Jun 17, 2012
Just before the influence of Enver Hoxha collapsed in Albania, the external service Radio Tirana was one of the largest broadcasters in Europe, with a massive megaWatt transmitter operating on 1395 kHz. My colleague, Wolf Harranth of ORF Vienna, wrote to them and managed to get hold of a studio tape of part of one of the last English broadcasts under the old guard. The Albanian English language announcers had never been abroad. They were apparently trained by an Australian Marxist, which explains their strange Australian accent. This 5 minute tape consists of the opening, a very funny Lets Learn Albanian lesson (what were they thinkiing?) and the grand sign-off. Haven't heard this for years. Anyone else remember this stuff? Makes a change from Glee.
Wow ... Thanks for making this available.
It must be 30 years since I heard the sign-off music, but it was still very familiar even if it sounded a little strange without all of the shortwave static. It would have been even better if there was a report of the increased output from the tractor factory, but you can't have everything.
Managed to drive to Albania in 2012 to visit my boyhood "heroes" - great memories.
What a pity the tape didn't contain some of the gems of socialist snooze -- the heavy propaganda and impenetrable agricultural reports the station used to air.
That stuff is fun to play to disbelieving westerners who can't imagine anyone sitting through it.
But our concept of "news" and that elsewhere can be very different things. Try listening to an English All India Radio hourly newscast. Watching paint dry is more interesting.
Wonderful. I remember those stern trumpetting blasts when listening as a teenager and wondering just how hard life might be in such a cold-sounding country if their radio broadcasts were anything to go by. I remember a film review programme, and on reflection wonder if it came from the same programming meeting as the Learn Albanian course.