Tag Archives: Radio Six International

radio six international: 60th Anniversary Celebration with 24 hour broadcast on SW and MW, June 6, 2023

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tony Currie, who shares the following announcement:


radio six international

SCOTTISH RADIO STATION CELEBRATES 60th ON SW AND MW

On 6th June 1963, four schoolchildren gathered in the attic of a house on the Ardrossan seafront in Ayrshire to launch their very own radio station. Cobbled together with tins, clockwork gramophones, and lots of wire, the opening day’s programmes were line fed to a radio receiver two floors down. But it was a start and, against the odds, the station survived in a variety of forms and today can be heard 24/7 on the internet. With listeners in 208 countries, and both daily direct FM and regular shortwave rebroadcasts as well as a network of 30 affiliate AM, FM and Digital stations around the world, radio six international is a force to be reckoned with.

Programming is largely unsigned and indie performers worldwide, while at weekends a team of some 30 seasoned professionals provide specialist music programming. The station is now based in a purpose-built headquarters on the Inner Hebridean island of Lismore, a tiny island sandwiched between Oban on the mainland and the much bigger island of Mull to the west.

To celebrate the station’s 60th anniversary on 6th June 2023, a day of original programmes from all the current station presenters will be broadcast, with the entire 24 hours carried on 9,670kHz in the 31 metre band from Röhrbach in Germany, as well as from FM transmitters in New Zealand on 88.2 and 107.6MHz between 00:00 and 23:59 GMT.   And as well as the streaming at www.radiosix.com (Alexa, “play radio six international”) the two hour live special programme “Sixty Swinging Years” hosted by Tony Currie will air on 1,323kHz from the Nexus-IBA transmitter in Milan, Italy between 19:00 and 21:00 GMT.  A special QSL card will be issued for the occasion and reception reports are encouraged. They can be sent during the broadcast (with probable mentions on air) to: [email protected]

For further details contact: Tony Currie (Director of Programmes)  [email protected]   Tel: +44 1631 760 100

radio six international The Studio, Port Ramsay, Isle of Lismore, Argyll, PA34 5UN, Scotland

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Radio Waves: Radio Six on Shortwave Again, ATN Refrains from Politics, NPR Ratings Drop in C-19, and Grand Central’s Role in Standard Time

A WWV Time Code Generator

Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers.  To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Michael Bird,  John Figliozzi, and Jack Dully for the following tips:


Radio Six Pops Up Again on Shortwave (Radio World)

Radio Six International has not been a full-time shortwave broadcaster for some time. But after two recent live broadcasts on 6070 kHz prompted by the pandemic, it says it will continue monthly broadcasts at least for now.

Radio World visited electronically with Tony Currie.[]

WLW’s America’s Truckin’ Network To Refrain From Political Talk (Radio Insight)

iHeartMedia News/Talk 700 WLW Cincinnati has eliminated political talk from its overnight “America’s Truckin’ Network” show hosted by Steve Sommers.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Sommers told listeners of the change on Monday morning’s show after multiple unspecified complaints.

In the on-air statement, Sommers blamed the change on a group of individuals who took offense with comments made by a caller a few weeks ago.[]

NPR Radio Ratings Collapse As Pandemic Ends Listeners’ Commutes (NPR)

Broadcast ratings for nearly all of NPR’s radio shows took a steep dive in major markets this spring, as the coronavirus pandemic kept many Americans from commuting to work and school. The network’s shows lost roughly a quarter of their audience between the second quarter of 2019 and the same months in 2020.

People who listened to NPR shows on the radio at home before the pandemic by and large still do. But many of those who listened on their commute have not rejoined from home. And that threatens to alter the terrain for NPR for years to come, said Lori Kaplan, the network’s senior director of audience insights.

“We anticipated these changes,” Kaplan said. “This kind of change was going to take place over the next decade. But the pandemic has shown us what our future is now.”

Commercial radio is experiencing, if anything, worse declines. But audience research commissioned by Kaplan indicates that NPR’s audience is disproportionately made up of professionals who are able to work from home and who are interested in doing so even after the pandemic subsides.[]

The Day That New York Had Two Noons, a Century After Losing 11 Days (Untapped New York)

New York’s history has included everything from transit strikes to riots over Shakespeare to immigration from nearly every country in the world. Yet, for much of this history, people didn’t always know the “correct” time or date. Until 1883, virtually every place in the country set local time according to the sun. According to Sam Roberts in his book Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America, “Typically, noon would be regularly signaled so people could synchronize their clocks and watches.” From dropping a ball down a flagpole in Manhattan to ringing a gong, settlements all across the country would alert people of noon. But as railroads spread throughout the country, it was nearly impossible to standardize the time.

“A passenger traveling from Portland, Maine, to Buffalo could arrive in Buffalo at 12:15 according to his own watch set by Portland time,” Roberts writes. “He might be met by a friend at the station whose watch indicated 11:40 Buffalo time. The Central clock said noon. The Lake Shore clock said it was only 11:25. At Pennsylvania Station in Jersey City, New Jersey, one clock displayed Philadelphia time and another New York time. When it was 12:12 in New York, it was 12:24 in Boston, 12:07 in Philadelphia, and 11:17 in Chicago.”[]


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Return of “radio six international” to shortwave June 6, 2020

(Source: radio six international via Gérard Koopal)

Shortwave broadcast on June 6th

After an absence of five years, Scottish station radio six international returns to the HF bands to mark the outlet’s 57th anniversary.

Saturday Sounds with Tony Currie will air from 22:00 to 24:00 UTC on 6,070kHz (49.39m) via Channel 292’s 10kW transmitter in Germany. The programme will largely feature independent and unsigned music from around the world. QSL cards will be issued on receipt of either one Euro of one US dollar for return postage, with Reception Reports requested to be sent to Radio Six International, 21 Sherbrooke Avenue, Glasgow G41 4HF, Scotland. E-QSLs will happily be sent free of charge.

Launched in 1963 as an afternoon’s entertainment by a group of primary school children, it never went away and after various incarnations – including a spell as Europe’s first commercial cable radio network in the 1980s – the station has been webcasting round the clock for the past twenty years.

For a time, the station maintained a daily shortwave presence from 2004, using the facilities of both IRRS and WBCQ, switching to weekly transmissions from Ulbroka, Latvia in 2005 and daily programmes on medium wave and satellite via RTI in Tatras, Slovakia.

In 2008 the various transmissions were ended to concentrate on the internet service and the provision of syndicated programming around the world. 58 stations now take some or all of our output, with 9 hours a week simulcast on FM in New Zealand and 4 hours on FM in Taiwan.

Our broadcast on June 6th is currently on one-off; however we are considering a more regular return to the HF bands in the future.

Note: Radio Six International is an internet station at www.radiosix.com with audited listeners in 200 countries worldwide. It’s been webcasting since 2000, and syndicates up to 9 hours a week of programmes to its affiliate network of 58 AM, FM and DAB Digital stations around the world.

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Radio Six International: special five hour broadcast on shortwave

RadioSixInternationalMany thanks to Mike Terry for the following news from Radio Six International:

Coming this month…..Ewan Spence takes us to Austin, Texas for a series of daily shows from the gigantic annual music festival South by South West beginning on Monday, March 14th at 20:00 GMT

We’ll be back on shortwave later this month, with a special five hour broadcast in the 49 metre band on Saturday 19th March from 12:00 to 17:00 GMT. As well as the usual programmes there will be a special two-hour live edition of Saturday Sounds hosted by Tony Currie and including live emails and messages. Listen online as usual or tune in to 6070kHz (49.39m) from a transmitter near Munich in Germany.

Great new music from a huge variety of worldwide artists every night in Random Play at 20:00 GMT.

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Radio Six International broadcasts this week

Radio-Six-International

(Source: Mike Terry via the WRTH Facebook page)

Radio Six International

Shortwave transmissions will return for an experiment next weekend. From transmitters in Sweden, and on a couple of frequencies in different bands, we offer an afternoon of programming from 14:00 to 16:00 GMT on Saturday, 25th April, aimed at listeners in Europe. (3 – 5pm UK time, 4 – 6pm Europe).

Programme details on the April issue of Radio News. Hear us in the UK, Ireland and most of Western Europe on 9,405kHz (31.87m); and Scandinavia and Northern Europe on 3,975kHz (75.47m).

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