Radio in Carinthia

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Radio broadcasting on FM started in Carinthia in the 1950s. As only Ö1, Radio Kärnten and Ö3 were allowed to broadcast in the 1970s and 1980s due to the ORF monopoly, some radio programmes from Italy were broadcast to Carinthia. So there were already ‘private’ radio programmes back then.

The ORF monopoly finally fell in the 1990s, but Austria (and Carinthia) is a special case, as the ORF is still the market leader today. The private stations are struggling to compete with ORF; only Antenne Kärnten now has a large audience. Otherwise, development in Austria is lagging somewhat behind, there are very few radio programmes. In the new millennium, only Kronehit, Radio Harmonie and Radio Maria were added. This brings us to a total of 5 private stations for the whole of Carinthia. Welle 1 has been broadcasting on the former frequencies of Radio Harmonie for several years.

Austria is therefore often referred to as ‘media Albania’, as politicians are still firmly involved in deciding who gets which frequencies. Austria has also failed to secure new frequencies and has therefore already lost touch. In Carinthia, the current situation is that the minimal selection will not change in the foreseeable future.

History of radio in Carinthia

The history of radio in Carinthia is a particularly long, often extremely remarkable, but often also negative development. Broadcasting history was written in Carinthia in the last century with the legendary ‘Alpine stations’, which brought diversity from Italy to Austria, which was characterised by the ORF monopoly. The ‘glorious’ years of Carinthian broadcasting were probably the 1980s and 1990s, before liberalisation also became apparent in Austria with the beginning fall of the monopoly.

When the ‘Alpine stations’ from Italy finally went off the air at the end of the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s, people believed in the future of Austria’s own private radio station. However, little has remained of this hope, as Carinthia in particular, which used to have such a large selection of radio programmes, now has comparatively little to listen to.

First years and creation of a first network

The start of the radio age in Carinthia was preceded by the founding of RAVAG (Radio Verkehrs AG) in Vienna, which began broadcasting in the centre of Vienna in 1924. Broadcasting soon began on medium wave from the Rosenhügel near Vienna.

In Carinthia, the era also began on medium wave 1000 kHz with the construction of the transmitter in Klagenfurt/St. Peter on the site of the Windisch barracks. 12 February 1927 was the official start of transmission on 1100 kHz. Due to the very long feed route from Vienna, there were frequent faults and cancellations. When the Brussels wave plan came into force on 13 January 1929, the frequency was changed to 662 kHz and, according to the Lucerne wave plan, to the joint frequency (with Linz-Freinberg) 1294 kHz on 15 November 1934.

During the National Socialist era, RAVAG became part of ‘Reichsrundfunk’ and numerous small transmitters were set up in Carinthia. Transmitted on 1285 kHz, it was called ‘Ostmärkische Gleichwelle’.

At the end of the war in 1945, several medium-wave sites were active in Carinthia: Klagenfurt with 7 kW on 1285 kHz, Kötschach with 1285 kHz (0.1 kW), Radenthein (0.1 kW) as well as Villach and Spittal an der Drau.

After the war, Carinthia became part of the British occupation zone and the ‘Alpenland’ transmitter group was founded. In Klagenfurt, the frequency was increased to 15 kW in 1947. According to a new wave plan, the Copenhagen wave plan, Klagenfurt was given the frequency 719 kHz, but in the end 728 kHz was chosen due to interference.

In 1953/54, a new MW transmitter was built in ‘Klagenfurt-See’. The swampy shore of Lake Wörthersee was chosen as the location due to the favourable ground conductivity. The first 25 kW transmitter broadcast the 1st (regional) programme on 728 kHz from 18 July 1954.

In 1953, ‘Radio Wien’ became ‘Österreichischer Rundfunk’, to which the stations of the other occupation zones were subsequently incorporated, including ‘Radio Alpenland’. In 1955, a transmitter was moved from the MW site in Vienna, which was no longer needed, to Klagenfurt and was set up on Pfaffenberg in the south of the city. In the following years, numerous medium wave sites followed in Carinthia to close the reception gaps in the mountains. By 1957, there were already more than 20 MW sites in Carinthia, the main site being Klagenfurt with 25 kW. (list from 1957, in German)

However, there were major problems, as medium wave coverage was limited, especially in the mountains, leaving large parts of the population without coverage. For this reason, VHF expansion began as early as 1953. In the mountains, VHF was clearly superior, e.g. in mountainous Upper Carinthia, as the range was clearly calculable and coverage was easier to provide.

VHF was also born in Carinthia on 6 September 1953: Austria’s first VHF transmitter went on air in Klagenfurt/St. Peter together with Vienna, initially on a trial basis. It was broadcast on 93.00 with 1 kW. As there was no sophisticated feed at the time (such as ball reception), the programme was sent from Vienna to Carinthia on tape.

Picture right: The programme is still broadcast from the Pyramidenkogel today: The Pyramidenkogel observation tower, built in the 1970s, now serves as a private broadcasting site.transmitter pictures

In 1957, Carinthia got its first real VHF site: on 1 December, a 59 m high guyed portal tube mast was erected on the Pyramidenkogel high above Lake Wörthersee. This installation consisted of 2 tubular masts with ‘bridges’ on which directional antennas were mounted. The VHF cross dipole antennas were mounted on one of these tubular masts.

In 1957, the following programmes were transmitted from the Pyramidenkogel:
1st programme: 97.80
3rd programme: 93.00 each with 10 kW

However, as Central Carinthia is topographically very hilly and is characterised by numerous valleys and basins, the supply from the Pyramidenkogel, which is only 800 metres high, was inadequate for Carinthia. The search was therefore on for the highest possible location and this was found in the Dobratsch, a massif to the south-west of the town of Villach, whose peak reaches 2145 metres. Construction work on ORF’s new ‘large transmitter’ began up there in the early 1970s. The construction work was actually supposed to begin in 1960, but was delayed due to funding difficulties.

Construction on the Dobratsch took several years and was completed in 1971. A new track was laid for the construction and a cable car was built from Bad Bleiberg on the north side for regular maintenance. Since 1971, the Dobratsch has efficiently supplied large parts of Carinthia, including the most important cities in the country, Klagenfurt and Villach. In addition, the high altitude of the Dobratsch is still utilised today, especially for the feed: due to its height, it can transmit the signal to numerous small fill-in transmitters via ball reception.

In 1968, the range of VHF throughout Austria exceeded that of medium wave for the first time, and numerous additional fill-in transmitters were also set up in Carinthia to close gaps in coverage. In 1977, the ‘Österreich-Regional’ programmes on medium wave were discontinued.

Picture right: The ORS Dobratsch transmitter today. An important location for VHF and DVB-T, covering large parts of Carinthia. more information about transmitter Dobratsch

More than just 3 programmes – The time of broadcasters from Italy

In the following years, the medium of FM became more and more established in Austria and Europe and medium wave became less and less influential. ORF set up a dense transmitter network in order to achieve 100% coverage of Carinthia. As a result, the number of transmitters grew to a total of 47 (as of 2012).

However, as FM technology matured, others who were fascinated by the medium of radio also began to take an interest in FM. The desire to be able to broadcast themselves was soon born. However, this was prohibited by the ORF monopoly, which allowed the ORF to broadcast exclusively on FM and TV.

In the case of Carinthia, the neighbouring country came to the aid of radio producers: in 1976, the state monopoly was abolished in Italy, which meant that legal, private stations were permitted alongside the state RAI. However, as Italian politicians failed to create a legal framework, from 1976 it was possible for anyone to obtain an FM licence and set up a radio station. In 1977, it was enough to send a postcard with the words ‘I am now broadcasting on frequency xx in Tarvisio’ to the post office and a few other authorities for the station to be legally on air.

A real boom broke out in Italy, covering the whole country. New FM antennas were erected on many mountains and new operators tried their luck in Italy’s still untapped radio scene.

So Carinthia also came up with the idea of producing radio from Italy for Carinthia – the idea was simple: to broadcast German-language programmes with German-language advertising from Italy and thus circumvent the ORF monopoly.

The small town of Tarvisio close to the border was now of interest and the search was on for the highest possible location that would be within easy reach of Carinthia. It was found on Monte Santo di Lussari, a 1700 metre high mountain in the south of Tarvisio, which is home to an old pilgrimage church. Monte Lussari was chosen as the transmission site primarily because of its proximity to Austria and its high alpine location, which made it possible to cover a large area of Carinthia and Upper Styria from Tarvisio with relatively low transmission power.

A pioneer was the legendary ‘Radio Valcanale’, which began broadcasting from Monte Lussari in 1977. This programme remained on air with interruptions from 1977 to 1998, mainly on the frequency 103.40. Radio Valcanale began broadcasting on 21 December 1977. The programme was finally discontinued in July 1998 after several renames in the intervening years (including ‘Radio Sunshine’, ‘RTM’ and ‘Radio Meha-Herz’).

Radio Valcanale was known for its music selection (mainly German Schlager and folk music) and was one of the most important ways for local artists and musicians to present themselves to the public at the time.

In 1985, Radio Valcanale was followed by Radio Uno, a project by Willi Weber, who chose a new location for it. His choice fell on the border triangle called Monte Forno, the place where Slovenia, Austria and Italy meet. This extremely exposed location achieves an astonishing range towards Austria and was therefore perfectly suited for the new project.

After a few years on 100.30, Radio Uno switched to 101.10. Other programmes were broadcast on 99.20 (Radio Uno Studio 2), 101.60 (Radio Uno 3, takeover of Klassik Radio) and Radio Uno Studio Quattro on 104.50.

Radio Uno also broadcast briefly on 105.50 and via satellite feed the programme also reached the Italian Adriatic coast via VHF with locations such as Bibione, Caorle and Jesolo. Radio Uno ended its broadcasting activities in 2000. The operator Willi Weber went to Austria legally in 1998, where he founded Radio Wörthersee in parallel to Radio Uno.

The great success of the Tarviso stations can be explained by the better selection of music, the relaxed and modern style of presentation and the possibility of submitting music requests directly – a radio station close to the listener was born. In addition, numerous new concepts were developed that were not yet covered by ORF Carinthia, such as an ice hockey programme. Advertising customers quickly took notice and a separate advertising office was set up. The concept was clear: small commercials from small and medium-sized businesses, both Italian and Carinthian, brought in good advertising revenue and the Kanaltal programmes became popular stations throughout Carinthia.

In addition to Radio Valcanale, many other programmes have been broadcasting from Monte Santo di Lussari for almost three decades (incomplete list):

Antenne Austria Süd
Radio Carinzia
Radio Nuova Radio Carinzia
Superradio
Radio Azzuro
Radio Time Dance FM
Radio Free Europe
Radio (Tele) Alpe(n) Adria
Radio Bakkano

The last partly German-language radio station from the Lussari location was the youth radio station ‘Radio Bakkano’ (1999 – Oct. 2001), which covered Carinthia and parts of Styria as well as Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Today, the Italian news station ‘Radio 24’ (106.4 MHz) broadcasts on the former Radio Bakkano frequency. With this change of operator, the era of Italian (commercial) private radio stations focussing on the Austrian audience, which began in 1977, has come to an end. – The only exception is Radio Maria Südtirol from Monte Forno (border triangle).

The monopoly falls – the start of a better future?

The desire for a “free” and diverse radio scene was not wanted in Austria for a long time. For decades, the ORF, which is generally very politically organized, prevented the abolition of the broadcasting monopoly. Austria was the penultimate country in Europe to allow private radio stations to broadcast their programs. And this did not happen voluntarily either.

The government saw no reason to advocate a rapid liberalization of broadcasting, although it followed the example of other European countries in many areas, but in the broadcasting sector it pursued the “Austrian way”.

The main impetus came from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which considered Austria’s broadcasting monopoly to be incompatible with the right to freedom. This law was relaxed for the first time in 1994/1995, but the monopoly was far from history. After a hiccup with the authorities and numerous hurdles, two stations went on air in 1995: Radio Melody in Salzburg (now Antenne Salzburg) and Antenne Steiermark in Graz. September 1, 1995 is considered the “birthday” of Austrian private radio, so to speak. Nevertheless, the long road to equal recognition of private radio in Austria was a long and rather bumpy one, which continued until 2004 with the “nationwide license” for Kronehit.

The next liberalization step took place in 1998, when private radio stations became possible at least locally, limited to one region, on April 1. This was followed by a “boom” in small local stations throughout Austria, with numerous stations such as Radio Villach (frequency 101.60), Radio Agora/Korotan (105.50) and Radio Wörthersee (95.20) now going on air in Carinthia. Antenne Kärnten was also launched in Carinthia on May 5, 1998.

However, these local stations had to struggle with numerous problems as they were not economically viable.
As a result, soon after the “big boom” at the end of the 1990s, the Austrian radio scene began to decline.

On April 1, 2001, an amended version of the law came into force, allowing large publishers to operate several stations in one region. The financially ailing small stations are now literally “swallowed up” by the large publishing houses. The Kronen Zeitung in particular, with its “Krone Hitradio”, took over numerous small stations. Radio Wörthersee became Radio Harmonie, while smaller stations ceased broadcasting. In 2004, a “nationwide frequency” was issued to Kronehit, which was now placed on an equal footing with ORF for the first time. This meant that the basic laws of media law in Austria were more or less “normal” – 10 years after the launch of the first private radio station. The last few years have been characterized by an expansion of Kronehit and a general stagnation in the Austrian media market.

This also explains why for a long time, the situation in Carinthia is still characterised by a low number of different radio stations: In May 2012 only Antenne Kärnten, Kronehit, Radio Maria and LoungeFM (Klagenfurt only) have broadcasted in Carinthia. And the radio selection in Carinthia is now one of the smallest in Austria. Yet Carinthia was one of the states that had a lasting impact on the development of private radio in Austria. Today, besides the state-owned radio programmes, the radio stations Welle 1 (with a partly regionalised programme), Kronehit, Antenne Kärnten and OE24 are transmitting in Carinthia on FM.

Austria’s younger radio world is characterized by wrong decisions on the part of politicians, who always wanted to put a stop to private radio until the end and still do to some extent today, on the part of broadcasters, but also on the part of Austrian society, which simply does not care that Austria was the penultimate country to abolish the monopoly and has a party-political media scene that leaves hardly any room for creative, new radio projects.

Since several years, DAB+ is bringing slightly more variety also to Carinthia. Two regional Multiplex are now transmitting from main locations and cover wide areas of Carinthia since 2024. This means approximately 20 more radio stations, mainly from other regions of Austria. For now absent from DAB+ is the public operator ORF and the nationwide radio Kronehit. For now DAB+ managed to break the limited availability of radio stations via terrestrial standards and allowed regional and semi-regional programmes to get on air in a not easy radio market.

Additional information

• On the “Wabweb” page, you can follow the broadcasting history of the whole of Austria in chronological order and with lots of pictures. There is also extensive additional information (in German) – http://www.wabweb.net/radio/frames/radioaf.htm
• Wikipedia Article for more information related to the development of the radio in Austria (in German) – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschichte_des_H%C3%B6rfunks_in_%C3%96sterreich

Literature (in German)

• The book “Private Radio in Austria” sheds light on the lengthy and extremely complicated path of private radio in Austria. It contains an interview with Radio Uno founder Willi Weber, a detailed description of the development of private radio in Austria, such as the launch of Antenne Steiermark in 1995 or the further development up to 2005, as well as a detailed overview of all private radio stations that were on air around the turn of the millennium
• “Privatradio in Österreich” – eine schwere Geburt
  Piraten, Profis, Pleiten
  Werner Reichel, Michael Konvicka, Georg Streit, Rüdiger Landgraf
  2006, 232 S.,Broschiert, ISBN 978-3-8329-4371-4