Radio Luxembourg

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Radio Luxembourg (1933-1992, 2005-)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 Europe.

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[edit] 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 de: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, Kent Walton 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 english service quit the legendary 208m MW on 30 December 1991 - 3 AM GMT. The satellite service was closed down only one year later on December 30, 1992 midnight GMT (one day before New Year's Eve to avoid clashing with listeners' New Year celebrations).

[edit] 2005 and Relaunch

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.

Radio Luxembourg was fully relaunched on 4 December 2006 @ 7295 kHz DRM and online with a "classic rock" playlist.

[edit] Trivia

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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. Morrison's song "In The Days Before Rock'n'Roll" also mentions the station and was the last track played on the 208m wavelength in 1991.

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band frequently alluded to Radio Luxembourg and some of its eccentricities in the likes of their "Keynsham" LP (inspired by the advertisements for the Horace Batchelor Infra-Draw Method as were a staple of Radio Luxembourg from the 1950's well into the mid-1970's) and in such numbers as "The Intro and The Outro" (poking fun @ Radio Luxembourg's penchant for airing paid religious broadcasts such as Herbert W. Armstrong's The World Tomorrow and Billy Graham's Hour of Decision prior to the start of transmissions in the early 1960's).

[edit] Radio Luxembourg's sign-off music through the years

  • "At The End Of The Day" by Steve Conway & The Hastings Girls' Choir (1951)
  • "Maybe The Morning" by Marian Montgomery (the very last tune on the English service) (1972)
  • "Maybe The Morning" by Sunny Leslie (1974)
  • "All Of You Out There" by Duncan McKenzie (1983)

These tunes, more audio-files & history on The Official RTL 208 Tribute Site (Please do not hotlink without permission)

[edit] Fab 208 Magazine

In the 1970's, Radio Luxembourg published a weekly magazine and series of annuals in Great Britain called Fab 208 as featured celebrity gossip and profiles, competitions, beauty and fashion tips, short fiction and the weekly Radio Luxembourg programme listings.

[edit] Transmitters for the French programme

In the longwave range, a French speaking programme is transmitted on 234 kHz with a directional aerial with 2000 kilowatts over the longwave transmitter Beidweiler, which replaced the older longwave transmitter Junglinster.

[edit] External links

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