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| Portions of Hadrian's Wall in Scotland (wikipedia) |
Radio
program broadcasting came to Scotland on March 6, 1923 with the inauguration of
station 5SC in Glasgow with 1½ kW on 717 kHz. The original studios were located in a
confined area, in an attic in Rex House at 202 Bath Street, and the transmitter
was installed in the Pinkston Power Station at Port Dundas, a mile north of
Glasgow city. The number at the
beginning of the call sign 5SC has no apparent real significance within the
territories of the United Kingdom, though the letters SC would seem to indicate
the first two letters in the territorial name, Scotland.
Subsequent
stations that came on the air quite soon afterwards were Aberdeen 2BD 605
kHz, Edinburgh 2EH 328 kHz, and Dundee
2DE 906 kHz. The call sign for each of
these three subsequent stations began with the number 2, and the letters in
each call sign can be seen in the name of the city of license.
Thus
the second radio broadcasting station in Scotland was 2BD (605 kHz) in
Aberdeen, a relay station with studios at 17 Belmont Street and the transmitter
almost adjoining at the Aberdeen Steam Laundry in Claremont Street. This station was officially inaugurated on
October 10 of the same year 1923.
The third station was the lone
long wave relay station 2EH (328 kHz) with studios in the back premises of a
music shop at 79 George Street Edinburgh
and the transmitter in a wooden hut
in the quadrangle at the nearby university buildings at Teviot Place on the
other side of the main railway station.
In addition to the relay of programs
from the network key station 5SC in Glasgow, the Edinburgh 2EH was noted back
in that era for the production of its own afternoon programming, and a Children’s
Hour on Friday evenings. This station
was officially inaugurated on May 1 of the following year 1924.
The
fourth early broadcasting station in Scotland was 2DE (906 kHz) in Dundee with
studios at 1 Lochee Street and the transmitter at the Caldrum Jute Works on
nearby St. Salvador Street. This station
was inaugurated on November 12 of the same year 1924.
All
four of the original medium wave stations in Scotland were subsequently replaced
by the BBC at updated locations with new equipment before the commencement of
World War II in 1939.
North
of the Stone Wall, in Scotland itself, the BBC is on the air these days with a
multitude of radio and TV stations throughout the entire country. The BBC Scotland runs separate radio & TV
channels in English and in the Gaelic language.
A
map indicating all of the AFRS American Forces Radio Stations in the British
Isles during World War 2 shows two stations in Scotland. These stations were located at American bases
apparently near the two major cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Almost nothing is known about these two
stations, except that they operated at very low power, usually 50 watts. It is known that one station was installed in
the American Military Hospital at Cowglen, near Glasgow.
No
regular shortwave broadcasting station has ever been erected in Scotland,
though hobby pirates have been noted at various times. For example, QSL cards show:-
Radio
Freedom Midlothian 1974 35 watts 6220 kHz
Radio
Stella Central Scotland 1983 20 7319
Voice
of Scotland Cambridge England 1993 300 6205
However,
there have been some program relays on shortwave from Scotland with the usage
of relay stations in the northern hemisphere.
A licensed internet radio station, Radio Six International in Glasgow,
took out several short term relays via shortwave stations in Europe and the
United States. The shortwave stations in
Europe were located in Italy and Latvia, and the shortwave stations in the
United States were WBCQ in Monticello Maine and WWCR in Nashville
Tennessee. These shortwave relays from
Radio Six International were on the air for a period of a little over five
years, running from December 2003 to December 2008.
(AWR-Wavescan/NWS 297 via Adrian Peterson)