Latvian Radio's secret broadcasting site in Salaspils
Infrastructure

The secret transmitter of Latvian Radio was operating during the 1991 coup on August 20 and 21. Even after January 1991, there was a possibility that the USSR leadership might decide to use force against the Baltic states, introducing martial law and arresting the country's leadership and the most visible supporters of independence. Therefore, already in the summer of 1991, a radio transmitter was secretly installed in the Latvenergo communications center in Salaspils in case the so-called "X" hour occurred.

During the August 1991 coup, the activities of the mass media played a crucial role, so when the coup began, on the evening of August 19, armed units of the USSR occupied the Latvian Television complex in Zaķusala and the Latvian Radio tower in Ulbroka. The next day, on August 20, in the early morning at 5:00 a.m., OMON fighters broke into the Latvian Radio building in Riga, Doma laukums, and later Soviet paratroopers took up residence there. By threatening and using physical force, the Latvian Radio employees were driven out of the Latvian Radio building. However, despite the information blockade, Latvian Radio continued to work, as it began broadcasting from a secret underground studio in Salaspils at 4:53 a.m.

A memorial plaque with the inscription "From this house during the days of the 1991 coup, the secret Latvian Radio broadcast" near the former "Latvenergo" communications center building in Salaspils, at Gaismas Street 20c, was unveiled in 2006, but today the building is privately owned. In 2021, the Daugava Museum hosted an exhibition-installation "Underground Radio Studio 30", dedicated to the activities of Latvian Radio during the August 1991 coup.