Radio in Poland

Similar to developments on the press market, the electronic media also underwent a revolution of its own in the 1990s. However, unlike on the press market, the public media, radio and television, have retained a very strong position in Poland. Of the four radio and television station with the largest share of the market, each has two public media programmes.

The radio as a mass medium still enjoys great popularity among Poles. According to an opinion poll carried out by Demoskop in May 2002, almost all Poles, 99% in fact!, listen to the radio. As many as 69% listen to the radio everyday, of which 43% said they listened at least three hours a day.

Radio listeners can be divided into various groups, including those with more conservative tastes usually from the older generations, with Polish Radio One (PR1) mainly addressed to meet their listening needs. Many of the programmes on PR1 today have been on its waves for many years and still have a huge audience, as is the case with 'Sygna*y dnia' (Daily signals), with which many Poles start the day. Another programme - 'Lato z radiem' (Summer with the radio), which is broadcast until noon during the summer months, is listened to by whole families. In communist times, the polka, the radio jingle used for the programme, could be heard on many a seaside beach transistor radio. The programme also, it seems, has a strong fan-base in capitalist Poland.

In turn, Polish Radio 3 (PR3) is listened to mainly by people in their thirties and older. In the 1980s, when today's listeners of the popular 'Trójka' were teenagers, 'their' station broadcast rock music, which could not been heard anywhere else at that time.

It is worth also recalling the activities of public Radio Polonia, which is re-transmitted via satellite and at the same time available to the Polish émigré community, Polonia, on all continents.

The most popular nationwide radio stations, RMF FM and Radio Zet, base their activities mainly on broadcasting pop music. The latter's slogan is indeed: 'More music on Radio Zet.' Both of these private stations gained popularity thanks to their innovatory, easy-going style, their sense of humour and their young teams of radio enthusiasts. And even though - especially in the case of the leader, RMF FM - an important element of brand building was promotional activities, organising huge free mass events and star concerts, both radio stations are independent and based on their own journalistic news services.