This station was unusual in that it was operated by free radio people, but backed by the Scottish National Party and in fact announced the SNP address in Edinburgh. It was said to have started broadcasting in 1969, but logs for the station seem to start in 1971. They were often heard on 1354 kHz late at night, but the frequency used could vary.

The station used powers between 100-200 watts and was heard far and wide during it’s night time transmissions. The engineer for the station was Gordon Forsyth, well respected in Edinburgh pirate circles, who also operated Radio Geronimo on 227 metres. The disc jockey on Radio Scotland was Jonathan Wright who also operated under the name Radio Atlantis.

Radio Scotland’s transmissions consisted of pop music, but also Scottish traditional tunes and messages of nationalist content.

The station announced that it was broadcasting from International Waters off the Scottish coast, whereas in reality it was located just south of Edinburgh!

Despite the political slant to the programming, as far as we know, the station never suffered a raid from the GPO.

Transmissions continued until 1972 when both Gordon and Jonathan joined Radio Caroline Scotland.

Radio Geronimo was a station that Gordon Forsyth used to test his transmitters. He was normally heard on 1322 kHz, using a 200 watt transmitter from a location in Midlothian. His aerial was an efficient half wave folded system. Transmissions around midnight were heard by an international DX audience.

The station was inactive in January 1973 following a report that the Post office were pursuing the station. At this time Gordon was also focussing on the transmissions of Radio Caroline Scotland.

Much appreciation goes to Mike Barraclough who supplied us with the above letter and business card from Radio Scotland SNP / Radio Geronimo.
Click on the pages of the letter above for a larger, more readable version

Also many thanks to John Dowling for the QSL Card below, from a transmission received in May 1972.