site.btaBulgarian National Radio: 90 Years on Air

The Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) celebrates its 90th birthday on Saturday. Royal Decree No. 25, dated January 25, 1935, endorsed a Statutory Ordinance on Radio that was issued by the Kimon Georgiev Cabinet on January 17, 1935 and was gazetted on January 31. The statutory instrument nationalized all radio broadcasting activities in Bulgaria, making them a state monopoly.

BTA, which will turn 127 on February 16, congratulates its fellow media outlet on its 90th jubilee!

How It All Began

May 10, 1920: A law prohibits the sale and use of radio sets by natural persons.

September 25, 2021: A 10 KW Telefunken spark radio station, built north of Sofia’s Central Railway Station in August 1914, carries out Bulgaria’s first audio wireless reception: a concert broadcast from Nauen, Germany. King Boris III and his retinue attend the crowded listening event.

April 6, 1927: A new Radio Act is passed, establishing a state monopoly on radio broadcasting activities and lifting the ban on programme reception by private individuals. The new draft legislation is laid before Parliament by Railways, Posts and Telegraphs Minister Kimon Georgiev. The number of radio subscribers grows from 430 in 1927 to 6,030 in early 1932, 13,013 by the end of 1935, and 180,000 in 1944.

November 30, 1929: "Hello, hello, this is Radio Sofia calling!" are the first Bulgarian words to go on the air, spoken by military technician Georgi Valkov, who uses a makeshift 50 W transmitter of the 1st Engineer Battalion.

End-1929: The first professional transmitter (912 kHz) is built by Marconi Wireless near the capital city’s Central Railway Station.

March 30, 1930: Prominent intellectuals, public figures and engineers establish the Rodno Radio [Homeland Radio] Cooperative.

May 22, 1930: Rodno Radio obtains a broadcasting concession under the Radio Act.

June 15, 1930: Using Valkov’s adapted radio-telegraph transmitter, Rodno Radio begins regular broadcasts on 329 m LW. They can be heard in Pernik, Kyustendil and Dupnitsa in the Southwest, Cherven Bryag and Lom in the North and, weather permitting, Shumen in the Northeast. The station is on air between 6 and 9 p.m. two or three times a week, featuring mainly commercials, stock market reviews, news from BTA and music. Daily three-hour broadcasts start in 1932.

Autumn 1930: A second professional transmitter, operating on 319 m (940 kHz), is built.

May 13, 1931: A liturgy from the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is relayed by cable for the first time.

June 6, l931: Rodno Radio changes its name to Radio Sofia.

November 1, 1931: A ceremony marking National Awakeners Day is Bulgaria’s first live broadcast from an off-studio location.

December 31, 1931: For the first time, King Boris III addresses a New Year message to the nation on radio live from the officers' ball at Sofia's Military Club. The radio is the only channel of communication for the head of state's New Year messages right until December 31, 1960, when they start to be televised as well.

March 8, 1932: Anton Strashimirov’s Vampire is Bulgaria’s first radio-relayed theatre performance.

March 25, 1934: A third, even more powerful transmitter is inaugurated in Sofia’s Pavlovo Quarter; it reaches most of the country on 252.8 m/1,187 kHz.

May 22, 1932: King Boris III’s speech from the throne at the opening of a National Assembly session is the first live broadcast of parliamentary proceedings.

June 1, 1934: Petar Vitanov is hired as the first full-time announcer. He is later reappointed to the state-owned radio station and initially is the only man in this position (his five colleagues are all women). Vitanov works as the first Bulgarian professional radio announcer until September 30, 1944. His skills are internationally acknowledged, and he places second in a 1937 Swiss rating of world presenters, outscored only by Yuri Levitan of Radio Moscow.

December 9, 1934: A radio station is opened in Varna (on the Black Sea).

1935: The government allocates Rodno Radio its first studio complex, sound-proofed with sandbags, on the 2nd floor of a building at 19 Moskovska Street (now housing an office of DSK Bank).

From State-Owned Broadcaster to National Public Radio Service Provider

June 8, 1935: Outstanding artist, poet and critic Sirak Skitnik (the artistic pseudonym of Panayot Todorov) is appointed first Director of Radio Sofia. Since then, the institution has been headed by prominent writers (Konstantin Konstantinov, Orlin Vasilev, Bogomil Nonev), journalists, including future and former BTA staffers (Boyan Traikov, Stefan Tihchev, Vecheslav Tunev, Maxim Minchev), and Communist Party functionaries (Karlo Lukanov, Philip Bokov).

At various times, BNR has employed former National Assembly deputy chair Kamelia Kassabova, ex-EU commissioner Meglena Kuneva, former environment minister Valentin Vassilev, writers and poets Valeri Petrov, Lyubomir Levchev, Kolyo Georgiev, Kalin Donkov, journalists Peter Uvaliev, Vladimir Kostov, Kevork Kevorkian, Dilyana Grozdanova, Darik Radio founder and owner Radosvet Radev, Radio FM+ owner Peter Punchev, and former CNN anchor Ralitsa Vassileva.

November 10, 1935: A new programme schedule takes effect, increasing the amount of daily broadcasts and planning choir concerts and daily folk music concerts.

May 21, 1936: A radio station is inaugurated in Stara Zagora (Southeastern Bulgaria). The three stations are staffed by 17 engineers and technicians altogether. Their programming is synchronized to pioneer Bulgaria’s first national radio network.

Spring 1937: At its congress in Berlin, the International Broadcasting Union admits Bulgaria as its member.

1938-1941: A 2,300 sq m building is expressly constructed for Radio Sofia at 4 Simeon Knyaz Tarnovski Street (now Dragan Tsankov Boulevard) after the designs of Georgi Ovcharov and Genko Popov, and the station moves there in 1942. The air-conditioned structure consists of two wings on three and two floors, respectively, with four studios equipped by German company Telefunken that are the most modern ones in the Balkans at that time.

December 26, 1938: The first original Bulgarian radio drama, Winged Rescue (originally Easter Evening), written by Angel Karaliichev and Matvei Valev and staged by Nikola Kolushki, is broadcast live from the studio of Radio Varna. In 1937 the play wins a competition with 11 entries, including one by Nikola Vaptsarov. In the years to come, the station employs a full-time staff of seven or eight actors and two or three directors, assisted by Sofia theatre stars Krastyo Sarafov, Petya Gerganova, Petko Atanasov, Zorka Yordanova, Vladimir Trandafilov, Stoyan Bachvarov and Asen Kisimov and, later on, Lyuba Alexieva, Maria Rusalieva, Apostol Karamitev and Kosta Tsonev.

April 20, 1941: A regional radio station in Skopje goes on the air, broadcasting in Bulgarian. The station operates until Bulgaria relinquishes administrative control of Vardar Macedonia in August 1944.

1942: Radio Sofia starts reporting the precise time of the day generated by a clock at the Astronomical Observatory in the Boris Garden Park. Automatic broadcasting of the time signal is introduced on May 1, 1948.

January 10, 1944: The eastern facade and roof of what radio staffers call "the Old House" are destroyed by Allied air bombs, and the station is evacuated to the Novi Han village school, where it stays until the end of World War II.

September 9, 1944: At 6:25 a.m., interrupting regular programming, Prime Minister Kimon Georgiev reads on Radio Sofia a proclamation announcing to the nation the formation of a Fatherland Front government following a communist takeover on the previous night which involved a capture of the radio station building, among other critical installations.

March 15, 1948: Radio Sofia launches a Second Programme on SW 391.1 m/767 kHz.

April 6, 1948: A Radio Act is passed, superseding the 1935 Statutory Ordinance and making the use of a radio set subject to permission and payment of a licensing fee. The Committee for Science, Art and Culture is granted a monopoly over the manufacture, installation and use of radio systems for the transmission of speech and music. The law is repealed in 1954.

May 10, 1950: Radio Sofia starts a Golden Sound Library. It keeps in perpetuity 13,000 archive units and 22,000 tapes, documenting various significant domestic and international political, economic, cultural, sport and other events since 1935, reminiscences, statements, speeches and interviews of politicians, artists, public figures and athletes, recordings of music, literary works and stage performances, and sittings of Parliament. The oldest recording dates from 1897: Bulgarian Horo by Czech composer Alois Macak. The items started to be inventoried and organized on November 27, 1957. The originals are kept at Bulgaria’s only specialized tape repository, in Borovets. The Golden Sound Library enjoys the status of a national sound archive and is member of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives.

October 1, 1953: Half-hour Bulgarian-language broadcasts from Radio Moscow start to be aired on Radio Sofia’s First Programme every Friday evening.

1959: Radio Sofia posts its correspondents to Moscow, Berlin, Cairo and Athens.

1962: Radio Sofia launches a Third FM Programme. The station averages 32 hours daily programming on 8 MW transmitters.

December 22, 1964: Radio Sofia becomes Bulgarian Radio as part of a General Directorate for Bulgarian Radio and Television at the Committee of Culture and Arts.

January 4, 1971: The Bulgarian Radio launches three domestic programmes: Horizont [Horizon] (based on the First Programme, news on the hour and music of all genres), Hristo Botev (formerly Second Programme, for culture, education, opinion journalism and music), and Orfei [Orpheus] (Third Programme, for more sophisticated literature, classical music and other arts).

1970-1972: A new building goes up next door to the old one. Designed by Georgi Stoilov, it is shaped as an inverted pyramid, each of the six floors protruding above the lower one.

May 28, 1971: Bulgaria enjoys its first stereo broadcast, of the Orfei National Programme.

June 7, 1971: The General Directorate for Bulgarian Radio and Television is transformed into a Committee for Television and Radio under the Council of Ministers (closed down on June 18, 1976).

September 9, 1974: The Horizont Programme starts 24-hour broadcasting.

September 1, 1977: Launch of a fourth FM domestic programme, Znanie [Knowledge], for science and education.

May 1, 1982: A Committee for Television and Radio is established under the Committee for Culture.

March 6, 1990: By National Assembly resolution, the Bulgarian Radio is separated from the Bulgarian Television.

December 20, 1990: The Grand National Assembly adopts Basic Provisions of a Provisional Statute of the Bulgarian National Television and the Bulgarian National Radio, defining BNR as an all-national, autonomous news organization and cultural institution.

March 24, 1992: The Bulgarian Radio is renamed Bulgarian National Radio.

1993: The Bulgarian Radio joins the Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Raina Konstantinova, formerly head of the BNR External Service, serves as Director of the EBU Radio Department between 2001 and February 2012.

April 1, 1993: The Orfei and Znanie programmes go off the air as a cost-cutting measure. The Hristo Botev Programme expands to a round-the-clock broadcast.

July 18, 1996: Parliament adopts a Radio and Television Act, defining BNR as an autonomous public organization - legal person with its seat in Sofia.

March 1998: Radio Plovdiv becomes Bulgaria’s first radio station to go live online.

November 13, 1998: Parliament passes a new Radio and Television Act, defining BNR as a national public-service provider of radio services which must be ensured to all Bulgarian citizens.

February 6, 2001: The National Council for Radio and Television (NCRT) elects poet and translator Ivan Borislavov as the new BNR director general. Most of the station’s staffers take a categorical stand against the election, arguing that he is incompetent, and threaten to go on strike. Borislavov reaches his new workplace with the help of police who push aside picketing journalists.

February 14, 2001: Hristo Botev Programme Acting Director Georgi Vasilski goes on a hunger strike, demanding Borislavov’s resignation.

February 18, 2001: Union of Bulgarian Writers Deputy Chairman Ango Boyanov goes on counter-hunger strike against Vasilski’s protest and the "disregard of institutions". The director general suffers a heart attack and is hospitalized after a strongly worded phone interview with Nedelya 150 anchor Lili Marinkova.

March 19, 2001: Borislavov is replaced by composer Aleksander Brazitsov as acting head of BNR. He fires staffers, closes radio studios, and transfers the transmission to a different location.

April 4, 2001: The Supreme Administrative Court voids Borislavov’s election as unlawful.

May 28, 2001: The NCRT elects by consensus Polya Stancheva as BNR director general.

January 2004: BNR employs a staff of 1,500 (1,200 in Sofia and 300 in five regional radio stations).

July 19, 2012: BNR launches its online platform, Radio Binar (www.binar.bg), featuring sound streams, podcasts and video content.

Landmark Shows - and Some Are Still On!

Since September 14, 1963: "Sport i Muzika" [Sports and Music], BNR’s oldest surviving show, focused on football match commentary.

1966: "Horizont - Radiostantsiya na Mladezhta" [Horizon: Youth Radio Station], a weekly youth show, aired every Tuesday.

October 1970 - 2013: "Bulgaria: Dela i Dokumenti" [Bulgaria: Deeds and Documents], a daily show presenting the date’s memorable events from the past.

Since January 4, 1971: "Nedelya 150", a Sunday talk show.

January 4, 1974 - 1999: "Razgovor s Vas" [Talking with You], a Friday afternoon show, direct dialogue with listeners, hosted by radio legend Bozhana Dimitrova.

Since January 2, 1979: "Predi Vsichki" [Before All], a morning magazine show.

Since January 4, 1979: "Pulsirashti Noti" [Beating Scores], a Monday pop-music show.

Since January 4, 1983: "Horizont za Vas" [Horizont for You], tourism, science and culture, every Friday.

Since 1983: "Dobro Utro" [Good Morning], a morning show on Hristo Botev Programme.

Since 1983: "Hora, Patishta, Avtomobili" [People, Roads, Cars], a weekly show for motorists on road transport, road traffic safety and infrastructure.

Since January 3, 1984: "Noshten Horizont" [Night Horizon], a late-night show (Bulgaria’s first) on the Horizont Programme.

Since January 4, 1989: "Dvanayset Plyus Tri" [12 + 3], a daily noon news-and-views show.

National and Regional Programmes

BNR currently now operates two 24-hour domestic programmes: Horizont (on FM, MW, SW and LW) and Hristo Botev (on FM and MW). In addition, it has nine regional radio stations: Varna (since December 9, 1934), Stara Zagora (May 21, 1936), Plovdiv (May 31, 1955), Shumen (February 12, 1973), Blagoevgrad (December 11, 1973), Sofia (September 17, 2007), Vidin (March 1, 2009), Burgas (May 31, 2012), and Kardzhali (May 9, 2016). All of them except the newest two are on the air round the clock, and Burgas and Kardzhali have 18-hour programming.

External Service

February 16, 1936: The BNR’s external service is born, with a test SW broadcast of Radio Sofia’s morning programme that can be heard all over Europe, North Africa and North America.

May 24, 1936: News briefs in Esperanto begin to be aired from Bulgaria, using the LZA SW radio-telegraph transmitter (20.04 m/14.970 kHz) at the Sofia Railway Station which, because of its call sign, gains popularity as “Radio ELZA”.

1936-2025: The station broadcasts in a total of 20 languages: Albanian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, English, Esperanto, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian/Serbo-Croat, Slovenian, Spanish, and Turkish. The set of language versions varies from 5 to 15, some being added and others dropped or relaunched, but a Bulgarian, English, French, and German service remain a fixture throughout that 89-year period.

1992: The external service is named Radio Bulgaria.

Since May 2004: Radio Bulgaria publishes online its original multimedia products in 11 languages (Albanian, Bulgarian, English, French, German, Greek, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Serbian, and Turkish). No other Bulgarian website maintains so many language versions.

2005: The station broadcasts an average 55 hours daily to an estimated audience of 10 million foreign and Bulgarian listeners in 140 countries in Europe, North, Central and South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and even Antarctica.

January 31, 2012: SW broadcasting (except the Turkish-language programme) is discontinued due to financial constraints.

Since 2015: The external service is available online round the clock.

Music Maker and Producer

1935-1937: Prominent composer Dimitar Nenov works as Radio Sofia’s music director, setting up the station’s first music ensembles and initiating the creation of vocal and instrumental folk-song-based suites intended for the chamber radio orchestra and soloists.

September 3, 1935: First broadcast of a 14-member Radio Sofia Studio Orchestra (renamed Lounge Orchestra in October 1935), conducted by Vasil Chernaev and with famous violinist Nedyalka Simeonova as concertmaster.

Early October 1935: A nine-member Radio Sofia Jazz Band goes on air.

1937: Radio Sofia establishes a chamber orchestra of its own, conducted by Marin Goleminov.

1938: The radio station stock of gramophone records reaches 7,000.

April 1, 1942: Radio Sofia’s Studio One goes into operation. The 420 sq m, 4,500 cu m facility boasts excellent acoustics and is ranked among the top ten in Europe. State-of-the-art equipment (entirely replaced in 2009) and highly professional staff make it one of Bulgaria’s best recording venues. BNR establishes itself as the country’s largest producer of music, drama and children’s programmes. With seating capacity for 500-600 and a 120 sq m stage, the 16 by 20 m Studio One also hosts live broadcasts and audience-attended concerts. Award-winning film scores recorded there include Argentine crime drama The Secret in Their Eyes, Regis Wargnier's East/West (France), the US animated horror comedy Igor, Bulgaria's Tilt and many others.

November 1, 1944: Svetoslav Obretenov organizes a 40-singer State Choir as Radio Sofia’s first professional mixed vocal ensemble. Renamed Bulgarian Acapella Choir in 1954, it has been part of the Sofia Philharmonic as National Philharmonic Choir since 1981.

August 1948: A 28-member State Symphony Orchestra is set up at Radio Sofia, with Vasil Stefanov as conductor and Nedyalka Simeonova as first chair. Renamed Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian Radio and Television in 1961, it has toured successfully South Korea, France, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands and Germany.

1952: Radio Sofia establishes a Folk Song Ensemble of female singers and about a dozen instrumentalists. Currently called Bulgarian National Radio Folk Music Orchestra, it is considered the country’s top-class ensemble in its field.

1952: Conductor Mihail Milkov sets up a Mixed Choir of Radio Sofia. The choir has a huge repertoire of over 30 classical operas, plus symphonies, oratorios, cantatas, etc. and actively records its performances. It has appeared in major productions at the opera theatres in Lyons, Limoges, Avignon, Besançon, Nimes and Oranges.

March 3, 1960: Establishment of Radio Sofia’s Big Band (initially named Bulgarian Radio Estrada Band). Band leaders include legends Milcho Leviev (1962-1966) and Vili Kazasyan (1965-1998), who makes it an institution. The Big Band collaborates with world celebrities, including Joe Lovano, Kurt Elling, Tom Harrell, Christian Elsaesser and David Linx.

March 21, 1960: The Radio Sofia Children’s Choir is founded by Hristo Nedyalkov, who leads it until his death in 2013. The ensemble presents its repertoire of over 800 works, ranging from the Renaissance and Baroque to modern classics, Bulgarian and foreign folk songs and church chants, in concerts in London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Brussels, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, New York, Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, Mexico City, Honolulu (the first Bulgarian concert in Hawaii), Cairo and many other cities in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Since their first tour there in 1966 (the first by a children’s choir from an Eastern Bloc country), the internationally acclaimed and award-winning choir has enjoyed exceptional respect and popularity in Japan, taking special credit for the promotion of bilateral cultural relations.

November 19, 1990: BNR’s newest music ensemble, a 39-member Radio Kids Vocal Group, gathers for its first rehearsal. Led by Ilina Todorova, the group of singers aged 4 to 13 makes its first recordings in spring 1991. Their vast repertoire consists mainly of children’s songs by Bulgarian composers. Radio Kids have released seven LPs and have staged international tours and festival entries since 1993.

The BTA Connection

Ever since its inception, the National Radio has interacted closely with the national news agency at both the professional and personal level.

BTA deputy director Henri Levenson was among the founding members of Rodno Radio in 1930. On February 8, 1933, he started presenting "From Wednesday to Wednesday" as Bulgaria’s first regular review of political developments.

Before becoming BTA chief director in 1981, Boyan Traikov was Bulgarian Radio correspondent in Paris (1969-1973) and director general of the Bulgarian Radio (1973-1981). Ahead of his appointment to head the national news agency in 2002, Stoyan Cheshmedjiev was director general of Radio Varna (1991-2002) and returned to that position after his forced resignation in March 2003 (August 2004-December 2005). Maxim Minchev, who was BTA director General in 2003-2020, was reporter, department head and deputy editor in chief at BNR's Hristo Botev Service (1989-1998).

Between September 2019 and March 2020, incumbent BNR Director General Milen Mitev worked at BTA, initially as jurisconsult and later as secretary general.

The two institutions went through very similar management crises: BNR in February-March 2001 and BTA in March 2003, when staffers took exception to the appointed heads of their respective media outlets.

Following is an original BTA External Service item covering the dramatic developments at BNR in 2001:

"BULGARIA-NATIONAL RADIO-PROTESTS

Protest of BNR Staffers into Its 40th Day, Alternative Programming Broadcast

Sofia, March 19, 2001 (BTA) - Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) staffers have been protesting the appointment of a new BNR management for 40 days now.

The protestors read a declaration at 6 am on the Horizont programme and announced the start of their civil disobedience. At 6:20 am, the broadcast from the Horizont studio was switched to another studio and was anchored by staffers from BNR's second programme, Hristo Botev.

All persons who have been sabotaging the programme of Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) will be punished in accordance with the Labour Code, Aleksander Brazitsov, BNR acting director general, told BTA.

Last week the radio journalists protesting against the appointment of Ivan Borislavov as BNR director general warned they would declare civil disobedience on Monday.

On Monday morning the Horizont Programme of National Radio is broadcast by another studio, Brazitsov said. The presenters are journalists from other programmes, the committee of the protestors said.

"We cannot retain on the payroll people who declare civil disobedience," Brazitsov said. In his words, the protestors will certainly be punished, though not by dismissal, at least for the time being, he said.

"I would not list them all name by name, but those who have been sabotaging the programme all the time will not go unpunished," Brazitsov stated.

"We are at work at the moment, so let Brazitsov punish us," Silvia Velikova, chairperson of the protestors' committee, told BTA.

The protestors are at their workplaces and the moment they get the opportunity to present their programmes, they will do it, she said. The protesting BNR staffers will post newscasts on the web, the protest HQ said.

Around 1:00 pm, some 100 BNR journalists blockaded a section of the boulevard that passes in front of the BNR building in downtown Sofia. The area was cordoned off by the police for 30 minutes.

National Council on Television and Radio Chairman Alexander Tomov told BTA that the council does not have the right to interfere with the work of the BNR Managing Board although they have elected it. He added NCRT will not issue a declaration on the civil disobedience at BNR.

Velikova said that the orders for the dismissal of two Horizont anchors - Lili Marinkova and Peter Volgin, have been prepared and that explanations in writing were requested from six other protestors.

The programming of the BNR and the national television is being censored, Coalition for Bulgaria (consisting of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and 15 other formations) said in a declaration on Monday.

The managements of the media deliberately violate the law by pressuring and censoring the work of the journalists, by engaging in propaganda and, in effect, do not ensure the public character of the mass media, the declaration says. All this is unacceptable in times when elections are approaching and the responsibility for this cannot be ascribed to the NCRT but to the ruling majority and its leader Ivan Kostov.

Coalition for Bulgaria will inform the Council of Europe on the situation with the national media and will insist for a debate in parliament on the implementation of the recommendations in the Council of Europe report on Bulgaria.

GG 21:05:39 19-03-2001 -0-"