POLISH RADIO ON THE BACKGROUND OF SYSTEMIC CHANGES IN POLAND IN THE YEARS 1945-1956

International Journal of New Economics and Social Sciences № 1(9)2019 Zygmunt Kazimierski 1) Marcin Mielnik 2) 1) Prof., Society of Culture and History Technology (Warsaw, Polska) * Corresponding author: e-mail: ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8809-5125 2) PhD, Society of Culture and History Technology (Warsaw, Poland) * Corresponding author: e-mail: ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4245-986X POLISH RADIO ON THE BACKGROUND OF SYSTEMIC CHANGES IN POLAND IN THE YEARS 1945-1956 POLSKIE RADIO NA TLE PRZEMIAN SYSTEMOWYCH W POLSCE W LATACH 1945-1956 Abstract The Polish Radio began its activity on the first of February 1925. On this day the first program of the Polish Radio technical Society was broadcasted. From then on, the radio accompanied Polish people in good and bad times. The years 1946 – 1956 were not so glorious. At that time, Polish radio became the propaganda tool for the PPR and from December 1949 the PZPR. These parties, mainly under the slogans of the reconstruction of the country from war damage and the struggle for peace, sought to Stalinize Poland on the model of the USSR. While studying those times, it should be stated that information and publication hardly existed because it was replaced by a hypocritical, brutal and intrusive propaganda. However, history of Polish Radio in those years should not only been described in critical way. At that time, many very important and socially necessary initiatives took place. Since the first year after regaining independence, more and more new broadcast stations have been launched in various regions of Poland. New programs were broadcasting more and more often, such as "Muzyka i Aktualności", in which various messages were given with ease, interwoven with modern jazz music. Keywords: Radio, propaganda, Stalinism, "Music and News" Streszczenie Polskie Radio rozpoczęło swoją działalność pierwszego lutego tysiąc dziewięćset dwudziestego piątego roku. W dniu tym z budynku przy ul. Narbuta 29 nadano pierwszą audycję Polskiego Towarzystwa Radiotechnicznego. Od tej pory radio towarzyszyło ISSN 2450-2146 / E-ISSN 2451-1064 © 2019 /Published by: Międzynarodowy Instytut Innowacji Nauka-Edukacja-Rozwój w Warszawie, Polska This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Kazimierski Z., Mielnik M.,(2019) Polish Radio on the Background of Systemic Changes in Poland in the Years 1945-1956. International Journal of New Economics and Social Sciences,1 (9) 2019: 415-424 DOI 10.5604/01.3001.0013.3059 415 International Journal of New Economics and Social Sciences № 1(9)2019 Polakom w dobrych i złych chwilach. Do niezbyt chwalebnych należały lata 1946 – 1956. W tym czasie systematycznie stawało się ono tubą propagandową początkowo PPR a od grudnia 1949 r. PZPR. Partie te głównie pod hasłami odbudowy kraju ze zniszczeń wojennych i walki o pokój dążyły do stalinizacji Polski na wzór ZSRR. Badając tamte czasy należy stwierdzić, że informacja i publikacja prawie nie istniała bo zastąpiła ją zakłamana, tępa, brutalna i nachalna propaganda. Nie należy jednak tylko krytycznie opisywać dzieje Polskiego Radia w tamtych latach. Wydarzyło się wówczas wiele bardzo ważnych i społecznie potrzebnych inicjatyw. Od pierwszego roku po odzyskaniu niepodległości uruchamiano coraz to nowe nadawcze stacje radiowe w różnych rejonach Polski. Coraz częściej emitowano nowe audycje, taki między innymi jak „Muzyka i Aktualności”, w której z lekkością podawano różne wiadomości, przeplatając je nowoczesną muzyką jazzową. Słowa kluczowe: radio, propaganda, stalinizm, „Muzyka i Aktualności” _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Article history: Received: 28.05.2019 / Accepted: 10.06.2019 / Published: 21.06.2019 JEL Classification: N 400 ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Statement of the problem in general outlook and its connection with important scientific and practical tasks. Radio in the recent history of Poland played a very important role. It contributed to the popularization of all political and economic initiatives in various historical periods. Radio had a special role in 1945-55, when it became a propaganda tool, during the changes modeled on the system of the Soviet Union introduced under the cover of bayonets of the Soviet army. To authenticate the transmitted content to the radio program, signals closely related to the prewar radio system were included, such as like the bugle call from the church of St. Mary in Cracow, the signal of the Institute of Time Measurement and the ringing of bells at noon, or the National Anthem at the end of the program. To understand the specificity of those years, the history of Poland from 1944 – 1956 should be analyzed. Analysis of latest research where the solution of the problem was initiated. A number of publications about the history of Polish radio has been written. Kronika roku jubileuszowego „80 lat Polskiego Radia”. T. Sawicki, Warsaw 2005 and Turkowski R., (2015). Polskie Radio wobec stalinizacji wsi 1948-1956, Polskie Radio. Historia – Program - Technika, Warsaw, are some of the most valuables. Topic of this article is discussed in them in an interesting and detailed way. Publications: Chomicz Z., (2005). 80 lat Polskiego Radia. Kalendarium, Warsaw, Dąbrowska A., (2015). Radio Raszyn, Karta 85 z 2015 r.,Kazimierski Z., (2011). Etos pracy w pierwszej dekadzie PRL, Etos pracy i deontologia zawodowa, red. M. Kasperski i T. Szczurek, Warsaw, Kurz A., (2000). Rozbieżności, nurty i postacie w PZPR, Polska pod rządami PZPR, (red. M.F. Rakowski), Warsaw, were big support while creating this article ISSN 2450-2146 / E-ISSN 2451-1064 © 2019 /Published by: Międzynarodowy Instytut Innowacji Nauka-Edukacja-Rozwój w Warszawie, Polska This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Kazimierski Z., Mielnik M.,(2019) Polish Radio on the Background of Systemic Changes in Poland in the Years 1945-1956. International Journal of New Economics and Social Sciences,1 (9) 2019: 415-424 DOI 10.5604/01.3001.0013.3059 416 International Journal of New Economics and Social Sciences № 1(9)2019 Exposition of main material of research with complete substantiation of obtained scientific results. Discussion. Polish Radio was reborn in occupied Poland, during the Warsaw Uprising, and began its operations on August 8-9, 1944. These were insurgent broadcasting stations: the first launched on August 8, 1944 by the Home Army "Błyskawica" and the second - Polish Radio launched on August 9 1944. Both of them benefited from the same transmitter and were supported mostly by pre-war Polish Radio employees. From mid-August, broadcasts of the uprising radio were rebroadcast by the BBC in London. Both stations broadcast their latest programs on October 4 (Z. Chomicz (...truncated)