Tilos Rádió

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Tilos Rádió is a community, non-profit radio station in Budapest, Hungary.

[edit] Overview

Tilos Rádió was the first community radio station in Hungary, established as a pirate broadcaster established in 1991. The station's programmers have always contributed on a voluntary basis. Tilos Rádió has never broadcast advertisements, and has a strong social and freedom-of-expression commitment.

Tilos Rádió was established as a pirate community radio station in Budapest in 1991 as a way of bringing the public's attention to the fact that there was at that time no legal framework for independent and community broadcasters. During the first years of its broadcasting, Tilos (meaning "forbidden" in Hungarian) enjoyed wide public interest and played a key role in the 1995 liberalisation of the airwaves in Hungary.

Tilos Rádió obtained a legal frequency license in 1995 and became a popular local community station in Budapest with its morning phone-in talk-shows and its music programmes, broadcasting 12 hours a day. Tilos is a key player in the cultural and lifestyle scene of Budapest. Meanwhile, Tilos Rádió has its fingers on the public pulse with its social thinking, minority oriented programmes, and its radical and tolerant attitude. Tilos' broadcasts are mainly financed by listeners' donations and the income from fund-raising events, and partly by support from EU programmes, international NGOs and charity institutions.

In November 1999, Tilos Rádió had to apply for a new frequency licence. Tilos Rádió wanted to broadcast 24 hours a day. Tilos did not receive a new frequency licence - this means that the radio had to leave its actual frequency in 1999.

In October 2002, 3 years later, with its third application, Tilos Rádió received a licence for the 90,3 MHz frequency in Budapest for seven years. Tilos Rádió can also be heard via cable and via Internet 24 hours a day.