While Transatlantic conditions are poor there is still plenty to listen to on medium wave. This week I received TWR from Parakou, Benin. They started a bit earlier than announced. Around 0305 h UTC I heard some nice African music like the song “Noé” from Pasteur Plaingué. The Shazam app works wonders… At 0320 their regular program started in Hausa, the lingua franca of the region. The typical TWR interval signal was absent.
My report was answered within a day by Mrs. Lorraine Stavropoulos, DX manager for TWR Africa via lstavrop@twr.org. Unfortunately, unlike the e-QSL from TWR Eswatini which featured the 50 years anniversary logo, there is no reference made to Benin. This seems to be a bit of a TWR policy, as neither of my Kyrgyzstan QSLs indicated the QTH.
I too received TWR on 1476 kHz the other night. Another DXer (Tim Tromp from Michigan) was able to Shazam the song, and it was the same song as the one you reported here. I only heard bits and pieces of audio, but it was my first reception of them with enough audio to ID something.
Details of the recording can be seen at the IRCA groups.io page. Basically, best reception was a few minutes after sign-on (0313 UTC), at 03-15-0316 UTC, on 06-23-25.
I sent an email to their general info page, but is the email addy that you mention a better one to use?
73,
Mark Pettifor
Goshen, IN, USA | EN71ao
Antenna: east-aimed superloop, 20′ x 75′
Radio: ELAD FDM-S2
Hello Mark, I don’t know how well their general info page works. Personally I find the structure of their website complicated as it is very much program and not so much station/location oriented. Understandable for their listeners, but less helpful for us DX-ers.
My experience is that you can best send your reports to the people dedicated to manage QSLs for a region.
Mrs. Stavropoulos is a very reliable verifier and has verified my TWR Eswatini as well as my TWR Benin broadcasts. So I would recommend to contact her.
Likewise Mr. Kalman Dobos is a reliable verifier for Europe and Middle East.
73 Peter