RADIO ANDORRA
History 1975-1983
(Part 1/3)
 
 

Below information is mostly extracted from the weekly bulletins "Sweden Calling DXers", former DX program by Radio Sweden, Stockholm. These are tips reported by participating listeners. Time is UTC. The other sources of information are indicated  (AEM= A l'ecoute du monde, club amitié radio).

 ( one page of publicity.....! )

March 1975 : Radio Andorra will start transmissions in English, French, German and Dutch from May 1st and use a power of 1.2 kW. It seems that behind this new programming concept, or at least the dutch part of it, are people previously connected with the off-shore stations that used to operate from outside Holland. (Frits Mulder, Brummen, Holland). No mention was made about the frequency. At present Radio Andorra is on 701 kHz in MW.  [SCDX 1319, 25/03]

July 1975 : Test transmissions have been heard in the evenings from Radio Andorra on 818 kHz, a transmitter listed as belonging to Sud-Radio. The programmes consist of popular music and announcements in several languages. Reception has been fair and disturbed by other stations on the same fq. The station asked for rec.reports on these test transmissions (Michael Eaton Terry, Bournemouth, England). Radio Andorra has been heard with a Portuguese programme at 2035 on 701 kHz (Stefan Raetz, Bonn, Bad Godesberg, W.Germany).[SCDX 1334, 8/07]. Radio International Andorra will start at the end of July. The transmissions will be 24 hours/day on 254 or 263 kHz in LW. The programmes will be broadcast in French, English, German and Dutch and each language will be used for 6 hours (Max van Arnhem, Tiel, Holland).// Sud Radio broadcasts in French 0500-2400 on 818 kHz with 900 kW (Michael Winkler, Wetzlar, W.Germany). [SCDX 1336, 22/7]

August 1975 : The inauguration of LW transmissions in various languages from Radio Andorra will not start, at least not in the immediate future according to recent information in the Dutch press. In fact there is no LW transmitter installed yet in Andorra (Fritz Mulder, Brummen, Netherlands). The Portuguese programme from Radio Andorra, mentionned in dx-b 1334, is on Sundays only, at 2035 on 701 kHz. This programme carries football results for Portuguese emigrants in Europe. It is followed by a 10 minutes local programme in Catalan for the Principality of Andorra (Michel Dubernat, Salles, France).[DCDX 1340, 19/8]

30 Dec 1975 : Radio Andorra has reactivated the SW outlet on 5995 kHz. It was heard for the first time in the afternoon of 16th Dec . Reception was not very good. The transmissions commence daily at 1100 hrs, sometimes as late as 1115. R.Andorra, which operates on 701 kHz, does not announce the shortwave outlet (JP Roussarie, Chamiers, France).[SCDX 1359, 30/12]

3 Febr 1976 : The SW transmissions of Radio Andorra, cf DX-B 1359, was a series of tests made during a few days in december. It is very possible that these tests will be repeated on a more regular basis in the near future on the same fq, 5995 kHz. Output is about 3.5 kW. All according to letters from Radio Andorra. (JP Maublanc, Pontault Combault, France. Simon Weisse, Cessenon, France). [SCDX 1363, 3/02]

30 March 1976 : R. Andorra on 5995 kHz is since March 18th on the air daily from 0600-0700 with programs in French, repeated from 1130-1230. Also a multi-language broadcast was planned to be introduced on Sunday March 28th from 0600-1500 on the same fq. All according to letters from Radio Andorra (Robert Braun of Briennon, JP Roussarie of Chamiers-Perigueux, JP Maublanc of Pontault Combault, Simon Weisse of Cessenon, and Georges Cany of Nantes, France).  // Sud-Radio in Andorra can be heard every evening with pop music on MW 818 kHz. [SCDX 1371, 30/3]

3 Aug 1976 : The SW transmitter of Radio Andorra, which was inactive for a number of years, but recently tested on 5995 kHz, moved to 6230 kHz on July 25. Broadcasts are scheduled in French 0500-0600 and 1030-1130 on Mon-Sat. On Sundays there will be a transmission in Dutch and English 0800-1400. This latter programme, which is scheduled to take the air on August 28, will be produced by "World Music Radio" of Amsterdam, Holland, and consists of contemporary music (Rinus van Kaam, Bergan op Eoom, Holland. JL Delmont, Maisons-Alfort, France. Simon Weisse, Cessenon, france, and others).[SCDX 1389, 3/08].

24 Aug 1976 : Radio Andorra will broadcast daily 1000-1200 in French a relay from the MW transmitter. On Sun. in Dutch 0700-1500. From August 28 there will be an English transmission on Saturdays lasting six hours but no broadcasting hours were given. All transmissions will be on 6230 kHz. (Radio Andorra,  Daniel Felhendler, Gagny. JP Maublanc, Pontault, France. Tony Rogers, Birmingham, England. Thomas Drescher, Zulpich, W.Germany). Thomas adds that reception is rather poor to only fair on 6230 kHz. // Radio Andorra has also been noted from 1000 to sign-off at 1502 on 6230 kHz. On this occasion, Aug 8, the programme was in Dutch. (Kurt Ringel, Wiesbaden, W.Germany). [SCDX 1392, 24/8]

24 May 1977 : The International Service of Radio Andorra is now broadcast on Sundays only at 1000-1400 hrs, still on 6230 kHz. (Hermann-Josef Kurzen, Dortmund, Germany).[SCDX 1431, 24/5]

16 Aug 1977 : Radio Andorra testing for some time on 6230 kHz, is now officially broadcasting in French on weekdays 0930-1200 in parallel with MW 701 kHz. On Sundays there are programmes in French 0900-1000 followed by Dutch 1000-1400. The Dutch service will be increased to 8 hours on Sept. 4, and also a DX-programme will be introduced (JP Roussarie, Périgueux, France). Schedules are now available from Radio Andorra International, PO BOX Nr 1, Andorre La Vieille. (MW Fulwell Whalley, Blackburn, Lancs, Gr.Britain).[SCDX 1442, 16/8]

13 June 1978 : Radio Andorra is on the air in French only between 0900 and 1205 hrs on 6230 kHz. There are no English or Dutch broadcasts as reported in WRTH-78. (Roberto Levinstein, Spain).

26 September 1978 : A group of Swedish commercial interests has bought air time on R. Andorra for a series of programs in Swedish, featuring mostly pop music. The programs will be broadcast on Thursdays on an experimental basis, 2100-2300 hrs beginning Sept 21. - Rather than using the regular fq of 6230 kHz, Radio Andorra is considering using either 6220 or 6215 kHz for these programs (Roy Sandgren, Sweden). // Recently R. Andorra has been irregularly heard relaying its spanish MW-service also on 6230 kHz after 2100 hrs. According to a letter from Mr Marquet, director of Radio Andorra, this is done to test reception of the SW-transmitter at this time, as the station intends to commence special programs on SW in English and Swedish between 2100 and 2300 hrs. Of course, R. Andorra is interested in reception reports concerning evening transmissions. (Thomas Drescher, Zulpich, W.Germany). [SCDX 1500, 26/9]

16 January 1979 : Radio Andorra is daily on 6215 kHz around 2000-2300. No programmes in foreign languages have been observed lately, only the home service in Catalan and Spanish (Richard E Wood, New Hampshire, USA). Radio Andorra was heard with special programming on Christmas and New Year Eve, in French with pop music (The Canadian Monitoring Service).[SCDX 1515, 16/01]

6 February 1979 : The Radio Scandinavia broadcasts over Radio Andorra will resume on 6215 kHz on February 18. Programmes will be broadcast every Sunday, in Swedish and Danish 1830-1920 and in English 1920-2020 (Roy Sandgren, Sweden). According to a letter from the Director of R. Andorra, an English service may be initiated within a few weeks. The letter lists the current schedule in French as Monday to Saturday  1200-1415, Sundays 1100-1415 hrs (R.Noon, England). Radio Andorra was heard in French on Christmas Day 0606-0707 (Bob Donly, South Carolina USA, in SPEEDX-GRAM). R. Andorra was heard on 6215,3 kHz in French 1800-2000 hrs (Alexander Fitsov, USSR).  R. Andorra in Spanish 2050-2207 (Roly Desrosiers, MA, USA in NASWA Update).[SCDX 1518, 6/02]

3 April 1979 :  According to Roy Sandgren, Radio Scandinavia will be on the air every first Sunday of the month 2000-2030 hrs via R.Andorra on 6215  kHz, starting in May 1979.  (R.Viking DX World).[SCDX 1526, 3/04]

12 June 1979 : All SW broadcasting from Radio Andorra will end in December 1979, as the station has sold its 5 kW transmitter (Paul Anthony in Radio Viking DX World).[SCDX 1536, 12/06].  (ed: well this hopefully was a wrong info...!)
 

 Continuing - Go to Part 2