Polish Radio won't terminate its longwave transmissions

It appeared that the information in the international DX press that the Polish Radio is going to switch off its longwave transmitter is wrong. It appeared first on the EuroRadio forum and later was passed to many DX circles and mailing lists, but there's no such information on the "Jedynka" website, nor in its Facebook page.

Dominique from Poland got interested in the issue and contacted Roman Czejarek, Polish Radio employee and active participant in the construction of the Solec Kujawski transmitter site.

Here is the answer: "I do not know anything about such a plan. No one has given such information, at least here in Poland."

He also gave some interesting facts: The longwave transmitter is 40-50% cheaper for the Polish Radio than the network of FM transmitters. That's because the transmitter site in Solec Kujawski is wholly-owned by the Polish Radio and the FM transmitters are leased from a private company.

3 months ago marked the 15th anniversary of the PR1 longwave transmitter site. On the event, the general director of the Polish Radio said that more than 40% of the PR1 audience is listening to the station via longwave radio. He also said that they receive many listeners' letters from Poland and all over Europe.

In 2012, a new campaign for switching off the longwave transmitter began, but soon the station started to receive many listeners' letters of complain which were then read on the air and it was finally decided that the campaign should be terminated.

Longwave closures

Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur to close on LW

The German national public broadcasters Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur will disappear from longwave at the end of this year. Wasteful channels are going off the air due to cost considerations. The money saved will be invested in digital terrestrial radio (DAB+). At the end of 2015 the mediumwave transmitters of Deutschlandfunk will also close.

Deutschlandfunk currently still broadcasts through longwave 153 and 207 kHz and seven mediumwave frequencies including 1269 and 549 kHz. Deutschlandradio Kultur broadcasts by means of the longwave frequency 177 kHz. The mediumwave frequency 990 kHz went off last year.

Keeping these transmitters on the air costs Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur millions of euros a year in electricity costs. All these stations transmit with a fairly high power. The three longwave transmitters are each 500 kW, and the mediumwave transmitters range between 100 and 400 kW.

Meanwhile Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur can be received on FM and DAB+ in large parts of the country. Further expansion of this network is proceeding rapidly. Earlier this year Deutschlandradio Kultur switched from the obsolete MP2 DAB standard to the modern DAB+, which is also used in the Netherlands.

In 2010 it was agreed that the public broadcasters will only get funding for the rollout of DAB+ if they cut down on other distribution methods. It therefore simply means that the medium- and longwave transmitters must be switched off. Meanwhile, several regional broadcasters have already turned off their AM stations. For example, MDR did so in March 2013.

In the Netherlands, the NPO will scrap the broadcast of Radio 5 via mediumwave in September 2015. Again listeners are advised to switch to DAB+.

(Mike Terry/via mwdx yg)

Polish Radio to close its longwave transmissions

In the same time, information appeared in the open_dx yahoo mailing list that the Polish Radio domestic service is going to switch off its longwave transmitter on 225 kHz by 1st March 2015. The reason, once again, are government cuts.