Ukrainian Radio on 1278 kHz: the last medium-wave transmitter in Ukraine, at Kurisove

What you hear

UR-1 is the first channel of Ukrainian Radio: news every hour, the morning show, talk programmes about the war, the economy and daily life, radio drama, readings and music, in Ukrainian, with the station's time signal and jingles. On 1278 kHz it is ordinary medium-wave AM. The programme is the same one relayed at night from Lithuania on 1386 kHz, which has its own entry, but here it comes from Ukrainian soil, and the catalogue does not limit it to particular hours.

Who transmits and why

The transmitter is at Kurisove in the Odesa region, north-east of the city, and the catalogue lists it at 100 kW. It matters less for its power than for what it is: the only medium-wave transmitter still on the air inside Ukraine. The others that carried UR-1, on 657, 873 and 1404 kHz, were switched off on 1 January 2023, a decision taken while the country was at war and electricity was scarce. Kurisove was kept because the south of Ukraine, the Black Sea coast and the occupied territories beyond are exactly the places where FM and the internet are least reliable and where a signal that any old radio can receive is worth the electricity.

Ukrainian Radio belongs to Suspilne, the public broadcaster. Its foreign reach on medium wave now goes through hired transmitters abroad, which is why the Lithuanian relay exists; Kurisove is the home outlet.

When and where to listen

By day a 100 kW transmitter on 1278 kHz covers the Odesa region, Moldova and parts of Mykolaiv and Kherson by ground wave, and that is the audience it serves. Medium wave carries far only after dark: after sunset the signal reaches Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Belarus, and on winter nights central Europe. Being in the south-west of Ukraine, the site is one of the few in the country that public receivers abroad can hear at all, and receivers in Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria give the best results, with Hungary and Poland next.

1278 kHz is a shared European channel; from western Europe other stations may be stronger. If you hear UR-1 on both 1278 and 1386 kHz at the same time, the two are the same programme, and comparing them tells you which transmitter is nearer the receiver. The program tunes AM; a sideband mode helps if a neighbour on 1269 or 1287 kHz splatters.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Medium and long wave → Ukrainian Radio 1278 kHz (Kurisove). ShackDeck chooses a public receiver that hears 1278 kHz, tunes it and sets AM; you need no receiver, antenna or account of your own. A receiver in Moldova or Romania gives the station by day, one further away after dark.