Trinitas Radio station – 15 Years of Broadcasting

On 17 April 2013, Trinitas Radio station of the Romanian Patriarchate celebrates 15 years of broadcasting.

Trinitas Radio station was set up in 1996, at the initiative and with the blessing of His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Moldova and Bucovina at the time.

After getting the audio-visual license no. R/216, issued by the Audio-Visual National Council (CNA in Romanian) on 9 July 1996, for frequency 93,70 MHZ of Iaşi city, the first Orthodox radio station of Romania was organised. The main broadcasting studio and the reporters’ offices were set up at Golia Monastery, where the Trinitas Metropolitan publishing and printing houses were already operating, while the transmitter and antennas were set up at Cetăţuia Monastery, situated on one of the seven hills of Iaşi.

The first broadcasting of Trinitas Radio station, on 17 April 1998, in the evening, on the Holy Friday, was the Lamentation service, celebrated in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Iaşi.

After the enthusiasm of the beginning, there followed a period of institutional maturation and consolidation, both in regard to the editors’ team and to the technical equipment and to the financial support necessary for developing the activity. Trinitas Radio station has promoted ever since the beginning, both the Christian principles in the civic conscience, and the Romanian social and cultural values in European and universal context. Trinitas Radio station has affirmed itself as a distinct and appreciated voice in the Romanian media field broadcasting 24 hours a day every day.

Trinitas Radio station addresses all kinds of listeners. Besides the religious programmes, there are also cultural, social, and economical information.

Trinitas Radio promotes dialogue and cooperation among the Christians from everywhere, for defending human dignity and protecting the environment. It has been a member of the Conference of the European Christian Radio stations since 2001, together with other prestigious media institutions of our continent.

Since 31 December 2002, Trinitas Radio station has been listened to through Internet network, on website www.radiotrinitas.ro.

Having been a radio station known both in the national and in the religious fields, as well as in the laic ones, CNA awarded Trinitas Radio in 2004, as the best local radio station since 2003.

The period of extension of the broadcasting area is related to the Homage year of “Saint Steven the Great – 500”, 2004. Trinitas Radio station extended its transmitters’ terrestrial network at local and regional level. At the end of 2004, there were already 10 Trinitas Radio transmission stations. In a few months time the station of Iaşi was added the transmitters from Vaslui, Moineşti, Bacău, Piatra Neamţ, Oneşti, Topliţa, Putna, Suceava and Darabani. In order to ensure the good quality of the audio signal transmission from the central headquarters to the local stations, the satellite communication was adopted in June the same year.

Trinitas Radio station continued its extension project from 2005 – 2007 too, through the cooperation between the Metropolitanate of Moldova and Bucovina and other eparchies of the country. Thus, in 2005, 11 new stations were set up (Bucegi-Coştila, Zalău, Bârlad, Ceahlău- Toaca, Hârlău, Botoşani, Haţeg, Moldova Nouă, Harghita-Gheprgheni, Târgu Neamţ, Guta Humorului), in 2006 the stations in Rădăuţi, Sibiu and Baia Mare-Mogoşa, and in 2007, the stations from Durău and Galaţi.

Trinitas radio station was established as national radio network of the Romanian Orthodox Church on 27 October 2007, the feast of Saint Dimitrios the New, protector of Bucharest, and the date Basilica Press Centre of the Romanian Patriarchate was set up. Once the Trinitas Radio broadcasting station set up at the Patriarchate Palace was inaugurated, the speech of His Beatitude Daniel delivered at his installation as Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church was accomplished (30 September 2007): “Another desire of ours, which becomes a duty, is to intensify the spiritual mission of the Church in society, beyond the walls of the places of worship, through two Orthodox religious networks at national level, namely: radio and television, as well as a daily newspaper of the Church”.

The history of Trinias Radio station, the oldest of the five branches of Basilica Press Centre (the other four: Trinitas Television, “Lumina” publications, Basilica News Agency, and the Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate) mentions two other important events in 2008: taking over the frequencies of Logos radio station of the Metropolitanate of Oltenia (Craiova, Bechet, Băileşti, Novaci, Târgu Cărbuneşti, Târgu Jiu) and inauguration in December of the stations in Arad and Timişoara.

In 2009, the station of Balota (Mehedinţi county) was set up, a projected designed to transmit the radio programmes to the Romanians in Valea Timocului, Serbia. In order to improve the transmission stations and extend the area covered, in 2010, the transmitters from Rarău and Făget-Coşeviţa were moved from other locations and set up here. In 2011, Trinitas Radio station improved the reception in Bucharest city by getting a new frequency for this location, while the following stations were inaugurated in the country: Roşiorii de Vede, Paşcani, Zimnicea, Sulina and Sebiş. In October 2011, a station was set up at Cozia moved from another location. In May the same year, Trinitas Radio stations programmes were listened to in Reşiţa and Caransebeş, through re-transmission. In April 2012, these stations were added to the national radio network of the Romanian Patriarchate. The same month the frequencies of Hârşova and Medgidia were taken over. At the beginning of 2013, the radio broadcasting was extended through two new stations: Oradea and Sighetu Marmaţiei.

At present, Trinitas Radio station broadcasts on 47 terrestrial frequencies, covering over 80% of the territory of Romania, to which a via satellite frequency for Europe is added: Satellite AMOS 2. The programmes are made in the central studio of Bucharest as well as in the local studios in Iaşi, Sibiu, and Craiova. The audience can listen to religious services every day: Divine Liturgy, Vesper, evening and morning prayers, midnight office, as well as special programmes of religious education, Romanian folklore and classic music, programmes for promoting church events, news and useful information, dialogues and talk shows on the present issues of the social and cultural life.

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