Radio Belgrade (Serbian: Радио Београд, Radio Beograd) is a state-owned and operated radio station in Belgrade, Serbia.
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.
Famous quotes containing the word radio:
“A liberal is a socialist with a wife and two children.”
—Anonymous. BBC Radio 4 (April 8, 1990)