Macedonian Radio Television

Macedonian Radio Television (Macedonian: Македонска радиотелевизија, transliteration: Makedonska radiotelevizija) (or MRT), officially National Radio-Television (Macedonian: Национална Радиотелевизија, transliteration: Nacionalna Radiotelevizija) since 2019, is the public broadcasting organisation of North Macedonia. It was founded in 1993 by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia.

Macedonian Radio Television
Македонска радиотелевизија
TypeBroadcast national television network
Country
North Macedonia
AvailabilityNational; international (via MRT Sat)
FoundedDecember 28, 1944 (December 28, 1944)
by Government of SR Macedonia
SloganОва е Македонска Радио Телевизија (This is Macedonian Radio Television)
OwnerNon-governmental organisation
Launch date
December 28, 1944 (December 28, 1944)
Federal Broadcasting (JRT)
(1945–1991)
Official website
www.mrt.mk

Its legally defined service is the production and broadcasting of radio and television programmes of all genres, which should satisfy the public information, cultural, educational and recreational needs of the people of North Macedonia.

MRT is directed by Petar Karanakov.[1] Karanakov supervises 1,200 MRT staffers.

History
MRT Old Logo

Radio in Vardar Macedonia began in 1941, when Skopje was administrative capital of Vardar Banovina in Kingdom of Yugoslavia. On 27 January 1941 Radio Skoplje (Радио Скопље) started broadcasting in Serbian and retransmitting some programs from Radio Belgrade. On 20 April 1941 Radio Skopje was relaunched under Bulgarian control as Radio Skopie (Радио Скопие), retransmitting some programs from Radio Sofia.

Broadcasting in the Macedonian language began on 28 December 1944 as Radio Skopje (Радио Скопје) with the live transmission of the Second Session of ASNOM. Since 1991 Macedonian Radio and Television is an independent radio and television broadcaster. In July 1993, MRT was admitted as a full active member of the European Broadcasting Union. MRT uses the acronym: MKRTV. With the enactment of the new broadcasting law on 24 April 1997, Macedonian Radio and Television was split into two parts: Macedonian radio-diffusion and Macedonian Radio-Television. According to article 77 of the broadcasting law, 61% of the collected broadcasting tax belongs to Macedonian Radio Television.

According to a government decision from March 2019, following the Prespa Agreement about renaming the country from "Macedonia" to "North Macedonia", MRT was officially renamed from "Macedonian Radio Television" to "National Radio Television" (Национална радиотелевизија).[2][3] As of July 2020 it still broadcasts under its old name, the new name only being used by the government.[4][5]

Services

Television

Macedonian Television broadcasts 73 hours of programmes daily on its three national terrestrial and two international satellite channels.

Terrestrial
  • MRT 1 broadcasts a continuous 24-hour programme. MRT 1 HD simulcasts the programme of MRT 1 in HD quality.
  • MRT 2 broadcasts programmes for the Albanian minority in North Macedonia. MRT 2 HD simulcasts the programme of MRT 2 in HD quality.
  • MRT 3 broadcasts sports and entertainment 24-hour programme. MRT 3 HD simulcasts the programme of MRT 3 in HD quality.
  • MRT 4 broadcasts programmes for the national minority in North Macedonia. Turkish, Serbian, Romany, Vlach and Bosnian. MRT 4 HD simulcasts the programme of MRT 4 in HD quality.
  • MRT 5 broadcasts specialized program for children 24-hour programme. MRT 5 HD simulcasts the programme of MRT 5 in HD quality.
  • MRT Sobraniski Kanal was formed in 1991 as an experimental channel, but now it broadcasts the activities from the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia. MRT Sobraniski Kanal HD simulcasts the programme of MRT Sobraniski Kanal in HD quality.
Satellite
  • MRT Sat started in 2000 and broadcasts a continuous 24-hour programme, which are a selection of programmes from MRT, as well as its original programme of 5 hours. The station also broadcasts to Australia & New Zealand through the Optus D2 Satellite via UBI World TV.
  • MRT 2 Sat was introduced in 2012 and broadcasts a continuous 24-hour programme in Albanian language.

Radio
Macedonian Radio-Television building in Skopje

The framework of the Macedonian Radio consists of three national channels, a satellite channel and a non-profit regional channel. It broadcasts 86.5 hours of programmes daily on its national and satellite channels.

The First channel, Radio Skopje, broadcasts a continuous 24-hour programme. It mainly functions as a talk radio.

The Second channel, Radio 2, broadcasts a continuous 24-hour programme, too. It is focused on popular music and entertainment.

The Third channel of Radio Skopje, broadcasts programmes in all the languages of the national minorities in North Macedonia, including Albanian (since 1948); Turkish (since 1945) 5 hours; Vlach (since 1991); Romany (since 1991); Serbian (since 2003) and Bosnian (since 2003) all 30 minutes each per day.

The satellite channel, Radio Macedonia, commenced in July 2003, and broadcasts a 24-hour continual programme, which is a selection of programmes from Macedonian Radio and its original programme "Radio Macedonia" with a duration of 6 hours and 30 minutes.

Kanal 103 provides FM broadcasting only for the region of Skopje with the mission of promoting avant-garde music and culture.

Macedonian Radio also broadcasts its programme over the Internet.

Management

The process of transformation of MRTV in a public service broadcaster is not yet completed; it entailed the 1997 Law on Broadcasting Activities and the 2005 Broadcast Law. Editorial independence of MRTV is guaranteed by law but de facto lacking due to lack of independent funding and lack of independence of MRTV managerial bodies. MRTV executive directors in the last ten years remained close to the party in power. The network is funded by a license fee as well as by public budget contributions and advertising revenues (limited to 10% of airtime). Budgetary needs, and the practice of ad hoc state budgetary funding, has created a "culture of dependence" in MRTV.[6]:16

MRTV is supervised by the MRTV Council, whose members are appointed by the Parliament upon proposal by "authorised nominators" from civil society. The Council then elects the members of MRTV Management Board. Although formally only accountable to the legislature through its annual report and budget plan, MRTV remains informally accountable to the executive, undermining institutional autonomy.[7] MRTV also risks neglecting cultural pluralism obligations, in terms of programmes for minorities, as well as lacking impartiality and distance from government/majority politicians.[6]:16

Notable people

Notable people who were employed in the Macedonian Radio Television include clarinetist and composer Tale Ognenovski[8][9][10][11] who was a member of the “Chalgii orchestra”, “Folk music orchestra” and “Authentic folk instruments orchestra” from 1960 until 1979. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18]

See also

References
  2. https://vlada.mk/sites/default/files/dokumenti/lista_na_institucii_so_nov_naziv_-_republika_severna_makedonija.pdf
  3. "Владата ги усвои новите имиња на институциите според Преспанскиот договор: МРТ стана 'Национална радиотелевизија'". Fokus. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  4. mioadmin. "Јавно радиодифузно претпријатие Национална Радиотелевизија-Скопје". Komspi. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  5. 2020 Ministry of Information Society and Administration budget
  6. Elda Brogi, Alina Dobreva, and Pier Luigi Parcu, "Freedom of Media in the Western Balkans", study for the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights, October 2014, EXPO/B/DROI/2013/16
  7. Macedonian Institute for Media (2010), Analysis of the Public Broadcasting in the Republic of Macedonia in the Context of the European Media Policy Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine. Skopje.
  8. Ognenovski 2000.
  9. Ognenovski 2019b.
  10. Ognenovski 2019a.
  11. Music Industry News Network 2019.
  12. Ognenovski 2000, pp. 32-41.
  13. Ognenovski 1998a.
  14. Ognenovski 2000b.
  15. Ognenovski 2016b.
  16. Ognenovski 1999t.
  17. Ognenovski 1999x.
  18. Ognenovski 1999v.

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