Radio 101.2 Was Liquidated on September 1 :: Charter'97 :: News

The first and the only uncensored radio station in Belarus had been existing for one year, one month and 10 days, from July 21, 1995 to August 31, 1996. The news about its closure was unexpected; it arrived only a day before. No phone calls or official letters preceded, Radio Svaboda informs. A fax was received telling that since September 1 the work of the wave 101.2 in FM-range would be suspended for some time for technical reasons. The transmitter in the center of Minsk, in Kamunistychnaya Street, was allegedly interfering with government’s communications. And broadcasting would be renewed when a new transmitterwould be constructed in another place.

It happened so, but the wave 101.2 was given to the Belarusian patriotic youth union. However, workers of the closed radio station realized a number of successful media projects, and many of them contribute to different independent media of Belarus.

“In a few minutes we shall stop broadcasting. Those who hear us, please honk!” Iryna Kurapatkina and Volha Babak asked in the studio in Revalutsyjnaya, 8a. And those sitting in a room next to the studio, listening to the last program, heard honks in the street.

The first voice in Radio 101.2 belonged to a journalist Volha Babak. Together with her colleague Iryna Kurapatkina she finished the program on August 31, 1996.

“I remember the last words exactly, unfortunately, as those remembrances are still painful. Our last words were: “We shall be back”. The last song was a Beatles’ song with the same words,” the journalist says.

The news about the closure was received when colleagues were celebrating birthday of their chief, Zhana Litsvina.

“Fist colleagues didn’t want to upset us. Nobody told anything until the late night. And then they chose one person and told to phone and announce this unpleasant piece of news. With all my life experience, I know what aching heart means. It was a complete shock!” Litsvina said.

In 1994 Zhana Litsvina headed the radio station “Belaruskaya Maladzyozhnaya”, which existed in the system of the Belarsuain State Radio. The position of the youth radio station was an uncompromising one: two sides should be heard in controversial issues. Such politicians as Zyanon Paznyak, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Vyachaslau Kebich, were delivering speeches on air of the radio station. A few days before the first presidential elections in 1994 “BM” was closed “in connection with reorganizing of the Belarusian State TV and Radio Company”.

Like the “BM”, Radio 101.2 was an informational and music project. The principle remained the same: both sides should be presented in a discussion. By 1996 the radio was the only electronic mass media in Belarus where politicians could express their thoughts which were different from the authorities’ position.

“It was a few months before a referendum in 1996. Radio 101.2 was the only source of information which hadn’t been censored. The authorities wanted to smother the last source of information,” Zhana Litsvina believes.

About one third of Belarusian population was the potential listeners of Radio 101.2, as it included a 2-million Minsk and dwellers in the radius of 80 km from the capital.