On January 19, 2017, AFN Wiesbaden moved up the dial from 98.7FM to 103.7FM. Some listeners have reported having difficulty tuning in AFN Wiesbaden 'The Eagle' on 103.7 FM outside the Wiesbaden area.
AFN Europe made this change to best serve major concentrations of U.S. military personnel living and working on or near Wiesbaden Army Airfield and the Kaiserslautern military community.
For decades, AFN has sought a U.S.-friendly FM frequency for Americans serving in the Kaiserslautern community that they could tune in on their U.S. radios (a frequency that ends in an odd number instead of an even one). A recent agreement with the German government allowed us to get that U.S.-friendly FM frequency while still maintaining a U.S.-friendly FM frequency for Americans living and working on or near Wiesbaden Army Airfield.
The 98.7 frequency was powered to cover legacy U.S. forces configurations. It used so much power that it could be heard from near Bonn, south to near Kaiserslautern, and east to Heidelberg. Our active duty force concentrations are much different now, and that contributed to the complex set of facts leading to the frequency and power change decisions.
We realize our new 103.7 FM frequency does not reach Americans commuting from the Heidelberg and Mannheim area, or living far from Wiesbaden Army Airfield. We continue seeking technical solutions to allow us to provide an AFN radio signal to these commuters while maintaining our agreement with the German government to target our radio signal to American military communities.
Delivering local command information to primary audiences is AFN Europe's mission. While you can hear all AFN affiliates' local programming on the Internet at www.afneurope.net/AFN360, and via our AFN Europe mobile app, we understand some commuters want terrestrial FM radio. We will continue to coordinate service improvements with our host government for the benefit of those living outside the main force concentration areas.