December 29: Radio Luxembourg

On this date in 1929, Radio Luxembourg was created when a licence to operate a commercial radio broadcasting franchise from the Grand Duchy was awarded to the group of broadcasters which became the Luxembourg Broadcasting Company (Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion), identified on the air as Radio Luxembourg. I remember it as a pop music station in the 1970s, but there's more to it than that. Here are 10 things you might not know about Radio Luxembourg.

1. The whole thing started in 1923 when amateur Radio enthusiasts François and Marcel Anen installed a transmitter in the attic of their house, 28, rue Beaumont in Luxembourg City. By 1924, they were broadcasting regular music programmes, mostly of military music, for people in Luxembourg. In 1929, a commercial licence was granted.
2. Most of the early broadcasts were in Luxembourgish, but there were German, French and English programmes as well. The attic studio was host to orchestras playing live Music. The station also broadcast sports results.
3. In the late 1920s and 1930s programmes aimed at the British Isles were broadcast on the Long Wave Band. The BBC and British Government accused the broadcaster of being a 'Pirate'. During this period programmes included a broadcast sponsored by the Littlewoods Football Pools company and the League of Ovaltineys as well as recorded music shows.
4. During World War II the station was closed down by the Luxembourg Government and the frequency taken over by the occupying German forces. They used it to broadcast propaganda to the UK in English. One of the voices of their propaganda station was William Joyce, referred to by the British Public as ‘Lord Haw Haw’. At the end of the war the Americans took it over for a while, also using it to broadcast their messages.
5. By the 1950s, the station was broadcasting on the frequency many of us remember – medium wave 208 metres. Music was taking a bit of a back seat with the prgrammes heavily featuring quiz shows, serial dramas and religious programmes. Some of the shows ended up on “mainstream” radio and television - Take Your Pick with Michael Miles, Double Your Money with Hughie Green, Dr Kildare and Perry Mason being cases in point. The Adventures of Dan Dare, "Pilot of the future" was broadcast on Radio Luxembourg, too. There was still music, including the Top Twenty which aired once a week, hosted by Pete Murray.
6. The BBC and Radio Luxembourg weren't exactly on the best of terms. Often, stars who fell out with the BBC for whatever reason would move over to Radio Luxembourg. One such was Vera Lynn, who objected to the BBC wanting her to sing more upbeat songs. She signed a contract with Radio Luxembourg which not only allowed her to sing what she liked, they paid her more, as well. Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, a comedy show which the BBC axed in 1950 found a home in Luxembourg until the BBC relented and brought it back. Neither station ever mentioned the existence of the other.
7. Not all the music shows on radio Luxembourg were made in Luxembourg. During the 1950s and 1960s, some of the shows were pre-recorded in London, something most listeners weren't aware of. They thought the DJ was actually in Luxembourg playing the records live.
8. By 1963, it had become a record playing station, mostly aimed at the teenage market. Older listeners and young families had by and large migrated to watching television.
9. Many of the DJs became household names. Alan Dell, Keith Fordyce, Alan Freeman, David Jacobs, Brian Matthew, Pete Murray, Jimmy Young, Paul Burnett, Dave Cash, Noel Edmonds, Kenny Everett, Johnny Walker, Peter Powell, Tony Prince, Stuart Henry and Mike Read, to name but a few.
10. Radio Luxembourg stopped broadcasting on 208 on 30 December 1991. The last record played was Van Morrison's In the Days Before Rock and Roll, which mentions Radio Luxembourg in the lyrics.