France's Secret Campaign to Silence Iconic Radio Andorra
A new book by Sylvain Athiel chronicles the rise and fall of the Pyrenean station, detailing decades of French efforts to jam signals, fund rivals,.
Key Points
- Radio Andorra launched in 1939 from Puy rock, peaking in 1955 with a Paris time capsule disc.
- French authorities jammed signals and funded rivals like Sud Radio to protect state monopoly.
- Owner Jacques Trémoulet faced death sentence for Nazi ties, fled to Spain.
- Station closed in 1981 after concession expiry; France ironically crushed one pirate by backing another.
A new book details France's decades-long campaign to silence Radio Andorra, the once-iconic Pyrenean station that broadcast from a rocky outpost in the Principality.
Sylvain Athiel's *L'histoire secrète des grandes radios pyrénéennes*, published by Privat, chronicles the station's rise and fall through a chronological account of its key figures and episodes. It builds on his earlier fictional work *Aquí Radio Andorra* from 2009, this time sticking to documented history.
Radio Andorra reached its zenith in October 1955, when a time capsule buried in the cellars of Paris's Tour d'Argent restaurant included a disc featuring the station's signature tune: "Aquí Radio Andorra, emisora del Principado de Andorra." Sung by star announcer Lydia Linares—alongside Carmen del Monte, hosts of the legendary *El concierto de los radiooyentes*—it captured the broadcaster's golden era amid 40 years of operation.
The station's origins trace to 1925, with Radio Toulouse founded by Léon Kierzkowski and Jacques Trémoulet, the controversial patron who later dominated Radio Andorra. Test broadcasts began on 7 August 1939 from the Puy rock near Escaldes-Engordany, with regular programming from April 1941. French authorities, protective of their state broadcasting monopoly, targeted these "peripheral" stations from the start.
Trémoulet's wartime dealings—balancing survival with ties to Nazi occupiers—led to a death sentence for collaboration after World War II, later commuted. He fled to Franco's Spain, thriving under Serrano Suñer. France intensified efforts under President Vincent Auriol, a Trémoulet foe: jamming signals, legal challenges, and funding rivals. First came Andoradio, then Radio de les Valls, evolving into Sud Radio under state-backed Sofirad.
Sud Radio's fortunes turned with its 1964 launch of a massive transmitter at Port d'Envalira—dubbed the "Concorde of the airwaves." It gradually overshadowed Radio Andorra, especially after the Tour de France caravan's 5 July 1964 visit to Puy rock, marking the original station's swan song amid Jacques Anquetil's infamous Envalira struggles.
When concessions granted by Andorra's Consell General in 1950 expired in 1981, authorities enforced closure on 2 April. Radio Andorra went silent; Sud Radio retreated to Toulouse. Athiel highlights the irony: France crushed one "pirate" broadcaster by creating and propping up another.
Original Sources
This article was aggregated from the following Catalan-language sources: