The Tyrolean Music Station was a believed French shortwave numbers station that transmitted from Chartres in the Centre-Val de Loire region, France,[1] from the early 1970s until late 1975. The station played several folk music songs by German yodeller Franzl Lang, prior to broadcasting one or several coded messages, and a music-box rendition of "The Internationale". The station was of unknown origin during the time it was broadcasting, until a French magazine, Interférences, claimed in their Autumn 1975 issue that the station was operated by the French intelligence service, SDECE.[1] Shortly after this magazine was published, the station ceased broadcasting.
| Broadcast area | Chartres, France |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 6.425 and 6.660 MHz |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | German |
| Format | Numbers station |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | SDECE (speculated) |
| History | |
First air date | 1970s - Autumn 1975 |
Schedule and format
editThe station, given its nickname due to the yodelling music played during its broadcasts, would begin broadcasting on Saturday and Sunday each week, at 11:30UTC, with three songs played by the German yodeller, Franzl Lang.[2] Following this, the carrier would remain silent until 11:55UTC, when a music-box rendition of the first seven notes of socialist anthem The Internationale would play, increasing in speed until 12:00, when a live[3] or taped[4] announcer would, speaking in German, call out several names, and read coded messages in the form of groups of five numbers. These messages were suspected to be sent to intelligence agents within the Eastern Bloc, to be decoded using a one-time pad.[5]
The station would occasionally vary its typical format - during the songs being played, the music would fade out, and the announcer would call out names in German, providing them with a cryptic sentence, before wishing them farewell. This variation was recorded and was made available on The Conet Project, a compilation CD of numbers station recordings.
The station would frequently suffer from technical glitches, with audible clicks and whirrs of tapes being rewound and set, the wrong songs being played, or coughs and sneezes being heard in the background of the station.[3]
The station ceased operation in Autumn 1975, shortly after an article in French magazine "Interférences" was published, claiming the station to be operated by the SDECE.[5]
Cultural impact
editThe Conet Project recording of this station could be found within the data files of the video game Half-Life 2.
Footnotes
edit- ^ a b ""Tyrolean Music Station"". Interférences. No. 3. Fall 1975. p. 9.
- ^ "Tyrolean Music Station" (PDF). E.N.I.G.M.A Newsletter. No. 3. 1993. p. 5.
- ^ a b Mason, Simon. "G1 Tyrol". Archived from the original on 13 April 2019.
- ^ "G01". Priyom.org.
- ^ a b "Long-lost evidence shows G01 run by French SDECE". Priyom.org. 14 March 2020.
