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When coming to Russia many would like to know a lot about the country and music, the locals regularly listen to, which is a significant part of everyday life. You would probably like to turn on your walkman and check the most popular Russian radio stations. Here are some of them.
Russkoye Radio (Russian Radio)
Russkoye Radio is the first national radio station playing Russian music only, generally pop songs. Russkoye Radio is exceptionally popular with people aged 30 and up. You can listen to it on buses, route taxis and in some stores. If you want to learn about modern Russian pop singers, listen to the radio for an hour – that will be enough for you to get an idea.
Russkoye Radio is one of the biggest radio networks worldwide, comprehending 1100 cities and towns of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldavia, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, the Baltic States and the USA. The weekly audience of Russkoye Radio is over 20 million people.
Every hour the radio station broadcasts the latest news from the Russian News Service.
>Besides, the name of Russkoye Radio is often associated with the annual Zolotoy Gramophon Music Awards in the Kremlin (the first ceremony held in 1996). In Moscow you can catch Russkoye Radio on 105.7 FM.
Europa Plus
Europa Plus is the Russian first commercial radio station set up on 30 April 1990. Within a very short period of time it became the most popular station in Russia. Europa Plus is aimed at 20-40 year old people, as broadcasts primarily hit music, such as Beyonce, Maroon 5 and Russian hits.
The official site of the company says Europa Plus is the world-largest network of FM radio stations broadcasting in over 900 cities and towns of Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Latvia. Besides, Europe Plus is available via the Internet at www.europaplus.ru.
Europa Plus is a part of French Group Lagardere, a leading media holding, operating the most popular radio stations in France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the SAR and other countries. In Moscow Europa Plus broadcasts on 106.2 FM.
Radio Mayak
Mayak (103.4 FM) is the oldest and the most reputable State radio station of Russia. it was founded over 40 years ago in 1964, when the Central Committee of the Soviet Union made a decision to create an absolutely new 24-hour broadcasting radio station, which could be heard in every corner of the country.
5-minute news every half an hour, music programmes, live concerts, breakfast funny shows, special reports and radio films quickly gained popularity with the Soviet citizens.
For a long time Mayak was the only means able to immediately inform the population of the most important events. However, now Mayak has to compete with numerous radio stations, though, it is still beloved with millions of people for its traditions, discussions and phone-ins.
Retro FM
If you want to know what music the soviet people listened to, Retro FM is your radio station. Established on 29 May 2003, Retro FM brought in a new life-style matching the music of the past. Here you will hear the golden collection of foreign hits of the last century as well as the Soviet most popular songs. Day by day thousands of people caught Retro FM and couldn’t help listening to the music of their youth. Have caught it once, they made Retro FM their favorite radio station. 6 months after the launch Retro FM entered the Top 5 of Moscow most popular radio stations.
A few words about Retro FM party. Every week, on Thursday a traditional party of Retro FM takes place in many Russian cities, such as Moscow, St Petersburg, Krasnodar, Volgograd, Murmansk, Ivanovo and others. The first party took place in 2004 and turned to be so popular that the organizers had to make an age limit starting from 25. To visit the party, check the official web-site of Retro FM for more details (web-site is given below the article). Retro FM broadcasts on 88.3 FM.
Radio Chanson
Radio Chanson is a unique radio, standing apart from all other radio stations. It started broadcasting on 15 August 2000 and immediately found its own niche on the music market. DJs working for Chanson never play music sets from other radio stations and avoid commercial dance music, but highlight the lyrics.
Chanson plays author‘s songs, traditional and modern urban romance, rock music and folk songs, Russian jazz music, etc. Chanson is known for first broadcasting music works, which were banned in the Soviet times.
Live acoustic concerts are a specialty of the radio. Here you will here songs performed by Mikhail Shufutinsky, Andrei Makarevich, Oleg Mityaev and other famous artists. You can catch Radio Chanson on 103.0 FM in Moscow.
MAXIMUM
Radio MAXIMUM is the first Russia-American radio station, founded by Westwood One, Harris Corporation, StoryFirst Communications and the Moscovskiye Novosti newspaper. Radio MAXIMUM was launched in Moscow on 25 December 1991 on 103.7 FM. Two years later MAXIMUM got the name of “Two Capitals’ Radio”, when it started broadcasting in St Petersburg on 102.8 FM.
MAXIMUM was a pioneer to make TOP20 popular songs based on listeners’ votes. Besides, MAXIMUM was the first Russian radio station to hold its own rock music festival called MAXIDROM. In 1995 the festival got together the best Russian rock bands of that time.
Since 2005 MAXIMUM is a part of the Russian largest Media Holding Russian Media Group. Today MAX|IMUM is the leading Pop-Rock radio station broadcasting in Russia.
Echo of Moscow
Echo of Moscow can’t be called a typical radio station, since it focuses on current affairs, analytics, news and discussions. It started broadcasting on 22 August 1990.
Founded in under the Soviet rule, Echo of Moscow was designed as a radio station for those, who eagerly tried to find an independent source of information providing news on politics, culture and other spheres of everyday life. In the early 1990s the Russian authorities made several attempts to shut down the radio station, but it survived and now is a respected media resource.
Weekly about 900 thousand of people choose Echo of Moscow on 91.2 FM as their personal news guide.
Autoradio
Autoradio is the largest commercial radio station in Russia, according to the site Radio Advertising it has the highest audience in FM diapason (info. April-June 2011). The radio broadcasts for 300 cities and towns in Russia as well as in Moldova, Ukraine, Mongolia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Israel. It is among the largest radio nets in Russia.
Umor FM
BUSINESS FM
Serebryany Dozhd
Serebryany Dozhd is an infotainment radio station that meets the needs of a modern radio listener, providing a high-quality information, analytical and musical product. This station is a source of independent objective information. The Silver Rain radio station first went on the air on July 4, 1995. Satellite broadcasting of the radio station is carried out in more than 200 cities of Russia and neighboring countries, and thanks to the mobile application, Silver Rain is listened to all over the world. Silver Rain is the first radio station in continental Europe to broadcast its air on the Internet in real time. This radio station actively supports, develops and initiates various social actions and projects. Most of ideas are aimed at information support of road safety, since the audience of the radio station is mostly composed of motorists. Therefore, such social programs, columns and radio spots, created specifically for motorists, have become a noticeable part and, in a way, a visiting card of the Silver Rain broadcast.
The main audience of Silver Rain listeners is men and women aged 25-40 years with an upper-middle income level, i.e. the most solvent part of the population, as well as young people striving to get into this social group.
The musical repertoire of Silver Rain is very diverse. Only here you can hear: rare compositions that carefully selected all over the world; unknown hits of famous artists; cover versions of the main hits of the XX and XXI centuries; songs that are not in rotation on other radio stations... and, most importantly, a lot of new, good, high-quality music. In addition, special music programs from the best Russian DJs are broadcast on the evening air of Silver Rain: In-Beat-Ween Music Show by Alexander Lay-Far, Mozcow Dizcow by Lazar Vinogradsky, Soul Kitchen with Dasha Yastrubitskaya, Melody P.M. with Nikita Gorkovenko, Intelligent Beats by Ksenia Kamikaza, Flammable Beats by Andrey Pirumov and Andrey Chagin, and Electrospektiva by Andrey Samsonov.
Sources:
www.rusradio.ru
www.europaplus.ru
www.radiomayak.ru
www.retrofm.ru
www.chanson.ru
www.maximum.ru
www.echo.msk.ru
Olga Pletneva (updates by Irina Fomina)
