With the first radio broadcast in 1926, Lithuania stepped into the technological age. Here’s how the history of radio in the Baltic country, as well as elsewhere in Europe, played out.
“People imagined that radio should also educate the nation in a patriotic spirit – that this was its mission. Officers, priests and teachers were especially vocal in expressing that view,” says historian Titas Krutulys.
The use of radio for civilian purposes began across Europe at roughly the same time. Radio communication technology had been adapted during the First World War, and in many countries, radio was associated with the military.
Only in the interwar period did country after country begin adapting the technology for mass communication.The first radio broadcasts in the United States began in 1916, in the United Kingdom in 1922, in France a year earlier and in Germany in 1923.
Lithuania found itself alongside the Scandinavian countries in adopting the technology in 1926. Ireland and the Balkan states followed later, while Albania and Andorra were among the last to hear their first broadcasts.
