International broadcasting service of Ukraine
Radio Ukraine International |
| Type | Radio network |
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| Country | |
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| Owner | Suspilne Ukraine |
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Key people | Nataliia Kyshchuk (Editor-in-chief of the Foreign languages broadcasting dept.) |
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| Launch date | November 1, 1950; 73 years ago (1950-11-01) (as Radio Kiev) |
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Former names | Radio Kiev (1950–1992) |
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| Availability | International |
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| Website | ukr.radio/RUI_about (English) |
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Radio Ukraine International, abbreviated RUI, is the official international broadcasting station of Ukraine, with foreign language news and programming being produced by Ukrainian Radio's main editorial department for broadcasting in EBU languages.[1] RUI broadcasts in Belarusian, Bulgarian, English, German, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and Slovak. The Ukrainian language programming aired on RUI is produced by the domestic First Channel.
Radio Ukraine International provides listeners with up-to-date information in a format of short podcasts.[1]
Programme schedule
As of April 2023, RUI broadcasts in foreign languages can be heard daily starting at:
- 0000 UTC - English
- 0200 UTC - Slovak
- 0300 UTC - Hungarian
- 1800 UTC - Romanian
- 1900 UTC - Bulgarian
- 2100 UTC - Belarusian
- 2200 UTC - Polish
- 2300 UTC - German
History of RUI on shortwave radio
Radio Ukraine International began operation in March 1992 as the first International broadcast station of independent Ukraine. Formally known as Radio Kiev, a "sister" station to Radio Moscow during the Soviet era. Interval signal is music of the "Bandura".
Operated multiple high power transmitters using directional phased antenna arrays. Offers distinctive QSL cards to shortwave listeners for swl dx signal reception reports. Provided clear channel reception on frequencies in the 41-meter, 31-meter, 25-meter, and 19-meter shortwave bands.
Shortwave broadcasts were terminated in December 2010 from the lack of state support and funding. Since then the radio station is now taking the first steps in multimedia development with a new website on the World Wide Web with information in text, sound and images from and about Ukraine and Ukrainians.
Radio Kiev and Ukrainian Radio
In the 1920s and 1930s, due to the lack of accurate or reliable information, Radio Kiev or the Kiev Radio was a common name used outside of Ukraine for shortwave broadcast stations located within the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Wireless World guide of 1935 reported station RW20 operating from Kharkov in eastern Ukraine on a longwave frequency of 385 kHz with power of 10 kW broadcasting in Russian. With the onset of World War II in 1941 and the subsequent Nazi occupation of the Ukrainian S.S.R. radio broadcast stations were captured and removed from service. At the end of World War II, during 1946, radio broadcasting began to revive and the World Radio guide of 1946 reported the following stations on the air in Ukraine:
- Kiev 1 on 248 kHz with 120 kW power
- Kiev 2 on 832 kHz with 35 kW power
- Kharkov on 385 kHz with 10 kW power
- Odessa on 968 kHz with 10 kW power
- Dnepropetrovsk on 913 kHz with 10 kW power
On November 1, 1950, Radio Kiev was formally introduced and transmitted its first broadcasts in the Ukrainian language only. These broadcasts were intended to reach the Ukrainian diaspora via shortwave radio, with frequencies in the 31-, 25-, and 19-meter shortwave bands using high power amplitude modulated (AM) transmitters with omni-directional antennas. In October 1962 Radio Kiev introduced its first English language program broadcast schedule with daily transmissions on various shortwave frequencies. These transmissions originated from multiple transmitting sites employing high power Russian made (KOM) transmitters and gain type "steerable" antenna systems capable of the precision directing of radio broadcasts to desired regions worldwide. In 1966 German language programming was introduced, followed by Romanian language broadcasts in 1970, along with additional transmitting sites. By the late 1970s the following transmitting sites were active full-time on various time and frequency schedules within the territory:
- Kyiv region (Brovary) - 1 site of 15 kW, 4 sites of 100 kW, and 5 sites of 200 kW
- Donetsk region (Kopani) - 2 sites of 100 kW, 2 sites of 250 kW, and 4 sites of 1000 kW
- Lviv region (Krasne) - 3 sites of 200 kW, 2 sites of 1,000 kW
- Kharkiv region (Kharkiv) - 3 sites of 100 kW
- Odesa region (Odesa) - 2 sites of 100 kW
