Radio Luxembourg

Radio Luxembourg (1933-1992) was an important forerunner of pirate radio and modern commercial radio in Europe. It was a cheap and effective way to advertise products to audiences in the UK, France and (since 1957) Germany by circumventing the broadcasting restrictions in place at the time. For many years complete English programmes were pre-recorded in London and flown to the tiny independent Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on mainland Europe. German programmes were produced in a studio in Luxembourg. A powerful transmitter enabled broadcasts to be received throughout northern Europe.

History

Luxembourg was special, because while radio stations all over Europe were exclusively government-owned and operated well into the 1980s, Radio Luxembourg was a private station from its inception. A radio amateur (ham) obtained a licence in 1924, using it to broadcast military music. French businessmen bought the licence in May 1929 and managed to get a broadcasting monopoly in Luxembourg in November 1929. In May 1931 the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion was founded, which started to build the transmitters. Transmissions in French and English started in 1933.

The station was closed three weeks after the beginning of World War II, because the Grand Duchy wanted to protect its neutrality. However, Luxembourg was occupied by Nazi Germany, and the station became part of the Großdeutscher Rundfunk. The usual propaganda was broadcast, such as fabricated news stories delivered by William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw).

Luxembourg was occupied by American troops in September 1944. The transmitter was then used for Radio 1212, a black propaganda station aimed at undermining German morale. Between April and November 1945, the station transmitted the programming of the Voice of America. Radio Luxembourg produced and transmitted its own programming during this time, though not under the name "Radio Luxembourg", but as a "United Nations Station".

The station reached its peak in the 1950s after it switched its wavelength to 208 metres (1439 kHz, later 1440) the number with which it became synonymous, in 1951 ("2-0-8 Power Play"). Propagation conditions meant that this frequency could be well received in Germany during daytime and could only be heard at night in the UK, so the English service began broadcasting at 7:00 PM. The German service was launched in 1957 with a one hour experimental program at 2:00PM, later expanded to a full daytime program. The UK commercials aimed at Ovaltineys and Horace Batchelor's "Infra-Draw Method" for winning money on football pools were particularly popular and successful. Radio Luxembourg also launched the careers of many UK presenters including Chris Moyles, Noel Edmonds, Jimmy Savile, Hughie Greene, Alan Dell and Pete Murray, Luxembourgian presenters like Desirée Nosbusch and German presenters like Thomas Gottschalk, Frank Elstner, Anke Engelke. Its cultural influence in the UK was immense and it is rightly regarded as one of the main forces for the popularisation of rock'n'roll in Britain; those who equate popular culture with politics argue that this is ironic for a station based in mainland Europe.

In the 1960s the station had to compete against the pirate radio stations located closer to the UK on ships or abandoned World War II sea forts, and was disadvantaged by its inability to broadcast by day. The tendency of its signal to keep fading in and out also put many listeners off. In the 1970s its audience continued to decline as BBC Radio 1, Capital Radio and other local radio stations competed for its audiences. At one point it became an all disco station. The station's 50th anniversary in 1983 was a rather low-key affair in the UK.

In 1989 the station began broadcasting in stereo via the Astra satellite which could be received throughout Europe, and expanded its satellite service to 24 hours with daytime programmes in English but aimed at Scandinavian audiences. But the station's owners RTL had lost interest in the English service, preferring to concentrate on their new station Atlantic 252. The 208m wavelength was unceremoniously reassigned to German language programmes of a successor station RTL RADIO, and a programming with no resemblance to the original German program. The satellite service was closed down on December 30, 1992 (one day before New Year's Eve to avoid clashing with listeners' New Year celebrations).

Today

Today, as of 2005, the 1440 kHz frequency is still in use by the remodeled German successor RTL RADIO. Since the first of January 2005 the transmission has mainly switched to digital (01:00 AM until 05:00 AM and 09:00 AM until 06:00 PM). During the evening hours airtime is sold to international broadcasters (currently China Radio International) and religious organisations.In addition the station utilizes a few FM frequencies (93.3 and 97.0 MHz) targeted to Germany, has slots on analog and digital cable, and transmits analog and digital signals via the Astra 1A and 1H satellites.

During August 2005, RTL conducted digital test broadcasts to Great Britain on 7145 kHz using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM). This culminated in the soft re-launch of Radio Luxembourg at 07:00 BST on 12 September 2005. The current output consists of pre-recorded voicetracked programming and includes legendary Radio Luxembourg presenters Benny Brown and Dave Christian amongst the line-up. The music format is predominantly classic rock with some modern rock and adult contemporary. The official relaunch of Radio Luxembourg with live presenters is expected by the end of 2006 once new DRM receivers are available on the market. Radio Luxembourg is available online, as well as on 7295 kHz via DRM.

From November 2005 Dave Christian presents a nostalgia show on Radio Luxembourg between 17:00 - 19:00 GMT every Sunday. The new programme will feature classic Radio Luxembourg jingles and airchecks as well as classic adverts.

You can find out more about DRM at http://www.drm.orgMore about RTL's digital radio broadcasts can be found at http://www.digitalradiodr.com

In 2003 another station tried to revive the legendary Radio Luxembourg as well. Aquilaine Diffusion referred to Radio Luxembourg as an example to follow, but at present this other station from Luxembourg presents itself as a 'sensual radio station', with an eclectic music format and cheeky presenters.

Trivia

For many years, due to British advertising restrictions, Radio Luxembourg was the only station available in the UK that could advertise tampons.

By the 1980s Luxembourg claimed to be broadcasting with 1.3 megawatts, making it the world's single most powerful commercial broadcaster in the medium wave range, at least in terms of individual transmitter power. It was certainly the most powerful commercial medium wave station in Europe, at least. The transmitter of Radio Luxembourg is situated in Marnach. Only some governmental stations, e.g. Transmitter Solt in Hungary and the Voice of Russia, used higher powered transmitters in the medium wave range.

Because of sponsor insistence, the famous Top 20 Countdown show was presented in descending order, based on the British New Musical Express (NME) Top 30 charts; i.e., starting with the week's #1 hit and working downward. Also, because of the constraints of a one-hour programme (not to mention allowing for commercials and announcer comments), only the first two minutes of the week's chart hits were likely to be played.

A tune called "Go Get It" usually closed the Top 20 Countdown in the 1960s.

Radio Luxembourg is a main theme in the Godley & Creme song "Get Well Soon" (lyrics) from their "Freeze Frame" album.

Van Morrison describes listening to Radio Luxembourg in his nostalgic song On Hyndford Street. It's featured on the album Hymns to the Silence.