With its headquarters in Budapest and several regional offices around the country, MR is responsible for public service broadcasting throughout the Hungarian Republic. As well as maintaining nine regional studios, the corporation produces three nationwide Hungarian-language radio channels covering the full range of public-service radio provision, and a fourth channel aimed at the country's linguistic minorities.
Named after Lajos Kossuth, the channel is the official radio station of Hungary. It is the flagship channel of the Hungarian Radio. Created in 1925, the station has over 3 million listeners per day. It primarily broadcasts news, including interviews, discussions, reports and other speech-based programmes.
Petőfi Rádió
Named after the poet Sándor Petőfi, the station is aimed at the younger generation and broadcasts pop music.
Bartók Rádió
Named after the composer Béla Bartók, this is a dedicated classical music station. It hosts high culture talk programmes in addition to orchestral and opera music. Supposedly, only a few thousand people listen to this station and proposals to terminate Rádió Bartók have been made several times, but never enacted.
Named after Pista Dankó, this radio station airs regional content throughout Hungary, plays folk music and broadcasts operetta shows. It is available round the clock on the internet and FM. Also it broadcasts via mediumwave on weekdays from 4:30am to 9:05pm and on weekends from 5:00am to 9:05pm. Then the station's frequencies are handed over to Kossuth Rádió for the rest of the night.
History and profile
Ever since its foundation, the Hungarian Radio P.L.C. has been a "citadel" of domestic information, and cultural life. Since December 1, 1925, the institution has had a decisive role in forming the Hungarian public opinion, and general taste. It is true in spite of the fact that regular television broadcasts were launched in Hungary in 1958. Forty years later, in 1998, the dual media system was formed. Owing to that a regular competition started between the different mass media channels. Since commercial television and radio stations flooded the market primarily with entertainment industry products, the value-centered approach and program structure of the public service radio makes it, if possible, even more important to preserve its culture creating and broadcasting functions. Hungarian Radio is a partner to the domestic audience and a link with the Hungarians over the borders, a chance for them to retain their national identity. Hungarian Radio could use the slogan often heard in radio commercials: "From clear source only". The buildings and studios of the Radio are located in Budapest, in the block between Bródy Sándor Street and Pollack Mihály Square. There are also two beautiful palaces in this area, one of them was owned earlier by the Eszterházy’s and the other one by the Károlyi family. The construction of Studio No. 6, the big orchestra studio, is linked with Georg von Békésy’s name, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his acoustic researches in 1961. On July 1, 2007 Radio Budapest cancelled the programming in foreign languages. On December 22, 2012, All regional public service radio programs were cancelled and regional studios closed permanently. On June 30, 2011 Magyar Radio closed its Radio Theatre Office and dismissed all dramaturgy staff. Digital Radio Broadcasting experiments, that carried all public service stations, and were never licensed commercially, will be terminated on September 5, 2020.
