Radio Exterior de España on 15520 kHz: Spain's voice for its fleets and the Americas

What you hear

Spanish, most of the time: the news and current affairs of Radio Nacional de España, sport, music, and the programmes REE makes for Spaniards abroad, among them a long-running one for the fishing fleets and merchant seamen on the oceans. The sound is that of a big national broadcaster, with jingles, time checks and a brisk pace. The exceptions are the foreign-language slots at the end of the day: English on Wednesdays at 22:00 UTC, French on Tuesdays at 22:00, Russian on Saturdays at 22:05 and Arabic on Fridays at 20:00 UTC, each a short programme of news and features about Spain in that language. Those slots are the only foreign-language shortwave Spain has left, and each one is worth catching at least once.

Who transmits and why

Radio Exterior de España is the external service of RTVE, Spain's public broadcaster. The modern story of its shortwave is unusual: in October 2014 RTVE switched the transmitters off to save money, and within weeks switched them back on, after protests from the fishing fleets and from Spaniards in Latin America and Africa for whom shortwave was the only link to home. Since then the service has kept a reduced but steady schedule aimed at the Atlantic, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

The transmitters are at Noblejas, in the province of Toledo south of Madrid, Spain's big shortwave site, running 200 kW for these broadcasts. On weekdays the service runs from 15:00 to 23:00 UTC and at weekends from 14:00 to 23:00 UTC, on four frequencies at once, 15390, 15500, 15520 and 17715 kHz, each aimed at a different region. 15520 kHz is the one in the catalogue, and if it is weak where you are, one of the other three may be better.

When and where to listen

15520 kHz is in the 19 metre band, which wants daylight. The afternoon hours, 15:00 to about 18:00 UTC, are the strongest in Europe and across the Atlantic; as evening comes the band stays open on the sunlit paths to the Americas and West Africa but closes over Europe, so the late foreign-language slots at 22:00 UTC are easier from a receiver in the Canary Islands, Portugal, the Caribbean or the eastern United States than from central Europe. In summer, when the band stays open late, central Europe hears them too. 17715 kHz behaves the same way, only more so; 15390 and 15500 kHz carry the same programme and may be pointed closer to you.

Four parallel frequencies also mean four chances against interference: if a neighbour spoils 15520 kHz, move rather than fight it. On a single frequency, the sideband away from the neighbour is the usual remedy.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Shortwave broadcast → Radio Exterior de España. The program picks a public receiver that covers 15520 kHz, tunes it and sets AM; nothing of your own is needed. REE's Russian programmes are also part of the WRN block on 9820 kHz, which has its own entry.