The early evening advertising rate was reduced in the summer due to the poor daylight signal. Stations of the 80´s Forever in my Heart. He was able to get programmes going properly as he retrieved some 50 crates of records and other equipment which he had left stored in the city in another person's keeping, away from the Nazi invaders. She concluded that Laxik helped ordinary listeners survive the Socialist State reality. Station Of The 80s by Old Radio Jingles published on 2015-02-17T23:21:59Z. On May 1st 1948 a Dutch Service was resumed. A new MW transmission site was built at Junglinster for a wavelength of 208 metres frequency 1439 kHz. Inhoud. Radio Luxembourg 208 Jingles. Camillo was on 1958-68, Monika did 20 years from 1963 while Helga (with a very nice voice and apparently very popular) did thirty years 1964-94! Barry Aldiss was on from 1957-66 then returned in 1976 until his passing in 1982. The only source of rock and beat. Sales messages were sent out, typed up, from London. it went out 06:00 (Sundays 07:30 because of religious programmes) — 19:00. 208 had lost its middle aged general audience with the transfer of shows to ITV and by c1961 was a pop music station geared to more younger people. It was soon called the 'hitmaker' and was a trendsetter in music. Is your network connection unstable or browser outdated? 1s" show Thursdays 19:00-21:00 with Bob Stewart and another DJ. When the site first went into service in December 1955 two 100 kW transmitters in parallel were used. Once a week Stan travelled from his Hilversum home to Brussels to record his seven hours per week. CRI followed at 19:00. Even into the 1960s this was the show talked about at school the next day. A change in the music came from July 1st 2015 when the best hits station was relaunched as 'RTL-Deutschlands Hit-Radio' with the best new hits and the greatest hits targetting 25-55 year olds as the studios were moved from Luxembourg to Berlin. Record retailer and listener 'beacon' later remembered that the DJ's were clearly enjoying themselves. It went out on 208, 49.26m SW and VHF. One report says the last hour was in English. As with all the Services the widespread availability of transistor radios from the 1960s had helped listenership. Religious broadcasts in German could be heard at 19:30 and 19:45 CET. Instead of finishing at 03:00 UK time in the summer for a period the English Service went on until 04:00 or 0345. Each Friday evening Peter presented the station's Top 25 — it seemed odd a chart not ending in '0' but fitted the 90 minutes allowed. Working with various broadcasters, they urged me to tell them stories about my early career in broadcasting with Radio Luxembourg. Originally there were pressure to close the Marnach 208 station in 2011. Luxembourg was always the first place for British listeners to hear American records. Their presentation wasn't frantic either. In the daytime a 600 kW day aerial was used on 208. The old jingles sung by male and female singers had been fine for the late 1950s and early 1960s but by the mid 60s "This is Radio Luxembourg the great 208 the ring a ding swinging station of the stars" was sounding dated — as was the gong. The Legend Is Back! A notable event was when Paul Anka's "Diana" was the first record to reach No.1 in Britain before doing so in the U.S.A.. One of the reasons was that the 208 DJ's played records they liked rather than what had already been hits abroad. The London editor of "The Gramophone" Stone had become Britain's first disc-jockey at the age of 44 on July 7th 1927. On Sundays at 14:00 they played "Die Nationale Hitparade" then at 15:00 by "Die Internationale Hitparade." Oliver or Karin. Later this was replaced by a line from Charlie Dore's song: 'Pilot of the airwaves, here is my request.' He added that Radio Luxembourg was a cult. You need to enable JavaScript to use SoundCloud. For a short while circa 1973/4 two of the station's DJ's were on most days: one at 18:00 and the other at 19:00 After a while Zaki left so Mike did the shows on his own. In 1979 it reverted to Saturdays only. On September 30th it marked its 33 years with the longest singles chart in history lasting 18 years and with a number of DJ's who were leaving; Frank, Dieter, Thomas, Max and Viktor. The next year Williams moved to the rival Radio-Publicity which started broadcasting from the more powerful Radio Paris. Of course there would be other factors in the decline. Schoolchildren would talk about "die Hitparade" the next day with close school friends. From September 5th 2005 it rebranded itself as 'RTL Radio — Die Besten Hits alle Zeiten' — almost a German copy of Radio 10 Gold in the Netherlands with their slogan "De Grootste Hits aller tijden.". Those who did could expect at least insults. The chart was an American idea. Just like Bob Stewart of the English Service being well remembered by generations of listeners she is remembered by many for her programmes on the German Service. Some comments on youtube clips of 208 jingles and programmes show this. For some years the station had talked of its "vier frölichen Wellen" — four cheerful Waves — Medium Wave, Short Wave and VHF Channels 6 and 33. When the Marnach transmitter shut down on December 31st 2015, there really came an end to an era — for German listeners especially but for the British and others too. The peak listening for 208 was probably in 1955. Some years later DJ Camillo wrote that they could take initiatives, tinker with things and develop new things. A typical schedule from memory would be: 19:30 Paul Burnett, 20:30 Pete Brady/Jimmy Young/Tony Blackburn (each doing one week in three from London), 21:30 Tony Murphy, 22:30 Pete Murray, 23:30 Alan Freeman, 00:40 "Late Night Final" (Roger Day or Paul Kaye), 14:55-15:00 News round up with Paul Kay. Non-stop music started the evening with the "Neues Jahr Party" which was cut into at 18:30 BST with German religious show "Radio Freudes-Dienst" with Joseph Sneed who called it the end of an era. The Luxembourg authorities rejected the objections and stressed that they were not illegal broadcasts. 1983 Peter Ross ... with a jingle problem ;-) Lyons and Paris were evenings only while Normandy often had breaks for French programmes. For youngsters of the mid/late 1950s and 1960s the BBC was for their parents. Each day was planned to be geared to a country or language: Monday — Italy, Tuesday — Belgium, Wednesday — Luxembourg, Thursday — German (also for Switzerland, Austria, and German-speaking part of eastern Belgium), Friday — Dutch, Saturday — French, Sunday — English. Monday featured the "Airplay Chart". Let's look at the long-running chart show. As well as playing lots of music, particularly the fashionable dance band music, they played two very popular singers of the time: George Formby and Gracie Fields. One voiceover from Bob Stewart said "RTL International" while a jingle still said "Radio Luxembourg." Producer Vladimir Mertlik wrote that 208 represented a link with "a world over there — a world which I wanted to belong to." A common view is that all 208's programmes were sponsored by the big record companies. On Sunday mornings though airtime was sold to Johan Maasbach and the Seventh Day Adventists for their religious programmes. For some time they had appeared in afternoons on the local Luxembourg Service "RTL Community." Power went up to 350 kW in 1956 when one 150 kW MW transmitter was moved from Junglinster to Marnach to provide better reception in England and Scotland. Veteran DJ Jochen did a four hour daily show. Benny Brown, interviewed at Sunshine 100.7, said that RL "was a superb place, the people were great. News was at three minutes to the hour with dedicated newsreaders. The German radio scene had changed too. He became Chief Announcer. This happened particularly with the No. The alternative was the very serious 'Reith' type Sunday of the BBC. During the 1980s it was called the Original Top 20. A number of DJ's. By the 1960s it would have invented game shows for German audiences and by the mid 60s was calling itself 'RTL.' The Swedish Radio Archives state that the allegations of interference had caused Radio Luxembourg to change wavelength four times. If there's one radio station that has won a warm spot in the collective memory of European radio listeners, it's no doubt Radio Luxembourg. Stephen Williams of Radio-Publicity which had the concession for English programmes from Radio Paris had been presenting programmes on it since January 1st 1933. (Was he the first offshore radio DJ?) DJ's hosting the chart were: 1948 Teddy Johnson, Spring 1950 Roger Moffat (He started off with Nos.1, 2 & 3 & then played 14 other tracks from the chart, but not in any particular order), 1950 Pete Murray, 1955 Keith Fordyce, 1960 Alan Dell, 1960 David Gell, 1961 Barry Alldis (David Gell stand in), 1966 Don Wardell, 1967 Paul Burnett (Bob Stewart stand in), 1974 David Christian (Tony Prince stand in), 1975 Peter Powell, 1976 Bob Stewart, 1982 Tony Prince, 1983 Dave Eastwood, 1984 Benny Brown, 1985 Jonathan King, 1986 Tim Smith, 1987 Peter Anthony, 1987 Shaun Tilley (The show went to Monday nights at 20:00 and went back to a Top 20 in October 1987 and from 1st December 1990, back to Sundays at 21:00), October-December 1992 Tony Adams. which they seemed to have found fascinating. Change had been in the air at RTL for a few years. One of the first advertising jingles was heard; it was the Betox March for Betox cubes. On January 15th 1934 the whole station moved to 1304 metres 230 kHz. Sundays and Tuesdays had the "Top 30" singles. The line-up of the German Service>. Some lasted a number of years. Two 208 DJ's returned years later. French engineers were in charge, just as many of the backers were French. Another legend gone. Another was "The same time next week, we'll take a peek, At pops a-plenty, In Top Twenty." The German Service continued to do well. Two years later came a new format and a re-title to 'RTL Radio Der Oldiesender' in November 1992. A general entertainment channel. It was vital to the Luxembourg economy to get the radio station back on the air. At 18:00 BST/19:00 CET both day and night aerials were connected in parallel to give the 1,200 kW. The 'pirates' though were now seen as the rebels in radio, not Luxy. Please download one of our supported browsers. When she was off ill another secretary, Annemarie, filled in just temporarily and she was so popular she stayed too. The RTL bosses in the 1970s and 1980s still had great respect for it. The "Hitparade" on Sunday afternoons was a family institution. This was unprecedented for the 1930s. So the 24 hours a day service was reduced to 18 hours after six months to 06:00-24:00 then six months later shortened to 06:00-22:00 on 208. It was very popular with its target audience and was even heard all over Italy itself. From August 1972 tuning in to 208 at 19:30 or 19:00 Sundays brought a strange sound: the sound of car horns and male and female presenters talking in Italian for 15 minutes. Pop musicians like Keith Richard said they were influenced by what they heard of 208. He also said that all those years ago he envisaged building up a station that would sound something like the current BBC Radio 4. Follow airchicks to never miss another show. The Radio Luxembourg tape. The informal speech of the presenters plus their personal and laid back style was unchartered territory in German radio. Hans Knot wrote that 208 offered an exciting alternative to the sluggish Hilversum programmes. The IdR regarded this as illegal but they had no legal jurisdiction. The station ID on the hour mentioned the FM frequencies and online — but not medium wave. The masts were dismantled on February 11th 2016. Improved reception for all 208 services came with the Marnach transmitter power increase to 600 kW on January 1st 1960. Being seen as a friendly station from the very beginning it attracted listeners. In early September 1939 Radio Luxembourg stopped all transmissions at the request of the Luxembourg Government so as not to jeopardise the country's neutrality — though the Germans still invaded — and took over the radio station. Closing Marnach. (Hello, World etc). Wavelength was 1293 metres. I've counted 52 actual DJ's (not variety show hosts) who made programmes in London. By restricting transmissions to evenings and nights sales reps were able to sell most of the available airtime for spot commercials and sponsored programmes. Yet it was very popular. One listener recounted recently that Luxy seemed "rather old hat, the DJ's a bit staid and old-fashioned.". Saturdays had David Jacobs at 22:30. 'Radio Luxembourg Expérimental' was in French, German and Luxembourgois (a German dialect — with some French words — not easily understood by Germans) and they were a success. English programmes were created and scripted in Luxembourg with the records Williams had brought along from Radio Paris. What was the Benelux Service like? An advertising survey in 1935 found that 1 out of 2 listeners questioned listening regularly to Radio Luxembourg on Sunday and 1 in 9 tuned in on weekdays. This was incredibly well supported with an initial 4,000 letters leading to a peak of 60,000. Radio Luxembourg. So the DJ's spoke of "Radio Luxembourg 1440" as well as "208". Obviously, it targetted certain languages at different times though anyone could listen to the music. This meant English programmes started at 1945 summer/1845 winter. Czechoslovak soldiers in their barracks listened almost exclusively to Laxik, according to the Czech "Military Review", much to their officers' despair. It was the song which counted, not the singer. Though he wore a dinner jacket and tie when presenting his relaxed, conversational style was in sharp contrast to the very formal BBC presentation. By 1982 it was using the American practice of giving the frequency which was increasingly being used on British and Irish (pirate) stations. The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earliest commercial radio stations broadcasting to … On Sunday January 25th 1965 the Benelux Service was drastically reduced to a daily hour at 18:00 plus an extra 30 minutes on Sundays at 07:30. Through the peak weekday programming there would be talk about the quality of life, trends, hot topics, comedy and humour. The average listeners were upmarket skilled workers aged 25-45 with two children. Years later Marion Montgomery's "Maybe the Morning" was played with Bob Stewart wishing a very good night. They played this boring ... swing music. It was listened too in Russia. ' Radio Luxembourg." In time the DJ's were no longer ones on the BBC but came from the pirates or were non-BBC. The Managing Director from 1979-83, Patrick Cox, was well known to the RTL Board as he had previously worked for RTL in Paris. The following year a 60m tall ground-fed antenna (reflector) was built to give a stronger skywave and better coverage. Every effort has been made to check dates and events but sometimes sources are contradictory. RL allowed him more freedom than the BBC did and this was one of the reasons for his success here. In June 1932 the IdR unanimously passed a resolution referring to Luxembourg's "piracy of a long wave." A good alternative for Radio Paris. The younger audiences of the time preferred FM stereo quality to the fading which previous generations had been content to put up with. RADIO LUXEMBURG on 208 METER MW. The news was slanted rather more to human interest and well known personalities than politics. Power was 200 kW. A 1954 schedule gives four programmes from 08:30-14:00. Over the years the English Service had various records played at closedown time. There were plenty of national advertisers like Shredded Wheat, Palmolive and Rowntree's Fruit Gums. He had heard the debut of Britain's first station, 2LO, in 1922 and wanted to be a radio announcer. RADIO LUXEMBURG on 208 METER MW. She got her first transistor radio around 1961. All its programmes came from the small 15 sq. Though RL was an initial success Williams had seen the need to attract a real radio person to maintain and increase the momentum. In time the schedule was much expanded. At 03:00 BST the night aerial was switched off so that 600 kW was available for the German Service to sign on at 03:50 BST/04:50 CET. English programmes returned on July 1st 1946 with Stephen Williams back as Director of English Programmes. Speaking about the demolition of the masts, he said it was an emotional moment. Out of 54 programmes the totals were: record companies 24 (just 44%), newspapers 1, petrol 2, pools 1, soft drinks/tea 2, cosmetics 1, personal healthcare 6, religious 5 and not sponsored 12 (22%). Some of these had been based first in the Grand Duchy then moved to London: Pete Murray, David Gell and Keith Fordyce while Paul Hollingdale moved the other way. One report says that he was asked to do so to help revitalise 208 which was on the slide. But what a lot of listeners don't realise, is how much each programme relies on precision planning and behind-the-scenes work that goes on before each programme can be 'aired'. The station was now called 'Big L.' Rodney Collins said that from 1964 to 1982 BBC Audience Research through Gallup showed that 208 always beat other music stations in the evening.