Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) Christmas Program on Shortwave, 2022 (01)

If Germany’s Northern German Radio (Norddeutscher Rundfunk, NDR) has it right in its December 2022 schedule, the traditional program of greetings from the shore to the Seven Seas (minus the Pacific, it seems) will be on air on Christmas Eve from 18:03 to 21:00 UTC. That would be in line with last year’s broadcasting time, which was also just three instead of the traditional four hours.

^{Hello World, this is Leer calling}
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»»»»» Beginning of Update, Nov 30, 2022

Times and frequencies

Target Areas	Schedule Nov 26 (now invalid)	Schedule Nov 30 (most recently)
Atlantic (North)	6145 kHz
Atlantic (South)	9830 kHz	13725 kHz
Atlantic (Northwest)	—	15770 kHz
Atlantic (Northeast)	—	6030 kHz
Atlantic / Indian Ocean	9590 kHz	11650 kHz
Indian Ocean	—	9740 kHz
Indian Ocean (West)	9740 kHz
Indian Ocean (East)	9675 kHz
Europe	6155 kHz	6080 kHz

This leaves us with some guesswork, but tradition and target areas seem to suggest that the Atlantics will be served from Nauen (Germany) or from Issoudun (France). and 6155 kHz look like Moosbrunn (Austria), especially as the Austrian Broadcasting Service (Österreichischer Rundfunk Service, ORS) seem to target all of Europe (360°) from there with their daily morning and midday broadcasts in German.

But to be honest, I’m really wildly guessing. Hopefully, NDR will follow up with some more details about transmitter sites, soon.

Still update, Nov 30, 2022

I’m not sure how the NDR schedule had arrived at the previous schedule (Nov 26) – those weren’t last year’s Christmas frequencies either. But moving up the spectrum makes sense, as maximum usable frequencies have been rising for a while, and are likely to do so until about 2025.

End of update Nov 30 «««««

In some ways, the program seems to be going back to normal as far as its  format is concerned. People are no longer confined to their computers and the internet – people meet again. Christmas messages from seafarers’ relatives ashore will be pre-recorded in Leer (East Frisia / Ostfriesland) on December 11, and in Hamburg on December 18, in settings as christmaslike as possible, 13 or six days ahead of the big day (or night) itself.

What will be missing this year (it appears) is the religious service – the only part of the traditional shortwave broadcasts that actually used to be live on the air. That would follow at 22:00 UTC, but only on VHF, digital, or streamed.