higher power provided a better signal to hundreds of thousands of listeners in central Sweden. The station was also audible in northern Sweden at night. Some Swedes complained that it was a mistake to build an expensive longwave facility financed by license fees when the more enjoyable FM radio was gaining in popularity. Critics pointed out that many FM stations could be built for the cost of one longwave station. Televerket responded by stating that the Orlunda station was required because many of its listeners did not yet own FM receivers. However, despite Televerket's insistence on the importance of AM broadcasting, it introduced an FM network only a few years later; the Orlunda facility was the last longwave transmitter and the second-last AM transmitter (Sölvesborg was the last) built by Televerket. Problems Soon after the station entered service, the East German international station Stimme der DDR commenced broadcasting on 185 kHz, interfering with reception at longer distances. After several complaints, the East German government moved the station's frequency to decrease interference. On 12 July 1970 the station's central antenna was struck by lightning, cutting off a stay, setting an oil-filled stay insulator on fire, and crushing the base insulator. This caused the central antenna to collapse over the bunker, destroying the antenna but causing little damage to the sturdily-built bunker; only a crack in the ceiling was visible from the inside entrance. Power was lowered to 150 kW while the feeders were reconnected to the five ring antennas. The central mast was never rebuilt. When the feeders were rebuilt the power was raised again to 300 kW, but lowered again in the 1970s to 100 kW after the 1973 and 1979 oil crises. This cut listenership as it increased maintenance costs; Televerket made plans to improve Sweden's AM radio network with five new 600 kW mediumwave transmitters and replacing Orlunda with new longwave facilities on the island of Gotland and at Mora. This would have improved coverage of northern Sweden and the Swedish speaking areas of Finland, but the plan never reached fruition. Sveriges Radio later introduced processed sound to increase sound quality, but this had the effect of the modulation transformer almost reaching its alarm limit. The end In 1986 the station's frequency was changed to 189 kHz to meet international standards proposed at the 1979 Geneva World Administrative Radio Conference. A rubidium oscillator was installed to stabilize the