88.9 Gullwrack Point · est. 1948 · drama after dark
The radio never sleeps in the Reach.
Nightjar Radio broadcasts original radio drama from a converted lighthouse at Gullwrack Point. Six series in repertory, one effects bench, forty-two thousand lacquer discs, and a strict rule that the kettle goes on at ten.
Listen tonight Browse the six series
In repertory
All six series →The Lighthouse Letters
Twelve sealed letters wash ashore each season at Gullwrack Point, and keeper Iris Vane answers them in order. A slow-burn coastal mystery recorded in …
Folklore · since 1961Gullwrack Tide Tables
Half hour of harbour folklore from the Reach: drowned bells, wool-weather, the ferryman who still rings twice. Read by the fishermen who claim to have…
Noir · since 1968The Midnight Exchange
An anthology of night-shift noir set in the fog districts of Dunmore Reach. Six detectives, one city, and the desk sergeant who never sleeps.…
Science Fiction · since 1977Signal Fires
A serial about the last radio operators of the Ashfall Years, relaying hope down a chain of burning towers. Recorded live to wire with a full effects …
Historical · since 1983The Understudy's War
The wartime diary of a theatre understudy who performed eleven first nights in one season and never once took a bow. Adapted from the Aldercott papers…
Comedy · since 1994Wire & Wool
Two knitting-club secretaries run a pirate radio station from a byre. Truly the funniest thing ever broadcast at 3 watts.…
Tonight on the wire
Full schedule →| Thu | 10:06 PM | The Lighthouse Letters | New season, letters seven through nine |
| Thu | 11:10 PM | The Midnight Exchange | Repeat: 'The Ledger Keeper of Pier Nine' |
| Fri | 6:40 AM | Gullwrack Tide Tables | Harbour folklore with Marguerite Ozan |
| Fri | 11:30 PM | The Midnight Exchange | New episode, effects bench live |
| Sat | 7:20 PM | Wire & Wool | New episode: 'The Byre Gets a Licence' |
| Sat | 9:00 PM | Archive Hour | Restored lacquer: 1953 'The Drowned Bell' |
From the logbook
All transmissions →On Dead Air
Dead air is not silence. It is a room holding its breath while eleven people decide whether to laugh or start again. We …
Transmission · 2026-06-14The Fourth Wall of Wire
Radio builds its fourth wall out of copper and habit. A working note on why our effects bench still uses a real door, a …
Transmission · 2026-03-08Why We Broadcast at Night
AM skip opens after dark, and so does the imagination. A short history of the night slot, from crystal sets to the patch…
Keep the wire warm.
Nightjar is listener-supported. Membership keeps the pips accurate, the stair creaking, and the kettle on.
How an episode is made
The Old Light →The script arrives, or the pile promotes it.
Casting over one lunch. Three leads, eleven rotating players.
One rehearsal. The pips rehearse separately.
Recorded live to wire, one take, full bench.
Corrections appended as letters, never edits.
Ned logs it on lacquer. The vault grows.
Broadcast at -3 dB, after dark.
The kettle. Always the kettle.