Radio Liberty is to stop broadcasting medium-wave programmes to Russia. The Baltic States represented a prime location for USAGM stations to broadcast to Russia. Broadcasts were received in good conditions in St Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast during the day and beyond at night.
In 2002, RFE/RL was using the Sitkunai station transmitter, licensed to Radio Baltic Waves International, but the facility was running out of steam and the transmitter was 52 years old.
The USAGM was looking for a more cost-effective solution to cover Belarus and Russia. The new location: the DTT and FM transmitter centre of Lietuvos Radijo ir Televizijos Centras in Viešintos, 110 km north of Vilnius (55°41’39.9 ‘N 24°58’56.7 ’E).
The transmitter was quickly found: it was recovered from the American Forces Network, which had shut down its 873 KHz medium-wave transmitter in Weisskirchen, Germany, in 2013. It had only been in use for 5 years, but had been preserved in perfect condition on the old site. It was a Nautel NX, and was reinstalled at Viešintos, where a 120 m guyed mast was built.
It took up the frequency of 1386 kHz, the former frequency of Radio Moscow and the Voice of Russia in Kaliningrad!
The transmitter has a power of 75KW in normal operation: the signal was sufficient in Russia as there is no longer any interference. It can be adapted to broadcast at 300kW if required.
Radio Liberty used the transmitter for its broadcasts in Russian and Belarusian. Belarusian broadcasts were discontinued on 30 April 2019. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty now only used it between 6 and 9 pm for a Russian-language broadcast.
The cessation of broadcasts in Belarusian was compensated for by the relay of other stations including NHK World Japan, Polskie Radio – Polish Radio Abroad and, more recently, Ukrainian Radio. RFE-RL’s Russian-language broadcasts have now come to an end.
In the past, Radio Liberty was also present in Moscow on medium wave. At the time of glasnost, Radio Free Europe’s Russian service was allowed to broadcast on medium wave from a transmitter centre located along the Moscow ring road.
Following the political change in Russia, Putin banned broadcasting and the transmitter was switched off in November 2013.
(Translated from French)
Radio Magazine FB group (2025-04-03)