The 210 metre high mediumwave radio mast at Burg in eastern Germany, that once carried the programmes of the Deutscher Soldatensender on 935 kHz and Deutscher Freiheitssender 904, has been demolished. Photos of the demolition, and text and audio in German, can be found on the website of Radioeins rbb.
on Jul 1st, 2006 at 00:08
I’m confused now… Weren’t Soldatensender and/or Freiheitsender actually “black” stations transmitting from West Germany, pretending to be in the DDR? Or was it the other way round? Well, it was certainly a long time ago.
on Jul 1st, 2006 at 10:00
Yes, it was the other way round, East German stations pretending to be in the west.
on Jul 1st, 2006 at 20:52
Thanks for the clarification Andy. Transmission on 904kHz would have created an awful heterodyne for listeners to the BBC Home Service on 908 but I only remember hearing zero-beat interference (with voice announcements which were indeed in the German language) in the evenings in the 1960s at home in London, with their start of programmes at around 7pm. I’d guess therefore that they changed frequency to 908 sometime between their first appearance in 1956 and their unannounced close-down in 1971.
There is a comprehensive description of Freheitsender, in German, at freiheitssender.radiohistory.de but it doesn’t mention any frequency change as far as I can see using Google’s translation service.
I recall also that Jonathan asked for input from anyone remembering Soldatensender and Freiheitsender, for his Media Network show in the 80s. I wonder if he received any.