"It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on" - Marilyn Monroe
Radio Stad Montfoort, or RSM, is the local radio station from the little city of Montfoort, only 5 kilometers south of my QTH. Remco Kuijer was so kind to confirm my reception report. One of their programs is “Radio Bingo”. This game program is so popular that even from other provinces listeners participate by tuning in to their live stream.
When tropospheric conditions are not too unfavourable, Ici Nord, broadcasting with 130 KW on 94.7 MHz is an easy catch here in Woerden. Somehow my MP3 recording didn’t reach Alex at the PR desk but the details of my report were sufficient for an email confirmation:
Hello Peter,
I’m Alexander, i’m working for listeners relationship in ICI NORD radio ! Nous sommes honorés d’être écoutés depuis les Pays-Bas, votre pays est magnifique !
Je ne trouve pas votre enregistrement dans le mail, mais d’après ce que j’ai pu lire je peux vous confirmer qu’il s’agit bien de notre antenne ! La fréquence 94.7 est la plus forte de toutes nos antennes !
« Nous confirmons que Peter Reuderink a reçu Ici Nord, émettant depuis la région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, à Lille, en France sur 94.7 MHZ, le 20 mai à 8h 49 CEST »
Je vais vous faire parvenir quelques autocollants à ajouter à votre collection, ils datent d’avant le changement de marque ! Nous nous nommions avant janvier 2025 « France Bleu Nord » et nous sommes donc devenu « Ici Nord » cette année !
Bonne soirée à vous,
Alex
My first QSL for this station is from 1985 when it was still called Radio France “Fréquence Nord”. In 2000 the local radio stations from Radio Bleue and Radio France partnered and the station continued as France Bleu Nord. Since 2024 the France Bleu networks have been rebranded to “Ici”, with “Ici Nord” for this station.
On the 22nd of May there was a nice SpE opening towards Bulgaria. One of the stations I heard was BNR Radio Varna playing some traditional music.
Mrs Kremena Ivanova was so kind to confirm my reception. She wrote that Radio Varna celebrated its 90th birthday on December 9th, 2024 being the oldest radio station in Bulgaria. A bit of history from Wikipedia:
In 1933, Dimitar Kulev, then a student at the Varna Boys’ High School, assembled two amateur radio transmitters together with his physics teacher , with the more powerful of which on January 6, 1934, he broadcast a live performance by the “Sea Sounds” choir.
On May 25, 1933, the Varna Radio Club was established as a section of the Rodno Radio Union. The first live radio broadcast from Varna was made on January 6, 1934 on medium waves with a frequency of 1276 kHz. On July 19, 1934, the Ministry of Railways and Transport authorized the construction of a radio station and in September 1934, the trials of Radio Varna began.
The birth date of the radio is considered to be December 9, 1934, when a concert was broadcast from the Varna “Unity” Hall, which was the first medium wave broadcast in Northern and Northeastern Bulgaria
On 25 January 1935, Tsar Boris III signed the decree establishing the Bulgarian National Radio. The document, which officially marked the beginning of “Radio Sofia”, as the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) was then called. Radio Varna got a new board an became part of BNR.
Radio Nacional de España is one of the few national broadcasters in Europe that still has a solid mediumwave presence. And they have local programs. Problem for us DX-ers is that the various stations share frequencies, so it’s difficult to identify the individual stations. At 7:45 hours local time however the stations have a local news bulletin and ID:
Artur from Maresme DX was so kind to help me to get a verification for RNE Galicia. Big thanks, it is so nice to make friends in this hobby!
Shortwave Radio from Winsen is an easy catch here. For a little compensation they will confirm your report with a traditional QSL card. You can read the details on their website.
The station is located in Winsen “on the river Aller”. So that is the Winsen located 20 km north of Hannover, Germany (there is another Winsen south of Hamburg). They broadcast on 6160 and 3975 kHz. Next to their own program Shortwave Gold there are various other program producers that use the Shortwave Radio facilities.
A fully detailed email QSL for my reception of WLRP Radio Raíces – La Voz del Pepino – on 1460 AM from San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. I made my reception during my stay in Curacao. A distance of 725 km for a station with 0.5 kW on a small portable receiver isn’t bad, but the fact that it is all over water does help.
Radio Raíces was broadcasting a sort of “Latin Golden Oldies” with amongst others a very nice song “Quizás, quizás, quizás” by Nat King Cole that I didn’t know. They are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year as they started broadcasting in 1965.
The nickname “La Voz del Pepino” for WLRP Radio Raíces is tied to the town’s nickname, “El Pepino.” San Sebastián is commonly referred to as “El Pepino” in Puerto Rico, a name derived from the Spanish word for cucumber, though the exact origin of this nickname for the town is unclear.
I sent my report to radioraices1460(at)gmail.com . While I typically get replies on email reports within a day or so… this one took 9 weeks. So it was a nice surprise!
Another local FM station close to my QTH is SRC FM. Although local? It is in fact regional and a good example of the new strategy on local radio that is currently being implemented in The Netherlands.
Local radio was legalized in the late 80’s in The Netherlands, and soon every town had their own local FM station, usually partly funded by the local municipality. In those days internet wasn’t common and it was seen as a good vehicle to distribute local news and information. As municipalities merged to promote efficiency (in 1990 The Netherlands had 672 municipalities, today there are only 342) local radio stations merged as well. An example is RTV Krimpenerwaard as you can read in my blog.
But today there is another thing at play. The Association of Dutch Municipalities, together with the Dutch Government and the Dutch Association of Local Radio Stations (NLPO) have agreed to implement a strategy where permits for local radio will be awarded to predefined regions only. From 2028 onward there should be no more than 80 regional FM stations, whereas there are some 200 local FM stations today. The aim is obviously a combination of cost efficiency and the desire to improve the editorial capabilities and quality of the stations. More info about this plan can be found on this web page of the NLPO.
Do I like it? Well, as many local radio stations are depending on tax payers money to make things work I can understand the rationale. And mind you, what started as local radio today is not only radio but TV, web, social media presence as well. At the same time the stations are at risk to lose their local identity which is why they came to be in the first place. The distance to their audience might increase, which by the way is also an often heard complaint about the distance of today’s bigger municipalities and their citizens.
Let’s look at how SRC FM became so big. And why wouldn’t I try to do this using an AI tool: Grok. After all, we live in 2025! Here we go!
The growth of Stads Radio Culemborg (SRC) from a local radio station in Culemborg to a regional broadcaster covering West Betuwe, Buren, Tiel, Neder-Betuwe, and Vijfheerenlanden reflects a strategic expansion driven by collaboration, mergers, and a national push for professionalized streekomroepen (regional broadcasters). Below is a detailed account of SRC’s evolution based on available information:
1. Origins as Stads Radio Culemborg
2. National Push for Streekomroepen (2016–2017)
3. Collaboration and Mergers (2019–2021)
4. Competition and Expansion into Buren, Tiel, and Neder-Betuwe (2021)
5. Programming and Infrastructure Development
6. Professionalization and Future Ambitions (2022–2026)
7. Impact of RegioTV Tiel’s Challenges
8. Current Status (2025)
Conclusion
SRC’s transformation from Stads Radio Culemborg to a regional broadcaster for West Betuwe, Buren, Tiel, and Neder-Betuwe was driven by:
This growth reflects a blend of strategic opportunism, community engagement, and alignment with broader media reforms in the Netherlands.
Well that was easy! Thank you Grok!
To cover the region SRC FM is active on 6 frequencies. I sent a report for my reception of SRC FM on 105.1 MHz, as with 40 kms the transmitter in Tiel is a bit more “DX” than the transmitter in Vianen (only 17 kms). Mr. Kans was so kind to confirm my report with a brief reply on my email to info@src.fm .
Back to my exploration of the local radio scene around Woerden. Today I listened to Rick FM, the local radio station for Uithoorn and De Kwakel. Marco from Rick FM was so kind to reply to my reception report.
Rick FM is owned by Stichting Radio RIK. I couldn’t find where the acronym RIK stands for. What I do know is that Rick FM started some 40 years ago as pirate radio station Radio Cyclus in De Kwakel. Which is not uncommon.
Like many other stations Rick FM is professionalizing and at the same time has to safe costs. So it is cooperating with 4 other stations in the area:
I really wanted to get a QSL from Radio Eule München as this station ticks so many boxes. It is low power (only 10 Watt), from abroad and with 648 kms at quite a bit of distance given its power. But more importantly, it is an initiative of enthusiastic people at the Deutsches Museum in Munich who want to promote technology to get young people interested.
It wasn’t easy though to receive this one as 1500 kHz is a frequency on which I always experience heavy pulsating noise as if it was digitial communication (source unknown). And this winter, when conditions were favourable, WFED from Washington was often stronger. I even heard Radio Santa Rosa from Peru before I caught Radio Eule. So maybe this is one of these stations that are easier to catch in summer?
Luise Allendorf-Hoefer, Dipl.-Ing., Kuratorin Nachrichtentechnik und Elektronik (Curator News Technology and Electronics) at the Deutsches Museum was so kind to confirm my report. Luise is also HAM radio amateur under DL4LA. The Deutsches Museum website has a nice page dedicated to this station including a clip on how to build your own AM receiver! Munich is a city worth visiting I can tell you, and while you are there, spend some time at this museum as Germany has a technology tradition more than any other European country.
One of the stations I heard during my stay on Curacao earlier this year was LS6 Radio Buenos Aires on 1350 kHz. Yes, with 50 kW this is one of the stronger stations in South America, but I was still very pleased to hear this one over 5300 km on my small Tecsun PL368 with standard antenna. Radio Buenos Aires has been received in the Netherlands as well, so that’s my next goal. So far Radio Z100 Milano has prevented me from doing so.
As my emails to the address advertised on the Radio Buenos Aires website bounced I asked my radio friend Néstor Damián Fischetto if he knew a contact. Which is how I learned that mr. González might confirm my report. Thank you so much Néstor, and of course thank you mr. González.
I don’t have a lot of information about the history of Radio Buenos Aires. LS6 is their call sign and according to Wikipedia the station was active under various names before it was acquired by Radiodifusora Esmeralda S.A in 1999. As a significant portion of this company is owned by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (a Brazilian entity), there is some controversy as Argentinian law apparently prohibits foreign religious organizations to own media licenses… The program I listened to was neutral, with popular music and news.
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