This is the International Section of
The Broadcast Archive

Maintained by:
Barry Mishkind - The Eclectic Engineer
Updated 4/29/08

Danish Broadcasting:

  • History
  • Regulation

Danish Broadcast History:

The first station in Denmark began transmitting in 1922.

In 1926  became the only radio allowed to transmit in Denmark, using one channel (P1). In 1951 a second channel (P2) was assigned. 

From August 2, 1958 until July 31, 1962 a pirate station called Radio Mercur transmitted commercial radio from a ship in the international waters between Denmark and Sweden. It was aimed at youthful listeners. Another pirate, named DCR, or Danmarks Commercielle Radio, was on air from September 15 1961 until January 29 1962 when it combined with Radio Mercur. Eventually, the ship called Cheta II was forced - by the Danish FCC - to stop transmitting. (The law even forbade Danish citizens from recording programs from Radio Mercur!)

Danmarks Radio began broadcasting as the successor to Statsradiofonien in 1959. In 1962 Danmarks Radio got one channel more which was programmed for the young audience. The programming debuted on January 1, 1963.

The different channels have the names P1, P2, P3 and P4. (P4 is the regional service)..

In 1986 local stations were permitted to originate and transmit on there own frequencies, using a power of 30 watts from a height of 40 meters. About 300 such stations are on the air today in Denmark.

Danish information can be found at http://www.dr.dk

Regulation:

Early regulation of broadcasting

The current regulatory body is the local radio board, operating under the Cultural Minister.

If you want to start a radio station in Denmark, you need to get a license from the "local radio board." Such licenses are available only to companies or organizations which only have radio as their main activity.

Every municipality has it's own "local radio board" similar to the US FCC; if there are any complaints about the radio station the board can take the license away. (The station can ask the cultural minister to investigate the problem and restore the license back to the station.)

Thanks to Kristian Rasmussen, Henrik Noergaard, and Kevin Flynn  for their  assistance with this page.