On Thursday, November 1st, when it celebrated 90 years since its first broadcast, the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation was decorated by President Klaus Iohannis with the National Order for “Cultural Merit” in the rank of Commander. According to the Presidential Administration the Order acknowledges the radio’s important contribution to promoting and supporting the Romanian cultural, moral and civilizational values. The balance, objectivity and professionalism of Radio Romania’s programs are acknowledged by the entire political class, both in power and in the opposition.
The Social Democrat PM Viorica Dancila: “Radio Romania has been and continues to be a fair and credible means of information and a space open to dialogue. Consequently, the public radio has won a well-deserved place in the hearts of Romanians in the country and abroad. You have journalistic expertise and tradition, qualities that are doubled by professionalism and public responsibility. I congratulate Radio Romania for everything that it has accomplished all these years!”
Another representative of the ruling coalition, the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu has evoked the complex mission the radio has, which is informing and educating the audience. In his turn, the Chamber of Deputies Speaker and leader of the Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, has also said that the public radio has been a constant presence in the life of Romanians whom it informed about the great events and personalities of history.
Ludovic Orban, the leader of the opposition National Liberal Party, has said that Radio Romania is a fair and objective means of information and a promoter of Romanian values: “Happy 90th Anniversary, Radio Romania! I wish the public radio station to continue to be a station that first of all serves the citizen’s interest, that resists any form of pressure and does its duty towards people. I wish Radio Romania employees to further do their job with the same dedication and professionalism.”
The Save Romania Union party leader, Dan Barna, has said that, to him, the public radio is an example of professionalism, while for the leader of the People’s Movement Party, Eugen Tomac, the radio is a landmark institution of the Romanian media.
The events devoted to Radio Romania’s anniversary also included an extraordinary concert given by the National Radio Orchestra together with the Academic Choir and the Radio Children’s Choir. Also on Thursday the public radio aired the first episode of the first radio sitcom ever produced in Romania called “Somewhere in 1928”, an 11-episode comedy about the birth of the public radio. Events dedicated to this celebration started on Monday when the institution’s most important studio was named after the celebrated radio journalist Paul Grigoriu. A very talented journalist and a top professional, loved and respected by the audience and his colleagues alike, Paul Grigoriu worked at the public radio for more than four decades, starting 1969. For 20 years, he worked at the French Section of the Foreign Department, which is today’s Radio Romania International.
