Çağdaş Türkiye Tarihi Araştırmaları Dergisi

Öz

Scientific
developments of the 19th century Europe brought out inventions that caused
major changes in the daily lives of societies. Radio as one of the inventions
of this period became widespread and part of daily life in the first half of
the 20th century and created a radical change in the traditional communication
perception. Radio also began to be used in Turkey beginning from the first
years of the Republic. In 1927 with the foundation of İstanbul and Ankara
radios, the number of radio listeners increased.

City of İzmir showed great interest
in radio broadcastings and the city radio was founded in 1950. A radio station
was established to broadcast during the İzmir Fair, but the İzmir Municipality
bought this radio station and changed it into a permenant broadcaster. İzmir
Radio began its activities in a shed in fairground of Kültürpark. In 1951 İzmir
Radio relocated to the building of Atlıspor Club also in fairground of
Kültürpark and attained larger and better conditions. In 1952 İzmir Radio was
transferred to the Directorate General of Press and Tourism and with a
legislative regulation passed in 1953 İzmir Radio became a state radio and
still continues its activities at the present time.

In this study, information on developments
during the foundation process of İzmir Radio, broadcasting activities, radio
personnel and buildings used for İzmir radio will be given based on archival
documents from the Republican Archive of the Prime Ministry, various sources on
the history of radio, articles and news from the press of the period in
question. This study aims to contribute to urban history studies of İzmir by
giving information on foundation, history and activities of the İzmir Radio,
which has become an important symbol of İzmir.