About Scratch Radio
Scratch Radio is an internet radio station dedicated to playing strictly roots Jamaican music. The music ranges from the late 1950s with mento and ska and into the mid-1960s where rocksteady evolved, further evolving into reggae around 1968. Along the way through the latter 1960s, dub also evolved from experimenting with mixing existing reggae tracks emphasizing the rhythm while adding studio effects like echo and reverb.
Scratch Radio was named after the late, great Lee "Scratch" Perry (March 20, 1936 - August 29, 2021) - a Jamaican record producer, songwriter and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style.
History of Scratch Radio
After a three-year hiatus that followed a 22-year long broadcast that began in early-2000 and ended in late-2021, Scratch Radio is back online in 2025 streaming the same old playlist of 6,300+ songs on shuffle. So far, it’s been stable with few interruptions. I’m hoping many of the fan base return once the word gets out. I see some have already returned. Thanks for the emails!
At its height Scratch Radio would have 100 or so concurrent listeners and anywhere between 500-1,000 listeners in a 24-hour period from around the globe.
I'm building the new website from scratch (so to speak). So the old website containing a world map that pinpointed all the listeners is gone, but with time I'll have that back in place.
Here are some other ways you can enjoy Scratch Radio
You can find Scratch Radio on most of the popular radio websites and apps:
You can also find Scratch Radio on Apple TV, Sonos and other platforms.
If you use VLC on your computer or device you can also copy/add the following URL streaming link to your Network Streams: