Gaisberg transmitter marks 70 years of broadcasting

Salzburg’s Gaisberg transmitter has been operating since 1956, providing radio and television coverage to much of Salzburg and neighbouring Upper Austria, ORF reports. Its 100-metre mast now carries 45 radio programmes and more than 50 television programmes.

The transmitter began with two FM stations. It now carries private broadcasters and four or five ORF radio services, including Radio Salzburg, Radio Oberösterreich, Ö3, Ö1 and FM4. The equipment inside the building has been repeatedly upgraded over the decades.

The summit was used for communications technology before the current transmitter was built. It was a restricted area from 1939 to 1945, when the German Wehrmacht operated a radar station there. A hut on the summit plateau is a surviving former kitchen barracks for soldiers. A temporary radio transmitter was installed in 1953, and the present building and mast were constructed in 1955 and 1956.

The mast is repainted every 10 to 12 years and undergoes safety checks every two years, with any defects repaired immediately. The transmitter is part of Austria’s critical infrastructure. Part of the building and transmission equipment belongs to mobile network operator A1, and emergency services also have transmitters there. The site also hosts projects including ALDIS lightning research.

The mast is reinforced regularly to withstand stronger winds, including speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour. In January 2019, heavy snow made the summit inaccessible and cut its power supply, but broadcasting continued.