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BACK TO : The Kosovo conflict 1999
Yugoslav media from Radio Netherlands 
Here is a selection of material on this website: Serbian media under the bombs For an overview of how people in Serbia managed to get their information in difficult circumstances, we solicited the help of a correspondent in Belgrade. Dragan Stankovic (not his real name) compiled this summary for Real Radio on May 19th: According to official figures, the facilities of 10 private TV and radio stations, two dozen TV transmitters have been destroyed and this does not include the bombing of the building of state broadcaster Radio Televizija Srbije (RTS). All the major TV transmitter sites throughout the country which were previously used not only by RTS, but also by some private broadcasters (mainly TV Pink, TV Politika, BK TV) have been destroyed. The studios and transmitters located at the business centre "Usce" which housed TV channels BK TV, TV Pink, TV Kosava and SOS Channel and several radio stations (including Radio Pink, Radio Kosava and Radio S) were bombed twice. The transmitter of the Palma TV channel was destroyed on April 28. However, the majority of these channels are still on the air, broadcasting via reserve transmitter sites, whose location is kept secret. Also, the earth satellite station complex in the village of Prilike near Ivanjica was severely damaged in two bombings, knocking out part of the telephone traffic with North and South America, Asia and Australia. The majority of the population of the new Yugoslavia (but this is also valid for Croatia and Bosnia) rely on TV and radio as their major sources of information. The state broadcaster RTS is the only TV station with nationwide coverage meaning that they are the only source of information for the majority of the population. Several private TV channels (TV Pink, TV Palma, TV Politika, TV Kosava, BK TV) cover around 60 per cent of the country but they offer only general entertainment programming and are owned by people close to the Serbian regime. Local TV channels are limited in the amount of information programming they can broadcast because they fear their license could be revoked, so they choose to broadcast movies, sports, etc. The situation in the radio sector is similar. Only RTS radio stations (Radio Beograd 1, 2, 3 and 202) have nationwide coverage, and once again the only stations which cover at least half the population are held by loyal party members. The only exception was Radio B92 which succeeded in linking up 30 local radio stations in a network called ANEM. They offered the only alternative news service to the state media, but when B92 (as we knew it) was closed down, it also brought to an end the ANEM network. The situation with the printed media prior to the war was somewhat more liberal, but as many people cannot afford to buy newspapers on a regular basis, they get their information from radio and TV. People still listen to foreign broadcasters (mainly on MW and FM since SW receivers are not all that common) - Radio Free Europe, the BBC, Deutsche Welle and VOA. Around 10-15 per cent of the population has access to satellite TV (many tune in to BBC World, CNN, Sky News and RAI). NOTE: this report was compiled before the decision of Eutelsat to suspend satellite transmissions of RTS. Some parts of Serbia which relied on a satellite feed to local relays are now unable to receive the main networks of RTS. Mediumwave listening in Belgrade, first week of June 1999 Dragan Stankovic reports: On Sunday, May 30th NATO destroyed Radio Belgrade's MW transmitter located at Stubline. The transmitter on 684 kHz was one of the strongest in Europe, with a power of 2000kW. Since other transmitter sites have also been hit during the course of the bombing campaign, it's now very difficult to listen in to radio transmissions from Serbia on MW. Among the rare stations I've noticed still operative on MW is Radio Jagodina (1440 kHz) with a power of 20Kw. This transmitter which previously used to carry the local radio station, now relays the programmes of Radio Belgrade. An FM Bandscan in Belgrade, first week of June 1999 (Courtesy: Bernd Trutenau and correspondents in Belgrade) NB: At present, RTS is carryying virtually the same programming on all BG 1, BG 2 and 202 frequencies. Some of the station identifications listed here are tentative. Information will be corrected and updated as stations resume their normal programming. Domestic Shortwave Relays State-controlled Radiotelevizija Srbije increased its shortwave relays of the main domestic network Beograd 1. In addition to the regular broadcasts at 0500-2200 on 7200kHz, Beograd 1 was observed by Mikhail Timofeyev in Russia at 2200-2300 on 6185kHz and 2300-0400 on 6190kHz. However, transmissions were silenced in late May when a NATO bomb hit the Stubline transmission plant. Many Foreign Journalists Banned from Serbia On Thursday March 25th, journalists from NATO member countries were ordered by the Serbian Information Ministry to leave Yugoslavia. Most did so, and the following day the BBC claimed to be the only major broadcaster which still had a journalistic presence in Belgrade. Reports had to be sent by telephone as the authorities confiscated all equipment capable of sending pictures out of the country. However, later that evening Yugoslav Deputy Federal Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic (who has now been sacked) did a series of live interviews on Western media, including CNN and the BBC, in which he said the decision to expel foreign journalists was a mistake, as they were not the enemy. On Saturday 27th March the Yugoslav Information Minister, Milan Komnenic, said that the Federal government had suspended the decision. This was in turn denied by the Serbian Information Ministry. |