RADIO MERCUR, Denmark, started commercial broadcasting in August of 1958 from
a Panamanian registered ship, M/S Cheeta, anchored in the strait between
Denmark and southern Sweden, Oeresund (The Sound). By definition, there were two areas of
international waters between Copenhagen and the south of Sweden, from which it was possible
to reach more than a million listeners in the region. M/S Cheetah was first
anchored in the northern area between Copenhagen and Landskrona, south of
Tycho Brahe's Island of Ven, later at the southern location between
Copenhagen and Malmö.
Later that first year, in December of 1958, a young man, NILS-ERIC SVENSSON,
22 years old and full of ideas after studying at the University of California
at Los Angeles, UCLA, registered SKAANES RADIO MERCUR, INC. to " engage in
commercial radio broadcasting ". Nils-Eric signed a contract with "
Internationale Mercur Radio Anstalt " in Lichtenstein, giving him the right
to broadcast a minimum of three hours daily between 11:00 and 17:00.
SKAANES RADIO MERCUR started broadcasting on December 14, 1958, a gray, wet,
and gloomy Sunday. The first "studio" was a small room in the attic at
Faeltgatan 2 in Landskrona. The equipment was simple, a regular record player,
a home tape recorder and a homemade mixer. The professional Lyrecs were on
order...
All programs were produced on tape in studios on shore and delivered by small
boats to the transmitting ship. Not until three years later was it possible
to produce the programs on board the ship. The recording studio moved to
Norra Infartsgatan 55 in Landskrona in 1959 and the following year to
Kalendegatan 18 in Malmoe, the third largest city in Sweden and the center of
the region where Skaanes Radio Mercur aimed its programs.
Radio Mercur and Skaanes Radio used 89,55 MHz and 88,0 MHz in the beginning before changing to
89,6 MHz on November 16, 1960. Nils-Eric Svensson decided to leave the life
of a pirate in 1961, when it was obvious that the government of Sweden was
set on sanctions against commercial radio stations. He returned to California
and the University and sold his interest in Skaanes Radio Mercur to Britt
Wadner, one of the first employees in the marketing department. Nils-Eric
never returned to broadcasting. He worked in films and theatre and was a
personal manager for a couple of well nown artists. He now lives in
California nesvensson@adelphia.net.
SKAANES RADIO MERCUR changed name to RADIO SYD and continued broadcasting
until January 19, 1966, when the laws of the land made it illegal to have
anything to do with commercial broadcasting in the Swedish language, directed
towards Swedish citizens.
The Pirate Radio Époque of Sweden had finally come to an end.
Visit The Sound Page. Real Audio.
Sound Page, In Swedish.
Picture Pages.
To Picture Page 1. Logo, announcement, program etc.
To Picture Page 2. Pictures from the Landskrona Studio.
To Picture Page 3. Legendary radio personality Pekka Langer in
the studio and on board Cheeta.
To Picture Page 4. Floyd Patterson, Little-Gerhard, Elvis and Rock-Boris.
To Picture Page 5. QSL Card from Skanes Radio Mercur.