CP... Radio El Fuego del Espíritu Santo, El Alto 1580

Radio El Fuego del Espíritu Santo is heard by several DX-ers in the Nordic countries the past months on its offset frequency of 1580,48v kHz. Bolivia on mediumwave is never easy, so I was very pleased to hear this station on May 1, 2012. This is the background story on Radio El Fuego del Espiritú Santo, as summed up by Henrik Klemetz: 

"Heard on an extended Christmas transmission in 2008 by Mika Mäkeläinen, and identified by Henrik, this station did not receive Mika’s report. The Bolivian P O returned the letter to the sender as undelivered.  Heard again on the same split by several listeners in Finland, Sweden and Norway in 2012, Henrik collected the audios in order to find sustainable programme detail. Fruitless attempts were made in obtaining a working postal address and phone number until Tore B Vik  finally made it through a Norwegian missionary organization in La Paz. Henrik phoned the station and was told that they did not have an email (which in Bolivia is expensive and scarce). Having agreed on a “collective QSL”, and the promise of shared telephone costs, Henrik phoned once again one week later. He talked to the station manager and described the programme content found on Mika’s 2008 recording and on the clips submitted by three people, Pekka Kostiainen, Torolf Johnsson and Arne Nilsson who were listening simultaneously in March to a live programme whose name was given on the air.  The station manager was surprised. The programme title was a match. To avoid the flooding of his email and much additional hassle, Henrik said he would send him a letter containing the names and dates of reception submitted by nine listeners to the manager’s personal email. He would not send in any of the recorded samples he had collected, but they were of course open to inspection if needed. After a few more follow ups on the phone and by mail, the written acknowledgement was sent out to the lucky nine."

I receved an email from Fausto Lima Poma entitled "gracias por la sintonia", and my MW QSL no. 3 from Bolivia was a fact! A quite smooth process from my point of wiev, thanks to Tore B. Vik for his contacts in the Misión Alianza de Noruega en Bolivia and to Henrik Klemetz for his huge skills and great efforts in this case. Thanks alto to 4 DX'ers in Finland and 3 in Sweden for their cooperation. Gracias, amigos!