BBC Radio Scotland

History

Main article: BBC Home Service

The first BBC Radio Scotland broadcast was on 17 December 1973, a fortnight earlier than planned.

BBC Radio Scotland was founded as a full-time radio network on 23 November 1978. Previously it was possible only to opt out of BBC Radio 4, and the service was known as Radio 4 Scotland or, formally on air, as "BBC Scotland Radio 4". Although on some occasions Radio Scotland used to use BBC Radio 2 as a sustaining service at certain times, most notably during the Sport on 2 Saturday afternoon programme with a BBC Scotland opt-out on 202m known as "BBC Scotland Radio 2"; however, this has been discontinued since.

The establishment of a separate network was made possible when Radio 4 became a fully UK-wide network when it moved from medium wave to long wave and new VHF (FM) transmitters were brought into service, so that Radio 4 and Radio Scotland no longer had to share on FM. However, it was not until the early 1990s that Radio 4 was available on FM across all of Scotland; so for its first decade on air, the station only broadcast during the day so that Radio 4 could be heard on Radio Scotland's transmitters in the evening to compensate for poorer AM reception after dark.

Kirsty Wark launched her career on BBC Radio Scotland, first as a researcher and then as a producer.

Programmes

Radio Scotland broadcasts a wide range of programming, including news, debate, music, drama, comedy and sports. It is broadcast from the BBC Scotland headquarters in the Pacific Quay in Glasgow. The station simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Live during its overnight downtime.

Local opt-outs

BBC Radio Orkney and BBC Radio Shetland opt out of BBC Radio Scotland for 30 minutes each weekday to broadcast a local news programme and during the winter months this is supplemented in both areas by an additional hour-long programme. Local news and weather bulletins are also broadcast as opt-outs from news studios in Selkirk, Dumfries, Aberdeen and Inverness on weekdays.

Notable presenters

• Bryan Burnett (music)
• Stuart Cosgrove (sport)
• Tam Cowan (sport)
• Vic Galloway (music)
• Amy Irons (music, news and entertainment)
• Martin Geissler (news)
• Richard Gordon (sport)
• Gary Innes (music)
• Stephen Jardine (news)
• Michelle McManus (music and entertainment)
• Ricky Ross (music)
• Ashley Storrie (music and chat show)
• Grant Stott (music)

Past presenters

• Kaye Adams (news)
• Mary Ann Kennedy (lifestyle, features and documentaries)
• Fred MacAulay (lifestyle, features and documentaries)
• Cathy MacDonald (music)
• Laura McGhie (news, lifestyle, features and music)
• Dougie Anderson
• Natasha Raskin Sharp (music)
• Shereen Nanjiani (news)
• John Beattie
• Colin Bell
• Ken Bruce
• Jackie Brambles
• Andy Cameron
• Ross Finlay
• Archie Fisher (music)
• Jim Gellatly (music)
• Armando Iannucci
• Jimmie Macgregor
• Anne MacKenzie
• Jimmy Mack
• Eddie Mair
• Bruce MacGregor (music)
• Sally Magnusson (lifestyle, features and documentaries)
• Sheena McDonald
• Brian Morton
• Tom Morton (music)
• Charles Nove
• Iain Purdon
• Robbie Shepherd (music)
• Ken Sykora
• Jim Traynor
• Kirsty Young

Notes

References

References

1. McDowell, W.H.. (1992). "The History of BBC Broadcasting in Scotland 1923-1983". Edinburgh University Press.
2. "RAJAR".
3. (2025-05-27). "Victoria Easton Riley named Head of Audio and Events at BBC Scotland".
4. (18 December 1973). "Radio Scotland off their mark". The Herald.
5. Young, Andrew. (7 November 1978). "Star line-up as Radio Scotland goes pop". [[The Herald (Glasgow).
6. "Search - BBC Programme Index".
7. "202m in scotland - Search - Newspapers.com™".
8. (October 2017). "Radio 4 doing opt outs for Scotland?".
9. "BBC Scotland Radio 2".
10. https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/246410/radio-1-regionalised/p2
11. "Visual Arts Group".
12. "BBC Radio Scotland - Get it On with Bryan Burnett".
13. "BBC Radio Scotland - Vic Galloway".
14. "Saturday Show to launch new-look Radio Scotland weekend".
15. "BBC Radio Scotland - Ashley Storrie".
16. "BBC Radio Scotland - Grant Stott's Vinyl Collective".
17. "BBC Radio Scotland - Mornings, With Kaye Adams".
18. (4 September 2023). "Top BBC Scotland presenter to step down from role to 'explore more of world'".
19. "Posthumous award of Jim Clark Memorial".