Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio
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 Paul Jamet, David Iurescia, and Alon for the following tips:
SAQ Grimeton scheduled to air on UN-Day, Oct 24th 2026 (SAQ)
SAQ was put into commercial radio traffic on December 1st 1924, at first on 16.2 kHz. In mid December 1924, the frequency was changed to 16.1 kHz and on Dec 24th 1926 it was changed back to 16.2 kHz. On March 10th 1927 SAQ’s frequency was again changed, this time to 17.0 kHz, a frequency previously used by Italian station IRC in Rome.
Only two weeks later, on April 3rd 1927 SAQ’s frequency was again changed, now to 17.2 kHz, a frequency previously occupied by LPV in Buenos Aires, in order to provide “suitable noninterfering wave channel for new Belgian station ORU Ruysselede”, according to the traffic manager at RCA.
17.2 kHz has since then, except for a short period in the 1950’s when SAQ was transmitting on 17.25 kHz, been the frequency we all now belongs to the historical Alexanderson alternator SAQ at Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden.
On UN-Day, October 24th, 2026, SAQ is scheduled* to spread a peace message to the World on 17.2 kHz CW.
[Click here to view full broadcast and test transmission schedules]
QSL No. 10: 1950 – Establishment of the Bulgarian National Radio’s Golden Fund (BNR News)
Throughout 2026, Radio Bulgaria is confirming listeners’ reception reports with a new series of 12 QSL cards. Each card highlights a significant moment from the history of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) and Radio Bulgaria, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. At the beginning of each month, we present the story behind the image featured on the latest card.
The tenth QSL card for 2026 is dedicated to the establishment of the Bulgarian National Radio’s Golden Fund
The idea of preserving valuable recordings for future generations dates back to the first director of the National Radio, Sirak Skitnik. At his initiative, tape recorders were purchased specifically for this purpose in 1938. In 1950, an order was issued to establish the Bulgarian National Radio’s Golden Fund, but it began operating systematically and in its current form as a specialized archive in November 1957.
Central Bohemian skyline to lose distinctive landmark when Liblice transmitter masts come down (Radio Prague International)
The two 355-metre-high masts of the Liblice transmitter near ?eský Brod are due to be demolished by controlled explosions in October 2026. In its time, the complex, built in 1976, was the most powerful medium-wave transmitter in Central Europe, with an output of 1.5 megawatts. Czech Radio broadcast from the site until the end of 2021, after which the transmitter was temporarily used by Country Radio. Broadcasting from Liblice finally ended in March 2025.
Free CC0 M3U files of working stream URLs for WiFi radios
Hi Thomas,
Your April post on finding and fixing missing streams on Skytune radios prompted this. I keep a free, open project that may help readers with “add by URL” WiFi radios (CCWiFi3, Ocean Digital, Sangean and others), and with VLC or Kodi.
https://github.com/AlonDrilich/radio-playlists (browsable site: https://alondrilich.github.io/radio-playlists/) publishes M3U playlists every week, built from the public Radio Browser directory: one file per country (170) and per genre (60), only stations that passed the directory’s latest stream check. The data is CC0 and the script is MIT, and you can open any file in a text editor to copy a single stream URL. About 40% of the entries are plain http://, which helps older radios that cannot play https streams.
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