Type Public broadcasting Availability National | Country Sweden Official website www.sverigesradio.se | |
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Launch date 1 January 1925; 92 years ago (1925-01-01) (radio)
4 September 1956; 60 years ago (1956-09-04) (television) Former names Radiotjänst (1925-1957) | ||
Sveriges Radio AB ([ˈsværˈjɛs ˈrɑːdio], "Radio Sweden") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with its British counterpart, the BBC.
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Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, and funded through a licensing fee determined by the Swedish Riksdag. No advertising is permitted. SR's status could be described as that of a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization.
History
The company was founded on 21 March 1924 as AB Radiotjänst (Radio Service), and performed its first public broadcast on 1 January 1925. It was officially renamed Sveriges Radio in 1957. Sveriges Radio was originally responsible for all broadcasting in Sweden, both radio and television, and hosted the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest. A reorganization in 1979 saw SR become the parent company of four subsidiaries:
This structure was dissolved in 1993 with the national and local radio companies merging under the name of the old parent company: Sveriges Radio AB.
National radio
Four radio channels are available nationwide on FM and via the internet.
Local radio
A large part of P4's programming is regional with 25 regions each broadcasting their own local programmes during most of the day.
Additional radio stations available locally on FM include:
Other channels
Sveriges Radio also provides a number of channels through Digital audio broadcasting, using the DAB standard, and via the internet.
SR International
SR International is the international channel of Sveriges Radio and offers programming in the following languages:
SR International is not responsible for programming in the domestic minority languages, Finnish and Sámi, which have their own dedicated channels. See Other channels above.
On 16 March 2010 Radio Sweden announced the end of broadcasts on shortwave and medium wave as from 31 October 2010. External service programmes would continue on the internet only. Language services for immigrants to Sweden in Albanian, Syriac, Serbian, Bosnian, and Croat would also be discontinued, while programmes in English (also on the domestic service), German, Russian, Persian, Dari, and Kurdish would remain.