RADIO ANDORRA
History 1975-1983
(Part 2/3)
 
 

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).

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28 Aug 1979 :  During September, Radio Andorra will broadcast religious programmes every sunday 2000-2100 on SW 6215 kHz. There will also be another broadcast in Scandinavian and English languages on the first Sunday of the month 2100-2145, beginning Sept 2, produced by Radio Scandinavia, Box 14006, S-20024 Malmö 4, Sweden. (Roy Sandgren, Malmö, Sweden). [SCDX 1547, 28/08]

18 September 1979 :Adventist World Radio is to begin a series of test transmissions over R.Andorra, on 6215 kHz. The programmes will be broadcast 2000-2100 hrs, with the first half hour in English and the rest in one of the several major European languages. Reports should be sent to AWR, Box 2590, Lisbon, Portugal. (Martin Rogan, Scotland. Patrick Callaghan, Ireland. Siegfried Heldt and Peter Kunz, West Germany). [SCDX 1550, 18/09]

16 October 1979 :  Here is more information about the Radio Andorra schedule mentionned in DX-B 1550. Test broadcasts from Adventist World Radio continue daily 2000-2030 hrs in English. Between 2030-2100 hrs the language schedule is : Sundays Swedish, Mondays French, Wednesdays Arabic, Thursdays Greek, Fridays Dutch and German. No details have been given by Adventist World Radio  about Tuesdays and Saturdays but the transmission in English on Tuesday Oct 2nd continued until 2100 hrs. Freq is 6215 kHz. (BBC Monitoring Service). [SCDX 1554, 16/10]

18 December 1979 : AWR-Europe has announced that they have extended the length of their test transmissions over Radio Andorra from one to two hours daily, 1900-2100 hrs. Freq 6215 kHz. (Miki Vcelar, S.Africa).[SCDX 1563, 18/12]

12 February 1980 : AWR has extended its broadcasts from Radio Andorra from two hours to three hours daily 1800-2100 on 6215 kHz (John Brennan, England). Heard daily in German 1900-1930, English 1930-2100 (Ray Crawford in Atthur Cushen's DX world). // The Radio Scandinavia programme is now broadcast every Sunday 2100-2200. The address is : box 14006 , Malmö, Sweden. (Bernt Erfjord, Norway).[SCDX 1569, 12/02]

4 March 1980 : World Music Radio has returned to Radio Andorra, on 6215 kHz, on Sundays 2100-2200. The programme will include the "WMR DX World", a programme produced by the World Radio TV Handbook, with WRTH Assistant Editor Andy Sennitt. This programme will use the large amount of information arriving at the WRTH offices each week with an accent on information not available from other sources. - WMR has replaced Radio Scandinavia , who has apparently ceased its SW activities. The address is: World Music Radio, PO box 4078, Amsterdam, Holland. (WRTH, Paul Foged and Mogens Jensen, Denmark. Tony Legendre, France). - Adventist World Radio has expanded its daily times on Radio Andorra to 1800-2100. French 1800, Arabic 1850, German 1900, English 1930 to close-down at 2100 (Derek Wise, England and Martin Rogan, Scotland).

25 March 1980 : Radio Andorra has changed frequency. The new frequency is 6220 kHz, replacing 6215. (Robert van Onsem, Belgium. Roland Foerster, W.Germany).[SCDX 1575, 25/3]

1 April 1980 : AWR has increased its broadcasts from Radio Andorra by one hour daily. The station is now carrying AWR programmes 1800-2200. The final hour is in Swedish and Portuguese. The extension means that the World Music Radio programme (with DX news from the WRTH) on Sundays is now carried 2200-2300. However, WMR hopes to return to the 2100 starting time on April 6 when summer time is introduced in many European countries.- The French programme from AWR is carried twice a day from Radio Andorra, 0800-0900 and 1800-1900. The DX programme produced by the french-speaking DX club Telex , Echo-Radio, is carried at the beginning of the french broadcasts on Sundays. (Bernt Erfjord, Norway. Georges Cany, france)/ [SCDX 1576, 1/04]

12 Aug 1980 : Radio Andorra has been experimenting with two out-of-band channels in parallel with its broadcasts on 6215 kHz.  Adventist World Radio programmes have been heard evenings and Sunday mornings on both 9370 kHz and 15030 kHz. The evening schedule is : 1700 Arabic, 1800 German, 1830 English, 2000 Greek (at least on July 28). - Radio Scandinavia will return to Radio Andorra on the last Sunday in August. (Christian Zettl, Austria.; Wolfgang v. Poellnitz, W.Germany; Agostino Pendola, Italy; Roy Patrick, England and Roy Sandgren, Radio Scandinavia.).[SCDX 1595, 12/8]

23 September 1980 : Here is the schedule of AWR via R.Andorra until April 4, 1981 : Sunday only: on 6220 kHz 0630-0730 German, 0730-0800 Arabic, 0800-0900 French (0800-0815 DX pgm). On 15030 kHz 0900-1000 English (0930-0945 DX prg), 1630-1700 Polish. Daily and otherwise: on 15030 kHz 1630-1700 Ukrainian et Russian. On 6220 kHz 1700-1745 French, 1745-1800 Arabic, 1800-1830 German, 1830-1900 (sat -1915) Portuguese, 1900-1930 Swedish (Fri/Sun), greek (Mon/Thurs), Dutch (Tues/Wedn), 1915-1930 (Sat) Spanish, 1930-2100 English. From Sept 28 all programmes 1630-2100  will be one hour later. (WRTH Newsletter).[SCDX 1601, 23/09]

11 November 1980:  On that date, Jean-Louis Marquet, director of Radio Andorra, was replying to a french listener's letter :  "Radio Andorra is having discussions about its future. The currently used concessions will finish end March 1981; there is a possibility that the station will then become fully Andorran, this doesn't change anything to the programmes.Radio Andorra has no reason, and in all cases no possibility to change to long waves. The shortwave broadcasts must rather be increased, in hours, and not suppressed. World Music Radio are supposed to increase their broadcasting hours starting from Nov 21, 1980. We will normally broadcast one hour on Friday evenings, two hours on Saturdays and one hour on Sunday evenings. (AEM Nr3, Jan 81)

2 December 1980 : World Music Radio has expanded its schedule on Radio Andorra. Friday - 2200-2300 Top 40 and 70's rock with Lee Alvin. Saturdays - 2200-2400 "Supergold Saturday" (Oldies) with Paul Dane and Lee Alvin. Sundays - 2200-2300 Paul Dane with both new music and oldies, along with "WMR DX World" presented by WRTH Assistant Editor Andy Sennit at 2230. Fq is 6220 kHz.  (WMR plus 9 reporters). [SCDX 1611, 2/12]

17 February 1981 : World Music Radio has not been heard since Christmas over Radio Andorra. Some tapes did not arrive at the beginning of January due to snowy weather in Andorra (Andy Brandborg, Denmark). [SCDX 1621, 17/2]

3 March 1981 :  The reason why WMR has not been heard over Andorra recently is because the WMR team has decided to close down for a while, due to economic problems. However, Andy Sennit of the WRTH writes in the Feb. issue of "Short Wave News" that the WMR team remains tegether. (Anders Brandborg, Denmark). [SCDX 1623, 3/03].

17 March 1981 :  According to a letter from Lee Alvin of WMR, they planned to return to the air for at least one broadcast on March 8 or 15, at 2200 hrs on 6220 kHz. As reported previously, WMR has otherwise stopped broadcasting because of economic problems . (Alan Hunter, England). AWR is now using 15030 kHz instead of 15020 kHz for their broadcasts on Sundays. (Ciaran McCarthy, Ireland). [SCDX 1625, 17/3]

31 March 1981 :  During Easter week, April 12-19, AWR is dropping its regular English, German and Portuguese programming from Andorra, for special live broadcasts, as a drive for the Handicapped Aid Programme. The station will be taking telephone calls, not just looking for monetary contributions to HAP, but also for people who will volunteer to serve as mocal HAP co-ordinators. The programmes will be multilingual but the language normally sent during a particular period will predominate: German 1800-1830, Portuguese 1830-1900 and English up to 2100 hrs. Freq: 6220 kHz. (Ron Myers, AWR Europe). [SCDX 1627, 31/03].

14 April 1981 :  World Music Radio is moving its main schedule to Saturday evenings, tentatively 2030-2300 hrs, using the 3kW transmitter. There is a delay in starting this service because the engineers in Andorra have to find a way to operate the 3kW transmitter on a frequency close to the 10kW transmitter on 6220 kHz, without cross-modulation. It is hoped to use a frequency in the range 6230-6260 kHz. The antenna is cut for 6 MHz and cannot be altered as it is also used for the relay of the Radio Andorra MW service during the day, on 6220 kHz (mainly to keep the channel clear). On 6220 kHz, AWR has the right to use the 10kW transmitter up to 2300 hrs. In the first phase of expansion they will use extending up to 2130 hrs daily with a new German programme at 2100-2130 hrs. For the time being, WMR will use the 19kW transmitter on 6220 kHz for just 15 minutes or so on Sundays, to keep listeners informed and for the DX news (from WRTH).  This will be at 2130, possibly 2100 hrs until AWR begins its German service. If the tests to operate two parallel SW programmes prove unsuccessfull, WMR will probably begin its Saturday programmes immediately after AWR ends at 2130 hrs , on 6220 kHz or a nearby frequency. (Andy Sennitt, WRTH). During the summer, the French programme of AWR, "La Voix de l'Espérance", is broadcast one hour early, at 1700 hrs and Sunday mornings at 0700 hrs. The DX programme "Club Amitie Radio" is carried on Sundays at 0700 and 1700 hrs. All other programmes on both 6220 and and 15030 kHz are carried one hour earlier. (Roland Paget, Amitie Radio, Creteil France).
The Andorra Valley Council forced Sud Radio and Radio Andorra to close down on April 3rd, by refusing to renew the 20 year contracts with the stations signed in 1961. Both stations have protested and Sud Radio - which is run by a company controlled by French state - was given temporary permission to resume broadcasts by the representatives of the two co-princes who rule Andorra - the President of France and the Spanish Bishop of Seo d'Urgel - . Meetings have been held all over Andorra, and banners have appeared with the words "An End to Colonialism - Radio for the Andorrans " ("Assez de colonialisme, la radio doit etre andrrrane").  All 28 members of the Valley Council say they will resign if the stations are allowed to continue. (Le Monde, via Georges Bjarne, Radio Sweden, and Jean Charles, France). [SCDX 1629, 14/04].
 

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