Medium wave is still used in this country, sometimes under difficult conditions due to the climate and the discontinuation of certain transmitter production facilities.
The country invested in the renovation of its transmitters until 2005.
The following transmitters are currently in service.
For SNRT Al Idaâ Al-Watania
540 Khz at Sidi Bennour 250 kW (32°43’33.7 ‘N 8°17’32.2 ’W)
595 Khz at Oujda 100 kW (34°39’48.4 ‘N 1°54’28.7 ’W)
612 Khz in Sabaâ Aioun 100 kW (33°53’54.8 ‘N 5°23’02.7 ’W)
For SNRT Radio Laâyoun :
711 Khz at Laâyoun – Foum-el-Oued 250 kW (27°10’24.6 ‘N 13°21’50.8 ’W)
SNRT was faced with the disappearance of the Croatian company RIZ, its main AM and FM supplier. Fortunately for the radio station, Zeljko Pinturic, one of RIZ’s union leaders, has set up a company to maintain RIZ transmitters: PINT-TX SERVIS j.d.o.o. in JASTREBARSKO, Croatia.
Although SNRT’s technical teams provide high-quality maintenance, when the going gets tough, like many broadcasters around the world, they ask Zeljko to step in.
He did so recently at the Laâyoun site in the Moroccan Sahara.
This transmitter centre, located close to the ocean, suffers not only from the marine climate but also from sandstorms, which can even completely sand up the feeders and the antenna insulator, as happened to the old transmitter.
The transmitter broadcasts the Radio Laâyoune Amazighe programme to counter the propaganda of Radio Nationale de la République Arabe Sahraouie Démocratique (Polisario Front), which broadcasts from Tindouf in Algeria. It is the only medium-wave transmitter that broadcasts this programme. The other transmitter that was supposed to broadcast the programme is located in Aït Melloul, 15 km south of Agadir. Unfortunately, it is silent for technical reasons. The centre was refurbished in 2005, with Thomson Broadcast (Arelis group) winning the tender. This included comprehensive services: from installation to commissioning of two redundant 400 KW units, as well as civil engineering and refurbishment of the antenna line and the antenna cabin. To ensure optimum maintenance, Thomson Broadcast engineers had to train the SNRT’s technical teams on site.
The transmitters have never worked satisfactorily. They are now at a standstill and are the subject of a dispute between the SNRT and Thomson’s ‘heirs’. This dispute is reportedly the subject of legal proceedings.
The SNRT has issued invitations to tender for the purchase of spare parts, but no action has been taken.
The Azilal 207 kHz long-wave transmitter seems to have been definitively withdrawn from service, but the SNRT has just inherited the Medi 1 company, which still operates the 171 kHz long-wave transmitter at Sélouane, near Nador. A prime location, on the Algerian border, along the Mediterranean. Although broadcasting at reduced power, it is equipped with 4 S7HP 400 kW units manufactured by Thomson.
(Translated from French)
Radio Magazine FB group (2025-03-08)