B92

For other uses, see B92 (disambiguation).

B92

Country	Serbia
Availability	National
Founded	1989 by B92 Trust
Owner	Astonko doo 84.99%, B92 Trust 11,35%, others 3,66%
Key people	Veran Matić, Manja Grčić
Official website	www.b92.net

B92 (Serbian Cyrillic: Б92) is a radio and television broadcaster with national coverage headquartered in Belgrade, Serbia. The network's key demographic is chiefly urban and young audience. Its programs, including the news cover topics with fairly liberal political painted attitudes. Veran Matić is the CEO and one of the founders of B92.

The station was a rare outlet for independent news and information in Serbia under Slobodan Milošević, and was a force behind many demonstrations that took place in Belgrade during the turbulent 1990s. Due to this, B92 won MTV Free Your Mind award in 1998, and many other awards for journalism and fighting for human rights. B92 is the subject of the best-selling book This is Serbia Calling.

In April 2008, B92 launched their second TV channel with 24 hour news coverage named B92 Info. This channel is cable only.

History

B92 HQ in Novi Beograd

The radio station originally went on the air in 1989 with help from the Soros Foundation and USAID ^[1], though it was shut down by authorities a few times in its early years. It was forced off the air for a time in 1999 when NATO bombed Serbia, and government agents cracked down on independent reporting. The government took over the station in 1999 but the team continued broadcasting in borrowed studios as B2-92. In a dawn raid in May 2000 government troops seized everything but internet broadcasting from secret studios continued until after the ousting of Milošević in October 2000, when the two stations were unified. It has continued as a combined music and news radio station since.

In 1996 the Internationale Medienhilfe organization has awarded the title "Radiostation des Jahres" to Radio B92.^[2]

Later on, TV station, Internet portal and ISP were introduced, as well as CD and book labels.

Radio

The B92 radio station was founded in May 1989 in Belgrade as a predominantly youth-oriented station on 92.5 MHz FM. Throughout the years it has become a national radio with wide audience. The radio station has about 400,000 daily listeners which makes up 35% of all radio listeners with almost 80 stations competing for airtime. As of recently, radio B92 covers the whole the territory of Serbia.

The most notable radio shows are Kažiprst (index finger), featuring usually live or occasionally live-to-tape interviews with notable public figures, Peščanik (hourglass), liberal talk show, radio blog of a sort, and the morning program Dizanje (getting up).

Television

Network Logo between 2004 - 2011

History

In September 2000, B92-TV began broadcasting as a local TV station reaching Belgrade's greater municipal area and parts of Vojvodina. Over the next few years, the station expanded its network of repeaters and could be seen in most of Serbia.

In April 2006 B92 was officially given a national commercial broadcasting license along with TV Pink, Fox Televizija, TV Avala and TV Košava. The station's most notable regular TV programmes include Utisak nedelje (Impression of the week) by Olja Bećković, Poligraf (Polygraph) by Jugoslav Ćosić and Antonela Riha, and Timofejev by Aleksandar Timofejev. The Insajder (Insider) series by Brankica Stanković runs intermittently and is one of the rare cases of investigative journalism on Serbian television. The short comedy series Mile vs. Tranzicija by Zoran Cvijanović has a kind of cult status.

In recent years, B92 has undertaken a noticeable shift towards commercialization. Since 2006, it broadcasts the Serbian version of Big Brother reality series (Veliki brat), for which it received both a huge boost of ratings, as well as much criticism from its traditional viewers. The trend has continued with shows like Uzmi ili ostavi and Želite li da postanete milioner? quizzes (local versions of Deal or No Deal and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, respectively).

B92 also currently holds the Serbian market TV rights for the UEFA Champions League (since September 2003) and UEFA European U-21 C'ship, live broadcasts.

2007-08 season

In rating seasons starting September 2007 lasting until July 2008 B92 has introduced a much more commercialised line-up. It has heavily advertised its shows during the non-ratings season of summer 2007.

The network has bought out rights to broadcast a new local show called Naša mala klinika based around a small medicinal practice on the outskirts of town. The show features many famous Serbian actors and actresses. Another local show called Vratiće se rode will be shown on B92. The network has also filmed a new season of popular comedy show Mile vs. Tranzicija. All other popular political and quiz shows will return for the year.

2008-09 season

The season started in October. The most important project this season for the station is Operacija Trijumf. Operacija Trijumf(Star Academy) is the biggest musical reality show in the Balkans and it will be shown on television in Montenegro (IN TV) Croatia (Nova TV) Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia. The station also bought TV rights for Wimbledon (for next 4 years). Champions league matches are also going to be transmitted by B92.

2011 season

The season has started in April. In addition to news and seriskog program in 2011. B92 has a strong sport program. B92 broadcast ATP Tour: Madrid, Indian Wells, Wimbledon, Monte Carlo, Rome, Paris .......

Entertainment

Internationally created shows currently broadcast by B92 (correct as of April 2011)^[3]:

Original name	Local name	Origin
Friends	Prijatelji / Пријатељи
Two and a Half Men	Dva i po muškarca / Два и по мушкарца
Sex and the City	Seks i grad / Секс и град
Vratiće se rode	Vratiće se rode / Вратиће се роде
Kitchen Nightmares	Gordon Remzi: Kuhinjski košmari / Гордон Ремзи: Кухињски кошмари
Mad Men	Ljudi sa Menhetna / Људи са Менхетна
The Kennedys	Kenediovi / Кенедиови
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition	Dome slatki dome / Доме слатки доме
Dora the Explorer	Dora istražuje / Дора истражује
The Penguins of Madagascar	Pingvini sa Madagaskara / Пингвини са Мадагаскара
SpongeBob SquarePants	Sunđer Bob Kockalone / Сунђер Боб Коцкалоне
Najbolje godine	Najbolje godine / Најбоље године
The Pillars of the Earth	Stubovi zemlje / Стубови земље	/

Audience share

In 2007, B92 has been 3rd most watched television in Serbia. 2007 audience share is 9.3%.

News

In recent years the daily newscast on B92 has become popular with viewers. Its news service is now the second most watched in Serbia after the national broadcaster. The daily new cast at 11.p.m. is particularly popular and has had a large surge in the ratings. The news provided by B92 is very comprehensive and which has contributed to the ratings going up in recent years.

Music and book publishing

B92 also runs a record label, although in recent years its releases are few and far between. Some of the notable Serbian acts B92 helped launch include: Eyesburn, Darkwood Dub, Kanda, Kodža i Nebojša, Intruder, Vrooom, Kal etc. The label also released albums by somewhat more established acts such as Boban Marković, Rambo Amadeus, Eva Braun, Jarboli.

B92's book publishing arm is Samizdat B92 featuring prominent young authors such as Marko Vidojković and Srđan Valjarević, as well as a number of foreign authors.

B92 also runs the Rex cultural centre in Jevrejska Street.

B92.net (ex OpenNet)

B92.net was established as OpenNet in late 1995 as the Internet division of Radio B92. In its first few months of operation a dial-up connection with Amsterdam provider XS4ALL was used. At the beginning of 1996, OpenNet became Yugoslavia’s first Internet provider, using an analogue leased line from XS4ALL and six local dial-up lines.

OpenNet also supported the local network of Radio B92, ANEM Radio and ANEM Television by providing non-stop live Internet broadcast of Radio and TV B92 programs, together with the distribution of audio and video materials among the ANEM radio and television stations. In this way, everything produced by ANEM and Radio B92 was available on the Internet.

During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia,^{[citation needed]} when representatives of the Slobodan Milošević regime raided the Radio B2-92 premises and disabled its transmitter, OpenNet continued to broadcast the radio program over the Internet. The signal was rebroadcast via satellite and by several radio stations in neighbouring countries. All of this was done with support from RealNetworks.

B92 Net has been the leading Serbian internet site since 1996. At present the average number of page views per day exceeds 1.000,000, while the daily average number of visitors peaks at 200,000. Alexa.com ranked B92 site at number 917 while Google Page Ranks puts it at 7, making it the best positioned southeast European website.

B92 information

B92 Info is a news broadcasting channel launched by B92 on 7 April 2008. The channel is broadcast on all major cable systems in the country and over the internet. All of B92’s most popular news-related shows, including Poligraf, B92 Investigates, Insajder, Kažiprst, Dizanje, and sports programs, will be broadcast on the channel. B92 has called Info channel launch the biggest project of the company's television segment.^[4] B92 Info it is also available in Austria. ^[5]

References

1. ^ UNINTENDED MEDIA EFFECTS IN A CONFLICT ENVIRONMENT: SERBIAN RADIO AND CROATIAN NATIONALISM
2. ^ Awards for Radio B92
3. ^ Serije - TV B92
4. ^ B92 launches “all news” channel
5. ^ http://www.vesti.rs/Razno/B92-Info-od-danas-i-u-Austriji.html

• Collin, M.: This Is Serbia Calling: Rock 'n' Roll Radio and Belgrade's Underground Resistance, Serpent's Tail, April 2001, ISBN 978-1852426828 (US edition: Guerrilla Radio: Rock 'N' Roll Radio and Serbia's Underground Resistance, Nation Books, April 2002, ISBN 978-1560254041)

External links

• B92's official page
• B92: About Us
• Rex Center
• B92 - A Content Production Revolution - Poynter Online