Bill's Comment Page

BBC Radio Scotland on Freeview

I mentioned a little further down the page that BBC Radio Scotland is organising a 'Blogday' today, for 16 bloggers based in Scotland. When I was contacted about this, a week or so ago I think, I mentioned that I rarely if ever listened to Radio Scotland (I know, I'm rapping my knuckles as I type!), mainly being a Radio4 or Radio3 person - shows my vintage, I suppose. Anyway, I noticed a few weeks ago when I last updated my Freeview playlist that BBC Radio Scotland has been added to the menu and is on Freeview 89, if anyone is interested.

Of course, the digital quality of Freeview means it is completely distortion-free, which can sometimes be a problem with FM in certain weather conditions. In this part of Scotland, too, we don't yet receive digital radio broadcasts per se, so the only way of receiving them is on Freeview (and probably on satellite, too, but as I don't have that wired in - there's a dish on the roof of our building - I'm not certain about that). Another radio channel I now listen to pretty frequently is the BBC World Service (Freeview 80), as coverage on medium wave up our way is pretty sporadic and it's nearly impossible to pick up on Short Wave as the beams aren't directed at us.

Now, to bring this back more or less 'on topic' (!), I thought as part of the 'Blogday' thingie I should at least make an effort and listen to BBC Radio Scotland at least a little - and indeed the morning programme I'm listening to at present is quite interesting in parts, so perhaps I'll flick the switches a little more in future. I tend to listen to it, when I do, in the car as the FM reception is sometimes better than on the other channels I listen to, for example Classic FM, when I'm driving in remote areas. Even on the A9 there is a bit just north of Bruar for about 20 or 30 miles where even Long Wave reception becomes impossible because of the deep valleys the road passes through - so then I resort to the CD.