DX Supplement, February 22, 2022

Abkhaz Radio broadcasts from the Republic of Abkhazia and can be picked up on Abkhazian language broadcasts on 9534.8 kHz via Sukhumi.

The station has been reported with good signal and has only 5 kws with its broadcasts destined for Central Asia.

Where is Abkhazia? Abkhazia is a strip of Georgia, bordering the Black Sea, on the southern flank of the Caucasus. Its inhabitants speak mostly Abkhaz, a Circassian language unrelated to Georgian.

Since the 17th century, Abkhazia, unlike Georgia, was part of the Ottoman Empire and a large part of its population converted to Islam.

However, religion is mostly a traditional aspect in this Black Sea coastal strip and has not become a political issue. In Georgia, on the other hand, Christianity is a hallmark.

While the kingdom of Georgia was incorporated en bloc into the Russian Empire in 1801, Abkhazia, led by autonomous local leaders, was for much of the 19th century a battleground between Russians and Ottomans. It only became a full part of Russia after 1864.

After the fall of the Empire in 1917, Georgia declared itself independent, including Abkhazia in its borders. The invasion of the Bolshevik army in 1921, however, established two separate but associated Soviet republics: Georgia and Abkhazia. Only in 1931 did Stalin make Abkhazia an autonomous republic within the Soviet republic of Georgia.

In April 1991, nine months before the official dissolution of the Soviet Union, Georgia held a referendum and declared itself independent, a step supported by the vast majority of Georgians, but not by the Abkhaz population, who preferred to maintain ties with Moscow.

In 1992, Abkhazia declared independence in turn, expelled Georgian officials from the administration and established ties with Russia, but was not recognized as a country. Georgia sent troops and seized Sukhumi, the capital of the new entity.

Local militias, reinforced by volunteer contingents from all over the Caucasus, regrouped to launch a guerrilla war. They recaptured Sukhumi in 1993. Numerous massacres against the Georgian population led to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of people in a process of 'ethnic cleansing'. It is estimated that many thousands of civilians, mostly Georgians, were killed during the war.

A Russian peacekeeping force has since been in place monitoring the fragile peace between Abkhaz and Georgian forces, although the conflict has not been resolved.

The Gali region bordering Georgia and the Kodori Valley in the northeast are populated by Georgians. In 2004, Georgia sent police units to Kodori and regained control of the area after sporadic fighting with Abkhazian guerrillas, but without clashes between the two armies.

After isolated incidents in the following years, Sukhumi took advantage of the 2008 South Ossetia war, in which Georgia was defeated, to conquer the Kodori Valley. He thus established control over the entire territory of the former autonomous republic.

The same year, Russia and Nicaragua recognized the independence of Abkhazia, a step that no other country has taken, except for the territories of South Ossetia and Transnistria. From the point of view of international law, this coastal region remains part of Georgia.
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HEARINGS

MEXICO

The Plenary of the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) made several changes to the public bidding basis for the concession of the use, development and commercial exploitation of 319 radio frequencies in Amplitude Modulation (AM) and Frequency Modulation (FM), better known as IFT-8.

HEARINGS

UNITED STATES

Religious radio station KVOH Voice of Hope America broadcasts in English on 9975 kHz via its transmitter site located in Rancho Simi, in the state of California from 07 UTC with 100 kws.

SOMALIA

The educational station for Somalia called Radio ERGO can be heard in Somali language on 17845v kHz via the shortwave relay center located in Al-Dhabbayya, in the United Arab Emirates from 1200 to 1300 UTC with 250 kW. Radio Ergo transmissions go out daily.

COLOMBIA

La Montaña Colombia is the name of the religious station operating on the 4940 kHz frequency from the town of Maicao, located in the center-east of the department of La Guajira, in Colombia, having been reported at 07 UTC with only 1 kW, airing religious and educational programs in Spanish language.

PERU

The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) authorized the operation of 339 radio stations during 2021 to strengthen communications in rural areas of Apurimac, Puno, Cusco, Huanuco, Junin, Pasco, Piura, Lima, Ancash, among others.

RUSSIA

Moscow has quietly shut down nearly all of its long wave transmitters, ending nearly nine decades of broadcasting as the cost finally catches up with the medium.

On January 9 at 1 a.m., state-run Radio Rossii ended its broadcast as usual with the national anthem. There was no mention that the longwave broadcasts were coming to an end and, the next day, listeners discovered that they had to rely on local FM and Internet transmissions to listen to the station.

The only state radio station with truly national coverage, Radio Rossii can be likened to BBC Radio 4 because of its combination of news, drama and educational programs.

Longwave suited Russian broadcasters because a single transmitter could reach a wide area at all times of the day and night. But they are expensive, and as most listeners have started listening on FM, or via cable, satellite and the Internet, the authorities decided to terminate the service.

Longwave radio played a role in the Cold War, when the U.S. set up a powerful transmitter near Munich and broadcast its Russian service on the same frequency as Moscow programs.

Now only one longwave transmitter remains in the country, broadcasting Radio Kavkaz to the North Caucasus region on a limited schedule.

SAUDI ARABIA

To commemorate World Radio Day, the Saudi Broadcasting Authority launched Al-Ekhbariya Radio, the first news radio station in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, LAST February 13.

The station is affiliated with the government-owned Al-Ekhbariya TV channel and can be heard on FM in the capital city of Riyadh (93.0 MHz), Jeddah (107.7 MHz) along the Red Sea coast and Dammam (99.0 MHz) in the East. portion of the country.

Al-Ekhbariya Radio is part of the Kingdom's efforts to develop more local content through different media channels.

According to UAE News, the station will have a network of 85 correspondents and will focus 80% of its programming on local news and the rest on Arab and international news.