News & Chit Chat

As a radio guy, I listen to a lot of shows in English. It's a lot easier now that almost any kind of show one can imagine is available via streaming or podcast. But what do I listen to when I want to go local? Well, here's my roundup of radio shows in Hungarian, some of which are available (and down-loadable) online if not as podcasts.

There was a time not so long ago you could find me all times of day and night twisting the dial of my little Sony shortwave receiver to find the best reception for broadcasts emanating from across the globe. Of course there were the numerous transmissions from the BBC, aimed at different continents, but in 1996 or so you could also pull in broadcasts from the Voice of America, Vatican Radio and the now defunct Monitor Radio, where I would later work a stint.

If I think back on that time, when we didn't have the luxury of finding virtually any type of radio broadcast, in any language, on the Internet, it makes me remember how limited the choice of local radio stations was in Hungary, which made for some pretty quirky radio.

One thing I remember from the early 90s was there seemed to be little sense of format. We used to joke that you'd hear a head-banger from Metallica followed by a Sinatra tune on stations like Juventus or Radio Bridge.

Hungarian state-run radio, on the other hand was so stodgy as to be unlistenable; little regard was given to trying to do good radio or to aesthetics - the programs seemed more about filling space. I have a recording of one of their broadcasts in which someone is reading the present temperatures from cities all over Hungary.

Things today have changed, but only just a bit. Now it's the commercial stations which suffer from a lack of imagination, most of them playing nearly the same music and competing for the same, incredibly broad target audiences. But there are some decent things to listen to, if you know when they're on.

For news, pretty much the only station I listen to is Klub Rádió. To listen to radio in Hungary, you do need to be aware that, like most newspapers in Hungary, they have political affiliations, which means you get news and perspectives that can be deeply imbued with a point of view. While Klub is considered left wing, I find their news, shows and journalists (with a couple of exceptions) rooted in reality for the most part.

If you need news with your coffee, I enjoy Reggeli Gyors, Klub's morning show, a mix of news, interviews, etc. that's conversational and not as irritating as the officious, droning news cycle of Info Rádió, which can be good if you only have a few minutes and just want the headlines. (Incidentally, they do have a real podcast feed for some of their shows.)

Klub, meanwhile, has a great "newsmaker" show in the evening called
Kontra. The show's host József Orosz conducts authoritative and balanced interviews with a wide variety of people who are making headlines in Hungary; the interviews are followed up by an extensive call-in session for listeners who want to have their voices heard on a particular issue.

But perhaps my favorite Klub show is on Sunday mornings. It's called
Aczél Sodrony, which means "steel cable" but is a play on words involving the surname of the avuncular host, Endre Aczél. Aczél is a storyteller - he delves into 20th century world history and counterpoints what was happening here in Hungary and in the rest of the East Bloc. Aczél accents his tales with carefully selected pop songs from the given period. The show is wonderfully nostalgic and gives you an inkling what it may have been like living in communist-era Hungary.