Radiomäki mast maintenance enters tenth summer of painting

LAHTI — For the tenth consecutive summer, painters are scaling the two 150-metre radio masts that dominate the skyline above central Lahti, restoring the white-and-orange coatings that have protected the 99-year-old steel structures since 1949.

Since 2013 the work has been led by contractor Antti Inkinen, whose four-person crew follows weather windows dictated by wind, temperature, rain and thunderstorms. Painting cannot proceed in high winds or rain, and lightning halts all mast access.

The Radio and TV Museum Foundation spends €100,000 annually on upkeep and is seeking partners for a more thorough renovation. During each summer’s campaign, the crew also photographs small dents and gouges in the steel that may date from wartime bombing raids. The images are forwarded to experts for assessment.

The masts were erected in 1927 to improve national radio coverage; the original transmitter antenna spanned 316 metres between the towers. Although the adjacent 1928 transmitter building now houses the Radio and TV Museum Mastola, parts of the masts still carry active communications equipment.

The current colour scheme—white with aviation orange—was adopted in 1949. Earlier layers include a greenish field-grey used until the late 1940s and a lead-based primer applied in 1928 that remains embedded in the steel.

Foundation chair Mikael Seppälä said preservation is driven by cultural value as much as engineering. A book tracing Radiomäki’s history is scheduled for release in autumn 2026.