Old News on RADIO LONDON (the BIG L)
On
December 11, 1997 Radio Netherlands' Media Network again was the bringer of good news: Radio London (Big L), who last summer had a very successful RSL (Restricted Service License) from a ship off the Essex coast, is going to broadcast another RSL during the period of December 17, 1997 through January 13, 1998. This time the ship will be anchored in London itself, not far from Tower Bridge. A consequence of this is that reception in continental Europe will certainly be worse than last summer. In the first place the transmitter this time is further land inward, which reduces propagation over large distance. Then also we are now in the middle of winter, which makes for better propagation of distant transmitters, therefore causing more interference on Radio London's frequency. For more details, also about the original Radio London from the 1960's and about last summer's RSL, you are urgently suggested to visit Radio London's web-site, where you can also read the press release about this project. And, eh, by the way, the frequency for the forthcoming broadcasts will be 1,503 kHz.
The
return of Radio London is possible thanks to an arrangement with the National Animal Welfare and Environmental charity EARTHKIND who operate the only wildlife rescue vessel, m.v.Ocean Defender, where Radio London will broadcast from.
Today,
Saturday December 20, 1997, I've tried to receive Radio London from my site on the Dutch North Sea coast some 30 km/20 miles North of Amsterdam. There is some signal on the frequency, but it is too weak to get above the local manmade interference, and no identification at all was possible. This was during the day-time, in the evening/night, the frequency is blocked by Radio 202 from Belgrade.
After
midnight local time however I received Radio London recognizably, though still with bad quality, but the songs were audible, the announcements could be understood.
RADIO
LONDON Temporarily Back... and Gone Again...
On the Internet in the Newsgroup rec.radio.shortwave I found an announcement to the end that Radio London, also known as "the Big L" will be back with a RSL (Restricted Service Licence) between July 18 and August 14, 1997 on 1134 kHz (almost the frequency they used in the 1960's)
The
transmissions will come from a ship, anchored close to their original anchorage and the original "Big L" jingles will be used.
The
frequency is used by various stations, such as Hrvatski Radio i Televizija (Croatia) as the strongest one), but these can not be received during daylight hours in Western Europe, especially in summer. Therefore reception should be possible in a wide area during the day, not only in England, but also in the coastal regions of the Netherlands and Belgium.
A
URL is given in the message: http://www.channel9.demon.co.uk/RadioLondon/RLnew.htm with lots of information from "Wonderful Radio London"'s glory days with a RealAudio sound fragment, and with links to other interesting sites.
At
this moment -July 29, 1997- it has indeed turned out that reception is quite good on the Dutch North Sea Coast. To my surprise it could even be received in Hilversum (some 50 kms inland), as was proven by Radio Netherland's Media Network who played a fragment last week.
On
August 14, 1997, just as 30 years ago, Radio London left the air, and the occasion was just as sad as it was then. This year's final hour was a repeat of the original one, presented by the late Paul Kay.
The
aforementioned website is still there, but it is not known (to me at least) for how long it will remain there, so if you want to have a look and a listen (various RealAudio fragments are available) I would suggest you do it now.
Click
on to my Homepage, my Free Radio News or my Free Radio Olds section from here.