Radio X (Basel)Radio X (Basel)

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.