Spanish National Radio closing AM transmitters

[Mediafrog+]

Appears the domestic mediumwave (AM) transmitters of Spanish National Radio will be closing down. Recording of an announcement included here: Spain

The AM band in Western Europe will be pretty empty but it does open up more DX possibilities for what is left elsewhere.

 

[Mediafrog+]

More on this from RTVE itself: RTVE anuncia el fin de las emisiones en Onda Media y refuerza su apuesta por la radio digital en DAB+

AM broadcasts will end on December 31.

 

[Miss Tuned]

Appears the domestic mediumwave (AM) transmitters of Spanish National Radio will be closing down. Recording of an announcement included here: Spain

The AM band in Western Europe will be pretty empty but it does open up more DX possibilities for what is left elsewhere.

DXing from the UK, in particular the north of the country (because of skip distances), these Spanish AM stations are pretty much all you hear up and down the band at night. It will all sound quite different after they're gone, I'm interested to see what if anything comes in when they're off, although every transmitter that goes off is a DX target from elsewhere in the world gone.

This isn't all the Spanish AMs - there are a few commercial networks still using AM, but they can't be far behind if the public RTVE are quitting AM. Someone counted that it's over 100 transmitters going silent before the end of this year. Presumably someone will have to physically start going around and turning them off so they will start to gradually disappear very soon.

 

[Mediafrog+]

DXing from the UK, in particular the north of the country (because of skip distances), these Spanish AM stations are pretty much all you hear up and down the band at night. It will all sound quite different after they're gone

Using the UTwente SDR in The Netherlands I’ve found the predominant language on mediumwave at night is Spanish. Some Arabic from North Africa is also audible.

Quite a few AMs from Romania would also make it into UTwente, but most of those have had their nighttime operations curtailed recently.

I'm interested to see what if anything comes in when they're off, although every transmitter that goes off is a DX target from elsewhere in the world gone.

I’ve read that AMs from the Middle East and Iran have become new DX targets with the Romanians gone at night. Also a few targets deeper into Africa.

This isn't all the Spanish AMs - there are a few commercial networks still using AM, but they can't be far behind if the public RTVE are quitting AM.

A very quick count from the 2025 WRTH shows 74 commercial mediumwave transmitters on the air in Spain, mostly SER, COPE and Onda Cero.

Someone counted that it's over 100 transmitters going silent before the end of this year.

My quick count from the 2025 WRTH was 99 RNE transmitters on mediumwave.

Presumably someone will have to physically start going around and turning them off so they will start to gradually disappear very soon.

AIUI all the RNE transmitters have been running at reduced power lately, so someone has been visiting all the sites recently.

Huge number of FMs in Spain amongst numerous networks, and DAB is also available.

Have to wonder if RTVE is thinking about pulling the plug on its international shortwave output for a second time.

 

[wildthangjim]

When I DXed a bit from the UK on a Christmas trip pre-COVID, the dial was full of Spanish stations and Romanian stations mostly. When RNE disappears and if the Romanians are fewer now, the band will sound a lot different than here in the US.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

When I DXed a bit from the UK on a Christmas trip pre-COVID, the dial was full of Spanish stations and Romanian stations mostly. When RNE disappears and if the Romanians are fewer now, the band will sound a lot different than here in the US.

The Romanians are some of the more common transpolar signals here.....heard several of em regularly.. best ever was a 15kw outlet on 1530

 

[Mark Roberts]

An up-to-date list of the Spanish mediumwave stations was published last week. One of the authors indicates this will be the last one before the RNE shutdown.

LISTADO OM ESPAÑA-PORTUGAL 2025 v 3.0 (in Spanish)