European Radio Network

Infobox Radio station


name = Euranet
area = Across the European Union
airdate = April 2008
slogan = | frequency = FM, Internet
format = International broadcaster
owner =
website = http://www.euranet.eu (opening in July 2008)

The European Radio Network (EURANET) is consortium of 16 radio stations from 13 European Union member states who plan to launch a pan-European station by April 2008.

History

The agreement for the project was signed on 14 December 2007.Beunderman, Mark (2007-12-12) [http://euobserver.com/9/25306 EU to fund pan-European radio station] , EU Observer]

On 26 February 2008 the creation of Euranet was announced in Brussels stating its goal and perspectives.Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for institutional relations and communication strategy, stated that the European Commission intends to give to the European consortium of radio stations financial support for a time of five years from its launch.

It is expected to begin broadcasts in April 2008, while its website will be launched in July 2008.

hows

Euranet will produce half hour news shows, weekly magazines and cover major European cultural events. The station will broadcast on normal frequencies from April 2008 and on the internet a month later. The consortium estimates 12 to 19 million listeners every day within the European Union, with a further 30 million outside. It hopes to increase that audience with marketing.

All programmes will deal with European affairs from a European perspective to provide a cross-cultural view on major European stories. Regular programmes will include:cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions: European Radio Network Project |publisher=Europa (web portal), European Commission |url=http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/113&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en |accessdate=2008-02-26]

* "Europe in brief": European news of the day
* "Europe in perspective": explaining European news
* "Europe in-depth": magazines, interview, analysis, debates
* "Europe Live": major events of the EU

Consortium

The consortium is composed of:columns |width=45%
col1 =
* Deutsche Welle (Germany)
* Radio France Internationale (France)
* Radio Nederland Wereldomroep (Netherlands)
* Polskie Radio Warsaw (Poland)
* Polskie Radio Szczecin (Poland)
* Punto Radio (Spain)
* Bulgarian National Radio (Bulgaria)
* Czech Radio (Czeck Republic)
col2 =
* Hungarian Radio (Hungary)
* Skai Radio (Greece)
* Radio Slovenia International (Slovenia)
* RTBF (Belgium)
* Radio Romania International (Romania)
* RFI Romania (Romania)
* Europa Lisboa (Portugal)
* RFI Sofia (Bulgaria)

Euranet members support the station with frequencies, studios and personnel. Deutsche Welle is to take care of editorial coordination, Radio France will manage finances and Radio Netherlands will operate the web portal.

The project is primarily financed by the European Commission with €5.8 million a year in subsidies, but the station is supposed to have full editorial independence.

Languages

At first, broadcasts will be in 10 languages (Bulgarian, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish).

It is hoped that by 2012 all of the 23 official EU languages would be covered.

References

External links

* [http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/303&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en/ Press release from the European Union's official portal site www.europa.eu]
* [http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/080226-euranet Euranet article on www.radionederlands.nl]
* [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3150682,00.html Euranet article on www.dwworld.de]

ee also

* News media in the European Union
* EuroNews
* European Broadcasting Union