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

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 April 1981:  Although Sud Radio returned to the air on 819 kHz on April 6 and has continued to be heard since then, Radio Andorra has not been as fortunate. The station did return to the air April 8 and 9 on 702 kHz and 6220 kHz, but at 1900 hrs April 9 Andorran police entered the studios and forced the station to close down. As we have previously reported, the Andorran Council (and it seems a considerable number of the andorran people), wants Andorran control over the two stations on Andorran territory. Sud Radio has apparently been allowed to return to the air because it is controlled by the french state, and the French President, who is co-Prince of Andorra, wants the station on the air to give him as much publicity as possible in the on-going campaign for the French presidency (the first round of the presidential elections in France were last Sunday, April 26.).  [SCDX 1631, 28/4]

13 July 1981:  As we have reported previously, the Andorran parliament, the Conseil des Vallées, closed Sud Radio and Radio Andorra on March 29, 1981. Sud Radio returned to the air after a few days, since it is owned by a French government enterprise and the President of France is a co-Prince of Andorra. (During the on-going French presidential campaign, then-president Giscard d'Estaing wanted as much favorable media coverage as possible.).  Sud Radio was given a six months extension, but not Radio Andorra. Why ? The Andorrans want majority control over the two stations on their territory. They do not want a change in programming, just control over radio in their country. Another reason is that Andorra has a channel allocated for satellite TV broadcasting, which could be seen in northern Spain and southern France. The Andorrans want to be able to use this resource their own way.  The Technical Manager of Radio Andorra, Mr Jean-Louis Marquet, is optimistic and says he has good contacts with both the new government of France and the Andorran representative. Talks were due to begin on July 1. Hopefully the famous "Aqui Radio Andorra" will again be heard on 6220 kHz. (Roland Paget, Amitie Radio, France). [SCDX 1642, 13/07]

13 October 1981:   The General Assembly of Andorra has ratified an agreement in which Sud Radio and Radio Andorra have been officially nationalized. The stations' owners are to be compensated and in the future the two stations will be run by administrative council with representatives of the two co-Princes as well as the General Assembly. All decisions must be unanimous. Sud Radio, which has been on the air during the last six months despite the conflict over station ownership, was to be closed symbolically before being allowed to resume broadcasting, while Radio Andorra is to resume broadcasting after an absence of six months.  The station engineer of Radio Andorra has been testing both transmitters twice a week. He says AWR can return to the airwaves at any time. (Le Monde, via Alain Rousseau, RSI and Andy Sennitt, WRTH). [SCDX 1655, 13/10].

24 November 1981:    We had a report in DX-Bull 1655 that the Andorran General Assembly had decided to nationalize Sud Radio and Radio Andorra, and that this move would prepare the way for the resumption of broadcasts from Radio Andorra shortly. However, according to reports from several people, instead of Radio Andorra (702 and 6215 kHz) returning to the air (it closed down on April 2, 1981), Sud Radio (819 kHz) was closed on November 6th.  Just after announcing the closing of the station, the director of Sud Radio said it would soon be on the air from French territory.  (Tony Legendre, Chateau-Thierry and Robert Chear, Etretat, both in France, and J.R. Nijhof, Egypt.). [SCDX 1661, 24/11].

January 1983 :    Newspaper "La Dépêche du Midi"  announce the imminent conclusion of negociations between the government of the Principality and services of the two co-Princes. The agreement includes creation of  "ENAR",  a public Andorran National broadcasting company, in charge of managing all the belongings, equipments, frequency rights or orbital positions granted to Andorra.. [AEM Nr 16, march 1983].  The ENAR could then lease its transmitter facilities to the two companies representing the two co-Princes of Andorra.  [SCDX 1722, 25/01]

10 February 1983:   The two co-Princes have signed the decret creating ENAR, the Andorran broadcasting entity. Radio Andorra status is still being reviewed in front of Spanish jurisdiction. [Presse Actualité, quoted in  AEM nr17 may 1983]

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