History of Romanian Radio Broadcasting

“Last night, at a rather late hour, we gathered at our teacher and friend Ionel Simionescu’s house, having among us the Brătescu-Voineşti (...). We gathered to listen to a haut parleur, a modern radio broadcasting tool ... I must confess that it was my first time (...). The moment when the phenomenon occurred, all previous preconceptions completely disappeared. Despite all parasites, I was hearing only to the call addressing me... a voice coming from a far land and the sound of instruments filled my soul – a live and exciting voice and instruments played by human beings. It was not the gramophone machine nor the shadows of the cinema, but the vibration of life, a direct contact with the people, my far away brother. So space was suppressed!”

Mihail Sadoveanu, about the first encounter with a radio programme.

The establishment of Radio Romania has to do with scientific and technical progress, which led to further development of radiotelegraphy and radio broadcasting, but also with indisputable economic, social and not least cultural developments. Its evolution was closely linked to human history that has undergone a number changes after the First World War.

While no one can deny that radio broadcasting has represented a great technical and scientific progress, it has become a primary political and cultural tool, with positive and negative characteristics, the greatest means of mass communication and manipulation of public opinion, thus gaining enormous importance and power, as well.

Programme on Thursday, 1 November 1928 (first ever broadcast programme)

5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. – Opening speech delivered by Prof. Dragomir Hurmuzescu, Chairman of the Board, followed by lyrics written and directed by poet Horia Furtună, then dance music performed by the Radio Quintet, press information, the Radio Quintet again, Romanian music, Romanian folk poetry and a conference held by the same Horia Furtună.

9:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. – music performed by soloist Băicoianu, weather forecast, sports news, Radio Quintet performing works by Johann Strauss.

In the following days, the radio station broadcast between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. and from 8.30 p.m. to 12:00 p.m, containing similar programmes, designed by a board made up of Hurmuzescu Dragomir, I. Al. Brătescu-Voineşti, Mihail Jora and Dimitrie T.Alesseanu.

Even from the early weeks of life of the national radio, in addition to news, weather information and music programmes, basic programmes were created, and some of them were broadcast for a very long time. From the first day radio conferences were broadcast. On 10 November 1928 programmes for children were created. Classical and contemporary works of Romanian writers were being read on the radio every day. On 8 December the first conference addressing women was broadcast. On 10 December advice of medical nature were offered to radio listeners, and on 18 December the first humorous programme was broadcast. On 12 January 1929 the first time Children’s Hour was announced, and on 17 January the Happy Hour. In June, the same year The Village Hour programme was created, and a year later the Popular Radio University was established.

The radio could not have fulfilled its mission of creator and preserver of culture without the constant support of all writers. Among the first writers who spoke on the radio microphone worth mentioning were I.Al. Brătescu-Voinesti, Tudor Arghezi, Galaction Gala, Alice Voinescu, Cezar Petrescu, V. Voiculescu, Victor Eftimiu, Felix Aderca. During 1929 other prestigious partners like Paul Zarifopol, Ion Marin Sadoveanu ToparceanuGeorge M. Sadoveanu Ion Minulescu, M. Ralea joined them. On 10 March 1929 the most prominent radio speaker, Nicolae Iorga, made his debut. On 23 April the same year a performance of the Romanian Opera, namely Aida by Verdi, was broadcast live for the first time, and on 15 January 1934 the national radio station "Radio Romania" was established. The station managed to broadcast 4642 hours after only five years of existence, in 1938.

Despite the rather hesitant beginning, each passing year brought substantial improvements to the radio programmes, and if at first 70 percent of the programmes were music programmes and 20 percent talk programmes, ten years after its opening the musical programmes fell to 52 percent.

Also, due to the diversification of the programmes, the broadcasting hours increased gradually from 305 in 1928 to 3997, and thus the number of subscribers increased as well from 14,487 in the first year to 274,314 in 1938, which was still a small figure considering the number of inhabitants of the country. Romania was located on one of the last places in Europe. In Denmark, the country that held the first place, 13.7 percent of the population had radios, in England 10.3 percent, Sweden 9.3 percent, while in Romania, the official statistics showed only 1 percent of subscribers.

Brief Chronology 1925-1928

1925

The first receiver was built and put to use at the Bucharest University Electrotechnical Institute, whose director was Dragomir Hurmuzescu. Public hearings were held, twice a week, on Thursday and Saturday, at 21:30.

26 March – The Friends of Radio Association was founded. On 22 December 1925 it acquired legal personality.

1 September – The Regulation for applying the Law on installation and use of radio stations and channels was adopted. It provided the setting up of a stock company (60 percent state-owned and 40 percent private equity).

13 September – The first issue of the magazine "Romanian Radio", a weekly publication for spreading telephony telegraphy and telephony in Romania, was published.

1926

15 April – The Control and Guidance Supreme Council drew up the draft Statute.

13 June – The first Congress of Romanian Radio specialists was held.

28 October 28 – The statute and issue prospectus of the Radiotelephonic Broadcasting Corporation of Romania were approved.

15 November – The public subscription was opened for covering the share quota of individuals to the Radiotelephonic Broadcasting Corporation of Romania.

There were about 2000 owners of radio equipment.

1927

The first Romanian broadcasting stations were built at the University Electrotechnical Institute. One of them worked on short wave, after a project of engineer Emil Petrascu.

1928

17 January – The General Assembly for establishing the Radiotelephonic Broadcasting Corporation of Romania was held. Thus, the first Council of Directors of the Radiotelephonic Broadcasting Corporation of Romania was created.

5 March – The first meeting of the Board took place. It marked the start of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation.

Until 1934 the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation was under control of the Ministry of Communications.

19 June – The building on the 60 Gen. Berthelot, the first headquarters of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, was bought.

1 November – The first official programme of the Radiotelephonic Broadcasting Corporation of Romania was broadcast. The broadcast wavelength of the station was 402 m.

3 November – The Council of Ministers allows the installation of radio stations near the border.

4 November – The first actor on the microphone was Victoria Mierlescu, who recited several poems.

9 November 9 – The first issue of the official publication of the Radio Corporation, the magazine “Radiofonia", was published.

30 November – The first symphonic concert held Radio Orchestra and conducted by Mihail Jora was broadcast.

3 December – Radio started broadcasting two conferences per day.

8 December – Alexandrina Cantacuzino held the first conference for women.

Translated by: Denisse-Meda Bucura
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University