Historic Radio Senders

The development of radio broadcasting in the 1920s and 1930s gave the world its first electronic global medium. Radio transformed (and saved) lives and was integral to the history of the 20th century. Originally, Marconi, the first person to really make radio work, only saw radio as a method of point to point communication so in the 1910s the technology was mainly used by governments and military because it was so expensive. The first transmitters were probably used for spy messages in the years leading up to the first world war, the forerunners of today's “numbers stations“. Original receivers relied on “cats whiskers“ or coils to work. Then around 1920, with the greater availability of tuneable receivers that were easy to operate, the concept of “broadcasting” entertainment and information for citizens became possible. A large infrastructure of transmitters, masts and broadcasting stations was set up to transmit the services. Over the years, they changed their frequencies as governments agreed different “band plans” so that all the stations could fit into the available spectrum. Today, the radio broadcast stations compete with internet and satellite communications systems for their audiences, and the high cost of operating and maintaining large radio transmitters and their electronics is causing the closing down of many of the older installations. Some of the installations presented particular technical and engineering problems. Their longevity is a tribute to the wonderful design and workmanship of their builders and engineers. A large number of the historical European radio stations have already gone out of service, and more will be joining them in the next few years; I will try to feature their histories on this website, which is intended to be an introduction to the subject rather than a detailed history of them. I have put the transmitting stations in alphabetical order of usually the name which used to be marked on the radio dial. Why not try to hear some of the surviving ones while they are still in operation, on your radio?

Picture credits: Dial: Philips Museum; Murphy radio: Radio and Television Trader Sheets (scanned)

Corrections and suggestions are always welcome.

Updated 23 April 08.

Athlone, Ireland

Athlone is a small place in the centre of Ireland. It will always be known to my generation as the site of the Radio Eireann transmitter. In fact, transmissions have for many years been sent from Tullamore, another site in visual range of the original site.

Following the creation of the Irish independent state, small transmitters were initially set up in Cork and Dublin in 1925, first transmitting tests in November, followed by a full service from 1 January 1926; then there was a new law to properly regulate broadcasting, and the collection of radio licence fees enabled Radio Eireann to fund the building of a high power station at Athlone. Meanwhile the original station studios moved from a house to rooms in the Dublin General Post Office in 1928 and then to another site before the creation of their modern facilities at Donnybrook, Dublin in the late 1960s.

The first transmitter was a Marconi 100 kw set. Subsequently replacement Brown-Boveri and Continental transmitters were all installed at the site. It was becoming expensive to run this inefficient antique installation and it was replaced by a 1970s station built nearby at Tullamore. The site at Athlone is now understood to have been sold to another broadcaster who is clearing the site including demolishing the historic buildings.

Athlone was formally opened by Eamon De Valera on 6 February 1933 but it first took the air in 1932 for a test broadcast when the Pope addressed the Irish people by a specially arranged relay from Vatican Radio. In 1937 the call sign of Radio Athlone was changed to Radio Eireann.

In 1939 the Radio Eireann transmissions from Athlone suffered continual interference from three other radio stations: there is a Time article about the problems caused by Lithuanian and Italian radio stations. During the early stages of the second world war, the BBC relayed Athlone from transmitters in the North of England and in Scotland, synchronised with the Athlone transmission, so that German planes could not use Athlone as a direction finder. Later the BBC assisted RE to synchronise the Athlone, Dublin and Cork transmitters on the same frequency for the same purpose.

It is now known as RTE Radio 1.

RTE Radio 1 left medium wave on 24 March 2008. The Tullamore installation is now silent. There was a special programme of highlights of the Radio Eireann and RTE services which can be downloaded from RTE Radio 1.

Beromunster, Switzerland

Old radios often featured a dial which showed you where the stations were on the band. Sometimes they were labelled by service name, like BBC Welsh Reg (region, not a bloke) and sometimes by city like Wien but often by the site of the transmitter, and one of the most often marked ones was Beromunster.

Beromunster was one of the big hitters on the medium wave. It is Switzerland’s main AM analogue transmission and was first set up in 1931, which makes it a relative baby because the main decade in which countries set up their stations was the 20s; it was set up to counter the propaganda being beamed at Switzerland, which is 70% German, by the Nazi regime. The mast in the picture was completed in 1937 and is still in use, although its feeder cable systems have been damaged by lightning in recent years and not repaired.

After the war Germany had lost all its AM services and Beromunster became a main source of news and information to the defeated population.

The ageing installation is expected to be turned off in 2008 when Switzerland goes fully digital. The 600 kilowatt transmitter is rarely used above 180 kilowatts. You can tune in to its service, which is now the service DRS Musigwalle on 531 kHz. While it is still there.

Picture credit: History Switzerland

Bremen, Germany

Radio Bremen was set up in the American sector of Germany in 1945. Bremen is marked on many post war radio dials. The 1945 transmitters were demolished in the 1990s to make room for industrial developments. The station is still on the air from a new site using a modern AM transmitter of 50 kilowatts.

Droitwich, England

Droitwich is such an important transmitter site, and the signals from it are so strong, it still seems to have an operating future. It is famous for the long wave transmitter, but there are also medium wave transmitters there too. The long wave service originated at the Marconi Works at Chelmsford, was transferred first to Daventry, then to Droitwich in 1934. The site was particularly salty and this helped provide an excellent earth which helped the signals travel further. In the early 1960s the transmitter could be heard at the far extremes of the Mediterranean Sea, but in recent years this range appears to have shrunk, due to changing reception conditions and higher background noise. Originally the long wave service was provided by a 150 kw Marconi transmitter but this has been replaced several times and the signal is now provided by a 500 kw set.

During the war the long wave service was taken off the air to avoid it being used as a guidance beacon, and the transmitter switched to medium wave and the European service. All through the war Droitwich was used to send coded messages to Resistance and other agents in Europe and the Germans even planted false messages on it which were broadcast unwittingly. There were even secret German spying missions to the transmitter during the war. At the start of D Day Droitwich was switched back to long wave – to provide the expeditionary forces programme which mutated after the war into the ‘Light Programme’, and to provide a radio beacon for our own pilots!

Since the reorganisation of the BBC in the late sixties the station has broadcast Radio 4. Since the 1980s it has also been used to transmit control signals to Britain’s electricity consumers who have economy seven electric storage heating.

Picture credit: Wikipedia

Hamburg, Germany

The radio station in Hamburg, Germany is one of the oldest in Europe, and has a special resonance for listeners in the UK. It began transmitting on 2 May, 1924 as Nordische Runfdunk Aktien-Gesselschaft. Things did not go without disaster. In 1933 it was reincorporated as the Norddeutsche Rundfunk Gmbh
and was taken over by the Nazis and incorporated into their national Grossdeutscher Rundfunk a year later, as Reichsender Hamburg. Like all media it was under the control of Goebells’ Propagandaministerium.

The station began beaming news and entertainment at Britain as propaganda. The Nazi’s view of what propaganda would work on the UK was somewhat amusing. The British culture was quite different from the German one. To British ears their output sounded comical and over the top, obviously propagandist. And the famous Lord Haw Haw, Joyce, broadcast from the Hamburg Station.

On April 30, 1945, the station was taken by the British. Just days later the station was back on the air as Radio Hamburg, staffed by British people and broadcasting news for the local population. Hugh Greene was seconded from the BBC to run the station and review broadcasting in Germany. Haw Haw was tried and hanged for Treason back in the UK. Decisions were made quickly, and the present broadcaster, WDR, was set up on 22 September 1945.

Nowadays there are a number of transmitting sites for WDR which provides radio and television on a regional, local and national basis. The site at Hamburg is still in use today.

Hilversum, The Netherlands

The first Hilversum transmitter was established in 1923 at the factory which made radios and transmitters in Hilversum, “Nederlandse Seintoestellenfabriek” or NSF. Hilversum then needed someone to make programmes for them. Four societies were founded, NCRV, 24 December 1924,  VARA, 7 November 1925,  KRO, 24 November 1925, and  VPRO, May 1926. These organisations are still involved in making programmes today and have been joined by other programme making societies. Programmes were initially made at the station but the societies began opening their own studios in Hilversum in the mid 1930s.

All Dutch broadcasting facilities were destroyed in the war. During the war Radio Orange was formed and broadcast via the BBC in London. That became the international broadcaster, Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

After the war new studios were built and Hilversum became a media park and the transmitters were sited in Flevoland and around Utrecht.

Picture credit: The first Hilversum transmitter, NSF: Photo: The World of Wireless

Kalundborg, Denmark

Kalundborg is a long wave and medium wave transmitter site in the centre of Denmark, close to a large power station and oil terminal. Danmarks Radio was founded in 1925 as a public service. The long wave masts at Kalundborg were built in 1927. They are 118 metres high and a special multi tuned antenna on the top of the towers overcomes the relatively low height for a long wave transmitter.

This 1929 postcard shows the original transmitter building which housed a 25 kilowatt Western Electric transmitter. A new transmitter building was built post-war for new Marconi 300 kw transmitters. These were installed in 1951. At the same time, a separate and taller medium wave mast was erected. In 1981 the transmitters were again replaced, with three 300 kw Telefunkens.

Originally the aerials were designed to beam the signal at the Faroes and Greenland, but in recent years they have been changed to an omni-directional pattern. This 1929 postcard shows the original transmitter building which housed a 25 kilowatt Western Electric transmitter. A new transmitter building was built post-war for new Marconi 300 kw transmitters. These were installed in 1951. At the same time, a separate and taller medium wave mast was erected. In 1981 the transmitters were again replaced, with three 300 kw Telefunkens.

Kalundborg is no longer on the air.

Picture credit: Get2Net Denmark

Lahti, Finland

The long wave transmitter at Lahti, Finland, is already history. The station marked on old radio dials was established in 1927 in Lahti, a beautiful city in the south of Finland. The broadcaster for Finland is YLE which dates from 1926. The 1927 towers are 150 metres high and are still there. Lahti was used for all the main services of broadcasting from Finland including television. The long wave station building is now the Lahti Radio and Television museum. The long wave service started on 22 April 1928 using a 25 and later 40 kilowatt Telefunken transmitter. It was the main transmitter for the Finnish national radio service. The national service was relayed in other cities of Finland by interested radio amateurs. Eventually YLE bought them all out and improved their transmitters too.

In 1935 reception had not been very good and a 150 kilowatt Marconi transmitter was installed at Lahti. Just before the war Finland ordered four short wave transmitters from Marconi but these were never delivered because of the war. With the onset of heightened tension in 1935 leading to world war II the Lahti signals found themselves badly affected by jamming and other signals from nearby Russia and the station was given up in 1945. The main problem was a 500 kilowatt transmitter operated by the Moscow Komintern for jamming. In 1948 Broadcasts to Finns and in other languages abroad switched to short wave from a transmitter site at Pori on Finland’s west coast. The long wave service continued from Lahti until 1993. These short wave transmissions fell silent for ever on 31 December 2006 and the Finnish external services switched to internet and satellite distribution. The transmitter masts are still in daily use.

Photo credit: Lahti Radio and Television Museum

Luxembourg

Radio Luxembourg is one of the most famous continental broadcasters in Europe because of its long established English language service, which for decades was the only commercial radio station serving the UK until independent local radio was established in 1973. The station was initially established in 1924 and due to its position has a fascinating history. Broadcasts to the UK started in 1934 and were originally on long wave from a 200 kw transmitter at Junglister but after the war broadcasts to the UK were switched to the medium wave transmitter on 208 metres which is situated at Marnach and during the golden years of the 1960s used a power output of 1,300 kw.

At the start of world war 2, the station went off the air to preserve the independence of Luxembourg, but it was to no avail as the Germans invaded and took over the station. They modified the transmitter aerials to beam the signal towards Russia and Moscow in particular, changing the pattern from omnidirectional to directional, which meant that the signals sent in the direction of the UK were attenuated and subject to fading at times. Visitors to the continent in the 1960s reported brilliant reception of Radio Luxembourg in Germany and Austria. The Russians used the station for propaganda and the Lord Haw Haw programmes were carried on Luxembourg as well as Hamburg. The Americans seized the station in 1944 and immediately used the facilities to broadcast black propaganda back to Germany. At the end of hostilities the Red Cross took over the station and used it to broadcast news and long lists of peoples names in an attempt to help people find their relatives and to be repatriated to their original countries.

The UK service was restarted in 1948 on Long Wave with an all day service but due to a lack of advertising was ceased in the 1950s and switched to 208 metres in the evenings only. The station's sponsored religious and record company programmes kept the station on the air and there was a weekly despatch of a whole weeks tapes in a crate from London to Luxembourg. Due to the competition from local commercial radio in the UK the English language service ceased on December 30th 1991 but they continued for a short time on short wave and satellite until being switched off on 30 December 1992 when the station also returned to 208 metres medium wave for a single special occasion evening broadcast. There are plans to relaunch the service to the UK and the transmitters which provided the signals to the UK are still in operation.

Photo credit: Transdiffusion

Motala, Sweden

Motala in Sweden is the site of an old long wave transmitter. Transmissions from the site long ago ceased apart from special events; the site is now a museum. The development of the transmitter facilities generated local industry and led to the founding of the Luxor radio company. Motala was commissioned in 1927 and began transmitting on 227 kHz using a power of 30 kw. In 1935 it was realised that more power was needed and in 1935 a 150 kw transmitter set was installed by Marconis. It was only so effective; from only 80 km away, reception began to fade, and the engineers calculated the efficiency of the installation at merely 22%! In the 1950s a new transmitter design to produce a better signal was invented, and the long wave transmissions were switched to another and better site 15 kilometers to the south-east. This is the site of the current Motala transmitter building, which is now a museum. As it was the height of the cold war, the transmitter hall was built as a nuclear bunker. There was a central main mast surrounded by smaller subsidiary masts in a circle around it.

The new station was much more powerful- two 300 kw transmitters were installed, with an efficiency of 62% and a steady range of 200 km. The new facility was automated. It was opened on 8 May 1962 by Prince Bertil. It was short lived. Thunder and lightning struck the transmitter masts and demolished the main one in 1970, they crashed onto the roof of the bunker which fortunately survived. The mast was never rebuilt. Due to the huge increase in the price of oil in the 1970s power was cut back to 250 kw to save money. By 1979 the Government was trying to close it down. The aerials were refocused on Copenhagen in the early 80s. In winter 1987 the Army was sent in to blow up three masts, which they did very thoroughly, then in 1990 the power generator failed. A survey discovered that only two hundred people had been listening to the transmissisons on the station! That was the end – the government removed the funding and Motala died.

Picture credit: Wikipedia

Nador, Algeria

The Algerian seaside town of Nador is dominated by its ruins from the Roman Empire, its wonderful beaches, and an enormous long wave radio transmitter station covering 250 hectares and containing some of the most powerful transmitters in the world. A more recent construction than the 1920s and 1930s installations, this radio sender is very much in business, transmitting a commercial music and news station called Medi1 to the French, Algerian and Arabic communities in West Mediterranean Europe, in two languages from studios in Tanger and Maroc. It has a huge audience, too: between 22 and 25 million people listen to this 24-hour station on 252 long wave. The station was set up in 1980 and is well funded and equipped with up to 3,000 kilowatts available, but as they now share their frequency with RTE Radio 1, there are power cut back agreements in place to prevent each from interfering with the other. Medi1 can be heard clearly underneath RTE especially at sunrise and sunset here in South Essex.

Paris, France

The Eiffel tower in Paris is one of the most famous broadcasting masts in the world. It acted as the template for the Crystal Palace mast in London. The first signals were sent from the Eiffel in, wait for it, 1897! It was, however, 1921 when a radio studio was opened in the tower and someone was paid to read the stock prices and weather forecasts. These were the first audio transmissions in France. On 6 November 1922 the transmissions of the first French radio station, Radiola Paris, started; they beat the BBC to the air by a week. In 1924 it changed its name to Radio Paris. The Eiffel Tower has a 70-feet antenna on the very top which makes its height 1,070 feet. Today there is still a radio studio which is underground and near one of the four legs. There are other rooms for the actual transmitters at the top. The transmitter tower is still in use and is used to broadcast FM radio and television programmes. It is possibly the most publicly accessible radio transmitter anywhere.

Reykjavik, Iceland

The long wave service from Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, started in 1930 from a transmitting station at Eidar, Iceland. The broadcasting mast has to use a restricted height because of air safety considerations; it is 220 m high. The Iceland state broadcaster, RUV, is owned by the government of Iceland. Iceland’s broadcaster has a specific duty to preserve and promote Icelandic culture. The Harris corporation of America have recently supplied Iceland with stronger transmitters and there has been some re-engineering of the transmitter mast to provide better reception. A new 100 kw transmitter on 207 kHz has been installed at Eidar. There is another long wave service from Iceland from Gufuskular using a 300 kw transmitter on 180 kHz. Gufuskular is a much higher mast and has a bigger coverage. Both are in use.

Rome

The broadcasts from RAI of Rome included English language news broadcasts and were well received in the UK. The transmissions from Rome came from the Santa Palomba radio station outside Rome. The Marconi company was instrumental in founding the Italian broadcasting service in 1924, and the first broadcast on medium wave was on 24 October 1924. The medium wave services were moved to Santa Palomba in 1929. There are two transmitters for medium wave at Santa Palomba; one on 1332 kHz powered by a 600 kw transmitter and one on 846 powered by a 1,200 kw transmitter so it is no wonder that frequency was well received in the UK. There are many Italian drivers who drive all over Europe and the intention was to provide them with good reception all over Europe. The high power stations were also required to overcome local electrical noise on AM. The 1332 kHz frequency is no longer in use. 846 is still in use. Italy also had one of the first short wave broadcasting stations which was built in 1930 nearby at Prato Smeraldo.

AM Medium wave transmissions ceased from this station on 30 September 2007. The 846 transmitter station is currently on the air as it commenced a trial DRM service to Rome using a 25 kw transmitter. The huge reduction in power needed to provide digital signals is one of the main cost benefits to stations who switch from analogue AM broadcasting to using DRM technology.

Photo credit: Mediasuk

Saarlouis, France

Saarlouis, the transmitter for Europe No 1, is one of the most powerful and also largest transmitter sites in Europe. It is right on the French border.

Saarland is an area which was subject to various disputes between France and Germany over who ruled over it. In 1955 The French government took advantage of the unclear legal situation there to install a huge transmitter that could cover the whole of France or Germany on Long Wave but was officially only a local station – the radio station for the French High Commissioner for the Saarland. Thus on 1^st April 1955, Europe No. 1 was born. The following year the Saarland was repatriated to Germany.

For the first twenty years it occupied its frequency on a secondary basis but during the renegotiation of European frequencies in the 1970s, it was officially allocated a frequency.

Europe No. 1’s programmes are produced live from studios in Paris. It remains one of the strongest signals in Europe.

Picture credit: Steam Radio (Dampfradio)

Tromso, Norway

One of the most mysterious station names to appear was Tromso. Hardly anyone in the UK heard Tromso. Indeed, it was a mystery why Tromso was marked on our radio dials at all. Although it was on the long wave band, which is usually used for large-area broadcasting, Tromso was in fact a local radio station covering a small area, that of Tromso itself, and had only low power, just 10 kilowatts!

Tromso was constructed in 1933 to 1936 and actually commenced broadcasts in 1936 with its ten kilowatt transmitter. In 1936 Norway’s telephone system was rather limited and there were no quality lines available for distributing Oslo’s radio service to other more distant cities, so the city of Tromso, which is quite large and is also a university town, deserved its own radio station. Tromso falls inside the Arctic circle, and research there specialises in magnetic and polar phenomena as well as the usual types of courses. The station was also designed to give local deep sea fishermen a reliable source of weather and sea condition information. The limited strength of the transmitter was not a problem for fishermen because the radios fitted to their fishing vessels were professional grade and were able to resolve the transmissions.

Tromso made history shortly afterwards as the Nazis invaded Norway and was the last free station to be broadcasting before the Nazis reached Tromso.

In the 1950s better quality telephone lines were available and local broadcasting from Tromso ended. Its transmitter was synchronized with the Oslo station and it began relaying the Norwegian national service. Most people in the UK who heard broadcasts on their radio with the pointer on the Tromso marking on their dial were in fact listening to the much stronger Oslo transmitter, not Tromso!

By 1991 the station and its equipment were at the end of their useful broadcasting life – over 50 years on the air without a single upgrade – and it was felt that the station was no longer required, so instead of replacing it with an expensive long wave transmitter and aerial, FM stations were introduced to serve the local community and the long wave station shut down for ever. Tromso is served by Radio Tromso.

The masts have been removed from Tromso, but the stations buildings are still there – and so is the 1930s transmitter! The site is now a museum and admission is free of charge. The museum’s website covers both the Tromso museum and also the museum in Oslo, which is a little confusing.

The NRHF, Norwegian Historical Radio Society website is in impeccable English and it has a large collection of photographs of Tandberg and other Norwegian manufacturers’ products and a large library of circuit diagrams for old receivers.

Westerglen, Scotland

Westerglen near Falkirk, Scotland is the oldest transmitting station in the United Kingdom; it entered service on June 12, 1922 and predates the BBC. It houses one of Britain’s three long wave transmitters which carry the Radio 4 network on 198 kHz. Normally as the three transmitters are synchronised your radio receives the strongest signal, but one day two years ago the Droitwich main Radio 4 LW transmitter was out of action for maintenance. The signal from Westerglen could be heard, quiet and distorted but unmistakeable, here hundreds of miles away. The buildings at the station date from 1932 and are in the same Art Deco style as those at the other two long wave sites originally built for originally the National Programme. The University of St Andrews has a page of 1932 photographs here.

Photo credit: James Allen