Radio Slovakia International

Radio Slovakia International ( Radio Slovakia International - RSI ) is the international service of the Slovak public broadcaster . The program is produced at the broadcaster's headquarters in the capital, Bratislava . Founded on January 1, 1993 immediately after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia , Radio Slovakia International was one of the well-known international shortwave broadcasters . On December 31, 2010, broadcasting via shortwave was discontinued; broadcasting continues via the Internet and satellite. This was resumed, but from a different transmitter and with low power.

history

The station was founded immediately after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia into two independent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, on January 1, 1993 in the new Slovak capital, Bratislava . As Radio Slovakia International , it went on air three days later on January 4, 1993, initially with hourly relay broadcasts of the domestic program for Slovaks living abroad.

While the former Czechoslovak foreign service after separation into two states continued to work quite regularly as the Czech foreign service under the old - and new - name Radio Prague and in some cases continued to use transmitters in Slovakia, it took a while until the Slovak equivalent with its own international program Began operating on shortwave .

The actual broadcasting of the Slovak international service with programs intended for foreign-language listeners around the world began three months after the founding of the state of Slovakia on March 29, 1993. At that time, in addition to Slovak, it was broadcast in English , German , French and Russian . In 2003 programs in Spanish were added.

On July 1, 2006, shortwave broadcasting was discontinued for the first time until further notice for budgetary reasons, so that RSI could only be received via satellite and the Internet. After violent protests from listeners from all over the world as well as some political entanglements up to securing the financing of the further broadcasting operations, RSI could be received again via shortwave from October 29, 2006.

Broadcasting of the programs via satellite was planned relatively early after the start of broadcasting and was introduced around the mid-1990s. The introduction of the digital broadcast format DRM was planned for shortwave in 2011/2012 .

In 2010, however, it was decided, surprisingly, to stop broadcasting on shortwave for reasons of savings. From January 1, 2011, the programs of Radio Slovakia International will only be broadcast via satellite and made available via the Internet.

Meanwhile, a program in German, English, French and Spanish is being broadcast again on shortwave via the Kall-Krekel transmitter on the frequency 6005 kHz and 3985 kHz with an output of 1 kW each. A Russian program is broadcast in Moscow on 738 kHz.

program

RSI currently produces half-hourly programs, which mainly consist of news and features as well as information and interviews of various kinds in which Slovakia is reported. There is also a listener mail program and a culture section. Music from Slovakia is also played regularly.

Among the individual language services, the German editorial team has been clearly in the lead since the start of broadcasting in German on March 29, 1993 with a little over 40% of the total listener letters.

On December 31, 2010, Radio Slovakia International stopped broadcasting on shortwave and can therefore only be received on the Internet, via satellite and in Slovakia via DVB-T. English and Spanish broadcasts for North America will continue to be broadcast on shortwave via World Radio Miami International.

Broadcast languages

Transmitters

Until December 31, 2010, RSI was using one of two transmitters initially:

Veľké Kostoľany - older broadcasting station northwest of Bratislava (out of service since 1998)
Rimavská Sobota - newer transmission station and the most powerful shortwave station in the former Czechoslovakia
Kall-Krekel - transmitter of the shortwave service in Germany

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Setting the shortwave . rozhlas.sk. German editorial team. Accessed on December 28, 2010: “Dear listeners, after almost eighteen years of almost uninterrupted broadcasting on shortwave, we regret to inform you that from January 1, 2011 you will only be able to hear us via the Internet and satellite. We would like to thank you for your many years of loyalty, the personal dialogue and your solidarity with our station. However, we hope that you will remain with us as listeners and friends in the future. Goodbye dopocutia! Your RSI editorial team ”.

[1] Setting the shortwave . rozhlas.sk. German editorial team. Accessed on December 28, 2010: “Dear listeners, after almost eighteen years of almost uninterrupted broadcasting on shortwave, we regret to inform you that from January 1, 2011 you will only be able to hear us via the Internet and satellite. We would like to thank you for your many years of loyalty, the personal dialogue and your solidarity with our station. However, we hope that you will remain with us as listeners and friends in the future. Goodbye dopocutia! Your RSI editorial team ”.