Radio thistle
Radio Distel was a non-commercial radio broadcaster in Eupen / Belgium , which broadcast its programs in German from 1981 to 1986.
history
Broadcasting was not legalized in the first few years, but was tolerated by the authorities pending appropriate legislation . In 1985 the station received official recognition from the German-speaking community . The operator was the Eupen Adult Education Center, whose office at the time in Eupener Bergstrasse also served as the sender's postal address. The project was largely managed on a grassroots basis, with a public editorial meeting once a week in a trade union building in Eupen.
Radio Distel described itself as free radio on-air and off-air and saw itself as a more left-wing alternative broadcaster. The program included many contributions from peace and environmental groups, regional reporting, a program for Spanish guest workers and a large number of youth programs, most of which were created by the students themselves. The show Theos Kultshow by station comedian Theo Rick was sometimes controversial , according to his own admission with the hardest humor between urine and Urals . In the beginning it was broadcast on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, later broadcasting was expanded to 24 hours, with live broadcasts on weekdays only running in the afternoons and evenings and the rest of the time being filled with non-stop music. At the beginning and end of live broadcasts a version of the German folk song was Despite all played.
The broadcasting operation was financed from membership fees and grants from the adult education center as well as private funds from individual employees. Advertising was not broadcast and was also generally rejected.
Together with other independent radios , Radio Distel was a member of the Belgian association “Association pour la Liberation des Ondes - Belgique” (ALO-B). In 1982 Radio Distel took part under the name “Libérez Babar” in the solidarity campaign for the ALO-B activist Roger Noël (“Babar”), who was imprisoned in what was then the People's Republic of Poland at the time because he worked for Radio Solidarność (the voice the Polish opposition declared illegal under martial law) had smuggled a broadcaster into the country.
In 1982 an attempt was made to set up a station with a similar concept in Sankt Vith , which should broadcast for the southern eastern cantons. “Radio Kaktus” was only a short-lived project.
The broadcasting operation was stopped at the end of 1986 due to lack of money, after the station had shortly before broadcast a large part of the lectures from the “ Katholikentag von Below” on the sidelines of the Katholikentag 1986 in Aachen.
reception
The transmitter and studio location was the memory of a private house on the southern outskirts of Eupen, the transmission frequency was 103.8 MHz (popular as 104 MHz), later 105.6 MHz. The transmission power was officially 100 watts , but was in some cases below or exceeded in the last few years of broadcasting. A tube transmitter from Rohde & Schwarz was used . The transmission area comprised the northern eastern cantons of the German-speaking Community of Belgium and neighboring communities in Wallonia . Reception was also possible in parts of Aachen and the surrounding area with a certain amount of antenna effort. However, only the city of Eupen was supplied with local broadcast quality.