Iconic radio tower for sale

17.05.2023 - RADIONYTT.NO - Kyrre Dahl

In 2017, the FM transmitters were switched off. After 54 years Tryvannstårnet radio and TV tower in Oslo ceased to have an operational function. Now Oslo municipality wants to sell the iconic tower.

Tryvannstårnet. Photo: Thomas Berglund, Wikipedia

It was in the Tryvann area that the first official radio broadcasts in Norway were distributed 100 years ago, in 1923. In 1962, the Tryvann Tower was built to transmit signals from both TV and Radio. 54 years later, in 2017, the FM signals were switched off and the tower no longer had any operational function.

Now Tryvannstårnet is one of several old buildings that Oslo kommune ( Oslo municipality ) wants to get rid of. A total of 26 properties are now recommended for sale. At the same time, the municipality recommends demolishing 19 buildings, they write in a press release.

- The sales revenue from the buildings we sell will go towards rehabilitating the buildings we will keep. That's what Hanna Marcussen, city councilor for urban development (MDG), says, according to NRK. The Tryvann tower will be put up for sale already towards the end of the year.

The investor Christian Ringnes has previously announced his interest in buying the landmark. Among the plans he put forward in 2019 was to open the tower to the public, as a lookout point and possibly a cafe or a nicer restaurant, NRK reports.

60 meters up in the tower there is an observation platform from which on clear days you can see as far as Sweden in the east and Gaustatoppen in Telemark in the west, about 120 km away. This used to be a popular tourist destination, but it was closed in 2005 due to new fire safety regulations which would mean a major investment.

In 1923, the first radio program in the Nordics was broadcast from a small transmitter near today's tower, according to Wikipedia. At most there were three radio masts in the area, today only one. The FM transmitters were the last remaining technical installations in the tower.

More radio stories from Norway: In English

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