Radio Bulgaria

Radio Bulgaria (BNR)

Type	Radio network
Country	Bulgaria
Availability	International
Owner	Government of Bulgaria
Key people	Angel Nedyalkov (Director)
Launch date	March 30, 1930
Official website	http://www.bnr.bg/

Radio Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Радио България, Radio Balgariya; BNR) is the official international broadcasting station of Bulgaria.

History

For almost seventy years the world service of the Bulgarian radio, formerly called Radio Sofia but now renamed Radio Bulgaria, has been presenting the country’s cultural and national identity to the world. It is a principal source of information from and about Bulgaria for millions of listeners outside its borders.

Current broadcasting

In 2004, Radio Bulgaria broadcasts to Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America on short and medium wave in Bulgarian, English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Serbian, Greek, Albanian and Turkish. The Turkish language programmes are also targeted at the population of Turkish ethnic origin in the regions with a compact Turkish speaking population in this country. These programmes total 58 hours a day. Radio Bulgaria’s programmes are also broadcast by over 50 radio stations in more than 30 countries around the globe.

The radio is now taking the first step in multimedia development, with the new Bulgarian National Radio web site. This puts a new product on the World Wide Web – information in text, sound and image from and about Bulgaria in Bulgarian, English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Serbian, Greek, Turkish, Albanian as well as Arabic.

Radio Bulgaria ended its shortwave service on February 1, 2012.^[1]

Comparison

Estimated total direct programme hours per week of some external radio broadcasters for 1996

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

Source: International Broadcast Audience Research, June 1996

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. 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.

See also

• Eastern Bloc information dissemination

External links

• Official website

References