3am, and you can't sleep. Radio Luxembourg has just shut down. Commercial TV has arrived in the UK, but it closed hours ago. The pirates are still years away.

What's on the radio? Anything?

My mother used to listen to AFN, presumably from Germany. Would that have been around at 3am in the 1950s?

It sure would. Frankfurt 344 metres was the strongest signal

60 years ago the cold war was underway. So I reckon that anybody awake at 3.am who had a short wave radio would have been able to hear the english service of the Radio Moscow World Service at that time.

BBC World service AM.

1956. The BBC Home Service closed after the 11pm news and the Light Programme closed at midnight. Third Programme went to bed after the Stock Market Prices around ten past eleven. Luxembourg on 208 went as far as 2am but after that you didn't have many options. AFN was certainly one of them, but there was no 'World Service' under that name because in 1956 it was still the BBC General Overseas Service and was only on shortwave. The BBC European Service did use 232m and sometimes 1500m but mostly those wavelengths were used for programmes in German, French, Italian and Spanish.

You would undoubtedly find music somewhere on the dial from one of the overnight programmes on German radio but without any English links.

Just checked my 1958, 1961 and 1965 Handbooks and they all have AFN as 0500-0005 GMT. Next one I have is 1972 and that has them as 24 hours.

In 1958 Norddeutscher Rundfunk has an overnight programme on 971 Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday also carried by Westdeutscher Rundfunk on the same channel.

RIAS Berlin is 24 hours on 683 as is Deutschlandsender East Germany on 728 and 782.

Rome 845 is 24 hours with the Notturno dall'Italia programme 2235-0540 including newscasts in Italian, French, English and German.

Can't spot anything else overnight in the European section.

Stack a few 45s on the Dansette.

Presumably leaving the band more open to transatlantic DX, for those who wear their anoraks to bed?

I do think there was at least some transatlantic DX at this point. I'm looking forward to a final golden age of DX if Europe shuts down it's AM services before the US.

There was, as well as nearly all European station having closed down there was little if any local noise level.

According to THESE listings, the third network of Austria's ORF radio had an overnight service at least by 1968 (but only via certain transmitters).

I heard of music radio 77 WABC being heard in the UK back in the 60's/70's under the right conditions,never heard it myself,maybe someone on here did?

Would you not just read a book? I would.

It wasn't too difficult to hear Transatlantic stations in those days. Much less electrical interference and less European activity at night. Also more communications receivers around with proper antenna though they could be heard at times on a standard portable with ferrite rod (which enable nulling out interference).

Sure. But this isn't an entirely serious thread, just a bit of harmless anoraking!

Here's a poster advertising France-Inter's 24-hour service in 1966:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/22940279325619713/

(If that link doesn't work: https://twitter.com/MediaHistoryNow/...48479943512064)

I guess most folks had more physically demanding jobs then rather than tapping on a keyboard so were probably genuinely knackered..
I guess there were things to listen too if you looked around. There wasn't much in the 70s and early 80s to be honest. Radio 2 & ILR would often play non needle time tripe.
Seem to remember being awake at 4am once with a choice of some awful local band in session or Mrs Mills...

The problem was not being knackered, rather that in the days before transistor radios very few people could listen in the bedroom. I used to listen to shortwave a lot but only downstairs where we had a mains radiogram in the living room and a tabletop in the kitchen. The BBC overseas service was not broadcast to the UK but you could often get useful reception of signals beamed elsewhere. In those days it was a "proper" station for expats with its own output of many excellent programmes such as drama, music, comedy and panel games.

I only started listening in bed when a generous uncle gave me one of the first Grundig pocket transistors. This was MW only so no SW overseas service but I became a regular with AFN. I clearly remember listening early one evening (I was doing my exam revision in bed) when they announced that the president had been shot. Soon after they said he was dead and all regular programmes stopped.

Radio Moscow 1968

https://shortwavearchive.com/archive...45s0v7s2uhe54k

https://shortwavearchive.com/archive...radio%20moscow

Lots more on that site.