B92

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under B 92 .

B92
TV station ( private law )
Program type	Full program
reception	Terrestrial , internet stream
Image resolution	( Entry missing )
Start of transmission	Radio May 15, 1989, TV station 2000
owner	Astonko doo
executive Director	Veran Matic
List of TV channels

B92 is an established in 1989 radio - and television stations from Belgrade .

The station gained international fame when it was temporarily switched off by the Serbian government at the end of 1996 in connection with student protests against Slobodan Milošević and was dependent on the Internet to broadcast its radio program. In November 2007, Radio B92 was the most popular radio broadcaster in Serbia for the first time with around 1.32 million listeners .

history

In the course of the looming political upheavals and the foreseeable end of one-party rule in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , an initiative for an independent youth radio was founded in Belgrade in early 1989 . On the occasion of the Youth Day held annually on May 7th on Tito's birthday , the initiative received a 15-day license to broadcast a radio program on the Belgrade VHF frequency 92 MHz with the support of the official Belgrade Youth Association. The name B92 is also derived from this frequency . The license was granted because the government had only expected an apolitical student radio. But already in the first broadcast, the radio producers took a critical look at the rituals surrounding Tito's birthday. After the license expired, broadcasting was simply continued, making use of contradicting media laws that prevented a permanent shutdown in the following years. Shortly after the start of broadcasting with a weak station that could only be received in downtown Belgrade, a contract was concluded with the state broadcaster RTS , which made it possible to broadcast with higher power via the RTS broadcasting systems.

Since the beginning, the station has been financed by a mixture of advertising income and donations. He combines elements of free radio with those of pure private radio . Content to set of daily events since the beginning of a critical support, combined with music beyond the pop - mainstream . It was explicitly differentiated from the MTV culture that was also emerging in Yugoslavia . The station was one of the first in the region to broadcast techno and jungle music on a regular basis .

In March 1991 there were massive demonstrations against nationalist propaganda in the state media in Belgrade in connection with the spreading nationalism and the danger of the breakup of Yugoslavia, about which B92 reported extensively. After the death of two young people by armored vehicles, this led to the transmitter being banned for the first time, which further fueled the protests, which were now also linked to the demand for the re-approval of B92. After a few days, this requirement was met, but with the condition not to report any more about the demonstrations. Those responsible for broadcasting formally adhered to this condition, but instead music tracks with clear political statements that were understood by the demonstrators were broadcast.

During the time of the Yugoslav wars , B92 took a clear position against the militarization of society in Serbia and also worked within the framework of the ZaMir (German: For Peace ) network with other, similarly oriented broadcasters in the break-up Yugoslavia, for example with the stations Radio Zid and Studio 99 from Sarajevo . At the same time, B92 founded the Association of Independent Electronic Media ANEM (Serbian: Asocijaciju nezavisnih elektronskih medija ) in 1993 together with several other independent local radio stations in Serbia . Because of the short range of the station, he was largely left alone by the Milošević regime, which strictly controlled all major media in the country. B92 thus also served as a kind of fig leaf for the regime.

In order to improve communication within the country, but also with other countries and the former Yugoslav republics, which have now become independent, the station established the Internet service provider Opennet in 1994 with financial and logistical support from the Soros Foundation , which was the first in the country. Right from the start, the company worked closely with the Dutch provider XS4ALL , whose network began broadcasting individual programs from the station worldwide using RealAudio from 1996 onwards.

In the autumn of 1996, in connection with massive electoral fraud in the local and federal elections to the detriment of the heterogeneous, but overall Milošević-critical opposition group Zajedno, there were strong protests in Belgrade and other cities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with up to 300,000 participants, including B92 as the other ANEM broadcasters also reported comprehensively. Most of these stations were then prevented from broadcasting their programs at the beginning of December 1996 with advanced justifications (“technical problems”) - including B92 on December 3rd. However, a direct line to XS4ALL had been installed, which allowed the radio program to be transmitted over the long term and thus enabled it to be broadcast on the Internet. As a result of this development, the news programs from B92 were temporarily also taken over by several international radio stations, such as the BBC , VoA and Radio Free Europe , which enabled reception throughout Yugoslavia. Thus, the influence of B92 on Yugoslav society did not decrease, as the regime hoped, but even stronger. Thanks to international support from journalists, politicians, musicians and other artists, B92 was able to resume broadcasting on the terrestrial frequencies on December 5, 1996.

In the past few years (from around 2013) the TV program and the online presence of B92, which is very popular with the Serbian diaspora, has been heavily commercialized. The establishment of areas that can be attributed to tabloid journalism now occupy a not inconsiderable part of the program.

Field of activity

Over the years, B92 has grown into a large media company. The original radio station has gradually expanded its portfolio and today has numerous business fields and areas of activity:

• the radio transmitter B92
• the streaming platform B92.fm
• the TV channels B92 and B92 Info
• the website B92.net
• the publishing division B92 Samizdat
• the in-house B92 record company
• the Belgrade cultural center Rex
• the real estate platform mojkvadrat.rs

Ownership structure

Shareholder until November 2010	Shares
B92 Trust	35.36%
MDLF Inc.	14.59%
NCA Media	21.14%
Salink Ltd./East Capital	21.44%
Small shareholders	7.44%

Shareholder since November 2010	Shares
ASTONKO doo	84.99%
B92 Trust	11.35%
Small shareholders	3.66%

For a long time, the majority shareholder of B92 was the B92 Trust , a limited liability company, founded to ensure the editorial and financial independence of B92. The B92 Trust in turn is owned by 11 active managing directors, editors and journalists. The shares in the B92 Trust are neither salable nor transferable, but merely linked to active participation in B92. If the commitment to B92 expires, this leads to a loss of the shares in the B92 Trust . In addition, MDLF (Media Development Loan Fund) was an important shareholder. The MDLF is an international non-profit organization that supports the development of strong and independent media in young democracies.

On November 18, 2010, B92 announced that ASTONKO doo had acquired 84.99% of the shares in the company. ASTONKO doo is a joint venture between the Swedish investment fund East Capital (through its subsidiary Salink Ltd. ) and the Greek company Lake Bade, which is owned by Stefanos Papadopoulos. At the same time, MDLF and NCA sold their shares. B92 justified the changes with the need to secure financial resources in times of the financial crisis. The new majority owner guarantees editorial independence, so B92.

social commitment

In the past, B92 has repeatedly distinguished itself through its social commitment:

• In 2008, for example, a donation campaign was started to buy a portable mammography x-ray machine that is used for the early detection of breast cancer.
• B92 also initiated the Hrana za sve (Food for All) campaign, which aims to combat hunger in Serbia.
• When a bitch was found in spring 2010 with all four legs cut off by a stranger, B92 founded the Mila Fund . This fund takes care of animal welfare and fights against cruelty to animals.
• Serbia has had massive problems with outdated incubators in the past - some of them were between 35 and 40 years old. B92 countered this situation with its aid campaign Bitka za bebe (fight for babies). As a result of the donation campaign, 160 new incubators were acquired, which corresponds to three quarters of the needs in the Serbian healthcare system.

literature

• Matthew Collin: This is Serbia Calling. Rock'n'roll radio and Belgrade's underground resistance . Serpent's Tail, London 2001, ISBN 1-85242-682-9 .
• Tom Bass, Friedrich Tiedjen: In dependence . In: Andreas Stuhlmann (Ed.): Radio culture and audio art: Between avant-garde and popular culture 1923–2001 . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-8260-2097-9 , p. 163–175 (346 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).

Web links

• Official Homepage (Serbian)
• Official Homepage (English)
• The beginning of B92 - The First 80 Seconds on air May 15, 1989
• mh-info 2/2009: Twenty years of independence

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Radio B92 najslušani u Srbiji (Radio B92 in Serbia most part) , press release of the transmitter, December 29th 2007
2. ^ B92 ownership structure. Retrieved November 24, 2011 .
3. ↑ New ownership structure for B92. Retrieved on December 21, 2010 ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
4. ↑ Donation campaign Bitka za bebe. Retrieved November 24, 2011 .