The service was founded in 1938, at the approach of World War II, as a way of keeping Swedes living abroad informed of happenings in Sweden and of Swedish opinion.

[citation needed] Its programs and website offer a ”smörgåsbord” of news and current affairs, science and technology, lifestyle, and culture.

English language news about Sweden for overseas listeners were moved to a 30 minutes-a-week show on P2 and to social media.

After a number of years, as media changed, it began to cover less about shortwave, and more about satellite radio and television.

Later coverage was extended to the Internet, the focus was shifted to concentrating on Swedish media, and the name of the English version of the program was changed to "MediaScan".

Another popular Radio Sweden program was The Saturday Show, with Roger Wallis and Kim Loughran, which ran from 1967 to 1981.

Using Radio Sweden's relatively high-powered medium wave transmitter on 1179 kHz, the entire program was 90 minutes in length, and featured many satirical sketches, often political and sometimes controversial.