The infrastructure began with a transmitter from Moscow to set up its first station in Yan'an. It used the call sign XNCR for broadcasts, and is the first radio station set up by the Communist Party of China in 1940. In the west, it was known as the Yan'an New ChinaRadio Station broadcasting two hours daily. In China, it was called the Yan'an Xinhua Broadcasting Station, which was established on December 30, 1940. On March 25, 1949, it was renamed Shanbei Xinhua Broadcasting Station after it departed from Yan'an. It began to broadcast in Peiping under the name of Peiping Xinhua Broadcasting Station. On December5, 1949, it was officially named to Central People's Broadcasting Station, two months after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The station offered 15.5 hours of service daily. Mao Zedong emphasized that all citizens should listen to the station on May 5, 1941. The "Central Press and Broadcasting Bureau" was the driver in pushing all schools, army units, and public organizations of all levels to install loud public speakers and radio reception base. By the 1960s, 70 million speakers were installed reaching the rural population of 400 million. Central People's Broadcasting Station innovated wired transmissions, which were linked to the commonly found telephone poles hanging with loud speakers. It was part of Mao's ideology of delivering "Politics on Demand". The station served as the headquarters for propaganda during the Cultural Revolution. The station was later renamed China National Radio as its English name. It would move to a new building in 1998. Today, CNR forms the national radio service of the state-owned China Media Group, continuing its mission to broadcast a variety of radio programmes to listeners all over China and around the world.
Present
CNR currently has seventeen channels, with 198 hours of daily broadcasting through satellite. Channel one mainly broadcasts news in Mandarin to a national audience. Channel two, Business Radio, broadcasts economic, scientific and technological information and service programs in Mandarin throughout China. Channel three, Music Radio, is an FM stereomusic channel. Channel four, Metro Radio, provides life programs exclusively to the listeners in Beijing. Channel five and Channel six, Cross-straits Radio, broadcast programs for the listeners in Taiwan. Channel seven, Huaxia Radio, broadcasts programs for the listeners in Hong Kong, Macau and the Pearl River Delta. Channel eight, Nationality Radio, broadcasts programs for the minority ethnic groups in Mongolian, Tibetan, Uighur, Kazak and Korean. Channel nine, Story Radio, broadcasts entertainment programs, including comic crosstalk and storytelling series programs, etc. After the recent reform, CNR's programming and production processes are increasingly specified, targeted and personalized. CNR has 40 correspondent branches in major cities including Hong Kong and Macau, and dispatched correspondents in Taiwan.
