Lismore radio station celebrates 60 years of global broadcasting
A radio station broadcasting to 208 countries across the world from a garden studio on Lismore will celebrate its 60th anniversary next month.
Radio Six International moved to its Port Ramsay studio in 2021 after veteran broadcaster Tony Currie and his late wife moved to the island on a permanent basis.
In the early 1960s a young Tony’s fixation with radio started after his father brought home a tape recorder for his mother to record her singing on.
The four-year-old was captivated by its microphone, which he used to pretend to read the news and create his own radio idents.
The owner and director of programmes at Radio Six International was just six years old when he made his on-air debut with Derek Andrews from the attic of his childhood home in Ardrossan on June 6, 1963.
“We didn’t even have a transmitter, but instead wires that ran down the stairs to the living room where my mother and grandmother were bribed into listening because we gave them tea and cakes,” Tony explains.
“I’ve been a lifelong radio fanatic and by the time I was 11, I wanted to run a radio station.”
It started as a summer activity shared amongst school friends, but Tony’s radio obsession meant they were broadcasting daily programmes seven days a week by 1967.
“This was quite a commitment for a school boy, but I had friends who were as excited about this as I was and we kept on adding to the radio studio in the attic,” he says.
This involved connecting a wire up to the Church of Scotland Eventide home next door, which swelled their listenership from two to around 50.
The next step was to send their programmes to Radio Dubai, before his friend announced he had done a deal with the KPFK station in Los Angeles.
They asked Tony to present his own programme and through his work with this influential station, he grabbed the attention of larger networks, presenting Radio Clyde’s first show when it launched on December 31, 1973.
He went on to work as Scottish Television’s chief announcer, before working with the BBC for 22 years, multi-tasking as an announcer, director and producer.
Indeed, he still calls on some favours from his former BBC colleagues, with Ken Bruce and Steve Wright both lending their voices to the station’s jingles collection.
Through this whole time, Radio Six International remained on air, with the name inspired by the street number of Tony’s childhood home.
“When I moved to Glasgow I built a little studio in the house and it was always there to experiment with, until one night in the year 2000.”
Tony built a small studio after a move to Glasgow, but there was a significant change in 2000 when his son, Leo suggested he put the station online.
The veteran broadcaster was initially sceptical about how people would find the station, but he recalls his son telling him that “if we build it, they will come”.
Since then Radio Six International has expanded hugely, broadcasting 24/7 to 208 countries, with 31 radio stations relaying its programmes.
It now has a core audience of around 50,000 people, who tune in every week to listen to the team of around 30 presenters, based in different corners of the globe.
“It’s there for enjoyment and my team of professional broadcasters - many of whom have worked for the BBC - they all do it for no fee because of their love for radio,” adds Tony.
“Our listening figures show that we are truly international and our 50-track playlist this week includes artists from 18 different countries. It’s an international station that happens to be based on the island of Lismore.”
Most of the station’s presenters submit their programmes to Tony’s studio in his garden, while some presenters hop on the 50-minute ferry from Oban to record programmes on location. When he made the move to Lismore he was given the opportunity to host the station in its own building for the first time.
“Unfortunately, my wife was unwell and she developed Parkinson’s and arthritis, becoming wheelchair bound,” he says.
“We couldn’t get her around the house in Glasgow and we had intended to build a house here for 40 years.
“In 2019 we built the house and when lockdown ended in 2021, we sold the Glasgow house and moved here permanently.”
Tony’s wife, Karin sadly passed away in January this year.
Tony presents two programmes on the radio station, which is available on Shortwave, FM and VHF.
To celebrate its anniversary, Radio Six International will be playing a series of special programmes on Tuesday June 6, with these available online or by asking Alexa to play Radio Six International.