Market-leading Dutch station Radio 538 is now available on terrestrial FM in Limburg for the first time, thanks to a deal with local radio station Ping FM on the Belgian side of the border. Up to now, Radio 538 has used a mediumwave transmitter on 891 kHz to cover the southernmost part of the country, but from now on it will also be available on 106.0 MHz between midnight and 1900 local time in a large part of Limburg.
(Source: Radio 538/Ping FM)
on Aug 30th, 2011 at 13:55
The question is whether this is legally OK in Belgium, as Radio 538 is a Dutch commercial broadcaster. It remains to be seen whether the relay will remain active…
on Aug 31st, 2011 at 08:17
Yes, can be legal. The EU law permitts broadcasting across the border, like 531 kHz now doing.You can broadcast from Germany in dutch on MW if you can find a AM frequency near the border.
on Sep 5th, 2011 at 19:03
@Roy: That is medium wave. FM is a national (or regional) matter and national or regional regulations apply, not European.
on Sep 5th, 2011 at 19:35
Yep, but you can use the FM band too, across the border service to. In Denmark is a Radio broadcasing to Sweden on 104,7 MHz in swedish.TX north of Copenhagen. From Sweden to Norway on FM ;-).
on Sep 9th, 2011 at 05:43
In the meantime, and as I predicted, an investigation is underway as the Flemish media regulator believes this relay to be illegal as per the Flemish media laws. One of the reasons is that local radio stations in Flanders are to broadcast programmes that are intended for the own population (and thus not for another country’s).
I’m positive that Radio 538 will soon have to look for another solution.