SWL F-14368 Frank

https://chinaradiosswl.blogspot.com/ Hello, I am SWL 14368 Frank near Paris FRANCE. This blog is for listeners and BCL of amateur radio bands in SSB an AM radio stations on MW and SW. This is my blog number 3 and I have 5 blogs. I also like listening to AM radio stations on Shortwave and MW. Thank you. 73 and good DX. Frank SWL F14368

jeudi 19 février 2026

OLD IS GOLD Radio Luxembourg 208 MW

 In the begening of the 70s in my bed the night i listen good pop and rock music from Radio Luxembourg 2028 with great DJ like in USA or UK. In the 70 not many good music on french radio station exepte  les nocturnes de georges lang 

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lang

À partir du , il y présente chaque nuit de 0 h à 3 h Les Nocturnes[3], secondé par la suite par Lionel Richebourg et Jean-François Johann.

En 1979, on lui confie avec Dominique Farran, Bernard Schu et Jean-Bernard Hebey l'animation musicale des week-ends. C'est la période « WRTL ».

Dans l'émission Saga, il raconte l’histoire des stars du rock 'n' roll avec l'aide de Jean-François Johann.

En 1990, il quitte la villa Louvigny pour un nouveau studio sur le plateau du Kirchberg[4]. En 1992, il crée Classic-Rock, présenté par la suite par Jean-François Johann. Avec Beach-party, il consacre l’été (juillet-août) à la musique californienne (en) des années 1960 et 1970 (de 23 h à minuit).




RTL is a French commercial radio network owned by the RTL Group through Groupe M6. Founded in 1933 as Radio Luxembourg, it broadcast from outside of France until 1981 because only public stations had been allowed until then. It is a general-interest, news, talk and music station, broadcasting nationally ("category E" as classified by the CSA) in France, Francophone Belgium, and Luxembourg. Until 2022, RTL was also broadcast on long wave frequency 234 kHz from Beidweiler which could be picked up in large parts of the continent. It has a sister station called Bel RTL tailored for the French Community of Belgium. As of 2018, RTL is France's most popular radio station with an average of 6.4 million daily listeners that year.[1]





Whereas Luxembourg's English service was always centred on light entertainment and popular music, RTL France is a mixed station. About 50% of its broadcast is information and talk focusing on news and current affairs with a large team of respected journalists.

Radio Luxembourg's two main national competitors are Europe 1 (another out-of-country commercial station, broadcasting from Saarland, again with Paris studios) and the state-owned France Inter. All three stations used to have very high-powered transmitters occupying long-wave frequencies that date back many decades.



Following the merger of the English-language service of Radio Luxembourg I with the new English-language service of Radio Luxembourg II on 208 metres medium wave, the station came to be known as Radio Luxembourg. A British company, Radio Luxembourg (London) Ltd, controlled the programme content and sold the advertising time.

The station sign-on time at dusk varied between summer and winter to allow maximum benefit to be gained from a skywave propagation at night that covered the British Isles, although reception was strongest in northern England. By restricting the service to night-time, the sales representatives were able to sell most of the available airtime both for spot commercials and for sponsored programmes. One spot commercial that became burned into the minds of every Radio Luxembourg listener was for Horace Batchelor's "Infra-Draw Method" of winning money on football pools, turning the previously obscure Somerset town of "Keynsham, spelt K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M" into a household name throughout the country.



Some programmes were live disc-jockey presentations by the team of "resident announcers" from the studios in Luxembourg City, while others were pre-recorded in the company's British studios at 38 Hertford Street, London W1. This was never made clear to listeners, who were allowed to form the incorrect impression that all the presenters were broadcasting from the Grand Duchy or, alternatively, assume that all the programmes were recorded in London.

A conspiracy of silence operated throughout this period between sworn enemies Radio Luxembourg and the BBC, each of which never mentioned the existence of the other, although many famous names appeared on both, often almost simultaneously.

Programmes

During this period, and particularly from about 1960, the station's output came to be more explicitly targeted at the growing teenage market, with increasing emphasis on pop music. Drama productions, comedy, variety and sports programming disappeared altogether. By about 1963, almost all the station's output was based around the playing of music on discs; the mainstream evening audience for middle-aged "family entertainment" had by this time largely migrated from radio to television.


1964–1967

Radio Luxembourg enjoyed a monopoly of English-language commercial radio programming heard in the UK until, in March 1964, Radio Caroline began daytime commercial transmissions to southern England from a ship anchored less than four miles off the Essex coast (the station later acquired a second ship, and moved the first to the Irish Sea). Radio Caroline's opening announcement identified it as "Your all-day music station" – a clear reference both to Luxembourg's night-time-only broadcasts, and to the BBC's patchy pop music coverage. The first song played was "Not Fade Away" by the Rolling Stones, which could be interpreted as a dig at Luxembourg's fluctuating signal strength.[citation needed]

In Caroline's primary reception areas, her ground wave signal was strong and unaffected during daylight hours by fading or interference. Following the success of this first offshore station, others soon followed, mostly broadcasting from off the Essex coast or in the Thames Estuary. These transmissions were later extended around the clock and featured many different broadcasting formats, though pop music on discs predominated.

As a result of this competition, Radio Luxembourg gradually abandoned pre-recorded sponsored programmes for a more flexible continuity. Its new format featured mainly spot advertising within record programmes presented live by resident disc jockeys in Luxembourg, some of them recruited from the offshore stations.

In August 1967, the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act passed into British law, and forced all but the two Caroline stations off the air by eliminating their means of selling commercial advertising in the UK. As well as closing down offshore "pirate radio", the British government instructed the BBC to create its own non-commercial replacement, named Radio 1, which began transmissions at the end of September 1967. While Luxembourg again almost had the UK commercial airwaves to itself, it was still restricted to evening and night hours.

Presenters

The presenters included the following:[13]

All the ex-Radio London DJs worked later for BBC Radio One.


1968–1988

By the middle of 1968, even the two Caroline offshore stations had left the air and, while other attempts were made to restart offshore radio commercial broadcasts aimed at the UK in the early 1970s, Luxembourg did not face commercial competition, only a growing increase in audience share by more BBC services. For a time in the late 1960s Luxembourg advertised itself as "The O.I.S. – the Only Independent Station on the Air". In 1973, the BBC radio monopoly within the UK was finally ended by new legislation allowing Independent Local Radio, funded by the sale of advertising time.

In 1983, Radio Luxembourg marked its fiftieth anniversary as a station, but the British commercial radio stations kept whittling away the 208 audience and advertising, while a brief replay of competition for audiences began to emerge from off the British coastline with new radio ship transmissions.

  • Sundays: 7:00 pm – Haunted Studio – with Stuart and Ollie Henry. 9:00 pm – Star Chart and Top 30 UK Singles – with Tony Prince. 11:00 pm – Sunday's Top 20s – with Barry Alldis and Rob Jones. 1:00 am – Earthlink – with Benny Brown.
  • Mondays: 6:45 pm – Radio Outreach with John Knight; Battle of the Giants; Top 30 Airplay; Top 30 Disco – with Rob Jones and Benny Brown. 1:00 am – Earthlink – with Barry Alldis.
  • Tuesdays: 6:45 pm – 208 Editorial with Rodney Collins; Beatle Hour; Daily Mirror Rock and Pop Club; Top 30 UK; Top 30 Albums – with Rob Jones and Barry Alldis. 9:00 pm – Top 30 UK; Top 30 Albums – with Benny Brown. 1:00 am – Earthlink – with Mike Hollis.
  • Wednesdays: 7:00 pm – Gold and Games – with Rob Jones and Benny Brown. 9:00 pm – American Top 30 – with Bob Stewart. 11:00 pm – Top 30 Easy Listening – with Benny Brown. 1:00 am – Earthlink – with Mike Hollis.
  • Thursdays: 7:00 pm – The Number Ones; Top of the Pops – with Bob Stewart and Mike Hollis. 9:00 pm – Top 30 Futurist – with Rob Jones. 11:00 pm – Discothèque – with Benny Brown. Midnight – Spotlight On ... – with Stuart Henry. 1:00 am – Earthlink – with Stuart and Ollie Henry.
  • Fridays: 7:00 pm – The Record Journal – with Stuart and Ollie Henry. 9:00 pm – Top 30 Disco – with Tony Prince. 11:00 pm – Top 30 Airplay (repeat) – with Bob Stewart. 1:00 am – Earthlink – with Barry Alldis.
  • Saturdays: 6:45 pm – 208 Editorial – with Rodney Collins. 7:00 pm – Street Heat; Top 30 Rockshow – with Stuart and Ollie Henry. 11:00 pm – Big L Marlboro Top 20 Country – with Bob Stewart. Midnight – Midnight Memories – with Barry Alldis. 1:00 am – Earthlink; Love Songs – with Mike Hollis.

Some other presenters in the 1970s and 1980s:[citation needed]

During the 1980s one of the station's slogans was "Planet earth's biggest commercial radio station".

1989–1992

In 1989, hoping to build a new audience, Luxembourg in English once more returned with a daytime schedule for the first time since the early 1950s, but this time it was aimed at Scandinavian audiences using a 24-hour stereo transponder on the Astra 1A satellite to supplement the 208 analogue night-time service. The end eventually came for 208 at 3 am GMT on 30 December 1991 (the station did return to the analogue 208/1440 for one night a year later when the station finally closed its digital service), the last record played on AM being Van Morrison's "In the Days Before Rock and Roll" (chosen mainly because of its mention of the radio station), before "At the End of the Day" (one of their closedown songs) was played heading into the top of the hour (even though DJ Jeff Graham had said that they were going to play the original closedown tune, it was not in fact the original song, but a later version the station used as the original was not located, "It's Time To Say Goodnight").[14] The station then went satellite and shortwave (15350 kHz) only, with the first songs played being "When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)" by Deacon Blue and "Always" by Atlantic Starr.

The satellite and shortwave service continued until midnight on 30 December 1992. The closedown night was relayed on various stations, including the old 208 wavelength. The Van Morrison song was the next-to-last record that night, followed by Marion Montgomery's "Maybe the Morning".

The 208 service from that moment on carried the German-language service, identifying itself as "RTL Radio – Der Oldiesender". This medium wave broadcast shut down at midnight on 31 December 2015.

Presenters in the 1990s:

Legacy from 1992 onwards

Atlantic 252

Main article: Atlantic 252

In 1989, Radio Luxembourg's parent company RTL Group teamed up with Raidió Teilifís Éireann to create Atlantic 252, an English-language pop music station on longwave, based in Ireland and with advertising content aimed at a UK audience. Initially this only broadcast until 7 pm and ended with an announcement specifically encouraging listeners to switch to Radio Luxembourg on 1440 kHz medium wave. Atlantic 252 switched to 24-hour broadcasts around the time that Radio Luxembourg shut down its medium wave broadcasts. Atlantic 252 closed down in 2002 and the long wave frequency was then used for RTÉ Radio 1 until April 2023 with the mast being demolished in July 2023. Presenters common to both Atlantic 252 and Radio Luxembourg include Jeff Graham, Cass Jones and Sandy Beech. The voice of Henry Owens was also heard on promotions for both stations in the early 1990s.



Political significance in the Eastern Bloc

Radio Luxembourg was one of few channels through which people living in the Eastern Bloc could listen to rock and other contemporary popular music. Under good weather conditions, and especially at night, people as far as eastern Czechoslovakia, Poland,[16] Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, Leningrad and Moscow could listen to the station. Eastern Bloc governments did not use jammers to prevent people from listening to Radio Luxembourg, but did do so for Radio Free Europe and, since the stations used harmonic frequencies (1439 kHz for Luxembourg and 719 kHz for Free Europe), the jamming also affected Radio Luxembourg's signal. Even though western popular music was considered undesirable by socialist regimes, legal prosecution was rare, although not unheard of. The music appealed to young people as something forbidden, and listening to it became a social ritual. It also strongly influenced contemporary underground culture and music in Czechoslovakia.[17][18]

https://www.dailymotion.com/user/luxi-radio/playlists




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marnach_transmitter


In 1962 an FM transmitter was also installed at the site of Marnach transmitter. For this transmitter, a further mast was built. In 1965 the transmission power of the mediumwave transmitter was increased to 600 kW and in 1968 to 1200 kW, resulting in Marnach mediumwave transmitter becoming the most powerful privately owned mediumwave transmitter in the world at that time.

On 17 January 1969 the FM transmission mast of the station collapsed and damaged the transmitter building. For the FM transmitters, which were planned to move in 1970 to the newly built Hosingen FM and TV mast, a temporary antenna was installed, which was dismantled after the Hosingen transmitter went in service.

In 1969 a 60-metre (200') tall guyed ground-fed antenna mast was built, which, with its stronger skywave, allowed better signals to the British Isles at night as the prevailing directional antenna. This antenna however was expanded in the 1970s to a system consisting of five 105-metre (350') tall guyed masts. Nevertheless, it did not work as desired and later it was rebuilt again to the former three-mast antenna. The 60-metre (200') mast used for night transmissions was given a reflector in form of a free-standing 65-metre (210') tall lattice tower with triangular cross section in 1976 for beaming the transmitted power to the British Isles at night.



https://208.retropia.co.uk/











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