I can't remember where I first read this but it was based on the German wiki which I then went to and translated to English, the translation is ambiguous and not completely clear, last paragraph of the Heute section.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTL_Radio

"After an initial wave of layoffs at the turn of 2013/2014 the few remaining employees of RTL RADIO were informed on 7 February 2014 that the station in September 2016, following Berlin and move his studio in Luxembourg will give up. All eight full-time employees, a move to Berlin was offered the remaining freelancers will not work beyond September 2016. So after 59 years ends the story of the German RTL program from Luxembourg."

Checked WRTH, in Berlin/Brandenberg there is RTL 104.6 an oldies station, 10kw. Also lower powered transmitters on 88.0 and 89.5 and a new transmitter power not stated on 96.9.

104.6 in Berlin is, or was, a different station to the traditional RTL Radio. The existing service that is on 1440 for part of the day is online and on FM 93.3 and 97 MHz, with the Luxembourgish service on 92.5 and Besten Mix on 88.9.

The info is a bit confusing but I wonder if Besten Mix will take over - and what about 92.5 in Luxembourgish? This used to carry a 3 hour English service at 1900 on here and on Astra 3 at 23.5 East a few years ago. Not sure if it is still there.

Such was sky wave propagation and the tx power of 208 that when I was in the Merchant Navy and sailing around the south coast of South Africa in the 70's and 80's, I would regularly tune in to Luxembourg and sent a telegram to Tony Prince on one occasion just as a QSL, and he responded about 15 mins later with an acknowledgment and greetings. The SINPO on that occasion was 43444. I felt quite chuffed at the time!

Rechecked WRTH. There are two stations operating from the same address and they have listed them both together because of that and then given information on their output separately.

RTL 104.6 and relays is contemporary hit radio. Spreeradio 105.5 also operates from the RTL Radio Centre and is owned by them. WRTH has their format listed as oldies format hey have some contemporary songs as well.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/105%E2%80%995_Spreeradio

So what will happen when everything comes from the Berlin studios not clear.

I notice that France Bleu on 864 puts out a thumping good signal after dark. Loud and clear in Derby. Where is the transmitter and are there any plans to switch it off?

From
http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/20...dio-france.php
I's in Paris on AM stereo, was distorting back in 2011 and some thought it may have been deliberate to see if anyone complained?
Radio France has to make savings, one option is to stop MW and SW

Link for report of France Bleu in 2011.
http://mediumwave.info/newsarchive_f.html

Has anyone here managed to receive the AM stereo? I don't know if the correct radios are sold in the UK?

Some it's one person either called Harry Worth or using the nickname of the now deceased comedian!

"France blue know 864 distorted this an exercise to find out how many listeners in the paris region listen on am. eg by complaints they have not had many 864 will soon be off air. Harry Worth"

They repaired it two days after this comment which was mere speculation.

There's a few recordings on YouTube if you put France Bleu 864 AM stereo in the search, this one is South Coast UK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuBdLjICvZQ

There's a better one, or was, posted by someone in High Wycombe but can't see it on the first search page. He had a hi fi system that could pick up C-QUAM.

Thanks for that.

So I'm presuming France Bleu is our equvilant of BBC Local Radio?

Yes, there are 44 local or regional France Bleu stations.

French public radio in crisis as row deepens
Local.fr 9 April

"On Wednesday, Gallet was to present the details of his plan to the broadcaster's employees. It calls for 300 jobs to be sliced from the group's 4,600-strong workforce, for webradio to take over from some of the more esoteric broadcasts, the halt of long- and shortwave transmissions, and the reduction in size of the group's two classical orchestras."
http://www.thelocal.fr/20150409/stri...h-public-radio

4th question down, 3rd paragraph ". La suppression d'un des deux orchestres, un temps envisagée, est abandonnée. Mais leur taille sera réduite. Le plan prévoit aussi l'arrêt de la diffusion en ondes courtes et moyennes : 16 millions d'euros d'économies." translates to short and medium wave. Long wave in French is grandes ondes. There are some areas of inadequate coverage for France Inter where longwave is the only option.
http://www.francetvinfo.fr/economie/...ce_869951.html

Tandy (RadioShack) used to sell Realistic AM/FM tuners that would decode AM stereo although I'm not sure that they were actually badged as such.

By at least one account that I've read, the rural areas outside digital terrestrial coverage from a main TV transmitter were essentially abandoned to satellite TV, with no equivalent program to the UK 'Freeview Lite' for analogue relays. So I don't think it's a dead cert that Grandes Ondes will be retained forever. That said, if I had a tenner for the last country in the world to quit LW, I'd put it on France.

Indeed - some MW transmitters have been turned off already. It is MW that is almost certainly being considered. There are:

4 x France Bleu
9 x France Info

MW transmitters.

France Inter 162 will be the last thing to go for prestige reasons more than anything, but given the chronic funding situation I can't see that lasting too much longer given France Inter probably has the best FM coverage of any station in France.

Obviously I can only go on what I've heard and read, but a bulletin on France Inter itself yesterday mentioned - or so I thought - les ondes moyennes et les grandes ondes, and by way of confirmation there is this (amongst several other references)

http://www.leparisien.fr/economie/ra...15-4673051.php

Of course it all depends on how technical the journalists are, but certainly I've gained the impression that it's LW and MW that are in the firing line.

www.celticmusicradio.net switched off our 1530kHz TX in June 2014 . We now operate on 95FM.
There is a perfectly good AM transmitter doing NOTHING, it could work tomorrow if asked

Even if MW and LW is cut back, like in other European countries SW from RFI is likely to be sadly cut in favour of satellite and internet.
The UK has gone from 3 SW sites to just Wofferton also used for DRM and other broadcasters. Can see one of the 2 French SW sites cut, but perhaps SW and DRM to Africa and the East kept?
Edit RFI DRM 3965khz is now only 1kw from Issoudun, but commercial Disco Palace DRM is 100kw. http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/basepo...md=all&Id==498

The only TDF shortwave site is now Issoudon, Montsinery in French Guiana closed last April. They do have other clients as well as Radio France International,

Wouldn't mind buying the am transmitter off you if you were willing to sell

Thanks.
Looks like they have already cut back on SW?
The dates for AM shutdowns in UK and Germany seem to be delayed by transmission maintenance contracts with tight early release terms, maybe transmission company TDF will have tight contracts
with Radio France which might dictate when further AM shutdowns take place in France?

Some AM not quite dead news

177 Zehlendorf was tested March 3 and 5 with DRM labelled data service. It was on again Friday 0800-1200. Reception reports indicate power is lower than was used for the DLF broadcasts. One of the stations broadcast was Radio Andernach, the German station for their military. Their broadcasts are only available to military personnel and their families, you have to apply to access their webstream. They have tested DRM on shortwave. Here's a screenshot of Fridays broadcast.
http://www.rhci-online.net/files/201...z_DRM-Test.png

Czech private station Czechy Implus 981 has added a new 5kw transmitter at Domamil, there are two other private stations in the Czech Republic, Country Radio 1062, Radio Dechova 1233, one 10kw, one 5kw, two 2kw transmitters and a 500 watt transmitter they plan to increase to 10kw. There are rumours of a fourth Czech private mediumwave station soon to go on air.

I've just taken a look at the AM listings on the excellent 'Frequency Finder' website, which have just been updated

http://www.frequencyfinder.org.uk/AM_Stations.pdf

Look at how many gaps have opened up since some of the European flamethrowers closed down.

They haven't, if you check EMWG there are European stations on many of them, mostly it seems to be assuming you won't hear them at night. Many of them are Spanish and not high power but it then lists a 5kw Slovakian station on 702? The longwave listing is odd, it doesn't mention Algeria on 252 for example which I can hear below RTE most of the day.

What you can hear on mediumwave from Europe is dependent on time of year, time of day and what part of the UK you are in.