Radio X (Basel): live radio from Basel

Hooold...

Dusting off the needle…

Basel, Switzerland

Radio X (Basel)

Twenty shows, no shared taste.

Basel's alt-radio: metal, D&B, reggae, in ten languages.

The plan came together in 1993 and nearly died there: Basel's two commercial stations and both cantonal governments opposed a third voice, and only a federal appeal in 1996 shook an extra frequency loose. The concession arrived on 7 April 1998 and the first programme went out on 94.5 twelve days later. A court win over licence-fee money made the foundation-run station ad-free in 2002, bigger studios on the Dreispitz followed in 2010, and the canton handed it the Basel-Stadt culture prize in 2018.

Up to eighty volunteers build the week and no two hours agree: Metal X, Density's jungle and grime, Jamrock for reggae and dancehall, Jazz_X, Emel's record-collector Soul Sketches, Xplicit Content for hip-hop, and Mainstream, an indie-pop show named as a joke. Trax on Wax plays the long cuts off vinyl, X-Lounge holds the night, and every Fasnacht brings 72 hours of nonstop DJ mixes.

More like this

SwitzerlandLucerne

Radio 3FACH

Youth radio that means it.

United StatesBrooklyn

Half Moon

Whatever the block is playing.

United KingdomLondon

Foundation FM

The gatekeeping stops here.

NorwayBergen

Studentradioen i Bergen

Knausgård did his time here too.

PolandKraków

Rave FM

Thirty years of not slowing down.

electronic

GermanyRostock

LOHRO

Reports by cargo bike, if needed.

AustriaDornbirn

Radio Proton

Four transmitters, no bosses.

BelgiumGhent

Urgent.fm

Everyone here is still learning.

DenmarkAarhus

Sydhavnsbølgen

You probably know the host.

United KingdomBrighton

Platform B 105.5FM

The medium, being rebuilt.

ColombiaBogotá

REC Radio Electrónica Colombiana

Nobody here is an import.

electronic

FranceMarseille

Ola Radio

Plural by design, loud.

United StatesSeattle

DANCE 89.5

Homework, then peak time.

FranceNantes

Prun'

Nobody here is over it yet.

FranceToulouse

Le Lounge Radio

Built in lockdown, stayed on.

United KingdomLondon

Rinse FM

Thirty years, zero drift.

FranceSaint-Étienne

Radio Dio

Forty-five years, no house style.

United KingdomLeicester

Radio2Funky

Born from a record shop.

BulgariaSofia

OFF BEAT Radio

73 shows, one basement.

FranceDijon

The Underground Lair

Built for the bass-obsessed.

electronic

Basel, Switzerland

Radio X (Basel)

Twenty shows, no shared taste.

Basel's alt-radio: metal, D&B, reggae, in ten languages.

The plan came together in 1993 and nearly died there: Basel's two commercial stations and both cantonal governments opposed a third voice, and only a federal appeal in 1996 shook an extra frequency loose. The concession arrived on 7 April 1998 and the first programme went out on 94.5 twelve days later. A court win over licence-fee money made the foundation-run station ad-free in 2002, bigger studios on the Dreispitz followed in 2010, and the canton handed it the Basel-Stadt culture prize in 2018.

Up to eighty volunteers build the week and no two hours agree: Metal X, Density's jungle and grime, Jamrock for reggae and dancehall, Jazz_X, Emel's record-collector Soul Sketches, Xplicit Content for hip-hop, and Mainstream, an indie-pop show named as a joke. Trax on Wax plays the long cuts off vinyl, X-Lounge holds the night, and every Fasnacht brings 72 hours of nonstop DJ mixes.