Between 1956-1965 Radio Free Scotland (RFS) broadcast through the sound channel of BBC television after God Save the Queen finished in the evening, and, later on, on 262 metres medium wave on the radio.
The first broadcast interrupted a BBC newscast when viewers in Perth were told to stay tuned following sign off. This "pirate" radio transmission opened with the provocative statement: "This is Radio Free Scotland proclaiming to the nation that the fight for independence is on in earnest".[1] This roving station was heard for almost a month in Glasgow, Ayrshire and Perth. The Scottish National Party announced official backing for Radio Free Scotland because of the government ban on broadcasts by the Scottish and Welsh nationalists on the BBC.
The BBC later paid for the right to re-broadcast some RFS material and the SNP and Plaid Cymru gained the right, as other parties already had, to time on mainstream broadcasters.
Leading figures in Radio Free Scotland included "Controller General", Gordon Wilson, who later became an MP (1974–1987) and was Chairman (Convener) of the SNP from 1979 to 1990. Douglas Henderson, also later an MP, was "Director of Programmes"[2] between 1963-1965. Scotland's oldest woman when she died, Annie Knight, hosted the station in her living room during 1962.
Radio Free Scotland was re-launched in 2007 to help support Self Determination for Scotland in the Elections in May 2008. With Pax and Kevin Williamson presenting the shows and Friseal as webmaster. The shows took a hiatus for 18 months until recently and will be back "on air" soon. In keeping with the original Radio Free Scotland the opening lines from the original broadcasts are still used. The website is under construction but a holding page can be found at http://www.radiofreescotland.com and if funded via donations from all walks of independent minded Scots.
Gordon Wilson has written a book about the station, Pirates of the Air, the story of Radio Free Scotland.
Station website http://www.radiofreescotland.com
Details of book launch of Pirates of the Air http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Pirates-of-the-Caledonian-Uncovering.6842505.jp