RADIO LOTHIAN - 1322kHz /227m

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Radio Lothian (or Big L) broadcast to the Edinburgh area from 1974 into 1975. It broadcast on 1322 kHz, 227 metres medium wave on Saturday nights between 2330-0300 and on Sundays from 1200-1800. Station staff included Alan Kidd, Gerry Hogan and Tommy Johnson, with engineering by Gordon Forsyth.

The station had a 300 watt transmitter built by Gordon that was usually run at 200 watts.

The aerial consisted of a 25-30 foot four inch pipe with a loading coil at the base. A wire was then run inside, loading the transmitter. A similar configuration was used in later years at Radio Telstar.

Alan Kidd recalls, “Radio Lothian broadcast its live 24 hour a day Festive programmes during the last two weeks of December 1974. The wire aerial was fed from Rose Street in Edinburgh city centre, up Hanover Street with the Vertical Medium Wave mast installed on the roof of one of the Banks in George Street. Anyone looking for the aerial would not be able to trace it. We often joked at the time about the Bank being raided! It did cross Gordon's mind when coming on for the first time that we might set off the alarm system of the Bank, but this didn't happen thank goodness. We used a local phone box for receiving telephone calls and boy did we get them. One of the funniest was from the GPO head telephone exchange in Gayfield Square wanting a record played for everyone working that Sunday! We used to see detective guys walking around with field strength equipment trying to figure out where it was coming from. The detective guys we did not recognise and as far as we knew, they were not from the GPO's Radio Services.”

Broadcasts continued into 1975 and from April, Radio Lothian was relayed on 6220 kHz short wave, courtesy of Radio Freedom International. The late night broadcasts on Friday and Saturdays brought reports of good reception from listeners in Italy and Switzerland. The relays were also made on Sunday afternoon's.

The GPO were very active during this period and Radio Lothian had several encounters during its life. The recording featured is a fine record of one such incident on 16th March 1975. Alan Kidd remembers that the transmitter and vertical mast were at a high location in Edinburgh that also gave good reception into Fife. The studio was a street away from the transmitter and fed by a cable!

The GPO had a drive by the location of Radio Viking, a medium wave station located in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian and then decided to pay Radio Lothian a visit. Alan was on air at the time and by his own admission was panicking a little when he spotted the GPO. Gerry Hogan was due to arrive for his programme, but remembers driving around with Gordon Forsyth trying to divert the GPO away from the station location, and at one point almost being run off the road by them! However, it seemed to work and Radio Lothian lived to broadcasts another weekend.

The short wave broadcasts were discontinued after a raid on Radio Freedom International on Sunday 18th May 1975 in which five staff members were cautioned and charged. Each were fined £50 and all equipment was confiscated.

Radio Lothian continued on medium wave, but it was becoming increasingly difficult due to increased GPO activity probably because Radio Forth, the ILR station for Edinburgh and Lothian was coming on air in January 1975. It probably did not help that some Edinburgh free radio stations had threatened to jam the opening of the station.

Radio Lothian was raided in mid 1975 by GPO and Police. Tommy Johnson who was on air at the time was caught red handed as the officials entered the studio. All equipment and records were confiscated.

That really meant the end for Radio Lothian as operating the station had become almost impossible. Following the raid a new transmitter was built, but Alan Kidd remembers that this was not used by Radio Lothian, but was likely the transmitter used by Radio Telstar International a couple of years later.