RTL 234 AM 2216 UTC 31 DEC 2022

[Ray Lalleu]

on 234    via SDR in N.E. France
2216 "Shaft", DJ in F about the last 2022 hour running up, 2221 next music

Last hour of transmission on 234 kHz for RTL, will leave the air at midnight CET (23 UTC)
after about 90 years on the long waves.

Then the French RTL will be only in FM (many cities in France, more than 400 small relays), a new DAB+ network (only along the Paris-Lyon-Marseille axis) and on web.

With nothing to transmit again on LW, the LW masts will be probably destroyed in a few months, as were those of Europe 1 in Saarland. The masts in Allouis are still transmitting time signals. The masts in Roumoules aRe still up and are sometimes reactivated (maybe they could be leased for some other programmes).

2242 DJ, "Upside down". Nothing said about the closing down of LW.

In 1986, the first FM relays of French RTL on French territory were allowed 'provided they relayed exactly the same programme as on 234 kHz' !
2257 in 3 minutes the new year !
2300 going on, thinking to the LW TX
2301 no news, just don't drive after drinking, "in the midnight hour",
so the stop of LW is postponed somewhat.

2351 "Me and Mrs Jones", 2356 Temptations, 2359 DJ, bye, don't drive after drinking,
0000 'vous écoutez RTL, 1 heure du matin', first notes of the news music,
suddenly OFF

[Shortwave_Listener]

S9+10 with the GB3WB KiwiSDR in the UK. Very sad to see the continuing decline of longwave broadcasting 

2229 UTC-DJ talking in French
2230 UTC-Yah-Mo Be There by James Ingram
2233 UTC-DJ talking in French
2234 UTC-Money (That's What I Want) by Barrett Strong
2236 UTC-DJ talking in French
2236 UTC-(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
2238 UTC-I Was Made To Love Him by Chaka Khan
2242 UTC-DJ talking in French
2242 UTC-Upside Down by Diana Ross
2245 UTC-DJ talking in French
2245 UTC-Another Star by Stevie Wonder
2252 UTC-DJ talking in French
2252 UTC-Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield
2255 UTC-Five minutes to new year, other talk in French
2259 UTC-One minute to midnight
2259 UTC-Counting down the seconds to new year
2300 UTC-Program still going
2301 UTC-“Music in a moment” jingle
2301 UTC-Talk in French
2301 UTC-Back to music and the DJ

[MI0YCK]

talk on twitter is switch off delayed untill tomorrow night?

[shadypyro]

Sign off at 00:00 UTC, so this is it the end for RTL I'll send them the report I written and maybe they'll issue a special qsl card who knows.

[R319]

recorded the last hours of LW transmission from 31 DEC 2022 -> 01 JAN 2023 0h UTC.
Nice AM sound (I'm a nostalgic of AM BC) with some distorsion fading (only at night), I'm located about 200 kms from the TX site
As Ray mentioned, brutal stop of tx transmission at 01.01.2023 at 0h UTC just after the hourly news jingles.

But....checking this morning 01 JAN 2023 @ 10h20 UTC, 234 kHz is back ..... for how long ?

[Ray Lalleu]

on 234

1755 RTL heard direct here, not very powerful at 700 km from the TX site,
Alain Bougrain-Dubourg about wildlife,
1757 ads, announcements,
1900 news jingle, news headlines, weather events

maybe they have fuel for the electric generators ? or just want to check all the unused TXes ?

edit : the simplesrt explanation is that all is automated, and to really stop it all, a human intervention is needed, but today is a holyday, so the operator is waiting tomorrow to send the crew stop it all.

[shadypyro]

I thought they were done last night as I was listening to them in the twente sdr, maybe they might’ve have generators or something 🤔

[R319]

they powered off on 2 JAN 2023 @ 0h00 UTC
Just after "Les nocturnes", jingle for the news infos and sudendly off

[Ray Lalleu]

Ydun's Mw Info
mentions very weak signal on 234 kHz, around 1030 UTC, on 3rd of Jan,
heard only in NL,
with programme in F quite souding like RTL,

(must be a joke from a Dutch pirate, I think)