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Radio broadcasting started in Bahrain in 1940 by the British as a war-measure.^[1] Regular radio broadcasting, in Arabic, first started in 1955.^[2] By 1980, the radio service broadcast up to 14 hours a day. The country's first English language radio station started in 1977, as a result of an increase in English speakers in Bahrain and the Persian Gulf region.^[2]^[3] The radio's programs were primarily religious and educational, with occasional news announcements.^[2]

Almost all radio stations in Bahrain are state-owned, by the Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation. However, Radio Mirchi 104.2FM is a privately owned radio station broadcasting in Hindi/Malayalam,^[4] to serve the country's Indian community.^[5]

History

The British established the Bahrain Broadcasting Station in November 1940 in response to the initiation of pro-Nazi programmes being broadcast in Arabic in the Persian Gulf from 1934 to 1945.^[6] One of the earliest studies done on radio use in Bahrain assert that in 1940, there were 511 radio receivers in operation.^[1] However, radio ownership was not common among the residents, and most people went to cafés to listen to broadcasts. The station was staffed mostly with Bahrainis and its broadcasts included Quranic recitations, the national anthems of Kuwait and Bahrain, and poetry recitations, which may have been in the form of music. The station was closed down in 1945.^[1]

Radio Bahrain was established in 1955. The Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation (BRTC), a state-owned entity, was set up in 1971,^[7] and runs Radio Bahrain as well as Bahrain TV. BRTC became an independent body in January 1993.^[7] Its radio broadcasts are usually in Arabic and also in English. The English-language radio service has been on-air since 1977, broadcasting four hours a day from a studio in Isa Town. In 1982 the station was moved to a building in Adliya. On-air time was extended to 18 hours a day. A second station, Radio 2, began broadcasting 6 hours a day. In 1989 a new studio was established in the Ministry of Information building, and the following year the station went 24 hours. In 2007, Radio Bahrain switched its frequency from 101.0FM to 99.5FM. The Information Affairs Authority was formed in 2010 and, besides other functions, controls BRTC.^[8]