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The first Bulgarian radio broadcasts for foreign audience - an experiment of enthusiasts

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"Seeing that shortwave broadcasts are already developing in the world, a group of enthusiastic Bulgarian technicians decided to build a shortwave transmitter for experimental purposes and to broadcast a program in Bulgarian abroad. Initially, they were punished for their initiative, but later they were given state orders for their courageous endeavor. Thus, the researcher of the history of radio in Bulgaria, Prof. Veselin Dimitrov, describes the beginning of the broadcasts for abroad, which the Bulgarian radio began in the remote 1936. For the entire period of 85 years of its existence, Radio Bulgaria has plenty to tell about itself, but also to pay tribute to a whole galaxy of people who dedicated their lives for it.

"This radio looks like something completely out of the ordinary back then. It was born to convince us that it is on the navel of space. As the world was stubbornly divided into enemies, radio waves crossed the trenches of hatred. The radio taught us not to hate", says in his memoirs the legendary figure in the Air Force Petar Uvaliev, who in the second half of the 1930s was preparing the Italian-language broadcasts of the Bulgarian radio. His voice, as well as that of other emblematic personalities related to the history of the foreign language broadcasts of the Bulgarian National Radio, can be heard in the publication "Radio Bulgaria - the voice of Bulgaria across the world".

Edited by Elena Karkalanova

English version Rositsa Petkova




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