Radio Belgrade (, ) is a state-owned and operated radio station in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. It has four different programs (Radio Belgrade 1, Radio Belgrade 2, Radio Belgrade 3, and

Radio Belgrade 202 Radio Belgrade 202 (, ) is the fourth program of a state-owned and -operated radio station Radio Belgrade in Belgrade, Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arm ...

), a precious archive of several hundreds of thousands records, magnetic tapes and CDs, and is part of

Radio Television of Serbia The Serbian Broadcasting Corporation, more commonly referred to as Radio Television of Serbia (), or RTS (), is the state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of Serbia. RTS has four organizational units – radio, television, music pro ...

History

The predecessor of Radio Beograd, ''Radio Beograd-Rakovica'', started its program in 1924 and was a part of a state wireless telegraph station. ''Radio Beograd, AD'' started in March 1929. Its program consists of music, news, radio-drama, broadcasting from theaters, etc. Radio Beograd stopped broadcasting on April 6, 1941, when bombed during the German air raid of Belgrade, (

Operation Punishment The German bombing of Belgrade, codenamed Operation Retribution () or Operation Punishment, was the April 1941 German bombing of Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, in retaliation for the coup d'état that overthrew the government that had si ...

). After the occupation of Belgrade, Radio Belgrade became the German forces' radio station under the name of ''Soldatensender Belgrad'' (Soldiers Radio Belgrad) on the same frequency. It could be received throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. A lieutenant working at the station who was taking leave in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

was asked to collect some records to broadcast. Amongst a pile he obtained from a second hand shop was the little-known two-year-old song

Lili Marleen "Lili Marleen" (also spelled "Lili Marlen'", "Lilli Marlene", "Lily Marlene", "Lili Marlène" among others; ) is a German love song that became popular during World War II throughout Europe and the Mediterranean among both Axis powers, Axis and ...

sung by

Lale Andersen Lale Andersen (23 March 1905 – 29 August 1972) was a German chanson singer-songwriter born in Lehe (now part of Bremerhaven). She is best known for her interpretation of the song "Lili Marleen" in 1939, which by 1941 transcended the conflic ...

, which up to then had sold only around 700 copies.

Karl-Heinz Reintgen Karl-Heinz Reintgen (1915 – 17 September 1990) was a German journalist, who served as editor-in-chief of radio and television and then as deputy director-general of Saarländischer Rundfunk (Saarland Broadcasting Corporation) between 1968 and 1980 ...

, the German officer in charge of station, began playing the song on the air. Due to their limited collection of records at the time the song was played frequently. After the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

government then ordered it to stop broadcasting the song, Radio Belgrade received many letters from

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

soldiers all over Europe asking them to play Lili Marleen again. In response, Radio Belgrade returned the song to its programming. From then on, the station played Andersen's recording every evening at 9:55 PM and its popularity continued to grow. Soldiers stationed around the Mediterranean, including both German

Afrika Korps The German Africa Corps (, ; DAK), commonly known as Afrika Korps, was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its Africa ...

and British Eighth Army troops, regularly tuned in to hear it. Even

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (, ), was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal) during World War II. He served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of ...

, the commander of the Afrika Korps admired the song. He asked Radio Belgrade to incorporate the song into their daily broadcasts, which they did. Even Allied soldiers enjoyed listing to it, when the song was taken down. Field Marshal

Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the ...

protested along with numerous soldiers of the Eighth Army. After

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

Partisans Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Itali ...

seized power in 1944, a new Radio Belgrade, this time under Communist control, continued its operation and gradually became the most influential broadcast medium in

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

and the former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. Nowadays, Radio Beograd is transformed into a

public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

broadcaster.

Stations

RTS operates four national radio stations, under the name Radio Belgrade. Since 18 September 2019, RTS also operates a number of online thematic stations; these are RTS Pletenica (folk music, ensembles and soloists), RTS Rokenroller (rock and pop music) and RTS Juboks (evergreen music), as well as RTS Vrteška which is intended for children and parents.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Radio stations in Serbia International broadcasters Eastern Bloc mass media Radio stations established in 1924 Mass media in Belgrade State media 1924 establishments in Serbia Defunct shortwave radio stations

History

Stations

See also

References

External links