Radio Tirana 1

Radio Tirana was the first outlet to be founded by the public media group, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar, RTSH [The Albanian Radio Television]. The radio station began broadcasting on November 28, 1938 and the first words uttered on the air, according to the official history posted on the website of Radio Tirana, were ‘Ju flet Tirana” [This is Tirana calling], which continues to be used to this day as a slogan.

The first director of Radio Tirana was Gjergj Bubani. The radio initially broadcast folk music. Bubani, who earlier had been part of the Albanian press core in the diaspora and the efforts to strengthen the Albanian state, was an opponent of the fascist invasion. On the day of the invasion through radio Tirana calls for massive protests were made and Bubani rejected the Italian request to change the programing of the radio station. Despite his opposition, first the Italians and later the Nazi forces that invaded Albania in 1943, used the radio station as a propaganda tool.

The radio station was taken over from the partisan National Liberation Army from the occupying German forces on November 17th 1944, which was later marked by the communist government as a historic day. Albania’s most prominent writer Ismail Kadare, wrote a novel about the takeover of the radio station. After occupying the station, the partisan forces arrested Gjergj Bubani, who survived execution only based on testimony that he had supported the liberation cause. Bubani was otherwise condemned to 15 years of prison and served 5 years of hard labor working to dry the Maliq lagoon.

After the communist took over the country in 1945, Radio Tirana became a propaganda tool and transmitted in several foreign languages. An attempt to a more liberal approach came in the seventies, when foreign music, including the ‘Beatles’ were transmitted. However, the leaders of this liberal movement were purged after the 11th Festival of Song on Radio and Television in December 1972. Directors of the radio station, composers and singers were arrested and their families sent to internment camps.

After the collapse of communism in the early 90’ the radio station came under the political influence of the new post-communist leadership headed by the Democratic Party, which also used it politically. Today the radio station has little use as a propaganda tool. Political interference at RTSH is mainly targeted at the public TV station, TVSH. However, differently from the TVSH, Radio Tirana continues to be one of the most important radio stations in the country, mainly due to its shows, like the sports show ‘From one match to the other,’ which marks its 40th anniversary.

As part of RTSH [Albania Radio Television] broadcasters, Radio Tirana is headed by the general director of RTSH and its Supervisory Council. This came with the latest structural changes in 2016 when management of Radio and Television stations were merged. The radio station is financed through a tariff collected by RTSH and financial allocations are made by the general director of RTSH.

In their FOI for MOM, RTSH stated that they have an increase in audience of 5-6% over the past year, but it is not clear if this also includes Radio Tirana which is not treated as a separate entity. They also note that audience measurements by independent monitors are biased. According to RTSH they reach the highest number of viewers during the broadcast of football matches involving the National Team which also are transmitted through Radio Tirana.

The leadership of RTSH has also been accused of corruption and abuse of office for squandering the funds at its disposal; however, nobody from its management has been charged or convicted of such crimes. Some audits of the High State Auditing office have raised suspicions over poor financial management.

RTSH content is regulated by law and overseen by the Supervisory Council of RTSH (KDRTSH), a collegial body elected by the parliament. The public broadcaster has a statute and regulations that guide its content and also several boards for content monitoring, which should represent interests of the Albanian society. However, despite the council and the regulations, RTSH is perceived to be under the influence of the ruling party.