RTL radio will no longer broadcast on the long waves in 2023

From January 1, RTL radio will no longer broadcast its long-wave signal from its transmitter center in Beidweiler, Luxembourg. This is what the group’s communication department told AFP on Sunday, October 16, confirming information from the specialized media Satellifacts.

Belonging to the M6 ​​group, RTL, which used the 234 kHz frequency, was the last major French station to use this historic low-frequency broadcasting mode, introduced in the 1930s and capable of transmitting over very long distances (up to several hundred kilometers away).

The station will launch a communication device on Monday to accompany its listeners to other means of listening, in particular the FM band (frequency modulation), digital terrestrial radio DAB +, TV boxes or its mobile application, explained its carrier. speak to AFP. The measure, taken first for the sake of savings, should enable the group to reduce its electricity consumption by some 6,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year, the equivalent of 3,000 people in France, he said. precise.

Radio Luxembourg (which became RTL in 1966) began broadcasting in 1933 from its transmitter in Luxembourg. Its competitors had cut their long-wave signal several years ago: France Inter in 2017, Europe 1 in 2019 and RMC in 2020.