30. 01. 2003

Grey Media Zone on the Air

BELGRADE, January 30, 2003 – At least fifty per cent of Serbia’s present radio stations could be closed once the Broadcast Act takes effect. Radio is a serious business, and it’s not normal for a butcher, watchmaker or pastrycook to hook up an antenna to a computer and broadcast whatever he pleases, said Dusan Masic from the media training organisation IREX. There are 800 radio stations, 87 of them in Belgrade alone, added Masic. According to an IREX-commissioned survey on a sample of 5,618 people in Serbia, not including Kosovo, 62 per cent of the population listens regularly to the radio while only 6.8 per cent never listen to it. Stations with the highest ratings are Radio Belgrade 1, with 22 per cent, the ANEM network with 19 per cent, Radio Belgrade 202, with 7.5 per cent, Radio s with 7.4 per cent and Radio B92 with 7.2 per cent.