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Speaking your language for 89 years

2025 marks the 89th anniversary of the Bulgarian National Radio’s foreign-language service to the world.

It all began on 16 February, 1936. One year after the Bulgarian radio was officially launched, what is now Radio Bulgaria went on the air. It was a Sunday when Radio Sofia’s full morning programme was launched, to reach Europe, North America and North Africa.

Now, 88 years later, Radio Bulgaria is still talking to the world about this country in English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Serbian, Greek, Albanian, Turkish and Bulgarian.

This special section on our website presents intriguing facts from the history of Radio Bulgaria, its golden voices, as well as reminiscences from the people who have worked at Radio Bulgaria through the years.


Happy 89th, Radio Bulgaria!

On February 16, Radio Bulgaria celebrates its 89th anniversary . Throughout these years, our multilingual media has been not only a channel of information, but also an invaluable link with our audience around the world. Today, Radio Bulgaria offers rich..

published on 2/16/25 7:35 AM

Todor Tokin: BNR's Foreign Broadcasts was not a channel of communist ideology, on the contrary!

At various times in its existence, the BNR's Directorate of Foreign Language Broadcasts, now known as Radio Bulgaria, the multimedia multilingual platform of Bulgarian National Radio, was more than just a workplace for a number of popular journalists...

published on 2/16/25 7:15 AM

Hispanist Maria Pachkova: A translator lives many lives

Few Bulgarian researchers have had the opportunity to study Basque culture in its entirety - language, lifestyle, customs, temperament and traditions. Among them is Hispanist Maria Pachkova, who for decades was part of the Spanish editorial team at Radio..

published on 2/10/25 10:56 PM

When and why did Radio Bulgaria reach Africa?

The history of the broadcasts for foreign countries of the Bulgarian National Radio, which started short-wave broadcasting in 1936 just a year after the founding of the Bulgarian Radio, abounds with curious and unknown facts for our..

published on 1/23/25 1:15 PM

The BNR’s QSL cards for 2025 present the beauty of Bulgaria

Dear friends, we are happy to announce that the Bulgarian National Radio’s QSL cards for 2025 are now available. The two series – one with 6 postcards and the other with 12 postcards – are entitled "The Beauty of Bulgaria." The series of 6 cards..

published on 1/21/25 10:12 AM

Bulgarian National Radio receives almost 400 letters from 19 countries in July

Hello, dear friends!   We are happy to announce that after the release of the new QSL cards of Radio Bulgaria and the Bulgarian National Radio, we received an avalanche of letters. In July alone, they are almost 400! Our readers and listeners from..

published on 8/17/24 10:05 AM

The BNR’s QSL-cards for 2024 are here!

Hello, dear friends! We are pleased to announce that with the assistance of the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Bulgarian National Radio’s QSL cards for 2024 are now available. The two new series are entitled “The beauty..

updated on 4/5/24 3:01 PM

Radio Bulgaria: The mission goes on

88 years after the firstbroadcasts by the Bulgarian radio targeted at audiences abroad, and 87 years after the foreign language broadcasts became part of the BNR’s programming, Radio Bulgaria’s mission of building bridges between Bulgarians around..

published on 2/16/24 11:23 AM
The Radio Sofia building

When the BNR “spoke” Polish

Today, the Bulgarian National Radio’s foreign language service Radio Bulgaria “speaks” 11 languages. Through the years, languages have been added, others have been dropped – something that happened to the Polish-language programmes. They were aired by..

published on 2/16/24 7:10 AM
Chavdar Arnaudov

Chavdar Arnaudov: At Radio Bulgaria I had the good fortune of working with the top translators to and from French

The original version of Radio Bulgaria appeared one year and one month after the creation of the Bulgarian Radio, then called Radio Sofia. Since the very beginning, Radio Bulgaria offered a different view of the country, an important role in which..

published on 1/25/24 8:10 AM