
Radiomap
Westerglen near Falkirk, Scotland is the oldest transmitting station in the United Kingdom; it entered service on June 12, 1922 and predates the BBC. It houses one of Britain’s three long wave transmitters which carry the Radio 4 network on 198 kHz. Normally as the three transmitters are synchronised your radio receives the strongest signal, but one day two years ago the Droitwich main Radio 4 LW transmitter was out of action for maintenance. The signal from Westerglen could be heard, quiet and distorted but unmistakeable, here hundreds of miles away. The buildings at the station date from 1932 and are in the same Art Deco style as those at the other two long wave sites originally built for originally the National Programme.
In 2011 Station controller Gwyneth Williams announced that Radio 4 was likely to continue using the long wave transmitter for the next ten years at least.
Originally posted 2009, updated October 2011
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