Director Roman Rudniewski opened the era of radio broadcasting in Poland on February 1st 1925 with the words: "This is a trial run radio broadcast for the Polish Radio-Technical Association in Warsaw."Today public radio in Poland is made up of four nation-wide stations and 17 local public broadcast stations, all part of Polish Radio, plus the theme station, Radio Parliament. Public radio (www.radio.com.pl) fulfils an informational, entertainment and educational mission in Poland. In line with the law on radio broadcasting one third of all programmes broadcast - from music through reportage to literature - must be Polish produced. The highest possible professional standards are represented by Polish Radio's Reporting and Documents Studio and the Polish Radio Theatre. The makers of reporting programmes have on many occasions been awarded prestigious awards at the PRIX ITALIA International Festival of Radio and Televisual Art in Italy and the International Festival of Multimedia Art PREMIOS ONDAS in Spain. Polish Radio Theatre carries on and develops the longstanding tradition of artistic radio in Poland.
One of the most popular radio stations in Poland is Polish Radio One The station is addressed to a wide range of listeners. Radio One's best known radio broadcasts are the morning show, Signals for the day and Summer with the Radio,broadcast during the vacation period. In 2002, Summer with the Radio celebrated its 30th birthday. For many years the programme has also organised concert tours. Radio One also transmits the longest-running radio soap opera in the world the Matysiak Family the first episode broadcast in December 1956.
Polish Radio Two is 'culture radio'. Two plays music not heard elsewhere on Polish radio. It is a Euro-wide phenomenon, making programmes of high musical and literary calibre. A significant place on Two is held by classical music and Jazz, including sessions not recorded elsewhere. Thanks to Two, listeners can seat themselves in the most prestigious concert halls of the world, where music of the highest calibre is performed - at the London Proms or the Salzburg festival. Broadcasts also include concerts from the International Chopin Piano Competition, with which Two has been closely associated from the start. Two broadcasts poetry renditions, radio plays and works by Polish Radio Theatre. It also popularises Polish literature, film and classical music. Its airwaves hear discussion on important events in Poland's and the world's cultural life. Listeners of Two are an exceptional audience with very high demands.
A very interesting Polish Radio station is Programme 3. Three (or Trójka) is famous for its dynamic news, reporting and journalism and good music. The station's programme makers remain to a large extent the same people who started out with the station when it started 40 years ago. Many of them, such as Piotr Kaczkowski and Marek Nied¼wiecki, are national institutions in their own right. We invite you to Three, the station's central programme, was the first programme on Polish Radio to go out live with the participation of its listeners. Other well-known programmes are Puls Trójki, Trójka's political saloon and The hit list.
The fourth nation-wide Polish Radio station is Radio BIS. This is the only learning - educational station in Poland. Radio Bis's target audience is the youngest, seeking to awaken in them the wonders of the world, without losing contact at the same time with its adult listeners interested in deeper knowledge. A large part of the station's activity is taken up by literature, history and art. Everyday on BIS one can learn English, German and French.
In the largest Polish cities 17 local radio broadcast units of Polish Radio operate. They concentrate on regional problems, alongside information from the country and the world, transmitting 'News from the courtyard' - on the work of local governments and local life. Broadcast journalists also prepare programmes for the national airwaves. The regional broadcasts of Polish Radio are often the most listened to radio in a given area, more popular than nation-wide stations.
Radio Parliament was the first theme radio station in Central and Eastern Europe. Its task is to bring its listeners closer to the functioning of parliament, local government and NGOs. Most of its air time is devoted to broadcasts of parliamentary sittings, with also MPs', experts' and listeners' comments and opinions aired. A novelty is programmes on the work of parliamentary commissions and programmes showing the everyday work of MPs, senators and their meetings with electors.
Private radio
At the start of the 1990s many new, independent, radio stations appeared in Poland. Those that managed to hold their positions on this very competitive market have become an important part of local social life. About 220 public and private radio stations operate in Poland today.
The first private radio station in Poland - RMF FM (www.rmf.pl) started broadcasting at the start of 1990 in Cracow. RMF FM arose out of collaboration between French radio station FUN and Radio Ma³opolska FUN, as it was then called. Initially the station broadcast retransmissions of programmes from France. Since October 1991 RMF (by then called RMF - Radio - Music - Facts) was a 24-hour a day station covering all of Poland. Since 1994 RMF has had a license to broadcast nation-wide. RMF gained great popularity thanks to promotional gigs it sponsored. In the summer of 1995 the first Power Invasion took place -a concert tour with the largest Polish stars taking part. Today, RMF is one of the biggest and most modern radio stations in Europe. From land-based transmitters its network covers more than 95% of the country, and is additionally available on digital television channels and the Internet. RMF FM and several other companies are members of the media holding company FM, which is also a co-founder of one of the most popular internet portals, Interia.pl. At the moment You can also listen to RMF classic - presenting classical music.
The second nation-wide private radio station in Poland is Radio ZET (www.zet.pl). "Zetka" was the first private radio station in Warsaw. It started operating at the end of September 1990. In June 1994 Radio ZET was granted a license to broadcast programmes nation-wide. At present it covers more than 95% of Poland, via land-based transmitters, Internet and digital television platforms. As with RMF FM, Radio ZET also organises promotional concert tours - each May 'Radia ZET's Great May Day' takes place, and in the summer 'Radia ZET's Blue Summer' takes place. Since November 1999 Radio ZET has co-operated with the American information network CNN. It is the only Polish broadcaster that has rights to use material prepared by CNN. Thanks to this co-operation listeners of 'Zetka' can listen to news from every region of the world where there may be no Polish journalists present to report from.
The owner of Radia ZET is the media group Eurozet, to which Radiostacja. also belongs. This was once Polish Radio's broadcaster for scouts. Today one can pick up Radiostacja in the largest cities, though it has not been ruled out that it will become a nation-wide station. Its programmes are addressed mainly to young people. It broadcasts types of music - reggae, hip-hop and drum'n'bass - often ignored by other broadcasters - and Radiostacja itself takes an active part in promoting these types of music in Poland.
Over regional radio station is also TOK FM. Radio. Station puts focus on the political issues covering policy, economy etc. That radio defines yourself as "first information radio", program includes many interviews and news.
The third broadcaster with a license to broadcast nation-wide is the Catholic station Radio Maryja (www.radiomaryja.pl). Most of its listeners are older people, averaging over 55 years old. It mainly broadcasts church masses and religious events programmes, plus programmes dealing with the life of the Church and problems affecting believers. Radia Maryja can today be heard in 5 voivodships, though efforts are being made to widen its network. From land-based transmitters one can also pick up Radia Maryja in Canada and the USA, and thanks to satellite transmission and the Internet it can be picked up practically anywhere in the world.