Stig Hartvig Nielsen writes: On 11 February 2011 at 8 AM local time all mediumwave stations carrying KNR (Radio Greenland) - Upernavik (810 kHz), Uummannaq (900 kHz), Qeqertarsuaq (650 kHz), Nuuk (570 kHz) and Simiutaq (720 kHz) - will be switched off for good, and the transmitters will be dismantled. On the same day the relays of KNR newscasts twice daily via Tasiilaq 3815 kHz will also cease.The decision has been taken by the Ministry of Housing, Infrastructure and Transport in the Government of Greenland.
After February 11 2011 KNR will only be available via low power FM in inhabited areas of Greenland. Thus no coverage of the country outside the towns and villages - and KNR will no longer be available for the fishermen at sea nor the Inuit population in Canada.
The decision was made because the transmitters were getting old and too costly to maintain. Besides, very few people are using the mediumwave transmissions. Weather forecasts will be available for fishermen and others via VHF coastal radio.
At one point it was considered replacing the aging mediumwave transmitters with one or two new shortwave AM transmitters near Nuuk, but it was estimated that it would cost 4 million DKK (535,000 euros) to establish such a new shortwave operation. It was also felt that few listeners would invest in a shortwave receiver and the quality would be ‘doubtful’ - suffering from ‘atmospheric phenomena’. So these plans were abandoned.
(Source: Stig Hartivig Nielsen via HCDX mailing list)
(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
KNR shortwave schedule:
1500-1600 UTC in Danish and Greenlandic on 3815 kHz
1600-1615 UTC in Danish and Greenlandic on 3815 kHz
2100-2200 UTC in Danish and Greenlandic on 3815 kHz
2200-2215 UTC in Danish and Greenlandic on 3815 kHz
(Gayle Van Horn, Frequency Manager/Monitoring Times
Website with on-demand audio and video: www.knr.gl