BBC Radio Scotland is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many ( simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio ( duplex communication) typ ...

owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 1978. Radio Scotland is broadcast in English, whilst sister station

Radio nan Gàidheal Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

broadcasts in

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...

. According to RAJAR, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 755,000 and has a listening share of 6.3% as of September.

History

The first BBC Radio Scotland broadcast was on 17 December 1973, two weeks 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

, and the service was known as Radio 4 Scotland or, formally on air, as "BBC Scotland Radio 4". The establishment of a separate network was made possible when Radio 4 became a fully UK-wide network when it moved from

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the dayt ...

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

The station 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 Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

Local opt-outs

BBC Radio Orkney BBC Radio Orkney is a local opt-out of BBC Radio Scotland for the Orkney Islands, which is based in Castle Street, Kirkwall, Orkney, in Scotland. Depending on the time of year, there are either two or three broadcasts per day on weekdays on the ...

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 for 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 Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

and Inverness on weekdays.

Notable presenters

* Kaye Adams (news) * John Beattie (sport) * Bryan Burnett (music) * Stuart Cosgrove (sport) * Tam Cowan (sport) * Archie Fisher (music) * Vic Galloway (music) * Jim Gellatly (music) * Richard Gordon (sport) * Gary Innes (music) * Mary Ann Kennedy (lifestyle, features and documentaries) * Fred MacAulay (lifestyle, features and documentaries) * Cathy MacDonald (music) * Bruce MacGregor (music) * Sally Magnusson (lifestyle, features and documentaries) *

Tom Morton Thomas Morton (born 1955) is a Scottish broadcaster, journalist, and author. He lives and works mainly in the Shetland Islands. Life Morton was born in 1955, and moved to Shetland in 1987 three years after his wife Susan who was a General Pract ...

(music) * Shereen Nanjiani (news) *

Natasha Raskin Sharp Natasha Raskin Sharp (born 15 June 1986) is a Scottish television presenter, and antiques and art expert, especially in Scottish contemporary art, best known for her appearances on television. The daughter of contemporary Scottish artist Philip ...

(music) * Ricky Ross (music) *

Graham Stewart Graham Stewart (born 1975 in Perth, Scotland) is a Scottish radio and television broadcaster who currently presents Reporting Scotland for BBC Scotland. He has previously presented on BBC Radio Scotland, Radio Clyde and on various Edinburgh ...

(news) * Grant Stott (music) *Gary West (music)

Past presenters

* Dougie Anderson * Colin Bell *

Ken Bruce Kenneth Robertson Bruce (born 2 February 1951) is a British broadcaster who is best known for hosting his long-running weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 from 1986 to 1990, and then again since 1992. Early life and career Bruce was born a ...

* Jackie Brambles * Andy Cameron * Armando Iannucci * Jimmie Macgregor * Anne MacKenzie * Jimmy Mack * Eddie Mair * Sheena McDonald * Brian Morton * Charles Nove * Iain Purdon *

Robbie Shepherd Dr Robert Horne Shepherd (28 April 1936 – 1 August 2023) was a Scottish broadcaster and author who was known for presenting shows on BBC Radio Scotland and for writing a column in Doric for Aberdeen's '' Press and Journal'' newspaper. Life a ...

(music) * Ken Sykora *

Jim Traynor James Traynor (born 27 September 1953) is a Scottish former sports journalist and former Director of Communications at Rangers F.C. Prior to joining the Glasgow club, Traynor was employed by the Scottish newspaper the '' Daily Record''. He was al ...

* Kirsty Young

Heads of Radio, Scotland

The title "Head of Radio, Scotland" was applied to cover not only the Radio Scotland service but also BBC Scotland's radio productions for other networks.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 55.8580, -4.2909, display=title, region:GB_scale:5000

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

Radio stations established in 1978 Radio stations in Glasgow BBC Scotland 1978 establishments in Scotland Radio stations in Scotland