!!!Radio

Radio, (audio broadcasting). Together with  television, constitute the 
broadcast mass media. A notable radio pioneer was the Austrian O.  
Nussbaumer. Coming from the USA, radio developed into a mass medium in 
Austria in the early 1920s. After some test programmes with 
"Radio Hekaphon" (Vienna 1923), radio was introduced in 
Austria on October 1, 1924. Until March 12, 1938  RAVAG was the sole 
producer and transmitter of programmes; from 1938 to May 8, 1945 it 
was replaced by the German Reichsrundfunkgesellschaft - Reich 
Broadcasting Company. From 1945 to 1954, during the Allied occupation 
of Austria the national radio stations were Radio Wien (in the Soviet 
zone of occupation), and the broadcasting groups Alpenland (in the 
British zone), Rot-Weiss-Rot (in the American zone) and West (in the 
French zone). 1955 these broadcasting groups were united to form the 
"Oesterreichisches Rundspruchwesen" and it was not until 
1958 that it was re-organised and named  Oesterreichischer Rundfunk 
Ges. m. b. H.. This organisation was replaced by the  
ORF in 1967, which ran 13 radio programmes (Oe1, Oe3, Blue Danube 
Radio, FM4 and the new regional programmes) in 1998 and operates a 
short wave transmitter on behalf of the government. The Regional Radio 
Act superseded the state monopoly of the ORF on radio broadcasting in 
1993. Based on this law ( Regional Radio) the Regional Radio 
authorities in the Federal Chancellery issued 53 licences (10 
regional, 43 local) to commercial broadcasters. - The use of radio 
receivers requires a licence issued by  Post und Telekom Austria AG 
who collects the registration fees, subscriber charges and other fees. 
The number of registered radio receivers increased from 100,000 in 
1925 to 2.8 million in 1998.

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At first the programme was transmitted on medium-frequency and 
low-frequency wave, in 1953 very high frequency was introduced in 
addition to the others and since 1995 almost only VHF has been used 
for transmission of programmes. The  Bisamberg medium-frequency 
transmitter has been operating again since 1997 (Radio 1476). Austrian 
engineers played a significant role in the technological development 
of radio, e.g. E. Lechner (frequency measurement), R. von  Lieben 
(amplifier valve), S.  Strauss (feedback principle) and A.  Meissner 
(short-wave technology). A radio museum and the Radiokulturhaus 
cultural centre opened at the Wiener Funkhaus in Vienna in 1997.

!Literature
V. Ergert, 50 Jahre Rundfunk in Oesterreich, 4 vols., 
1974; ORF-Almanach (appears every 2 to 3 years, latest edition 
1996/97).


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