Radio Belgrade

Radio Belgrade I
City of license Belgrade, Serbia
Broadcast area Serbia
Branding News & Information
Frequency 684 kHz
First air date September 19, 1924
Format Public Radio
Power 30 kW
Transmitter coordinates 43°33′05″N 21°40′13″E / 43.5514638°N 21.6702472°ECoordinates: 43°33′05″N 21°40′13″E / 43.5514638°N 21.6702472°E
Owner Republic of Serbia
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.radiobeograd.rs

Radio Belgrade (Serbian: Радио Београд, Radio Beograd) is a state-owned and operated radio station in Belgrade, Serbia.

Overview

The predecessor of Radio Beograd, Radio Beograd-Rakovica, started its program in 1924 and was a part of a state wireless telegraph station. Radio Beograd, AD started in March 1929. Its program consists of music, news, radio-drama, broadcasting from theaters, etc.

Radio Beograd stopped broadcasting on April 6, 1941, when bombed during the German air raid of Belgrade, (Operation Punishment). After the occupation of Belgrade, Radio Belgrade became the German forces' radio station under the name of Soldatensender Belgrad (Soldiers Radio Belgrad) on the same frequency. It could be received throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. A lieutenant working at the station who was taking leave in Vienna was asked to collect some records to broadcast. Amongst a pile he obtained from a second hand shop was the little-known two-year-old song Lili Marleen sung by Lale Andersen, which up to then had sold only around 700 copies. One of the men in the German Forces radio station had a friend in the Afrika Corps who was fond of the tune so he played it for him, according to "Dirty Little Secrets of WW2". Later,Radio Belgrade played the song quite frequently popularizing the song.

After the Nazi government then ordered it to stop broadcasting the song, Radio Belgrade received many letters from Axis soldiers all over Europe asking them to play Lili Marleen again. In response, Radio Belgrade returned the song to its programming. From then on, the station played Andersen's recording every evening at 9:55 PM and its popularity continued to grow. Soldiers stationed around the Mediterranean, including both German Afrika Korps and British Eighth Army troops, regularly tuned in to hear it. Even Erwin Rommel, the commander of the Afrika Korps admired the song. He asked Radio Belgrade to incorporate the song into their daily broadcasts, which they did.

After Josip Broz Tito's Partisans seized power in 1944, a new Radio Belgrade, this time under Communist control, continued its operation and gradually became the most influential broadcast medium in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia.

As of July 2005, Radio Beograd had several different programs (First, Second, Third network, Beograd 202, Stereorama...), a precious archive of several hundreds of thousands records, magnetic tapes and CDs, and is part of Serbian State Radio and Television Network. Radio Belgrade was transformed into a public service.

Since 1994, Radio Belgrade uses a PC based radio playout system known as HD Player.

Comparison

Estimated total direct programme hours per week of some external radio broadcasters for 1996
Broadcaster 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1996[2]
United States VOA, RFE/RL & Radio Martí 497 1,495 1,907 1,901 2,611 1,821
China China Radio International 66 687 1,267 1,350 1,515 1,620
United Kingdom BBC World Service 643 589 723 719 796 1,036
Russia Radio Moscow / Voice of Russia[1][3] 533 1,015 1,908 2,094 1,876 726
Germany Deutsche Welle 0 315 779 804 848 655
Egypt Radio Cairo (ERTU) 0 301 540 546 605 604
Iran IRIB World Service / Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran 12 24 155 175 400 575
India All India Radio 116 157 271 389 456 500
Japan NHK World Radio Japan 0 203 259 259 343 468
France Radio France Internationale 198 326 200 125 379 459
Netherlands Radio Netherlands Worldwide[1] 127 178 335 289 323 392
Israel Israel Radio International[1] 0 91 158 210 253 365
Turkey Voice of Turkey 40 77 88 199 322 364
North Korea Radio Pyongyang / Voice of Korea 0 159 330 597 534 364
Bulgaria Radio Bulgaria[1] 30 117 164 236 320 338
Australia Radio Australia 181 257 350 333 330 307
Albania Radio Tirana (RTSH) 26 63 487 560 451 303
Romania Radio Romania International 30 159 185 198 199 298
Spain Radio Exterior de España[5] 68 202 251 239 403 270
Portugal RDP Internacional[1] 46 133 295 214 203 226
Cuba Radio Havana Cuba 0 0 320 424 352 203
Italy Rai Italia Radio[1] 170 205 165 169 181 203
Canada Radio Canada International[1] 85 80 98 134 195 175
Poland Radio Polonia[1] 131 232 334 337 292 171
South Africa Radio RSA / Channel Africa 0 63 150 183 156 159
Sweden Sveriges Radio International[1] 28 114 140 155 167 149
Hungary Magyar Rádió[1] 76 120 105 127 102 144
Czech Republic Radio Prague[4] 119 196 202 255 131 131
Nigeria Voice of Nigeria 0 0 62 170 120 127
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Radio Belgrade / International Radio of Serbia 80 70 76 72 96 68

Source: International Broadcast Audience Research, June 1996

The list includes about a quarter of the world's external broadcasters whose output is both publicly funded and worldwide. Among those excluded are Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea and various international commercial and religious stations.

Notes:
  1. Does not broadcast on shortwave as of 2014.
  2. 1996 figures as at June; all other years as at December.
  3. Before 1991, broadcasting for the former USSR.
  4. Before 1996, broadcasting for the former Czechoslovakia.
    5.
  5. REE ceased all shortwave broadcasts in October 2014 but announced in December that it would resume shortwave transmission in Spanish only for four hours a day in order to accommodate Spanish fishing trawlers who were otherwise unable to receive REE at sea.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Radio Belgrade.