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Radio Enciclopedia in Cuba on 530 kHz in the daytime

C

cd637299

Guest
Hey, since there have been threads on Radio Enciclopedia in Cuba (the instrumental station w/ female announcer) on 530 kHz AM, I wanna open this up.

Who gets this station in the dead of afternoon (like noon to 1 pm local time)? How is the reception? What model radio is used? What is your location? (I am especially curious if anybody in the RGV of Texas is reading this---I wonder if it can be had that far away.)

As for me, I live 22 miles northwest of downtown Miami. It can be heard all day here, but the FL West Coast is much better for Enciclopedia. I seem to get the Rebelde underneath at times.

cd
 
Radio Enciclopedia has a good signal all day all year here in Tampa.

It actually comes in a little weaker at times at night.

Now during the day, that other Cuban station can be heard behind it and at night, the other Cuban station can sometimes dominate and
put Radio Enciclopedia in the background.
 
It's weak but can be heard on the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama during the day. It's a lot stronger at night. Surprisingly steady signal, too. Last time I checked on it, though, there was another signal underneath. Sounded like English but too weak to tell for sure.
 
During my trips to the Florida Keys Radio Enciclopedia on AM-530 is practically a local, along with many other Cuban network stations on the AM dial. At night I remember hearing some other signals biting away at it but it still dominates.
 
I am pretty sure this is the station I heard on a trip to Merritt Island, Florida back in February 2009. It could have been the Turks and Caicos station, but I believe that was off the air by that time. Certainy had a decent signal there for as much land as it had to cross.
 
Reading the Encyclopedia over the airwaves....wonder how long until
THAT format catches on? ::)
 
Who listens to elevator music anyway? :D

But on the plus side, that format is good for long distance DXers who want to ID the station.
 
I have heard Enciclo in Leesburg in the day, over a lotta land!

I believe that the Turks station is still on, but Hurricane Ike in 08 made it now almost uncatchable.

As far as elevator music:

(1) It is still interesting that there *are* a few stations left like this, after they swarmed our FM dials 40 years ago---one couldn't escape them! Actually there is still WAVV ( www.wavv101.com ) in Naples Park, and their ratings are still decent---they have had the format over 18 years now!

(2) Enciclo can rock-out at times. Format is instrumentals, but I actually heard an all-instrumental version of "Life in the Fast Lane" about a year ago, just like the Eagles' arrangement, without the vocals. I wonder if they have "Frankenstein" in the library....

cd
 
Outside the US they're even rarer. I think Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic has an Easy Listening FM, while Buenos Aires has an AM which plays this kind of music in-between some brokered shows.
 
Eduardo said:
Outside the US they're even rarer. I think Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic has an Easy Listening FM, while Buenos Aires has an AM which plays this kind of music in-between some brokered shows.
Click to expand...

Indeed, Eduardo---The one in Santo Domingo claims HD, and they stream:

www.raicesradio.org.do

There is also in Guatemala:

www.fabuestereo.com

cd
 
cd637299 said:
I have heard Enciclo in Leesburg in the day, over a lotta land!

I believe that the Turks station is still on, but Hurricane Ike in 08 made it now almost uncatchable.

As far as elevator music:

(1) It is still interesting that there *are* a few stations left like this, after they swarmed our FM dials 40 years ago---one couldn't escape them! Actually there is still WAVV ( www.wavv101.com ) in Naples Park, and their ratings are still decent---they have had the format over 18 years now!

(2) Enciclo can rock-out at times. Format is instrumentals, but I actually heard an all-instrumental version of "Life in the Fast Lane" about a year ago, just like the Eagles' arrangement, without the vocals. I wonder if they have "Frankenstein" in the library....

cd
Click to expand...

You would think - if they wanted to propagandize the US - they would pick a more popular format. Hey - with the demise of oldies on KVNS 1700, there is a niche for nighttime AM oldies. If Cuba flipped to oldies and did the format right, in English, I'd listen even if uncle Castro wanted to tell me how wonderful life is in Cuba occasionally ----
 
Yes definitely Radio El Mundo. I totally forgot. I know a DXer who lives in San Salvador.

As to any US-style format including oldies, with the embargo in place, I wouldn't know how the Castros would secure rights to music fees & such. What they would have to do, is pirate the music, like the way they tape our movies off satellite, then slap subtitles on, for their TV audience. That's the way I understand how they play US movies on their TV screens.

This is in no way an endorsement to do so!

Anyway, outside of Radio Habana Cuba & Cubavision Internacional (TV over the Web), they don't seem to reach out to US audiences anyway. Add to that, almost nobody wants music on AM anymore here, outside of the DXers like us who treat it as a novelty.

(When I first DXed seriously in the 70s here, the Cuban stations rarely, and I mean rarely, played any US music. They may have eased up on that since then. IMO Enciclopedia has a fairly adequate Kenny G library....)

cd
 
cd637299 said:
As to any US-style format including oldies, with the embargo in place, I wouldn't know how the Castros would secure rights to music fees & such. What they would have to do, is pirate the music, like the way they tape our movies off satellite, then slap subtitles on, for their TV audience. That's the way I understand how they play US movies on their TV screens.

This is in no way an endorsement to do so!
Click to expand...

"This movie is only for Iran and Madagascar, neither one of whom recognize U.S. Copyright Law."
Steve Martin in Bowfinger
 
cd637299 said:
As to any US-style format including oldies, with the embargo in place, I wouldn't know how the Castros would secure rights to music fees & such. What they would have to do, is pirate the music, like the way they tape our movies off satellite, then slap subtitles on, for their TV audience.
Click to expand...

Music licensing is done on a country by country basis. So as long as Cuban stations comply with the laws of Cuba, they can play anything they want.

The real issue, as you also mentioned, is that in Cuba in the 60's and 70's there was very little American or English language pop music broadcast, so 99% the local audience would not be familiar with "oldies" from the US. Their idea of oldies is Benny Moré and the Sonora Matancera.
 
cd637299 said:
As to any US-style format including oldies, with the embargo in place, I wouldn't know how the Castros would secure rights to music fees & such. What they would have to do, is pirate the music, like the way they tape our movies off satellite, then slap subtitles on, for their TV audience. That's the way I understand how they play US movies on their TV screens.
Click to expand...

This is EXACTLY what Cubana TV in Phoenix AZ does with movies. Annnnd.. they do a terrible job of it. I think their editor has a few Cubana Libres while he works.
 
^ I believe that one of our Phoenix posters mentioned having "Cubana de Television" there---is that the one? If so, we have that here, as it is based in Miami. Funny thing, though---it's our channel 16.1, and at this time, it's only a test pattern. Do they also show old cartoons, where the audio is off-sync by a second or two? :)

cd
 
gar fla said:
Who listens to elevator music anyway?    :D
Click to expand...
It's instrumental easy listening, thank you :D
I have nearly every Bert Kaempfert vinyl LP, consider my home and car to be Al Caiola cells, and am likely not the only one listening to XM 69 Escape..

As for Enciclopedia on 530, forget about it in the daytime, sometimes is in at night, and on a good night, can listen to it with the radio in just the right position to null out CIAO
 
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