Radio Reloj
| Type | Radio network |
|---|---|
| Country |
 Cuba |
| Availability | International |
| Owner | Government of Cuba |
| Key people | Isidro Betancourt Silva (General Director), Yuzaima Cardona Villena (Information Director) |
| Launch date | July 1, 1947 |
| Official website | http://www.radioreloj.cu/ |
Radio Reloj (Spanish for Radio Clock) is an internationally-broadcast Spanish language radio station, located in Cuba.
Overview
The station is heard on various AM frequencies throughout the country and also on certain FM frequencies, such as 101.5 FM in Havana.
Radio Reloj started on 1 July 1947 and claims to be the oldest non-stop information channel in the world. Common AM frequencies in use are 570, 790, 820, 830, 850, 860, 950 (Havana) and 1020.
The news and information is read against a background sound of continuous clock ticks every second. Every minute there is a station name announcement, a beep on the minute, a time announcement and "RR" in Morse code.
Both Manu Chao and Vocal Sampling have recorded musical "tributes" to these background ticks, in the songs "Me Gustas Tú" ("I like you") and "Radio Reloj", respectively.
Listernership outside of Cuba
Since its original inception in 1947 Radio Reloj was only available to listeners within the island of Cuba, however on occasion during a clear night (especially during the winter months) Radio Reloj could be heard in adjacent countries, and it generally has good signal along the Florida Keys (from Islamorada to Key West) and some parts of Southwest Florida, due to this area being immediately north of Havana. A good example of DXing of Radio Reloj was on the morning of January 21, 1999 at 1:20am (Eastern Time) when U.S. radio station WMCA licensed in New York, New York broadcasting on 570am (Same as Radio Reloj's Santa Clara signal) went off-the-air for transmitter maintenance, once WMCA's carrier signal dropped Radio Reloj's broadcast could be heard up and down the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States including New York City where WMCA originates its broadcasts.[1] Radio Reloj is also available free in satellite broadcast in Hispasat 30º W Radio Reloj has also started broadcasting its programming via an Internet stream using any media player in decent albeit low bit-rate sound quality.
References
External links
- Radio Reloj online (Spanish)
- Radio Reloj live Internet stream (Spanish)
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