Yle Radio Suomi: live radio from Helsinki

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Dusting off the needle…

Helsinki, Finland

Yle Radio Suomi

Every sauna's second voice.

Finland's default station: iskelmä, news, and the match.

Rinnakkaisohjelma had been Yle's second network since 1960, renamed Kakkosverkko in 1985, and by the end of that decade it was a schedule with no clear idea who it was for. Radio Suomi replaced it on 1 June 1990 and settled the question by taking everyone: one national channel, live around the clock, out of Yle's Pasila headquarters in Helsinki. The music policy was pulled younger in 2003, which is how a station built on the old repertoire ends up playing American heartland rock without anyone minding.

Eighteen regional newsrooms — Rovaniemi to Turku, Kajaani to Pori — break into the national feed a dozen times through the afternoon, each with its own presenters. Jenna Bågeberg keeps Iskelmäradio going, Jyrki Hakanen runs Paikka auringossa late, Pekka Laine picks the records on Ihmemaa, and Merisää reads the sea forecast to whoever is out on the water.

byYle

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Helsinki, Finland

Yle Radio Suomi

Every sauna's second voice.

Finland's default station: iskelmä, news, and the match.

Rinnakkaisohjelma had been Yle's second network since 1960, renamed Kakkosverkko in 1985, and by the end of that decade it was a schedule with no clear idea who it was for. Radio Suomi replaced it on 1 June 1990 and settled the question by taking everyone: one national channel, live around the clock, out of Yle's Pasila headquarters in Helsinki. The music policy was pulled younger in 2003, which is how a station built on the old repertoire ends up playing American heartland rock without anyone minding.

Eighteen regional newsrooms — Rovaniemi to Turku, Kajaani to Pori — break into the national feed a dozen times through the afternoon, each with its own presenters. Jenna Bågeberg keeps Iskelmäradio going, Jyrki Hakanen runs Paikka auringossa late, Pekka Laine picks the records on Ihmemaa, and Merisää reads the sea forecast to whoever is out on the water.

byYle