Author: Albert Nalbandian

The Astor Broadcast Group Grows With One Leg in the Inland Empire
Inland Empire Business Journal (California)
February 2005
by Joe Lyons
The history of the Astor Broadcast Group is the history of Art Astor. He
was born into an Armenian immigrant family. After a tour in the Army Air
Corps (earning him the Air Medal with four clusters) he took a
communications degree from USC in 1949 on the G.I. Bill.
His loyalty to the school remains apparent as he wears the cardinal and
gold colors at least once a week and carries the football and basketball
broadcasts on KSPA, his Ontario station. But that’s getting ahead of the
story.
Degree in hand, he started in TV as what he describes as `the Armenian
Dick Clark,’ but that was 50 years ago. Since then his efforts have
mostly been off the air in radio sales and management. He has been
involved in the Southern California broadcast industry ever since. Among
other positions he has held, he headed the sales department at Los
Angeles station KHJ during the great `Boss Radio’ days of the early sixties.
Back then, before MTV and iPod’s and CDs it was possible for one AM
radio station to have 40 percent of the listening audience.
In the 1970s, while general manager of KDAY, he got the legendary
Wolfman Jack to come across the border from Mexico to come to work in
L.A. Many of those radio tapes still exist and can be heard on the air
on AM 1510 here in the Inland Empire today. But again we are getting
ahead of things.
By the late seventies, he was in partnership which owned KIK-FM, a
country station out of Orange County. By 1982, he had bought out his
partners and, with the purchase of an AM/FM operation in the Bay Area,
he became the proud owner of the Astor Broadcast Group.
Radio companies are a lot like Disneyland. They are never quite
complete. The Astor Group has been just that way. Stations have been
acquired. Stations have been sold.
An FM and two AM signals in the San Diego area were added. The FM was
sold last year. KIK-FM was sold off just before that.
In 1999, Hank Stickney, owner of the Quakes, sold his Rancho Cucamonga
radio station, known as The Muscle, to the Astor group. The calls became
KMXN with the name AM 1510 applied to it to let people know where it is.
The name has stuck, but the call letters are now KSPA.
In one unusual move, when it was decided to remodel the transmitter site
at 9th and Vineyard, the station made a temporary move to the corporate
offices in Anaheim. That was over a year ago.
The signal remains the same. The official city of license is still
Ontario, but the studios are still down in Orange County. Oddly enough,
those studios are also the site of an incredible collection knows as
Astor Classics.
It seems that back in the seventies, Astor fell in love with a 1967
Jaguar 4.2 sedan. That car became the start of a remarkable collection.
Nearly 200 `rolling sculpture’ are now the heart of an amazing fleet
– from a 1925 Dodge Bros. car to one of the largest private collections
of Packards in the area.
Each car is as original as possible and all are drivable. In fact they
all get out on the road sooner or later. Many famous names are attached
to these cars including Orson Welles, Cary Grant, Admiral Nimitz and
even Howard Hughes.
The collection also includes rare console model radios, early TVs,
including a prototype from the 1939 Worlds Fair. Slot machines,
telephones, prewar toys, juke boxes, autographed photos of Hollywood
greats are also all part of the collection. As a boy Astor had wanted a
good watch but his family couldn’t afford ones. Now he owns almost 200,
including rare and expensive ones, Hopalong Cassidy watches and pocket
watches.
Soon the Astor Group will be opening a multipurpose event center which
will put the entire collection on proper display as a special attraction
for groups looking to hold their functions in a most unusual atmosphere.
As for AM 1510, it too has developed a penchant for collectibles. The
grand traditions of Astor’s Alma Mater, USC, can be heard, including the
recent BCS championship game. Broadcast legend George Putnam airs `One
Reporters Opinion’ at noon each day. And the late, great Wolfman Jack
holds sway every night at 6:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. to midnight on
Saturdays). The rest of the day the music of people like Frank Sinatra
and Dean Martin add to the sound.
In this age of corporate broadcasting, where programming people in New
York issue memos every day on what to air to people like us 3,000 miles
away, the Astor Broadcast Group remains one of the last of the
independent entrepreneurships in our area.
Today, AM 1510 is one-third of the broadcast part of the company. KCEO,
and a rarity on the AM band, and classical music, KFSD 80, are located
in North County San Diego.
At nearly 80, Art Astor can still be found in one of his offices every
day. Of course which office he can be found in depends on whether he’s
working on plans for the event center, getting ready for a major car
show, developing the international syndication of the Wolfman Jack shows
or planning new ideas for Ontario’s AM 1510.
Last year the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce presented Art Astor with a
lifetime achievement award. They may have been premature.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN MEDIA ANALYZES PROSPECTS OF RUSSIAN-AZERBAIJAN COOPERATION
[February 18, 2005, 18:38:59]
Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
Feb 18 2005
Opening of the Year of Azerbaijan in the Russian Federation, the
meeting of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the President
of Russia Vladimir Putin has received a wide resonance in the Russian
mass media.
So, in the newspaper “Moscow Komsomolets”, the author Alexander
Budberg writes, that if several years ago Azerbaijan was considered
almost as the main opponent of Moscow in Trans-Caucasus, today is its
main economic partner in region, “the strategic partner”. In opinion
of the author, contacts of Moscow and Baku carry, obviously,
geo-politic character. Behind the “Year of Culture” always, first of
all, stands desire to strengthen political and economic relations.
Many Russian corporations want to enter the neighboring country, and
the Russian leadership would wish, that such opportunity is given to
them”, writes A. Budberg. The author approves that Kazakhstan and
Azerbaijan are two key countries in the CIS; “loss” of them would
mean loss of the CIS. Further, the author marks: “With Azerbaijan we
historically had uneasy relations. In the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Russia unequivocally supported Armenia. Now, Moscow tries to adhere
to strictly neutral policy, but old faults simply so do not let off.
Yet Yerevan is not ready to compromises around Karabakh. At the same
time, the economic situation of the country worsens, that forces
Armenia all to be united more closely with Russia and Iran. Not
casually the Americans have made some outflow that ostensibly the
Kremlin tries to organize the Moscow-Yerevan-Tehran axis. And though,
in fact, the Kremlin is not interested at all in such politics
tricks, the heavy economic condition of Armenia and desire as can be
salted more rigidly to Washington can to move us to this side.
Naturally, any such movement cannot cause sympathy in Baku where
count itself a victim of aggression. All this complicates relations
between Russia and Azerbaijan. But, on the other hand, strong and
political and economic interests of two countries are obvious, that
hardly existing difficulties can slow down process of rapprochement”.
In the newspapers “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, “Kommersant”, “Gazeta”,
“Krasnaya Zvezda” and others also have in detail told about visit of
the Azerbaijan President to the Russian capital, which has taken
place on February 15-16.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL
50 Khanjian Str., Yerevan 375010, Armenia
Tel: (3741) 551582, 571798
Fax: (3741) 574639
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:
PRESS RELEASE
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is a non-governmental, humanitarian
organization that has worked actively for more than 50 years to create a
safer and more dignified life for refugees and internally displaced persons
(IDPs), regardless of their race, religion, nationality or political
convictions. We work for the rights of refugees and IDPs, assisting with
food, shelter and education – and offering counseling on repatriation.
In Armenia, NRC has invested more that 10 million USD in refugee-targeted
projects since 1995. These include primarily housing construction, but also
school construction and rehabilitation, construction of drinking and
irrigation water pipelines, as well as human rights education and an IDP
mapping survey. So far, NRC has provided new homes for nearly 1000 refugee
families in Armenia.
_____________________________________________
On February 8-th The Norwegian Refugee Council handed over 18 keys to new
stone houses to refugee families in the villages of Deghdzut, Kanachut,
Noyakert and Sis in Ararat marz. For the past 14 years all the families had
lived in uninhabitable constructions, like old school building, bathhouse,
metal containers, half-constructed houses in miserable conditions.
Each house will have a plot of land for gardens.
The project was completed in cooperation with the Department of Migration
and Refugees and Ararat Marzpet’s office and village mayors.For construction
of house in Sis village a completely new design was developed toghether with
USDA Experts.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ArmenPress
Feb 4 2005
REVIEW COURT DENIES PETITION TO RELEASE LEADER OF NATIONALISTIC PARTY
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS: An Armenian court of review left
unchanged today a petition filed by a marginal Armenian Aryan Union
party that requested release of its leader Armen Avetisian pending
trial. A local first instance court in Yerevan allowed prosecutors in
late January to arrest Avetisian on charges of inciting inter-ethnic
hatred. The arrest followed a newspaper interview in which Avetisian
called for the expulsion of all Jews living in Armenia, saying they
are to blame for Armenians’ vows. The review court said if at large
Avetisian may impede or avoid investigation.
A lawyer for Avetisian accused the review court of making an
unsubstantiated decision citing her client’s clean record, an
apartment in Yerevan and three small children. She also said two
opposition parliament members, Viktor Dalakian and Manuk Gasparian
have also petitioned for his release vouching that he would not leave
the city.
The lawyer argued further that her client’s right to express his
opinion was broken and his detention looks like “a punishment.” She
said she would take Avetisian’s case to the European Human Rights
Court in Strasbourg if fails to achieve justice in Armenia.
Armenian ombudsman Larisa Alaverdian also asked last week
prosecutors to release Avetisian saying charges against him were not
serious enough to require his detention. She argued that
anti-Semitism is non-existent in Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
Jan 18 2005
New talks for Karabakh
by Mammad Bagirov

Eldar Namazov, former Presidential aide
for Heydar Aliyev is skeptical
about movements to resolve
the Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh
conflict in 2004. His concern
lies with a lack of
basis.. (Sun Photo by Samir Aliyev)
A new stage in settling the conflict in the Nagorno (Daghlig)Karabakh
region of Azerbaijan may begin this year, Ilham Aliyev, the
Azerbaijani president said in his New Year’s address to the nation,
RFE/RL reported.
Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan is ready to resume talks on the issue.
At the same time, he added that there has been no any change in
Azerbaijan’s stance: the conflict must be settled without violating
the territorial integrity of the country.
Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia around the mainly Armenian
populated Nagorno Karabakh region started in 1988. During the
conflict, Azerbaijan lost control over 20% of its territory,
including the Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh region. A ceasefire was
reached in 1994, but the situation has yet to be resolved on a
permanent basis.
Aliyev said he hopes international mediators such as OSCE’s Minsk
Group will play a more active role in solving the problem.
For his part, Vardan Oskanyan, Armenia’s minister of foreign affairs,
in an interview with Russia’s Interfax news agency said that last
year saw positive movements towards the process of the conflict’s
settlement. He elaborated by saying that last year was remarkable if
not only for the resumption of the dialogue, after a long break,
between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
`It provided some clarity to our plans for the next year, and I think
in 2004, this dialogue will continue,’ Oskanyan said.
The presidents of the two conflicting nations met in Geneva last
December and agreed to continue with the negotiations. It was the
first meeting of Azerbaijan’s new leader Ilham Aliyev with his
Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan.
Earlier last month, co-chairmen of OSCE’s Minsk Group paid a visit to
the region and met with the two leaders. Although there had been
hopes that the international mediators would present new ideas for
the settlement of the conflict, no such ideas were offered.
Oskanyan, Armenia’s foreign minister said that during this last visit
of OSCE’s Minsk Group’ co-chairmen, they `didn’t present new
approaches’, although he admitted that there were such `expectations’
in Armenia. `Our expectations were based on the co-chairmen’s
statements made before their visit to the region,’ Oskanyan added.
`They probably considered that it’s not an ideal time for the
advancement of new ideas, especially in Azerbaijan,’ he said.In
regards to the expectations of Armenian leadership for the 2004 year,
Oskanyan said `we hope that all agreements that were reached during
the talks with former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev won’t be
lost and will serve as a basis for the continuation of negotiations.’
Commenting on Ilham Aliyev’s New Year’s address, Azerbaijani
political scientist Rasim Musabekov told Baku Sun that this could
mean `some efforts’ may be taken to intensify the process of the
settlement this year.
`It’s obvious that after solving all the issues related to the
presidential elections that took place in both countries last year,
both sides will renew the talks on Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh
problem,’ said Musabekov, adding that the main question is how
productive this dialogue would be. The political scientist added that
he isn’t optimistic on the results of future talks.
`I don’t see any grounds to consider that both sides are ready for
compromise,’ he added.
Musabekov went on to say that limit of compromises on Azerbaijan’s
side had been practically exhausted and new compromises would lead to
the loss of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over its territories.
Another local political expert, former president’s aide, Eldar
Namazov, is also skeptical about productivity of negotiations. `What
we (representatives of the Azerbaijani community) have seen to date
isn’t enough to predict that radical changes could take place by the
end of 2004,’ he said in an interview with Baku Sun.
The political expert agrees with Musabekov, stressing that Azerbaijan
has made all possible concessions to Armenia during negotiations.
“Azerbaijan proposed the highest level of of autonomy to Nagorno
(Daghlig) Karabakh region and further compromises would lead to
independence, which isn’t acceptable,’ said Namazov.
Namazov also pointed out that there had been no serious changes in
the stance of Armenia’s leadership, which continues to demand either
independence for Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh region from Azerbaijan or
its annexation to Armenia. Namazov added that there is nothing new in
the activities of OSCE’s Minsk group. `The co-chairmen continue to
say that both sides should reach an agreement on their own, and that
the mediators have no intentions to pressure either side,’ he said.
In regards to statements from Armenian foreign minister about his
nation’s `hopes’ to renew talks on the basis of previous agreements
reached with former Azerbaijan president Heydar Aliyev, Namazov said
that Armenian officials `repeatedly’ claimed that such Agreements had
been reached in Paris (France) and Key West (U.S.).
Meanwhile, Russian news agency Rosbalt reported that Arkadi Gukasyan,
head of the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh Republic, said in his
New Year’s speech that the main tasks for leadership of this
unrecognized territory in 2004 will be to continue the struggle for
independence and international recognition.
`All of our foreign policy activity in the New Year will be aimed on
solving these crucial tasks,’ Gukasyan said.
The former Azerbaijani leader and his Armenian counterpart met in
France and the U.S. in 2001 to discuss prospects of conflict
settlement around Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh region. Azerbaijani
officials claimed that during these negotiations no outcomes were
reached while their Armenian counterparts claim that the presidents
agreed on the `principles’ of a settlement.
`There is such a rule in diplomacy – either all or nothing, which
means that when the talks are still ongoing and no mutual consent has
been reached on all issues, in reality, there is no agreement,’
elaborated Namazov. `Suppose that such an agreement exists and
consists of ten items. Even if both sides agreed on nine of these
items, but there is no consent on the tenth it is considered in
diplomacy, that there is still no agreement,’ he added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KARABAGH HEALTH AUTHORITIES TO FEEL MORE FREE NEXT YEAR
ArmenPress
Dec 20 2004
STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS: The 2005 draft budget of the
government in Nagorno Karabagh sets a significant rise in the amount
of money that it can use to address the population health problems.
Authorities there believe that raising the health allocations from 871
million in 2004 to 1.210 billion for next year, almost a 40 percent
growth, will facilitate their efforts to extend qualified medical
services to rural population.
Karabagh health minister Zoya Lazarian believes the additional
money will be instrumental in upgrading rural health stations and
buy new equipment for them. Overall the 2005 budget earmarks around
$20 for each resident of Karabagh to address their health problems.
Concurrently doctors wages will increase twofold and nurses by almost
40 percent.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia engaged in archeological excavations in occupied lands
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Dec 6 2004
Armenians continue looting natural resources, as well as destroying
and claiming cultural and historical monuments in the occupied lands
of Azerbaijan.
The Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of
Sciences, in collaboration with the Yerevan Institute of Architecture,
carried out archeological excavations in Kalbahar District this August,
the Armenian “Azg” (Nation) newspaper reports.
Hamlet Petrosian, an employee of the Institute of Archeology and
Ethnography, has said a picture of a military horseman engraved on
a stone dating back to 13th –14th centuries and other items were
discovered during the excavations.
The operations were funded by the “Yerkir” organization and the
Harutyunians, a family of Armenian descent living in New Jersey, US.
Armenia have been trying for many years to claim the historical
Azerbaijani monuments in Upper Garabagh, Azerbaijan’s region currently
under the Armenian occupation, and to prove that Armenians have lived
in the region for centuries.*
–Boundary_(ID_aOh5r5p74b1uBh0UupDk8w)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse
5 décembre 2004 dimanche 1:13 PM GMT
Turquie/UE: reconnaître le génocide arménien avant d’entrer
(Devedjian)
PARIS 5 déc 2004
Le ministre délégué à l’Industrie Patrick Devedjian a affirmé
dimanche sur Radio J que pour adhérer à l’Union européenne, la
Turquie devait reconnaître sa responsabilité dans le génocide
arménien.
Une telle reconnaissance “fait partie de toutes les conditions
(requises pour entrer dans l’UE), y compris des critères de
Copenhague, c’est-à-dire de l’ensemble des critères qui font que l’on
est devenu un pays européen”, a jugé M. Devedjian.
“Etre capable de regarder son passé en face fait partie des moeurs
démocratiques”, a-t-il ajouté.
Le ministre a aussi soulevé la question chypriote, sachant qu’un
contingent militaire turc de 35.000 hommes occupe toujours la partie
nord de Chypre et qu’Ankara ne reconnaît pas le régime de Nicosie.
“Est-ce que la Turquie peut entrer dans l’Europe sans reconnaître un
des membres de l’Union européenne (…), avec une armée qui occupe
illégalement une partie du territoire de l’Union européenne ?”,
a-t-il demandé.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Russia agrees to hand control of tank workshop to Georgia
Kavkasia-Press news agency
24 Nov 04
Tbilisi, 24 November: Russia signed an agreement on the handover
of the Tbilisi armoured vehicle workshop to Georgia at the Defence
Ministry today. The agreement was signed by Georgian Deputy Chief of
General Staff Col Levan Nikoleishvili and the chief of staff of the
Group of Russian Forces in the Transcaucasus, Col Andrey Popov.
The armoured vehicle workshop is located on Moscow Avenue in
Tbilisi. Until now only Russian and Armenian military equipment has
been repaired there.
After the agreement was signed Nikoleishvili said that the workshop
would be handed over by 30 January next year, until which time it
will be jointly guarded by Russian and Georgian personnel.
Andrey Popov said that the Russian side would take it upon itself
to pay salary arrears to workers, although the amount has not been
specified.
“The factory employees will retain their jobs,” Nikoleishvili said,
adding that their working conditions would improve after the handover.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Civil Georgia, Georgia
Nov. 4, 2004
Russian Railway Chief Proposes Alternative Transportation Routes for
Armenia

Chief of the state-run Russian Railway Company Gennady Fadeev said
while visiting Armenia’s capital, Yerevan on October 3, that the
railway route linking Russia with Armenia via Georgia can be put into
operation within a year.

`In terms of financial and technical possibilities, the transport
corridor Sochi-Sokhumi-Tbilisi-Yerevan may be resumed within a year,’
RIA Novosti news agency quoted Fadeev as saying.
However, he added that `questions prevail over answers in this regard.’
He stressed the prospect of increasing the volume of Armenian-Russian
freight transportation through railway ferries.

`The fact that Russian freights are moving to Armenia through the
Ukrainian and Georgian ports of Ilichevsk and Poti, respectively, is
nonsense,’ Fadeev said.

He said it is quite possible to open a ferry route between the Russian
port of Kavkaz and the Georgian port of Poti, which will be three times
cheaper than the current route via the Ukrainian port. Fadeev also
added that `the opinion of the Georgian side is very important in this
regard.’
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress