The use of radios in Bahrain extend as far back as to 1940 when the country's first radio broadcasting station was opened by the British. In 1955, the country's first radio broadcasting service, in Arabic, first started. By 1980, the radio service broadcast up to 14 hours a day. The country's first English language radio station was later established in 1977, as a result of an increase in English speakers in Bahrain and the Persian Gulf region. The radio's programmes were primarily religious and educational, with occasional news announcements.
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Almost all radio stations in Bahrain are state-owned, by the Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation though privately owned radio stations like the Hindi-language Your FM104.2, which serves the country's Indian community, operate in the country.
History
The British established the Bahrain Broadcasting Station in November 1940 in response to the initiation of pro-Nazi programmes being broadcast in Arabic in the Persian Gulf from 1934 to 1945. One of the earliest studies done on radio use in Bahrain assert that in 1940, there were 511 radio receivers in operation. However, radio ownership was not common among the residents, and most people went to cafés to listen to broadcasts. The station was staffed mostly with Bahrainis and its broadcasts included Quranic recitations, the national anthems of Kuwait and Bahrain, and poetry recitations, which may have been in the form of music. The station was closed down in 1945.