🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello There from Milano, Italy,

And a very, very Merry Christmas to you all, wherever you are !

It has been a hard year to survive, and it will be ever more difficult with
increasing costs and license fees recently imposed by the Italian
government on our non-profit, non commercial station for the next year. It
really seems that by imposing an annual $15,000 license fee, the Italian
PTT is really trying their last move to shut us down. We have seen many
Shortwave stations and programs on Shortwave being discontinued in
1996-1997, and we know about other facilities that will be shut down in
1998. We have a very gray future ahead of us, and we ask the opinion of two
experts in this field.

As it has become customary on IRRS-Shortwave around this time of the year,
in fact, we shall be on the air with some very special and extended
broadcasts on our main frequencies to Europe (3955, 3985 and 7120 kHz
Shortwave).

This year we shall be playing a lot of traditional Christmas music, as
usual, old comedies shows, Radio 510 International
(http://www.radio510.org), New Dimensions Radio and a very special one hour
show of the "Two Bobs", the "Swiss Merry-go-round" program formerly on
Swiss Radio International. We asked Bob Thomann and Bob Zanotti to produce
a special edition of the "Two Bobs", and they are back with a one-time one
hour edition and gift to our listeners, talking about the latest
developments on digital Shortwave, Internet, Satellite Radio and ... some
previously unreleased information about IRRS-Shortwave. A detailed schedule
for the period between Dec. 24 and Jan 4, 1998 on IRRS-Shortwave will be
available at http://www.nexus.org/NEXUS-IBA/Schedules. We anticipate being
on the air for some extended transmissions over the 24 hours, so it is also
a good time for DXers to try catching us from far away countries (see
schedule).

Those unable to catch us on the airwaves may want to know that the special
Christmas 1997 program from the Two Bobs will also be available on
RealAudio on our Web sites at :

 http://www.nexus.org/IRN for listeners outside Europe

and :

 http://home.nexus.org/IRN for listeners in Europe.

In the program there will also a brief mention of the late Audrey Mc Neill,
the old lady of the airways, a now "silent key", recently passed over in
October 1997. Audrey was a well known personality among broadcasters,
confined to lay in bed for most of the time, and found shortwave one of her
best friends over the last years. She was a faithful listener of
IRRS-Shortwave and the Two Bobs, and have been in contact with her for many
years. We shall always remember her nice words, and letters and her support
over the years.


In brief: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all, we'll keep on
struggling to provide an alternative source of news, information and
entertainment, but do not miss this opportunity to catch us / maybe for the
last time - on Shortwave!

73,


Ron Norton / NEXUS-IBA

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NEXUS-International Broadcasting Association is a non profit, non
commercial, volunteer operated organization based in Milano, Italy,
providing relaying facilities to our member in Europe via IRRS-Shortwave;
in Milano via IRRS-Globe Radio Milan on 88.85 MHz FM. NEXUS-IBA is also and
an international, non commercial Internet Provider with WWW servers in the
USA, Europe and Russia, serving commercial and non commercial organizations
around the world. Via RealAudio on Internet you can listen to a selection
of our members programs at http://www.nexus.org/IRN. If you want to receive
more information, or you want to offer your support, either financial or by
any other form, please write to us at info@nexus.org, or by snail mail at
NEXUS-IBA, PO Box 11028, 20110 Milano, Italy, phone: +39-2-22666971 , fax:
+39-2-706 38151, http://www.nexus.org. We encourage listeners response by
e-mail, if possible, rather than by snail mail. Financial contributions may
also be received via our secure server, see
http://www.nexus.org/NEXUS-IBA/HELP_us.html or https://secure.nexus.org for
details (Netscape browser 2.0+ required).

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Alfredo E. Cotroneo                  PO Box 11028, 20110, Milano, Italy
Phone: +39-335-214-614 (try first) / +39-2-266-6971
email: alfredo@nexus.org                           fax: +39-2-706-38151