For surprise and mystery - new stations, frequencies varying
across the dial, stations coming and going unpredicatably - nothing
compares to shortwave radio in Latin America. Yet, in the
turbulent Latin American broadcasting scene, never have so many
changes happened so often as in Peru in the 1980s. In the past
decade, more than 100 new shortwave stations have started
broadcasting from Peru. Many don't last very long, but there's
been a never-ending parade of new ones to take their place.
Unpredictability is just one of many reasons that DXers find Peru,
land of the ancient Inca Indians, one of the world's most
fascinating DX countries.
At the height of its glory, the Inca empire fell in one quick
swoop. In 1532 a Spanish adventurer, Francisco Pizarro, and a
small band of soldiers landed on the coast. At Cajamarca
(52K JPEG photo of city), the
Spanish used treachery to ambush and capture the Inca emperor
Atahualpa. Atahualpa was promised his freedom if his vassals
filled a room with gold. They did, but Pizarro broke his end of
the deal, murdered the Inca ruler, and marched south to Cuzco to
complete the conquest of the now leaderless empire.
The Incas never totally accepted their defeat. Remants of the
civilization hung on in the mountains north of Cuzco until 1572.
Reduced to near slavery, the Incas periodically revolted as late
as 1814. In 1780, they nearly succeeded in retaking their country
from the Spanish. However, when independence from Spain was
finally obtained in the 1820s, it was the Peruvian-born Spanish
elite, not the Indians, who controlled the country.
Dissecting the country, north to south, is the sierra, the
backbone of the Andes Mountains, reaching as much as 24,000 feet
in height. Half of Peru's population lives in the mountain
valleys and plateaus, and sometimes on the mountains themselves,
once the heart of Inca empire. From the smallest villages to the
important cities of Cajamarca, Huancayo, Ayacucho, and Cuzco,
most of the towns were originally Inca settlements. With the
exception of a few railroads in the south, this rugged area is
mainly reached by rough dirt roads, frequently little more than
paths.
East of the Andes is the selva, the Amazon jungle. Although it
covers almost two thirds of the country's area, only five percent
of the population lives there. The only city here is Iquitos,
Peru's 'Atlantic port'. The city lies two thousand miles from the
Atlantic ocean, but the Amazon is deep enough that ocean-going
vessels can dock in Iquitos. The Peruvian government believes the
country's future lies in exploiting the natural resources of the
selva. Development has already begun, with the discovery of oil
fields ranging from the Ecuadorian border to as far south as
Pucallpa.
Up until the 1950s, most Peruvian shortwave stations were in the
larger cities. However, beginning in the 1950s, and continuing
into the 1960s, several dozen shortwave stations were founded in
the departmental (state) capitals and other principal towns of
the Andean highlands. Listeners preferred tuning in these local
stations. Because audiences in the far flung areas declined,
some big city stations began to shut down their shortwave
transmitters, but shortwave radio in Peru was by no means dying.
Instead, a new era was about to begin.
By the 1970s, stations began to pop up in the smaller towns,
especially in northern Peru. Located in remote Andean valleys
and the river towns of the Amazon jungle, the new stations have
found shortwave to be indispensible. First, stations need
shortwave to reach many rural mountain villages and jungle
settlements. Secondly, without a telephone system in rural Peru,
and extremely slow postal service, shortwave fills the
communication gap. Commercial shortwave radio is the principal
method of communication between provincial towns of the Andes and
Amazon jungle. The government uses it. Businesses use it.
Listeners contact distant family members and friends. Paid
personal messages, called "comunicados" or "servicios sociales"
are broadcast to reach distant areas.
It took time to get radio into these remote areas. The northern
department (state) of Cajamarca is a good example. Cajamarca was
an important region under the Incas, and today is the
agricultural breadbasket of northern Peru. Yet, as late as 1978
the only radio stations in the department were in the capital
city of Cajamarca, and Jaen, the main town of northern Cajamarca.
Other departmental towns, were thought to lack a big enough local
market to support a radio station. Additionally, with no
electrical service, or perhaps only a few hours nightly via a
weak municipal generator, there was no available power supply.
However, in 1978 a group of Chota's citizens (a provincial, or
county, capital north of Cajamarca) realized they could put a
station on the air if they bought their own generator. To get a
station underway, they hired an experienced engineer, Mauro Vasquez
Gonzalez, from Trujillo. Mauro set up a diesel generator,
transmitter, and antenna on the outskirts of Chota. The downtown
studio was powered by car batteries, charged at the generator site.
To the surprise of many, the station made money.
Radio Chota proved that local radio stations were feasible. Since
then, at least fifty different shortwave stations have been on
the air at one time or another from Cajamarca department. Unlike
Radio Chota, many of these have not been successes lasting only a
few weeks or a few months, before being closed down by economic
reality. Still, one or two which have made it in each town, and
there is always a potential station owner willing to gamble on a
new station. With the possible exception of Peru's jungle
department of San Martin, probably no other similarly sized area
of the world has seen so much shortwave activity in such a short
period of time.
A few stations remain in coastal cities, especially Lima, but not
many. Most older stations remaining on shortwave are in
principal towns and departmental capitals of the Andes including
stations such as Ondas del Huallaga, Radio Andina, Radio
Huancavelica, and Ondas del Titicaca.
Many of these long established stations broadcast in the 60
meterband, although a few can be found in 90, 49, and even the 31
meterbands. For the most part, they use medium powered
transmitters, usually at least five kilowatts. In general, these
are the easiest Peruvian station to hear, although "easy" is
relative. They are not as easy to hear as similarly powered
stations in Central America, Venezuela, or Colombia. Also, as
is frequently the case in Latin America, the stations might go
off the air for months or years at a time, before suddenly
reappearing. By any standards, these are real DX challenges.
New small town broadcasters provide an even greater challenge.
Few use more than a kilowatt; many use less than half that. To
the DXer's advantage, however, most use frequencies outside the
nominal shortwave broadcasting bands, especially in the 4200-4500
khz, 5100 - 5800 kHz and 6250-6950 khz areas. Because the
licensing process takes at least two years in Peru, many stations
come on the air first, and then worry about becoming legal.
So, they take whichever frequency they feel like, or, more likely,
whichever one they happen to have a cristal for. Occasionally, a
station even pops up in the 80 or 40 meter ham bands, in which
case they're probably using a converted ham transmitter.
While some of these out-of-band stations are constantly covered
in North America by interferance from utility stations, others
have clear channels, as long as conditions permit their weakly
powered signals to be received. Unfortunately, when licensed,
some move to authorized in-band frequencies, where they are
usually covered up by more powerful stations from elsewhere in
Latin America.
Adding to the DX challenge - and fun - is that the broadcasting
scene is constantly changing. Competition in these small towns
is stiff, and overhead is high. Just buying kerosene for a
generator is a major expense. Considering that many small
stations don't gross more than ten or twenty dollars a day, it
hard to see how they have money left over for equipment and
records. If there is an equipment breakdown, expensive replacement
parts must be ordered from Lima. It may take months before the
owner saves enough spare cash from his other businesses to fix the
transmitter. Despite the successes of a few stations such as Radio
Chota, many do fail. Frequently new stations come on the air, are
heard well for a few weeks or months, and then are gone forever.
It can seem like new stations come and go on a daily basis,
teaching DXers to catch new station today, because it may be gone
tomorrow.
For example, in the early 1980s, Radio Acunta came on the air
from Chota with a 100 watt transmitter on 5800 khz. Later, the
transmitter was moved to Bambamarca and rented to Radio San
Francisco, a new station. However, Radio San Francisco didn't
make it and the transmitter was soon back in Chota. By mid 1985,
Radio Acunta was having a tough time competing with crosstown
rivals Radio Chota and Radio San Juan de Chota, each of which had
a one kilowatt transmitter, so manager Victor Hoyos called it
quits. The transmitter was sold, and ended up in San Ignacio, by
the Ecuadorian border, where for several years it was used by Radio
San Miguel Archangel. Radio San Juan de Chota didn't last much
longer, and it's transmitter was sold to another new Bambamarca
station, Radio Onda Popular. In the late 1980s,
Radio Nuevo Cajamarca from the town of Nuevo Cajamarca, near Rioja,
was heard on 5800 khz. This was probably the old Radio Acunta
transmitter with yet another owner.
Another 'musical transmitter' got its start in Moyobamba, on the
fringe of the Amazon jungle. In 1982, Radio Moyobamba announcer
Miguel Quisipotongo Suxe, founded his own station, Estacion C,
using a 300 watt Framvel transmitter with a cristal for 6364 khz.
The Moyobamba area is growing fast, and Miguel made enough money
to invest in new equipment. He bought a higher powered
transmitter, with a crystal for 6324 khz, he sold the 6364
transmitter to another ex-Radio Moyobamba announcer, Porfirio
Centurion. Porfirio called his soon-to-fail station Radio
Moderna. A few months later the transmitter ended up in nearby
Saposoa, where it was used to broadcast under the name Radio
Huallaga. There's no telling who owns the transmitter now.
Confusing as it may be, there is a silver lining for the DXer. By
station counting standards, if a station name change is
accompanied by a change in ownership, it can be counted as a new
station. Therefore, over several years, it is possible to log the
same transmitter on the same frequency three or four times - and
count it as a different station each time!
For the most part, Peruvian stations broadcast in Spanish, and
knowledge of Spanish helps in identifying them and picking out
program details for reception reports. However, many stations in
the central and southern Andean regions also broadcast in
Quechua, which can be easily mistaken for Spanish. Although the
two langugages are phonetically very dissimilar, Quechua has
borrowed hundreds of Spanish words.
Quehcua is not the only Indian language used by Peruvian
broadcasters. In the far south, around Lake Titicaca, a few
stations broadcast in Aymara, a language widely spoken there and in
neighboring Bolvia. Aymara, too, has borrowed numerous words from
Spanish.
Many Peruvian stations heard on shortwave do not have set
formats, like North American AM/FM stations. Instead, they program
various types of music throughout the day, depending on the
expected audience.
The first program of the day is nearly always a wake-up program
aimed at the campesinos, or peasant farmers. Other than a few
crazy DXers, who else would listen that early in the morning?!
These programs usually have names such as Amanecer Campesino
(campesino dawn), Mananitas Campesinas (campesino morning) or
Buenos Dias ... (Good morning + name of town or province).
The announcers are upbeat, give frequent time checks, and
sometimes even chastise their listeners with "Levantese!
Levantese!" (Get up! Get up!). Since campesinos like folk
music, this is the best time of day to hear traditional Peruvian
huaynos (pronounced 'whinos').
The most popular music of rural Peru, the huayno features a
rapidly strummed guitar and high pitched vocals. It is frequently
accompanied by a quena (traditional wood flute), zampona (bamboo
panpipes), charango (a small guitar like instrument), arpa (harp),
or guitarra. Many DXers soon develop a liking for these exotic,
haunting melodies. A good example of the sound of these
instruments, and Andean music in general, is Simon and Garfunkel's
song "El Condor Pasa". Although many of the instruments are the
same, huaynos are different from the Ecuadorian music played on
HCJB.
Other programs follow throughout the day: romantic music for
housewives, pop music for teenagers, radionovelas (soap operas)
for everybody. During evening hours, in fact, just about
anything can be heard - although usually in program blocks.
Don't be surprised if an hour of rock music is followed by syrupy
romantic music, or fast moving tropical music. Each of these
programs has its own name, such as Discoteca de Hoy, La Hora
de Amor, or Fiesta Tropical.
Resources such as Passport to World Band Radio, log columns such
as that in Monitoring Times, and an atlas with the departments
clearly marked, are indispensible to DXing the Peruvians. However,
the most important step in successfully DXing Peru, is keeping up
on late-breaking DX news, so that when a new station comes on the
air, you can try for it before it has a chance to shut down.
Listening to HCJB's DX Party Line program is the best way to
keep up with this changing scene.
When sending reception reports to Peruvian stations, write in
Spanish, and include mint stamps for return postage. At the
moment, however, Peruvians are not particularly good verifiers.
The Peruvian economy is a shambles; inflation in 1988 was around
2000%. Under these conditions, most stations don't have the
money or staff time for verifying. Many DXers report return
rates of only ten or twenty percent on their Peruvian reports.
Of course, any reply which is received is that much more
treasured because of its rareness. It's unlikely that the
economic situation will improve before the 1990 presidential
elections. If the ecomony does improve, maybe DXers will see the
return of easier verifications that often included pennants.
The following list of stations should get you started on DXing
Peru. Some of these are 'regulars', while others can only be
heard under good conditions. A few are so rare that they are
only logged two or three times a year in North America. North
American DXers frequently wonder if some of these stations are
even on the air. Yet, Latin American DXers report regular
reception, so we know they are always possible, given the right
conditions. So, turn on the radio and plug in the headphones,
it''s time to DX the land of the Incas. Buena sintonia! (Good
listening!)
For a complete list of Peruvian shortwave stations, the best
references are the annual publications Passport to World Band
Radio and the World Radio TV Handbook . These are
available from various shortwave vendors.
This article is copyright 1989 by Don Moore. It may not be printed
in any publication without written permission. Permission
is granted for all interested readers to share and pass on the
ASCII text file of this article or to print it out for personal
use. In such case, your comments on the article would be appreciated.
This website is maintained by Don Moore,
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DXing the Land of the Incas
By Don Moore
LAND OF THE INCAS
Starting in 2000 B.C., Indian civilizations periodically rose and
fell in Peru, each building on the knowledge of its predecessors.
The greatest of them all, the Inca Indians of southern Peru's
Cuzco valley, began their march to civilization around 1000 A.D.
Combining a highly centralized civilization with military
conquest, by 1450 they controlled western South America, from
present day southern Colombia to central Chile. Their empire was
linked by a road network better than any in Europe at that time.
On terraced Andean mountainsides, they grew potatoes and grains
especially suited for the harsh mountain climate. A system of
government storehouses kept several years supply of food so that
even in the worst of times, no one went hungry. PERU TODAY
Although smaller than the Inca empire, modern-day Peru is a large
nation - over a half million square miles in area. The population
is sparse twenty million. Around eighty percent are descended
from the Incas. Many live much as they did five hundred years
ago, except for a few modern coveniences such as battery radios
and plastic water jugs. The Inca language, Quechua, is their
mother tongue. Nearly two million don't speak Spanish, especially
in the central and southern parts of Peru's Andean region.
Geographically, Peru is a land of extremes. More than 40 percent
of the population live in the costa, a narrow band of coastal
desert, broken by lush irrigated oasises. Here are found the
major cities, such as Lima, Trujillo, and Chiclayo, and most of
the country's paved highways. SHORTWAVE RADIO IN PERU
Because of the country's varied geography, shortwave radio has
played a major role in the development of communications in Peru.
As in most of Latin America, when commercial radio first began in
Peru in the 1920s and 1930s, there were just a few stations in
main cities, trying to reach a national, or at least regional,
audience. They couldn't easily do this on AM, especially with
the lower powered AM transmitters of the day, so shortwave was
added. As a cheap and cost effective way to broadcast to a large
area, shortwave couldn't be beat. 
DXING PERU
Nobody, including the Peruvian government, knows how many
shortwave stations are on the air in Peru at any time. Around a
100 would be a good guess, however.PLAYING 'MUSICAL TRANSMITTERS'
Because of the difficulties of radio broadcasting in this part of
the world, it's not unusual for stations to go off the air for
several days, weeks, months, or even years. When an inactive
station reappears, it's a good idea to make sure it really is the
old station. Afterall, the owner may have decided to call it quits
and sell the transmitter. In rural Peru, you never know for sure
just who owns the transmitters, since some change hands
frequently.WHEN TO HEAR PERUVIANS
In North America, the morning is the best time for Peruvian
reception. Stations began signing on at 0900 UTC, with most on the
air by 1000. The stations can be heard until fadeout at sunrise,
which in the winter can be as late as 1200 on the East Coast. In
the summer, the opening can be almost nonexistant. Peruvians can
also be heard in the evening, occasionally as early as 2300 in the
winter, later in the summer. Usually the best reception is after
0200. Most stations sign-off between 0400-0500. Unfortunately,
many smaller out-of-band stations do not sign on until 1200 or
later, so they can only be received in the evening.GETTING STARTED
DXing the Peruvians is challenging; there aren't many DX
frontiers as hard as to crack as this one. Still, with a serious
effort and dedication, it's possible to log 25 or 30 stations in
just your first year. The way the stations come and go, many DXers
with five or six years experience have logged more than 100.
Association of North American Radio Clubs
DXer of the Year for 1995.
