Should’ve chosen a different Suhoor Livestream to listen to this morning…
Aw well, InshAllah,
Manana
— HïMY SYeD 🕌 30 Masjids in 30 Days of Ramadan 2020 (@30masjids) May 4, 2020
This morning,
In-between bites of Sahoor, my pre-dawn meal, I went livestream hunting and IPTV channel surfing for a Good Sahoor broadcast.
As I type this, I can’t even recall what I was watching or listening to this morning.
Sahoor / Fajr today May 4th 2020 was not memorable.
Behind the scenes at @MuslimsLive #Ramadan2013 Fajr Radio Show in London, Ontario. #LdnOnt #30DAYS http://t.co/0tJqYhl30N
— HïMY SYeD 🕌 30 Masjids in 30 Days of Ramadan 2020 (@30masjids) July 12, 2013
Alhumdulillah,
Fajr on Day 4 of Ramadan 2013, is still memorable.
While blogging 30 Masjids in 30 Day of Ramadan 2013 around my home province of Ontario,
I spent an hour with Western University MSA brothers broadcasting
Fast Forward to today,
Monday May 4th 2020 aka Day 11 of Ramadan 1441.
I am spending the half hour before Maghrib Sunset Time, listening to the Livestream,
Reflections on Islam Special Ramadan Radio Program.
30 Masjids AT HOME in 30 Days of Ramadan 2020
Began on
“Wednesday April 22 2020 – Night 0” of Ramadan 2020,
Listening to the ROI Radio Livestream.
And Today,
I continue Ramadan 2020 by listening to,
and this time breaking my fast listening to, Reflections of Islamic Special Ramadan Radio Program.
Reflections on Islam began as a TV Show.
The Special Ramadan Radio Program came later.
I don’t remember which year was the first,
But my Teenage Ramadan Fasts during the 1980s in Toronto were broken listening to Adhan Al Maghrib being broadcast on the Radio.
I grew up listening to Reflections on Islam during Ramadan.
I don’t recall which years nor correct chronological order, but the Radio Station the program was broadcasting from bounced around every few years before landing on its current webpage sometime before Ramadan 2013.
ROI Radio had aired on one of Toronto’s Campus Radio stations, perhaps Ryerson Polytechnic ?
Akin to the MuslimsLive program I would later blog about and twitpic’d above.
There were a couple of other stations, maybe CFRB 1010 and another FM station for a few years ?
Each program would begin one half hour before Maghrib Sunset Time.
Since Sunset moves a number of minutes each night, ROI Radio would begin at a different minute of the hour every night of Ramadan.
This likely made it a challenge in scheduling for any Radio Station Manager.
The program itself was performing a Hijrah, migrating through the clock hour.
Consequently, for a number of years, ROI Radio was off the air completely.
Those Ramadan Fasts when there was no ROI Radio in the middle of the 1980s, kind of always felt incomplete when Sunset came around and my family broke our daily fasts.
To compensate,
On his weekly TV Show in weeks leading up to those Ramadans, Ezz E. Gad made available audio cassettes which we could pre-order.
Each set included recordings for 30 Days of Ramadan.
We were supposed to Press PLAY “One half hour before Maghrib Sunset Time” to line up sunset and hearing our tape players sound Adhan Al Maghrib.
I think our family ordered the tapes, but it wasn’t the same feeling as listening to the scratchy AM Signal.
When I first began blogging this 30 Masjids project in August of 2011,
I chose Day 15 of Ramadan 2011 to first blog about ROI Radio :
“Day 15 – Reflections on Islam Radio Program“
…A scratchy AM Signal from CJRN AM 7910 in Niagara Falls, on the other side of Lake Ontario.
The signal would weave in and out, yet that distant Adhan on the radio was how I broke my fast for years !
Last year,
I broke my First Fast of Ramadan 2019 listening to Ezz E. Gad via livestream.
To listen to the Livestream,
You must be connecting from an IP Address from inside Ontario, Canada.
If you were in British Columbia during Ramadan 2015, your BC IP Address did allow you to listen to ROI.
Many Rogers Internet customers complain that they indeed are in Ontario,
Yet their IP Address is showing out of province, and are geo-blocked from hearing ROI’s Livestream.
Don’t blame Ezz E. Gad,
Remaining ROI Radio Livestream Start Times in Ramadan 2020 . . .
Ramadan 11 – May 4 : Start Time – 8:01 p.m.
Ramadan 12 – May 5 : Start Time – 8:02 p.m.
Ramadan 13 – May 6 : Start Time – 8:03 p.m.
Ramadan 14 – May 7 : Start Time – 8:04 p.m.
Ramadan 15 – May 8 : Start Time – 8:05 p.m.
Ramadan 16 – May 9 : Start Time – 8:06 p.m.
Ramadan 17 – May 10 : Start Time – 8:07 p.m.
Ramadan 18 – May 11 : Start Time -8:08 p.m.
Ramadan 19 – May 12 : Start Time – 8:10 p.m.
Ramadan 20 – May 13 : Start Time – 8:11 p.m.
Ramadan 21 – May 14 : Start Time – 8:12 p.m.
Ramadan 22 – May 15 : Start Time – 8:13 p.m.
Ramadan 23 – May 16 : Start Time – 8:14 p.m.
Ramadan 24 – May 17 : Start Time – 8:15 p.m.
Ramadan 25 – May 18 : Start Time – 8:16 p.m.
Ramadan 26 – May 19 : Start Time – 8:17 p.m.
Ramadan 27 – May 20 : Start Time – 8:18 p.m.
Ramadan 28 – May 21 : Start Time – 8:19 p.m.
Ramadan 29 – May 22 : Start Time – 8:20 p.m.
Ramadan 30 – May 23 : Start Time – 8:21 p.m.
Shawwal 1 – May 24 : Start Time – 8:23 p.m.
Shawwal 2 – May 25 : Start Time – 8:24 p.m.
Why the extra two days of Livestreaming after the end Ramadan ?
(Likewise one or two days of radio shows before Ramadan began in April.)
One word.
Moonsighting, Not Moonfighting.
Okay, that’s three words.
First Rule of Moonsighting Club,
You Do NOT Talk About Moonfighting Club.
For my entire adult life, including years I consider my youth,
I have watched the weekly Reflections on Islam TV Show.
The show began on Local Toronto TV Channel, CFMT Channel 47, decades ago.
Channel 47 is still on the air, today it’s known as OMNI TV.
OMNI TV stuck to its multi-cultural multi-lingual programming roots.
IN 1980,
CFMT Channel 47 became Canada’s first television station to air 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
CNN (Cable News Network), the world’s first 24-hour television news network would go live on June 1 1980.
Other channels went off the air one or two hours after midnight.
They might broadcast static or a test pattern.
Here’s CFTO (Canadian Frequency Toronto Ontario) Channel 9 at 3:30 a.m. on a Friday . . .
With all those overnight broadcast hours to fill, that may be why Fridays at 3:30 a.m.,
You could turn on Channel 47 in Toronto, watch Ezz. E. Gad and learn about Islam.
Nowadays,
TV Shows bounce around from being on Network TV, to syndication, get picked up by a Cable Channel, then wind up on an ON Demand Streaming Platform.
While those in the know, watch IPTV.
I can’t recall which year exactly,
But Reflections on Islam TV Program eventually performed a Hijrah or migration,
From Over-The-Air Television (OTA) UHF Channel 47 to Cable Channel VisionTV.
Back then, this was big deal, like, wow, which TV Show does that ????
Following in the footsteps of the First Muslims who migrated from Makkah to Madinah (née Yathrib) to keep their faith intact,
Reflections on Islam kept its thrice weekly Timeslots even after its OTA to Cable TV Hijrah…
- Sundays : 11 a.m. Eastern Time
- Mondays : 4 a.m. Eastern Time
- Fridays : 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time
I still tune in.
