History • Part 8

NEW PERSPECTIVES

INTERESTING TIMES AHEAD

In September 2025, we started our cooperation with the British radio station Starship Overflow, which was on the air with test broadcasts in September and October. In the course of these tests, the "Blackout" with Mark Andersen was transmitted live on 6th September 2025 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. After the official start of the station on 12th October 2025, the "Blackout" is now aired every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. - running the current show as well as repeats of older shows.

At the end of October 2025, our new presenter Tom Kneesen joined the Radio Sylvia team. His show "Spinning the Deep", which concentrates on Stoner Rock, Doom and Psychedelic, is part of our programme since 13th December 2025. It runs on every 2nd Saturday of the month from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. and is repeated on the 4th Saturday at the same times.

On 17th January 2026, we moved our 192 kbit/s stream, which had been operating in a data centre in Helsinki since 2023, to a German data centre in order to reduce latency for our listeners in Germany. This data centre is also powered exclusively by renewable energy.

After some preparations, we were able to launch a new regular live link-up with our British partner station Starship Overflow on 22nd February 2026: Starting at 8 p.m., Garry Lee could be heard live on Radio Sylvia and Starship Overflow. The two-hour broadcast was successful - no technical problems occurred.

Since then, Garry Lee is on the air live every Sunday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. In his show he delves deep into the underground scene and presents Punk, Metal and Alternative sounds with changing focuses.

Already in January 2026, we had started building a new fully digital live studio (the Studio Northeast), and on 4th April, the "Blackout" with Mark Andersen went on the air for the very first time live. As the new studio performed very well, the "Blackout" has been broadcast live on a regular basis ever since.

In July 2026, Artschie and Tom celebrated a double anniversary: 100 "Harte Zeiten" shows in ten years. To mark the occasion, a four-hour anniversary special was broadcast on 17th July 2026, featuring a musical retrospective of the past ten years. The studio guest was Mark Andersen.

In mid-October 2026, additional hardware and software components were installed in the studio and put into operation.

On 28th October 2026, Mark Andersen presented the two-hour flashback show "Sylvia Retro" for the first time live from our Studio Northeast. The programme was broadcast simultaneously on Starship Overflow.