Kossuth Rádió


Kossuth Rádió is the national radio station of Hungary. It was established in 1925 as Budapest I. and named after Lajos Kossuth, a Hungarian national hero, in 1849. The main Hungarian-language radio station can be heard all over Central Europe; Antenna Hungária broadcasts it with 2 MW power on 540 kHz AM from transmitter Solt and several FM stations, covering Hungary and the neighbouring countries. It is the second most popular radio station in Hungary with 1.38 million listeners daily.

History

It was established in 1925 as Budapest I. and broadcast from Csepel with a 2 kW Telefunken-made transmitter on 565 metres AM. The first experimental programme began with this sentence: "Halló-halló! Itt a magyarországi rádióhírmondó 2 kW-os leadó állomása az 565 méteres hullámhosszon.". The first headquarters were built at Rákóczi Avenue and a new 3 kW tower was installed in 1926. At that time the radio was available only in and around Budapest.
National broadcasting started in 1928, when Csepel transmitter was replaced with the 20 kW-strong Lakihegy Tower. In the 1930s several new towers were built; Mosonmagyaróvár, Miskolc, Pécs, Nyíregyháza in 1932 and the new Lakihegy Tower with 120 kW in 1933. New shows and programmes were launched continuously, the most popular was the Hungarian folk music in Gypsy style, heard after the noon bell. The radio station reached 300,000 listeners in 1933.
At the end of the World War II all Hungarian radio towers were exploded by the German army. Reconstruction finished in 1948 and Budapest I. was renamed to Kossuth Rádió after Lajos Kossuth in 1949, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution of 1848-1849. Lakihegy Tower was rebuilt again in 1968 with a new 300 kW transmitter, but it was getting out of date, so the government decided to build a much powerful tower. Transmitter Solt was finished in 1977 with 2000 kW as a high priority project with the cooperation of the Soviet Union. Nationwide FM transmitters built up in the 2000s and 2010s.

Shows

The morning show called 180 perc is a three-hour-long news programme, with issues of public concern news and live discussions, economic and political analyses, and reports of our foreign correspondents.
The main news programme Krónika is the most listened radio news programme in the country for years. The other Chronicles are refreshed editions. The hourly newscast blocks constitute the frame of the daily programme flow. The station broadcasts news in every half an hour during the morning and afternoon drive-time slots.
In summer 2009 the most recent daily report programme A hely was launched, experimenting with the presentation of events, phenomenon, places and professions from a very insider perspective.
The programme Határok nélkül was established after the fall of the Communism, focusing on the Hungarian diaspora living outside the present-day borders of Hungary due to the Treaty of Trianon. Subsidiaries of Magyar Rádió report from Bratislava, Uzhgorod, Arad, Târgu Mureș, Miercurea Ciuc, Oradea, Timișoara, Novi Sad, Subotica, Cluj-Napoca and Komárno.
There are several shows of ethnicity groups and religious communities of the country, including a Roman Catholic, Calvinist, Lutheran, Greek Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Unitarian, Jewish and a Romani programme.

Broadcasting