Public history Contemporary history of Luxembourg

Radio Luxembourg: The Virtual Exhibition

Radio Luxembourg: The Virtual Exhibition
The virtual exhibition of the history of Radio Luxembourg / RTL is the result of a research seminar at the University of Luxembourg, curated by students of the Master in Contemporary European History under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Fickers.

Did you know that the history of Radio Luxembourg goes back to the 1920? It was in 1923 when the Ahnen brothers started the first experimental radio station in Luxembourg. In 1930, the state granted an exclusive license for radio broadcasting to the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion (CLR), which was to become the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT) in 1954 and ultimately RTL Group.

We invite you to explore this fascinating history on the H-Europe blog, which is curated by the Master students themselves. The main exhibition paths are as follow:

  • a collection of so-called ‘biographiesshort research based stories exploring important structures and events of Luxembourgish broadcasting history with rich references to textual, sonic and audiovisual sources.
  • a series of ‘storymaps, experimenting with new ways of visualising the spatial dimension of broadcasting history
  • a corpus of oral history interviews, exclusively produced by the students for the purpose of adding living memories to the exhibition project.
  • timeline, presenting a chronological overview of a century of important events in the political, economic, technical and cultural history of radio and television in Luxembourg