is why we will be making weekly posts in this section to give everyone a chance to have their profile published as soon as possible.

We will be posting your profiles in the order we have received your replies at our office, so we just want to make sure there is no choice involved with respect to the order of these posts.

Another quick remark: we will only be posting the information you selected for us. Please let us know if you wish to remove any of it from these posts. As mentioned in our disclaimer, the data your provide will be used for this purpose only and will be eliminated from our databases once this profiles go live.

We start with Rob den Boer (Netherlands), a listener who has been very active in 2023, sending numerous reports, commenting on our programmes and also sharing a few details about his daily routine. Here is the information below:

Hi, everyone!

The holiday season is afoot and we are already feeling
the vibes of what looks to be a great summer ahead! We hope you all enjoy your
holidays (if you have planned any) and in-between your trips you get to tune in
to our station as well to catch up on the latest news and features from RRI!

The highlight event of June is the launch of a new
online initiative – Listeners of RRI, whereby we will make regular posts each
month featuring members of the community of RRI listeners. To that end, we have
asked you to share specific information (and optionally photos) with us
detailing your listening habits and preferences. If you haven’t done that
already, you are more than welcome to do so, as we will continue posting
regular updates in this section throughout the year and hopefully beyond. A big
thank you to everyone who has already submitting their contribution!

***

It’s time to look back at the last couple of weeks and
share with you some of the messages we got at our office. From Panama, Victor Gutierrez
wrote in to appreciate our broadcasts and complain about the weather, which is
currently hindering his reception efforts: We are in the rainy season in
Panama, but the weather is already crazy, what remains is the unbearable heat
caused by the El Niño phenomenon. Thanks Victor, we appreciate your continued
efforts to monitor our station despite the adverse weather conditions.

***

Speaking of holiday plans, some of our listeners have
already planned trips for the summer months ahead. One of them is Christer
Brunström (Sweden), who wrote: After several weeks of very hot and dry weather
we’ve now had some rain which was most welcome and especially by our farmers.
It is highly likely that crops won’t be as large as last year due to the
drought. My wife and I plan to travel to different towns and cities in south
Sweden throughout the summer period. Later today we’ll travel to Falkenberg, a
town located north of Halmstad, in order to listen to a talk about life in
Africa. Actually it is about a group of mostly men in the Congo who spend all
of their money on elegant clothes created by European fashion houses.

Sounds like a really great plan, Christer. We hope you
enjoy your holiday!

***

Muhammad Aqeel Bashir (Pakistan) last week wrote us a
beautiful message:

Dear English Service,

I hope this letter finds you in good health and high
spirits. I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation for the
exceptional work you do in providing informative, entertaining, and interesting
programs. It is evident that your team is dedicated to delivering quality
content to your listeners.

I particularly commend your commitment to broadcasting
news that is based on facts. In a world where reliable information is
increasingly crucial, Radio Romania serves as a reliable source of news for
audiences both within Romania and worldwide. Your efforts in acting as a bridge
between Romanian culture and the rest of the world are truly commendable.

As a passionate DXer from Pakistan, I frequently tune
in to various services of Radio Romania and thoroughly enjoy the diverse range
of programs you offer. I often send reception reports to share my feedback and
appreciation for the quality of your broadcasts. In light of my continued
support and listenership, I kindly request that you consider issuing me QSL
cards as a token of recognition.

Once again, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the
entire team at Radio Romania International for your dedication and love for
your listeners. Your commitment to delivering outstanding programs is truly
admirable. Thank you for enriching our lives with your exceptional broadcasts.

Your kind words mean a lot to the team, Muhammad.
Thanks for being our loyal listener!

***

From Nigeria, Niima Batali wrote in to say how much he
enjoyed one of our RRI Special features focusing on US Ambassador Kathleen
Kavalec’s visit to Cluj-Napoca and her participation in the We the People exhibition.

***

Rob den Boer (the Netherlands) sent us a screenshot of
his DRM decoder, which he uses to monitor various frequencies of RRI. We
thought this could be of interest to other listeners in the area.

***

To end, let us also thank everyone else who took the
time to greet us and send us letters / messages: Igor Belevich (Belarus), Simon
Rudd (UK), Renita Rini (Bangladesh), Jaouad Saber (Morocco), Rafael Gustavo Grajeda
Rosado (Mexico), Malik Allah Bachaya (Pakistan), Motokazu Katoh (Japan), Anand
Mohan (India), Rob den Boer (the Netherlands), Najim Uddin (India), Xaver Andreas Hellmeier (Germany), Harald
Süss (Austria), Masaki Ikeda (Japan), Adrian Micaleff (Malta), Kari Tuovinen
(Finland), Erlend S. Ervik (Sweden), Hans Verner Lollike (Denmark), Michael
Naven (USA), Ivo Sesnic (Germany), Omone Ahmed (Bangladesh), Rozina Akter
(Bangladesh), Feona Rahman (Bangladesh), Nektarios Manousos (Greece), Gorden R.
Lyell (USA), Muhammad Aqeel Bashir (Pakistan), Victor Gutierrez (Panama), Rajarshi
Roy (India), Mikael Sjoberg (Sweden), Guido Panebianco (Italy), Tomasz Kotas
(Poland), Abdul Mannan (Bangladesh), Sanil Deep (India), Toshiki Tsuboi
(Japan), Patrick Travers (England), K.P. Muneer (United Arab Emirates), Kuba
Denisiuk (Poland), Sutomo Huang (Indonesia), Peter Goldfinch (Australia), Siddhartha
Bhattacharjee (India), Ratan Kumar Paul (India), Balamurali N.S (India), Hussain
Abad (Pakistan), Teruhiko Kachi (Japan), Shin Makino (Japan), Shivendu Paul
(India), Tapan Basak (India), Francisco Braccini (Italy), Mohamad Haidir Hasim
(Malaysia), Deniz Parry (South Africa), Moisés
Villarreal (Panama), Jayanta Chakrabarty (India), Norihiko Ide (Japan), Timothy
Paul Marecki (USA), Sakae Onozawa (Japan), Chris Malboeuf
(Canada), Syed Azhar Abbas Ain (Pakistan), Toshiki Tsuboi (Japan), Jayce
Gilbert (Australia), Richard Lemke (Canada).

That’s all for now! Stay tuned!

73

Hello guys!

We’re getting ready for the long summer months, which is
why our regular updates will be quite inconsistent over the coming period. We
will try however to keep posting fresh messages we get from you and other
useful information.

***

On June 21 we will be celebrating World Music Day. The
first World Music Day was observed in the year 1982 in France when people were
urged to play music outdoors to participate in festivities. Since then, World
Music Day has spread to other parts of the world and is now a global
celebration of music. On this occasion, Bidhan Chandra Sanyal (India) shared
with us his impressions:

The melody of life is in the middle of the song. What
can be easily said in song, is often not possible to express in spoken language.
A song shows a beautiful way to a miserable life. Brings relaxation to health. Rabindra’s
music is the key to all that. If you want to color every corner of life, there
is no alternative to Rabindra songs. Where else is such relevance! Listen to
the song to get rid of your sadness, you will think that the poet has written
this song only for you. Herein lies the importance of music. Where all
the tunes have come together in the end and you and the two are eye to
eye…

Nowadays, music is also used in medicine in some
countries. And it has yielded good results. whatever he is

Music has no religion, no caste, no color its
individuality and individuality is so strong that it is not limited to any
particular language. That is, no barbed wire fence can block the music. Therefore,
as the music of foreign musicians Bob Dylan or Jim Morrison has touched the
hearts of the people of this country, our cherished songs have also reached the
court of the world. Taking shelter of ancient and medieval scriptures and religious
music, Bengali music is expanding today in the courtyard of the future. Our
rich musical forms like Jari, Sari, Baulgan, Rabindra or Nazrul Geeti have made
Bengali music richer. The widespread practice of modern music continues that
musical trend. The mind is connected by the hand of music. Whether it’s a
musical journey or an exploration of the unknown, World Music Day actually
unites the world through music. A small human child begins to hum and hum
before it can speak. If nothing else, all animals obey the sound. A ferocious
tiger also listens to an unknown song. From the North Pole to the South Pole -
across time, age and place, tunes and songs are everywhere.

May the music of diverse tunes continue in the world
culture. And may peace come to life. May peace come to this world through
music.

June 21 is celebrated worldwide as International Music
Day. In that sense, June 21 is a special day for music lovers. International
observance of this day started in France. A traditional music festival in
France is called ‘Fête de la Musique’. It means World Music Day. A variety of
musical events are celebrated in France around this special music festival.

Since the beginning, many musicians from many countries
appeared to participate in this much-discussed festival. In 1981, Jacques
Lange, the French Minister of Culture, tried to give the festival an
international dimension. Then, in 1982, this special music festival day became
known as ‘World Music Day’.

Music is a thing of the soul. People are born through
music. Music touches people in many ways. People rediscover life through music.
Hence World Music Day is a special day for music lovers. Let’s enjoy the day
together.

Thanks, Bidhan, for this nice message as well. Thank
you for keeping us up to date with celebrations all over the world!

***

Speaking of music, check this out: As always, your
program is very informative and I enjoy listening. I also really like your folk
music. I’ve found that interestingly, almost every folk song has passages
singing La La La. I find that very interesting, and it makes it
very easy to sing along too! It’s an excerpt from a message we got from Xaver
Hellmeier, who listens to our station from Hechendorf, Germany. Well, Xaver,
you should know the la la thing is actually a specific feature of folk songs
from southern Romania, in particular the region of Oltenia. Many lack a chorus,
which is why the la la tune makes them easier to listen-to and learn.

***

A word of greeting to Rubens Ferraz Pedroso, who lives
in Brazil but listens to our station from…Finland! Yes, no kidding. Our
listener had a shack set up in Tampere, which he controls from his location – Paraná,
Brazil. Interesting stuff – anyone else doing anything remotely similar?

***

A message now from actual Finland – Auvo Härkönen
lives in Lappeenranta and sent us the following message: I think programmes
about Romanian life, music, culture are interesting. For instance programme
about every day thing as humour is something I like. Basically things which are
common to all of us in the world are not similar everywhere anyway. When it
comes to music, it´s nice to hear music which is not the same that you can hear
everywhere in the world. Lappeenranta is actually the setting of a famous TV
series, Sorjonen, which many in Romania have seen due to being streamed on
Netflix. I asked Auvo if he knew about the series, and here is what he said:
Yes, I know Sorjonen. It was a big thing at the time when it was filmed here
in Lappeenranta. I also was one in those groups of many people who can see in some
scenes. I was among people acting journalists and also as a cameraman filming
when one person were shot in the old part of the town. I was seen only few
seconds time on those parts but long enough to say I was there 🙂 It was
interesting to see work of those people who were doing a serial. As I know
serial can be seen in many countries. It also was nice to see actors who can
see often in television and films. To me it was funny to act a journalist,
because I’ve really worked as a journalist in a local newspaper many years ago.
Yes, it is a great way to see and learn something new about other country on
that way. In this case some of the views of that area were not real, some
things were done on computer. Anyway most scenes were real as those places
really are. Well, I can say it’s great to know a movie star J Looking forward to your next movie
appearance, Auvo. Meanwhile, we appreciate all your comments and messages.

***

Among your programmes, Generation 3.0 is a quiet
programme compared to the big shows such as RRI Encyclopaedia and
Truly Romanian, but I am interested in it, because it gives me an
insight into the activities of Romanian young people.

In recent years, the number of young people who want to study
abroad has been decreasing in Japan, which is a problem when considering
internationalisation. Lack of language skills and a challenging spirit seem to
be preventing students from going abroad, Teruhiko Kachi (Japan) commented in
one of his messages last week.

This week’s Generation 3.0 featured a student
studying in Saudi Arabia, and I was impressed by her determination to change
her original idea of Northern Europe to a hot country and her willingness to
manage the student league. I hope that not only she but also other students
studying abroad will return to Romania in the future and play an active role.

***

***

Before we end, we would like to take a moment to thank
our other listeners for writing. Our thanks to Roy
Clarke (USA), Shivendu Paul (India), Michael Andersson (Sweden), Malik Allah
Bachaya (Pakistan), Adora Athoy (Bangladesh), Upoma Khatun (Bangladesh),
Besakha Akter (Bangladesh), Kraig Krist (USA), Madhab Chandra Sagour (India), Machiraju
Subba Sreenivasa Raju (India), Abid Hussain Sajid (Pakistan), Siddhartha
Bhattacharjee (India), Jaouad Saber (Morocco), Chris Malboeuf (Canada), Tomasz
Kotas (Poland), Nasir Aziz (Pakistan), Jayanta Chakrabarty (India), Saleem
Chadar (Pakistan), Andrew Kuznetsov (Latvia), Misayo Tanaka (Japan), Ratan
Kumar Paul (India), Adrian Micaleff (Malta), Fachri Fachri (Indonesia), ISN
Murthy (India), Toshio Shibata (Japan), Allen
Willie (Canada), Igor Belevich (Belarus), Simon Rudd (UK),
Renita Rini (Bangladesh), Rafael Gustavo Grajeda Rosado (Mexico).

Marsan Fritzen (Brazil), Timothy Marecki (USA), Debakamal
Hazarika (India), Special thanks to Ricky Hein (USA) as well, who makes sure to
send us feedback via telephone!

That’s all for now! Stay tuned!

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