China National Radio Zhōngyāng Rénmín Guǎngbō Diàntái 中央人民广播电台

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◀ China Institute in America Comprehensive index starts in volume 5, page 2667.

China National Radio (CNR) is the official ra- Party as China’s first “Red” national radio in 1940 in the dio system of the People’s Republic of China, city of Yan’an, then the base of the Chinese Communist with correspondent branches in forty cities. Party. In 1949 Yan’an Xinhua Broadcasting Station (re- CNR is the farthest-reaching radio network named “Shanbei Xinhua Broadcasting Station” after it moved from Yan’an) began broadcasting in Beijing un- in the country and one of the most important der the name of “Peiping [Beijing’s former name] Xin- media organizations. Its nine channels of pro- hua Broadcasting Station.” On 5 December 1949 it was gramming are under the editorial control of officially named “Central People’s Broadcasting Station.” the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Since January 2002 the station has been called “China Communist Party Central Committee. National Radio,” with its acronym forming the basis for a website aimed at broadening its readership. By 2007 CNR was broadcasting 270 programs in nine channels, with 198 hours of daily broadcasting through stablished in 1940, China National Radio (CNR / satellites. Channel 1 mainly transmits news in Mandarin 中央人民广播电台) is the official radio system to a national audience. Channel 2, Business Radio, airs of the People’s Republic of China, broadcasting economic, scientific, and technological information and 270 programs in nine channels, with 198 hours of daily service programs in Mandarin throughout China. Chan- broadcasting through satellites as of 2007. In 2002, CNR nel 3, Music Radio, is an FM stereo music channel. Chan- launched its website “CNR.CN” (www.cnr.cn), on which nel 4, Metro Radio, provides live programs exclusively a nationwide broadcasting network of central and local to listeners in Beijing. Channel 5 and Channel 6, Cross- radio stations was established to capture domestic and in- Taiwan-Strait Radio, aims it programming to listeners ternational audiences by providing news, entertainment, in Taiwan, while Channel 7, Huaxia Radio, broadcasts and other information-based programs. programs for listeners in Hong Kong, Macau, and the re- CNR is the farthest-reaching radio network in the gion of the Pearl River delta. Channel 8, Ethnic Minori- country and one of the most important media organi- ties Radio, airs programs in Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, zations. Administratively CNR is controlled by the Na- Kazakh, and Korean, and as well as in Mandarin. Channel tional Bureau for Radio, Film, and Television within the 9, Story Radio, specializes in entertainment, including State Council of China. Editorially it is controlled by the comic crosstalk and storytelling programs. After a recent Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist reform CNR has increasingly stratified its programming Party Central Committee. to capture more specific target audiences. CNR grew out of Yan’an Xinhua Broadcasting Sta- CNR has forty correspondent branches in major Chi- tion, which was established by the Chinese Communist nese cities, including Hong Kong and Macao, and has 342

The Transistor Factory in Beijing during the 1970s. Many Chinese people would have heard China National Radio (formerly Yan’an Xinhua Broadcasting Station) through small transistor radios. Photo by Joan Lebold Cohen. established cooperative relationships with major broad- 1 January 2002 the website was officially named “CNR. casting organizations in forty foreign countries and re- CN” (www.cnr.cn), on which a nationwide broadcasting gions. The new headquarters of CNR in Beijing, which network of central and local radio stations was established opened in 1998, was a milestone in the organization’s tran- to target domestic and international audiences by provid- sition to digitalization. The building houses world-class ing news, entertainment, and other information-based recording equipment, studios, and an eight-hundred-seat programs. concert hall. YU Xuejian In the effort to become an integrated media organization, CNR has diversified its broadcasting-related ser- Further Reading vices. It runs a publishing house, China Broadcasting China journalism yearbook: 2006. (2006). Beijing: China Audio and Video Press, which produces several publica- Journalism Yearbook Publishing House. tions, including China Broadcast Weekly, China Broad- China journalism yearbook: 2007. (2007). Beijing: China cast Magazine (monthly), International Music Exchange Journalism Yearbook Publishing House. (monthly), and Radio Songs. In addition, it has established CNR.CN. (2008). Retrieved May 18, 2008, from http:// its own TV-program production center. In 1998 CNR www.cnr.cn launched its official website, the first of its kind among the 50 years of new China’s media. (2000). Beijing: China Jour- media organizations under the central government. On nalism Yearbook Publishing House. China-Britain Business Council ▶