EBC Radio

EBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the Euroish Broadcasting Corporation. The service provides national radio stations covering the majority of musical genres and styles, and speech stations based around news, entertainment, current affairs, lifestyle and interests.

It also oversees online audio content - including internet radio stations and podcasts.

History
Radio Euro Republics launched in 1936. As one station, it initially offered both entertainment and music with hour long news bulletins at 7am, 12pm, 6pm and midnight. In 1950, a second EBC Radio station, Radio 2 was launched to offer a selection of music as the main station, then renamed EBC Radio, began to focus more on news and entertainment. In 1970, the EBC Radio stations were heavily revamped, to lessen the overlap of the stations,

EBC Radio 1 would become the designated station of speech content, EBC Radio 2 would become an easy listening station aimed at a broad, older demographic whilst the new EBC Radio 3 would compete with pirate radio stations who were heavily attracting a younger demographic, offering pop music alongside news and entertainment output. EBC Radio 4 was modelled loosely on the BBC's Radio 3 in Britain, a high-brow station with classical and opera music, drama and plays, news, arts and cultural discussion and political discussion.

The EBC began to make plans for a fifth station on mediumwave throughout the latter half of the 1970's and first half of the 1980's in what was then Radio 4's MW frequency. Inital plans included using the frequency as yet another music service, to be aimed at minorities, and then planned to use the frequency for a children's radio station with pop music, rhymes, stories and educational content.

The EBC finally announced it's plan for Radio 5 in 1983 - to be a news based station, with a sport element at weekends. In addition to traditional news programmes, there would be programmes incorporating phone-in's, weather and the existing political discussion programmes to move over from Radio 4. The station finally went on air at 5am on Monday 17th February 1986.

As the station was for the most part only available on MW, it was decided to transmit Radio 5, which was to be a 24-hour station, during the nightly downtime of Radio 1.

Stations
The EBC today runs national domestic radio stations, six of which are available in analogue formats, while other have a purely digital format which can be received via DAB Digital Radio in addition to the analogue stations, digital television plus live streams and listen again on EBC Play. The current stations are:

National analogue

 * EBC Radio 1 - Speech station with news, current affairs, documentaries, history, drama, comedy, arts and culture, media, science, books and religious programming. The station is comparable to the BBC's Radio 4. Launched in 1936. Available via 88.8-90.9 FM and 188 LW.
 * EBC Radio 2 - Adult-oriented station with a wide mix of golden oldies, easy listening, and a mix of classic and contemporary pop music alongside news talk, comedy and entertainment. The station is often compared to BBC Radio 2 in the UK. Launched in 1950. Available via 103-104.9 FM.
 * EBC 3FM - Youth-oriented station, including pop, dance, rock and alternative, ambient, and experimental music alonsgide documentaries, news, talk, live sessions and comedy. Comparable to BBC Radio 1 in the UK. Launched in 1970. Available via FM, 97-99 FM.
 * EBC Radio 4 - Mainly a classical music station - but with regular news programmes, drama and arts discussion. Launched in 1970. Available via 1215 MW.
 * EBC 5 News - rolling news station, which mixes the traditional talk radio format with an all-news radio format. Home of sports content during the weekends. Also carried on EBC Radio 1's overnight (01.00-05.00) during it's downtime. Launched in 1986. Available via 700 MW.
 * EBC Radio 6 - mostly playing experimental, indie and alternative, dance and adult album alternative in weekday daytime hours, with specialist programmes for genres such as funk, rock, rave and comedy and music-related documentaries on weekends and evenings. In some ways similar to BBC Radio 6 Music. Launched in 1994. Available via FM 91-93 FM.

National digital

 * EBC Radio 2 Extra - aimed at older listeners than the flagship station, with a golden oldies format with music from the 1960's, 70's, 80's and 90's.
 * EBC 3XM - new black and urban music, with elements of latina and EDM music. News programmes are simulcast with EBC 3. Launched in 1998.
 * EBC Radio 7 - repeats of EBC Radio 1 comedy and drama, with children's radio in the breakfast and drive time slots. Launched in 2002.
 * EBC Sportsworld - sports station. Launched in 2003.

EBC Play

 * Radio 2 90's - A station primarily aimed at 90's nostalgia, with music from the decade and replays of classic editions of Radio 2 and 3FM programmes from throughout the 90's. Launched in 2020.
 * 3FM Dance - A 3FM spin-off station dedicated to dance music past and present, mixing live programming with playlists made for EBC Play. Launched in 2021.
 * 3FM Happy - A 3FM spin-off station, entirely playing music with positive lyrics as opposed to more sad/angry lyrics as heard on the flagship. Launched in 2022.
 * 3FM Christmas - Pop-up 3FM spin-off station playing only Christmas music. Launched in 2020.
 * Radio 4 Jazz - A spin-off from EBC Radio 4, dedicated to jazz music. Launched in 2022.