Our friend and loyal reader Luca Trifan, from Cluj-Napoca in Romania, informs us that on Tuesday, 19th, the Romanian National Audiovisual Council (CNA) debated Radio Romania’s decision to reduce the number of hours of medium and long wave programming.
The Council members emphasised the strategic importance of the medium wave network and expressed their dissatisfaction at the lack of prior warning of such a reduction.
An investigation will be carried out into the effects of this reduction and its real impact on listeners. Sanctions could be imposed.
At the same time, the director of Radiocom, the state-owned company responsible for maintaining the transmitters, warned that such a reduction, even if temporary, would lead to increased costs for the company, mainly due to personnel costs, as each OM/OL station is served by at least one technician and several guards, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He estimates that Radiocom can bear these additional costs for a few weeks, after which additional funding will be needed.
Răzvan Ioan Dincă, the director of Radio Romania, justified the reduction with budgetary constraints, the alternative being the elimination of shortwave broadcasting and, consequently, of Radio Romania International, as its Internet/satellite audiences are too small to justify its existence without shortwave.
Mr Dincă hopes that the MW service will be fully restored as soon as possible, but that this will require additional public funding. The suspension of LW/MW broadcasting between 22:00 and 05:54 GMT+3 is scheduled to last until the end of the year, after which it will be reviewed, subject to an increase in the budget for 2026.
On a more personal note, I am very disappointed by the lack of coverage of this issue in the national press, even on the stations concerned (Radio România Actualități and Radio Antena Satelor). Fortunately, the CNA’s reaction to this situation gives me hope that, at least for RRA, the medium wave network will not be abandoned anytime soon, as it is the easiest way to cover at least 99.3% of the entire Romanian population, especially in emergencies. Most people still own a radio capable of receiving it. On the other hand, it is virtually impossible to buy a radio capable of receiving long waves today, and with the increase in maintenance and operating costs, the future of 153 kHz is uncertain.
(Translated from French)
Luca Trifan to Radio Magazine Facebook group (2025-08-20)