Radio Wolga was a radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 for the Soviet armed forces

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 in the former GDR (East Germany).

Broadcasting station

Until 1967 Radio Wolga broadcast from the Königs Wusterhausen radio facility near Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. After 1967 the Burg AM transmitter

Burg AM transmitter

The AM transmitter in Burg, near Magdeburg, Germany, is a huge facility for longwave and mediumwave broadcasting. Its most dominant constructions are a 324 metre guyed radio mast and two 210 metre guyed steel tube masts....

 near Magdeburg

Magdeburg

Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

 was used.

From 1967 to 1976 Radio Wolga used the 350-meter SL-3 tower, 2.2 kilometers from the transmitter. After it collapsed in 1976, one of the site's two 210-meter high steel tube masts was used instead. Radio Wolga originally broadcast on the longwave

Longwave

In radio, longwave refers to parts of radio spectrum with relatively long wavelengths. The term is a historic one dating from the early 20th century, when the radio spectrum was considered to consist of long, medium and short wavelengths...

 frequency 283 kHz, later moving to 263 kHz and finally 261 kHz.

Programming

Beside programs for the Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 soldiers stationed in the GDR, Radio Wolga also occasionally produced programming in the German language

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

. After German reunification

German reunification

German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...

 in 1990 part of the transmitting time was rented to the German-language news station Radioropa Info

Radioropa Info

Radioropa Info was the designation of the only German language privately-owned longwave broadcasting station. It was the air with several stations during the 1990s with a silent stretch on longwave in the middle of the decade....

.

Shutdown

With the departure of the Russian troops in 1994, Radio Wolga was shut down. Radioropa Info

Radioropa Info

Radioropa Info was the designation of the only German language privately-owned longwave broadcasting station. It was the air with several stations during the 1990s with a silent stretch on longwave in the middle of the decade....

took over its frequency, broadcasting from late 1994 until 2000. In 1999 a new cage aerial was mounted on the 324-meter radio mast in Burg.

External links

• Burg, früher 261 kHz — brief history of transmissions on 261 kHz in Germany