shortWWWave

The first of a weekly update, looking at the highlights on international radio in the week ahead.

Radio Netherlands starts the week with Amsterdam Forum, on Sunday, asking experts on what can be done to bring stability to Afghanistan; and Flatlanders, on Tuesday, looks at what's hot in Dutch and European music, as they do once every month.

On the BBC World Service, this week's World Drama is Talking to Strangers by Charlotte Jones, while over on Radio Australia, Match Night Asia covers the Asian Cup soccer finals.

Finally, Deutsche Welle's Concert Hour features Heroic Music by Richard Strauss, performed by recent music graduates.

From newsgroup rec.radio.shortwave comes the news that Radio St Helena will be on the air on Tuesday, July 17th, on a frequency of 11092.5 kHz, USB, from 1900 until 2100 UTC.

They only very rarely make shortwave broadcasts, so it's always good to get another chance to catch them on-air.

OneLoveRadio writes that Japan plans to begin daily shortwave programs for abductees in North Korea.

There are estimates of around 60 to 80 Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korea, for the purposes of teaching Japanese language and culture to North Korean spies.

MT Shortwave Central notes that RUV in Iceland ended its shortwave relays on July 1st.

RUV's two stations can still be heard, streaming in the internet: Rás 1 and Rás 2.