World Radio Day

23 March : In France, all private radio stations are nationalized by decree and the  state broadcasting monopoly is strengthened.  11 April : The Sarajevo (Yugoslavia) radio station starts broadcasting.  19 May : The Berlin Rundfunk starts broadcasting.  9 June : Radio broadcasting in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany comes under the control of the Soviet military administration.  15 August : The Emperor of Japan makes his first radio broadcast , announcing his country's capitulation.  10 September : A memorandum on " Freedom ofexpression and freedom of thepress " in Japan abolishes all restrictive laws promulgated under the previous regime.  11 December : A memorandum reorganizes NHK. Government control is abolished and private radio is banned. A committee of representatives of the Japanese people is formed.

  Chinese communist stations in the Shaanxi-Yanan region start broadcasting .  1-5 June : Coded messages broadcast on the BBC announce the imminence of the Allied landings (which take place in Normandy, France, on 6 June) and alert resistance fighters for action.

18 June : " Radio-Brazzaville Voix de la France Combattante " is inaugurated in the Congo.  Radio Kudu is set up at Hargeisa (Somalia) for the British army.  The BBC starts broadcasting English language lessons and halts its Russian language broadcasts at the request of the Soviet government.  4 July : The American Forces Network (AFN) is set up.

24 February : The Voice of America (VOA) starts short-wave broadcasts in English, French, Italian and German.  14 July : Following an appeal launched on the BBC , tens of thousands of French people gather around war memorials  and then parade through the main streets of French towns.  The Office of War Information ( OWI ) is set up in the United States.

Radio Douala (Cameroon), broadcasts programmes in support of the Free French.  Negus Haile Selassie I sets up a radio station broadcasting 4 hours a day in Amharic, Arabic and English, independent of colonial control.  Radio Nairobi (Kenya) broadcasts in Hindustani, Urdu and Gujarati. The Geneva Studio (Switzerland) begins broadcasts in support of humanitarian action by the International Red Cross.  August : A commission led by Colonel W. Donovan is set up in the United States to combat Axis radio propaganda worldwide.  The Yugoslav radio network is destroyed. A transmitter is built at Skopje.  A clandestine transmitter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Croatia is established at Zagreb.  Radio starts up in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

German radio broadcasts a single national programme.  24 April : The first Iranian radio station, supervised by the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones, is inaugurated.  15 May : Belgian radio destroys its facilities in Brussels and moves to France, where broadcasts from Lille and later from Montpellier.  18 June : Broadcasting from London on the BBC , General de Gaulle calls on the French people to resist.  27 July : In occupied Belgium, a decree makes listening to British radio broadcasts an offence punishable by forced labour. 1 August: General de Gaulle launches an appeal to French Canadians from London.  28 September : Radio-Belgique is established in London.  24 October : Regular news broadcasts begin in Ewe, Fanti, Hausa, Ga, Tiv and French in the Gold Coast (now Ghana).  Radio Omdurman is created in Sudan to serve the Allied cause.

Germany transmits external broadcasts in 26 languages.  September : The German government makes listening to foreign radio broadcasts a capital offence.  The French Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones establishes Radio Dakar in Senegal.

 A law sets up military censorship in Spain.  There are 650 Radio transmitters and 26 million radio receivers in the U.S.A.  30 October: Orson Welles's programme based on H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds's broadcast on CBS and sows panic among thousands of radio listeners .

Number of radio receivers per thousand population  Germany: 122  France: 76  Netherlands: 118  Canada: 122  5 January : A radio transmitter is inaugurated at the Albert I college, Kinshasa (Zaire) on the initiative of the Jesuits. It later becomes "Radio-Leo".  Radio supports within Japan and externally Japan's military campaign against China. A ban is imposed on listening to foreign radio programmes . The United Kingdom has 10 radio transmitters and over 8 million receivers.  The United States adopts a " Radio Code ": information is a social duty and should be in the public interest.   Radio should provide entertainment, education and information that is not subject to censorship and serves objective truth .  October : Roosevelt gives a radio talk against the rise of fascism, terror and international lawlessness. U.S. commercial radio advertising receipts total $70 million.

Number of radio receivers per 1,000 population:  Algeria: 7  Australia: 131  United States: 189  France: 62  Hungary: 40  Italy: 15  Kenya: 77  New Zealand: 146  Poland: 20  Romania: 8 Czechoslovakia: 63  U.S. S.R. 22  A new radio centre broadcasting on short wave is set up at the olympic stadium in Zeesen (Germany) on the occasion of the Berlin Olympic Games .  April : A Radio-Club station is set up in Congo Brazzaville.  11 July : In Spain a Falangist group seizes the Union-Radio station in Valencia and announces that revolution is imminent. There is widespread fighting for control of Spain's radio stations. 23 September : The International Convention on the use of Broadcasting in the Cause of Peace is signed at Geneva (Switzerland). Hong Kong starts short-wave broadcasting to China and Europe.  The BBC's first big scoop : a report on the fire at the Crystal Palace (London) , with on-the-spot commentary and...

Meeting in Brussels (Belgium), jurists of the International Wireless Committee  propose a " code of good conduct " An outdoor loudspeaker built to broadcast Hitler's speeches (1933) for international radio broadcasting .  China starts broadcasting to other countries. Radio broadcasting begins in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Italian radio starts to broadcastin Arabic (anti-British propaganda) and jams broadcasts from Ethiopian radio.  1 June : Japan starts broadcasting programmes to thewest coast of the Americas , Hawaii and the Pacific, in order to defend its foreign policy after leaving the League of Nations .  10 August : A Inter-american radiocommunications agreement between Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay sets up technical co¬ operation and bans broadcasts detrimental to good international relations .

1 January : A law regulating radio broadcasting in India comes into force.  The South American Radio Broadcasting Union (SARBU) is formed.  12 February : Austrian Radio (RAVAG) broadcasts official information and practical advice during riots in Vienna.  In Austria, the Dollfuss government organizes the jamming of Nazi propaganda broadcasts from Germany.  The first Mongolian radio station is set up at Ulan Bator, serving 1,700 radio receivers . The Radio Club of Lisbon (Portugal) broadcasts to Brazil, North America and the Portuguese colonies.  19 June : In the United States, the Federal Communications Act sets up a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate transmission and reception of all communications , internal and external, to grant licences and allocate frequencies .  There is no censorship , but indecency, vulgarity, false or deceptive signals , etc. are forbidden.  Radio Vatican starts broadcasting religious services and lit...

  13 March : A Ministry of Popular Education and Propaganda is established in Germany to control the press, cinema, theatre and radio broadcasting .  The RRG (Reichsrundfunk Gesellschaft), set up in May 1925, becomes a state body.  The Ente Radio Rurale  broadcasts Radio "educational" programmes to Italian rural areas in support of a campaign to increase farm output.  The Radio broadcasting countries (members of the UIR) attend a conference in Lucerne (Switzerland) to negotiate an agreement on the distribution ofwavelengths

The International Telecommunication Union ( ITU ) succeeds the InternationalTelegraph Union , founded in 1865.  Radio transmission services played a leading role in the U.S. presidential election campaign (Hoover vs Roosevelt). At the end of the Year 1932, Radio moscow headquarters opens it's doors.

In Sydney and Melbourne (Australia), Amalgamated Wireless launches " The Voice ofAustralia ", the first regular world broadcasting service in the southern hemisphere . .   A school broadcastingservice is launched in Ceylon. From Ecuador, station HCJB ( Heralding Christ Jesus' Blessings ) broadcasts religious programmes in 11 languages under the auspices of the World Radio Missionary Fellowship.  Japanese radio comes under state control and censorship becomes more stringent.  29 April : A Madagascar station broadcasts music and information in French and Malagasy for two hours a day.  A short-wave transmitter makes occasional broadcasts in Thailand

 The United Nations family remains unwavering in its commitment to building a peaceful and fairer world for today’s and future generations. The organization works to Coordinate Humanitarian appeal, Use diplomacy to prevent conflicts, Keep peace with peacekeepers, Tackle the water crisis, Provide food assistance, Assist and Protect people fleeing war,  Supply vaccines, Protect and Promote Human Rights... United Nations Radio  Team The  UN  marks its 80th anniversary in 2025. 

Colombia's first radio station , "Voz de Bogotá", starts to broadcast.  Danish national Radio programmes are relayed on short wave.  7 October : The first Spanish radio news programme , "La Palabra" goes on the air.  In France, the radio station at Agen warns of the suddenflooding of the Garonne before being swept away by the floodwaters.  Station 1 BC in Caracas (Venezuela) starts regular broadcasting .

The Zeesen station  relays  German national programmes to Germans overseas.  The first short-wave broadcasts in Kenya and in Tanganyika (now the United Republic of Tanzania).  11 February : The Lateran Agreement between the Holy See and Mussolini's Italy provides for the establishment of a radio station in Vatican City . The launch of the RadioVatican is organized by Marconi and inaugurated in 1931.  April : Representatives of 27 countries attend an international conference in Prague (Czechoslovakia) and reach a long-term agreement on the allocation of radio-electric frequencies in Europe.  October : Radio Moscow International starts short-wave broadcasts in German, French and English , in compliance with its missions under the first 5-Year Plan.

 The Kuomintang sets up the  central Chinese broadcasting station at Nankin. Taiwan's only national broadcasting system, and one that only broadcasts overseas and not domestically, CBS is largely unknown to the Taiwanese general public. In actuality, it was founded on August 1, 1928 and just recently saw its eightieth anniversary. Its history is full of twists and turns, and stands testament to the twists and turns of the history of the Republic of China. The thawing of relations after years of cross-strait standoff, the development of Taiwan's image in international society-CBS has played a role in many stories worth hearing. The Central Broadcasting System, which was founded in 1928 at the instigation of senior KMT party figure Chen Guofu, first served to broadcast government policies and educate the public. After the KMT government advanced into the north of China, the whole of China sought to modernize. Chiang Kai-shek personally delivered the first CBS broadcast. CBS als...

 1 January : The British Broadcasting Company becomes the British Broadcasting Corporation , established by Royal Charter, and is granted the broadcasting monopoly by licence for an initial 10-year period. It becomes a public service funded by a licence fee and managed by an independent Board of Governors. 23 February : In the U.S.A. the Radio Act grants radio protection under the First Amendment to the Constitution (on free speech) and sets up the Federal RadioCommission (FRC) . From now on a licence is required in order to broadcast .  The Austrian, Czech, German and Polish radio networks use telephone circuits to exchange symphony concerts .  The Japanese colonial authorities set up a radio station in Seoul (Korea) .  The Indian BroadcastingCompany Ltd. opens in Bombay and Calcutta. Eindhoven (Netherlands) transmits the first radio broadcasts to the East and WestIndies . The BBC starts educational broadcasting .  11 November : The BBC starts broadcas...