Tilos Rádió
Encyclopedia
Tilos Rádió is a community, non-profit
, listener supported radio
station in Budapest
, Hungary
.
station in Hungary
, established as a pirate broadcaster
in 1991. The station's programmers have always contributed on a voluntary basis. Tilos Rádió has never broadcast advertisements, and has a strong social
and freedom-of-expression commitment.
Tilos Rádió was established as a pirate community radio station in Budapest in 1991 as a way of bringing the public's attention to the fact that there was at that time no legal framework for independent and community broadcasters. During the first years of its broadcasting, Tilos (meaning "forbidden" in Hungarian
) enjoyed wide public interest and played a key role in the 1995 liberalisation of the airwaves in Hungary.
Tilos Rádió obtained a legal frequency license in 1995 and became a popular local community station in Budapest with its morning phone-in talk-shows and its music programmes, broadcasting 12 hours a day. Tilos is a key player in the cultural and lifestyle scene of Budapest. Meanwhile, Tilos Rádió has its fingers on the public pulse with its social thinking, minority oriented programmes, and its radical and tolerant attitude.
Tilos' broadcasts are mainly financed by listeners' donations and the income from fund-raising events, and partly by support from EU
programmes, international NGOs
and charity institutions.
In November 1999, Tilos Rádió had to apply for a new frequency licence. Tilos Rádió wanted to broadcast 24 hours a day. Tilos did not receive a new frequency licence – this meant that the radio had to leave its frequency
in 1999.
In October 2002, 3 years later, with its third application, Tilos Rádió received a licence for the 90.3 MHz frequency in Budapest for seven years. Tilos Rádió can also be heard via cable and via Internet 24 hours a day.
In 2011 Hungary's new media authority (Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság) has begun investigating Tilos Rádió for playing a song by rapper Ice-T which it said "could influence the development of minors in a negative way" on 2nd September 2010 (at 5.51pm). The Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság said the song should only have been broadcast after 21.00pm.
Tilos Rádió argues that since the lyrics are in English and the knowledge of foreign languages among the Hungarian population is far below EU average, furthermore the station has very few young listeners, so the song could not have an "adverse affect on the moral development" of children under 16.
Hungarian authorities said their investigation is based on a 1996 law regulating radio and television. Tilos Rádió points out that "up till this point, for over a decade, it hasn’t occurred that the authority would investigate and disapprove of the lyrics of a non-Hungarian song".
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, listener supported radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
station in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
.
Overview
Tilos Rádió was the first community radioCommunity radio
Community radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
station in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, established as a pirate broadcaster
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
in 1991. The station's programmers have always contributed on a voluntary basis. Tilos Rádió has never broadcast advertisements, and has a strong social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
and freedom-of-expression commitment.
Tilos Rádió was established as a pirate community radio station in Budapest in 1991 as a way of bringing the public's attention to the fact that there was at that time no legal framework for independent and community broadcasters. During the first years of its broadcasting, Tilos (meaning "forbidden" in Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
) enjoyed wide public interest and played a key role in the 1995 liberalisation of the airwaves in Hungary.
Tilos Rádió obtained a legal frequency license in 1995 and became a popular local community station in Budapest with its morning phone-in talk-shows and its music programmes, broadcasting 12 hours a day. Tilos is a key player in the cultural and lifestyle scene of Budapest. Meanwhile, Tilos Rádió has its fingers on the public pulse with its social thinking, minority oriented programmes, and its radical and tolerant attitude.
Tilos' broadcasts are mainly financed by listeners' donations and the income from fund-raising events, and partly by support from EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
programmes, international NGOs
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
and charity institutions.
In November 1999, Tilos Rádió had to apply for a new frequency licence. Tilos Rádió wanted to broadcast 24 hours a day. Tilos did not receive a new frequency licence – this meant that the radio had to leave its frequency
Frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...
in 1999.
In October 2002, 3 years later, with its third application, Tilos Rádió received a licence for the 90.3 MHz frequency in Budapest for seven years. Tilos Rádió can also be heard via cable and via Internet 24 hours a day.
In 2011 Hungary's new media authority (Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság) has begun investigating Tilos Rádió for playing a song by rapper Ice-T which it said "could influence the development of minors in a negative way" on 2nd September 2010 (at 5.51pm). The Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság said the song should only have been broadcast after 21.00pm.
Tilos Rádió argues that since the lyrics are in English and the knowledge of foreign languages among the Hungarian population is far below EU average, furthermore the station has very few young listeners, so the song could not have an "adverse affect on the moral development" of children under 16.
Hungarian authorities said their investigation is based on a 1996 law regulating radio and television. Tilos Rádió points out that "up till this point, for over a decade, it hasn’t occurred that the authority would investigate and disapprove of the lyrics of a non-Hungarian song".