Duan Mihalek A STRICTLY CONTROLLED RADIO Music programming at Radio Novi Sad under the highly developed self-management

socialist system in The Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina from the 1974 Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) to the war in Vukovar in 1991. They say that people working in radio can be divided into those who believe a radio is a box that speaks and those who believe a radio is a box that plays. I fall into the second category, seeing that I was the music editor of Radio Novi Sad (RNS) for more than two decades. However, I secretly acknowledge to those belonging to the first category that radio is a remarkable medium for presenting information. About music, of course! XXX Radio Novi Sad was founded in 1949, in the midst of the Tito Stalin conflict. From the first, one of the main tasks of the radio station was to spread the ideas of Yugoslavias leaders both to the Serbs living in Vojvodina and the neighbouring countries and to the Hungarians, Slovaks, Romanians, Ukrainians and Ruthenians living in Vojvodina and in Eastern Block countries. Very quickly, RNS gained great popularity in Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, south Ukraine, and then widely across Europe, where many Hungarian emigrants lived (especially after 1956). Piles of letters arrived at the Radio attesting to this popularity, and I saw it myself when I traveled to these countries. Interestingly, RNSs popularity was due largely to its music programming, and even today the early pop songs (amac na Tisi /Boat on the Tisa) and their performers (Mira Gubik, Itvan and Mirjana Boro) are spoken of with nostalgia. Titos regime, somewhat less repressive than Stalins, made it possible for listeners in those regions to hear music they could not listen to on their home radio stations: pop songs, jazz, and certain forbidden folk songs. On a wavelength of 212.4 metres, RNS broadcast successive programmes in Serbian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Romanian and Ruthenian. In this way listeners of Radio Novi Sad were every day in contact with the music of their neighbours, the other peoples and national minorities (including Bunjevci and Romany as well as other groups of colonists immigrants from Montenegro, Krajina, Lika, Bosnia and other regions, but not Germans or Jews, who had disappeared almost completely from Vojvodina). I do not claim that the Radios influence was decisive, but certainly the programming did help promote inter-ethnic tolerance, which had been seriously undermined in Vojvodina during World War II. The first period in the history of the music department of RNS is connected with the activities of Anton Eberst, an outstanding musician, writer and organizer, whose kola za klarinet (School for Clarinet) has been published in many editions across Europe. At a time when recordings were scarce and studio recordings even more scarce, he managed to gather a large number of musicians to play live on RNS and gradually organized them into radio ensembles. Five years after its founding, RNS boasted an active Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, Ensemble of Soloists, Large Mixed Choir,

Hungarian Choir, Hungarian Childrens Choir, Light Orchestra (Zlatne strune - Gold Strings), Serbian Folk Orchestra, Hungarian Folk Orchestra, Romanian Folk Orchestra and Tamburitza Orchestra. Vocal ensembles performing Serbian Folk Music and Hungarian Folk Music formed later1. Ebersts concept of radio with live music was not limited to musicians playing for studio microphones, but included turning radio shows into real concerts or phone-in programmes in which both the audience and the listeners took part. His public broadcasts extended beyond the medium of radio, performing social, informative, instructive, educational and entertainment functions as well. The work of the editors in the Music Department also extended beyond the medium of radio. Especially notable were the editors of Serbian folk music, a group unsurpassed to this day Branko enejac, Borivoj Kuruci, Isidor Hadnadjev, mihajlo Lesjak and, above all, Sava Vukosavljev. All had studied at the Sombor Teachers College, receiving advanced training on the eve of the World War II in a course held by Svetolik Paan and Richard Schwartz. They were editors, collectors of folk songs, ethnomusicologists, arrangers, conductors and composers all at once. Their work left its mark on the folk music of Vojvodina in the second half of the 20th century, where the RNS Tamburitza Orchestra under the direction of Sava Vukosavljev became the role model for all tamburitza players in the world. In addition to these, Ern Kirly, Jaroslav Vojtjehovski, Trandafir urovan and Irinej Timko (Hungarian, Slovakian, Romanian and Ruthenian music, respectively) also did pioneering work in the field of ethnomusicology. In the era of the first magnetic tape recordings, Ern Kirly was among the first in this part of Europe to try his hand at the field of electro-acoustic music, creating also the new electronic sound signal at RNS. Unfortunately, this pinnacle was soon followed by a great downfall. With Stalins death and the normalization of relations between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union and its satellites, and with the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian uprising, Radio Novi Sads foreign propaganda function lost a great deal of importance. Resources (both political and economic) were centralized in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, and Novi Sad was given a second-rate, provincial role. Throughout Vojvodina, and particularly in its capital, cultural institutions were closed down, including the Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble of Soloists, Large Mixed Choir, Hungarian Choir, Childrens Choir, Serbian Folk Orchestra, Romanian Folk Orchestra and String Light Orchestra of Radio Novi Sad. Between 1956 and 1960 the Serbian programme was not broadcast either. Radio Novi Sads first pinnacle had also coincided with the end of the golden age of radio. A new, more attractive medium had appeared on the airwaves television. Under Yugoslavias dictatorship of the proletariat and real socialism there was little freedom of the press, and radio suffered the same fate as other means of communication. Nevertheless, in this strictly controlled radio, the music programme was able, through public broadcasts and contacts with listeners, to bring a degree of democracy to the media. XXX During the second period of RNS, which is the focus of this work, circumstances changed. I was a direct witness to these circumstances, working at Radio Novi Sad from 1967 first as a part-time contributor, then (1972-1984) as an editor in the
1

Eberst, Anton: 50 godina muzike na Radio-Novom Sadu 1949-1999, Novi Sad, p. 13.

Classical Music Department and finally, from 1984 to 1991, as director of the Music Programming Department. Although during this time Anton Eberst continued as head of Art Production of RTV Novi Sad, this period is associated with the name Oskar Pandi. Pandi was the only musician in the entire SFRY to become the director of a radio station. Earlier, as editor and editor-in-chief of the music department and as assistant director of RNS, Pandi had demonstrated outstanding organizational abilities and a talent for understanding radio as a medium for both information and music. As director, he put his ideas about broadcasting into practice, ultimately leading the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to entrust RNS with the job of organizing its four largest music events - an honor not shared with the BBC, Radio France, Deutsche Welle, RAI, or any other station in Europe After the student protests in 1968, the amendment of the Constitution of the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) and Comrade Titos Letter in 1972, the new Constitution of the SFRY in 1974 and the Associated Labour Act in 1976, the situation in Yugoslav society changed significantly. The consequent stoppage of the flow of financial resources from Vojvodina was had an impact on culture, including the musical culture. Through the efforts of Rudolf Brui, in 1974 the Academy of Arts was founded in Novi Sad. The integration of the opera and the ballet of the Serbian National Theatre with the concert agency and the Philharmonic created the Vojvodina Music Centre. Radio Novi Sad was given the status of a home radio station, one of eight equal radio centres in the SFRY (located in the capitals of the six republics and the two provinces). RNS broadcast five programmes (on five separate wavelengths) one each in Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Romanian and Ruthenian. This format expanded gradually and a sixth, local Novi Sad programme was initiated. After passage of the Associated Labour Act (Yugoslavias experiment in self-management socialism), Art Production, with its ensembles, producers and music library, became an independent Basic Organization of Associated Labour (BOAL) that served the Radio and Television (which were also independent BOALs). The Music Programming Department of the Radio, with its sections for classical, folk, and popular music and its music advisors (illustrators) served all six programmes. Thus the music department was along with the Technical Studio and the Drama Department multinational, preparing programmes in all the languages mentioned. Competition with television changed the format of radio as well. Progress in recording techniques (stereo!), broadcasting (FM, satellite programme), connections and mobile techniques (links), and recording media (tapes, cassettes, records, CDs), opened up a world of previously unimaginable possibilities. Although less attractive than television, radio in those years was a very mobile medium, able to respond quickly, and, most importantly, to include in its programming an increasing number of direct reactions from listeners. It should be mentioned that at that time (as previously), there were no special schools for training radio staff, let alone for the education of radio musicians and editors. These jobs were filled by a diverse array of musicians ranging from performers and pedagogues to composers and musicologists (some of whom had had no systematic musical education). On the air waves, RNS competed with other radio stations and there was a lot to learn from those stations. Knowledge and experience were handed down from generation to generation, from editors to younger associates. Taking up my post at RNS during my final year as a musicology student, I was

fortunate to learn the ropes from experienced editors, especially Oskar Pandi, who at that time was editor-in-chief of the Music Programming Department. In the 1970s radio broadcasts featuring studio recordings were popular. The worlds most famous ensembles (particularly radio ensembles) recorded in the studio. The endless repetitions, re-recordings and technical interventions possible in the studio produced perfect performances that possess great value even today. However, these recordings were a bit sterile, lacking the immediacy achieved by a concert performer in contact with the audience. For two decades Pandi strove to broadcast, in addition to studio recordings, as much live sound and immediate music making as possible (by broadcasting live concerts and live concert recordings, as well as by organizing public concerts and festivals). During that time, RNS either broadcast live or recorded almost every musical event in Vojvodina, thus building up an enormous collection of live concert recordings. Many of these, such as the recordings of the folklore of the peoples and national minorities of Vojvodina, possess historical and archival value. In 1970 at the initiative of Anton Eberst, Radio Novi Sad founded the Festival of Folk Music of the Danube Countries known as Oj, Dunave, Dunave plavi (Oh, Danube, Blue Danube), which it continued to organize until 1990. This festival was one of the few events at which musicians from the Eastern and Western blocks met. These musicians were otherwise limited to the airwaves of either the Western European EBU (European Broadcasting Union) or the Eastern European OIRT (Organisation International de Radio-Tlvision). The recordings and broadcasts from this festival (about 100 hours of music) entered the airwaves and record libraries of all the radio stations of the Danube basin. The remarkable organization of the festival (claimed by American ethnomusicologist Mark Forry to be the best he had ever seen), won Radio Novi Sad an international reputation and the trust of the EBU. Thus in 1985 the EBU entrusted RNS with the organization of its central event, the International Year of Music and Youth (proclaimed by UNESCO in honor of the 300th anniversary of the births of Bach, Handel and Scarlatti). For that occasion the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra came from Budapest to Novi Sad, making this the first EBU event including an ensemble from the Eastern block. The success of this concert (broadcast live or with delay by several hundred radio stations from China to the USA) helped Radio Novi Sad become a bridge between East and West in other great EBU events as well. At the EBU Public Jazz Concert in 1987 an orchestra composed of musicians from 16 countries included a musician from Bulgaria, a rock group from the USSR performed at the EBU Rock Festival in 1989, and a group from Estonia performed at the EBU Folk Festival in 1990. Radio Novi Sad was the radio station entrusted with the organization of these EBUs four largest music events. Unfortunately, RNSs credibility on the airwaves of Europe and the world was not shared on the airwaves of Yugoslavia itself. In the late 1980s, in the midst of the struggle between the political objectives of Serbia proper and the Vojvodina Autonomists, Duan Mitevi, the director-general of RTV Belgrade, pre-empted the EBU Rock Festival from Novi Sad, in order to broadcast the Zajear Guitar Festival! Along with this festival glamour, RNSs daily music regime included everything from providing music material for talk shows to creating complex radio productions. The radio hosts of pop music shows became so popular that hosts were used for folk and classical music shows as well. By 1982 the role of the radio host had become so important that the host, through contact with listeners, was able to unite all musical genres in one show. An experimenter in the field of broadcasting himself, Oskar Pandi (creator of the unforgettable show Zato moleri zvide /Why Painters Whistle), encouraged

research in this field. In Yugoslav radio broadcasting, Radio Belgrade, with its Radionica zvuka (Sound Workshop), took the lead. At the annual conferences of Yugoslav radio stations in Ohrid we exchanged experiences and learned from each other. I had the privilege of being the first from Radio Novi Sad to take the first prize in Ohrid in 1982. Later that same award was given twice to Nada Petkovi and then to Boko Buta, who also won international awards in Bratislava, Delhi and Peking. XXX Today these successes and the circumstances in which they were achieved all seem like a bad dream. Legally, the founder of RTV Novi Sad was the Assembly of the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. Therefore each year the Annual plan of RTVNS had to pass through that assemblys verifying procedure, as well as those of various municipal committees, from the Socialist Alliance of the Working People and the Union, to the Youth League and the Citizens Association. Although not officially involved, the Communist League in fact held all the power in its hands. And all this took place in a strange system called self-management socialism. In accordance with the Associated Labour Act, the OAL (Organization of Associated Labour) of the RTVNS was divided, as has been mentioned, into three BOALs (Basic Organizations of Associated Labour) TV, Radio and Art Production which shared numerous common services (i.e. administration). The Radio itself was divided into UALs (Units of Associated Labour), one of which was the Music Programming Department. The idea that workers themselves, in this case producers of radio programming, directly create the product of their work through continuous cooperation and coordination is not a bad one. What was bad in that situation was that recognition of levels of competence was eliminated, and the system of subordination was destroyed while responsibility for failure to carry out duties dissolved in the rulebooks created by the Associated Labour Act. Those who viewed the radio as a box that speaks saw those of us who viewed radio as a box that plays as people of lesser importance at the radio station. My predecessors in the position of editor-in-chief of the music department and I fought persistently over the years to make our status equal to that of the people employed in the information sector and to receive the same salary. We finally succeeded in this when Oskar Pandi became the Radios director, but by that time the destruction of the entire system had already begun, so our pockets remained forever emptier than those of the radio journalists. In spite of our attempts and successes at making the music sector of the radio programme as good as possible, journalists usually paid attention to us only if something bothered them. There were no official bans on specific compositions, that is to say, the bans were never written nor would anyone dare request them in writing. As I was reminded in a letter from the popular music editor Bogomir Mijatovi during the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbours, broadcasting the song Hava nagila the only Jewish song assimilated into the folk music heritage of our area had been forbidden for a long time. At that time Handels oratorio Israel in Egypt was not looked upon favourably either (as the editor of Radio Sarajevo found when he broadcast that composition precisely on the day when the Israeli army marched right up to Cairo). An excerpt from a text written by my predecessor and father, Ivan Mihalek, editor-in-

chief of the Music Programming Department of RNS from 1980 to 1984, sheds some light on those times: In January 1980, after I had been appointed acting editor-in-chief, the public was informed that the President of SFRY had been taken seriously ill. This confronted the Music Programme with a problem that hadnt come up in radio practice up to that time. No period of mourning had been officially proclaimed. The general social climate demanded that the programme should, in some way, follow the course of the Presidents illness. We looked for a solution somewhere between the extremes of ordinary, regular programming and official national mourning. We continued to play all music genres, carefully selecting contents, tempos, and vocals. Depending on the reports of the medical commission on the state of the Presidents health, the programme was either lowered or raised. This programming required temendous efforts and the ability to change the character of the programme at any moment. In addition, the Production engineers took the tiger by the tail by recording substantial quantities of music only in instrumental versions. Those months the Music Programme was particularly closely monitored. The telephones rang all the time with authorized and unauthorized experts and laymen calling in to object that the programme was either too up-beat (with quick tempi and cheerful music) or too muffled (with slow tempi and melancholy contents). We didnt pay much attention to the objections. We did things the way we thought was best. The following example serves to illustrate the importance that was attached to music. tafeta mladosti (The Relay Run of Youth, an annual event celebrating Comrade Titos birthday) took place that year(1980) in Novi Sad The beginning of the Relay Run was broadcast live by the Radio. We made special preparations for the broadcast and anticipated all the possibilities (and impossibilities). The broadcast went according to plan. The only surprise was that the ceremony sending off the relay runner was a minute short. Naturally, that minute was covered by reserve music. We were relieved, believing that everything had gone alright. But, as ill-luck would have it, in an analysis of the broadcast somebody noticed that the end was accompanied by inappropriate overly dismal music. A storm blew up. Who was the editor on duty, who was the technician, who prepared the music? What was the music broadcast at the end of the transmission? A recording of the transmission by a spy was played. They called me in to identify the incriminated music. I identified it. It was an instrumental version of the Macedonian revolutionary song Bolen mi lei (He Lies Ill) To emphasize once again it was an instrumental version. Some unpleasant discussions ensued. I defended the music. The majority felt that I was wrong and that it had not been a mistake, for, as I was told in these times there are no mistakes, only sabotage!2 XXX The biggest problem facing the music programmers at Radio Novi Sad was that RNS broadcast six programmes, all with the same format, differing only in the language in which they were broadcast. At that time Radio Belgrade had a First Programme (with official informative-political content), a Second Programme (with lighter and local topics), a Third Programme (with contents from science, culture and classical music) and a Stereorama (which broadcast classical music). Each of the six Radio Novi Sad
2

Ibid., p. 102. This text shows, in a very interesting and funny way, all the difficulties in the struggle for the improvement of the music programme in the initial years of the self-management socialist system (1980-1984).

programmes included a mixture of a little of each of these types of content. In the days when RNSs programmes were expanding and the journalism staff was small, RNS programmes mostly resembled islands of informative-political content in a sea of music. In the programmes of the national minorities, this music was chiefly folk music. During the severe politicization of Yugoslav society in the mid-1980s, the proportion of speech to music changed drastically. Someone in this undemocratic society had realized that the people controlling the media could manipulate public opinion. Never in the history of Radio Novi Sad was its music programming edited in a democratic middle-class society. And yet, thanks to its music programming, RNS had gained an international reputation as a bridge between the East and the West and as a builder of international tolerance. In the late 1980s, however, all this went up in smoke. I read from my diary: Nov 21, 1985 Slobodan Turlakov proclaims at the symposium on Stevan Hristi, at the Belgrade Faculty of Music: -danov saved the music of the 20th century! Mar 22, 1986 at a recording in the village of Radua, in Brankovina, the villagers say with resignation: -We Serbs have played our historical part. We are waiting for the Albanians to come. Jan 19, 1987 Nikola Hercigonja, composer, with a sigh: -It has begun! June 17, 1987 EBU Public Jazz Concert. Pivek conducts, compositions and arrangements by Gut, Prohaska, Gregorc, Skerl, Kostov. Feb 5, 1987 Croatia refuses to finance the Yugoslav Tamburitza Festival in Osijek, because it finances only its own republic festivals. Croatia finances only 5% of the Osijek festival. (On Feb 12 of the following year only 4%.) Feb 19, 1987 the editor-in-chief of the Serbo-Croatian Programme accuses me of obstruction: the song Igrale se delije nasred zemlje Srbije (Brave Boys Were Dancing in the Middle of the Land of Serbia) was broadcast two days in a row! July 9, 1988 rally of Serbs from Kosovo in Novi Sad. Director Oskar Pandi on holiday. Oct 6, 1988 Yogurt Revolution (the overthrow of the government of the autonomous Vojvodina) Oct 12, 1988 a graffito in Novi Sad: Bolje grob, nego Slob (We choose the grave rather than Slobodan Miloevi)! Dec 15, 1988 the above-cited editor-in-chief of the Serbo-Croatian Programme is dismissed. May 31, 1989 Oskar Pandi dismissed (for being on holiday on July 9) along with his assistant Dragan Bunovi. Sept 14-16, 1989 EBU Rock Festival. April 1990 Festival of Folk Music of the Danube Countries, a symposium on the folk music of the Danube basin and the EBU Folk Festival. Sept 20, 1990 editors of the Slovakian and Ruthenian programmes dismissed Dec 16, 1990 The song Probudi se, Vojvodino! (Awaken, Vojvodina!) by Vladislav Haidvogel (editor at Radio Novi Sad) wins at the Zlatna tamburica (Gold Tamburitza) festival at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. Feb 13, 1991 live broadcasts of the EBU concerts on Radio Novi Sad are cancelled. Mar 1, 1991 the medium wavelength is taken away from the Hungarian programme and assigned to the Serbo-Croatian programme

Mar 13, 1991 all the newly appointed directors and editors-in-chief hand in their resignations after the assault of the opposition on the Bastille. These resignations mysteriously disappear. June 26-27, 1991 the new editor of the Serbo-Croatian Programme wants to transfer me. Sept 20, 1991 I come back urgently from Negotin, where I was attending Mokranjac Days, summoned by the director of the radio, who forbids me to broadcast Croatian music, songs, composers, singers Sept 23, 1991 I hand in my resignation. Oct 2, 1991 with my half-blind 18-year-old son I flee to Hungary, so that he wont be sent to the front in Bosnia. Two weeks later I begin a new life in Israel with my wife and four children. XXX As has been mentioned, in the second half of the 1980s the Music Programming Department of Radio Novi Sad achieved its greatest international success. However, the music programmers had a difficult time getting their shows aired on their home station, Radio Novi Sad. The shows were, one after the other, taken off the air and replaced by highly politicized informative-political programming. This was a period of conflict between the interests of the political structures of the autonomous Vojvodina and, as it was called in those days, Serbia proper. RNS programming increasingly became a sea of speech and political-propaganda shows in which music served only as small islands of rest. Music editors were requested to make sure that even these little islands served current political propaganda. Music editors masters of broadcasting expression, winners of international awards (for example, Vitomir Simurdi who, in competion with the great names of all European radio stations, was elected president of the committee for light music of the EBU) were reduced to the level of errand boys obliged at any moment, at the request of every servile little journalist, to play a particular musical number, often directly imposed by that same little journalist. The most popular music shows(such as Rock Express), which also had the highest ratings on RNS, completely lost their format because at any given moment current political information could be inserted at the request of the journalist-editor on duty. Under such circumstances it was impossible to think about the composition of the show, its dynamics, tempo, form, contents The case of the folk song Igrale se delije nasred zemlje Srbije is characteristic. This song, part of a popular suite taken from the choreography of the folklore ensemble Kolo, became the anthem of fans of the Crvena zvezda (Red Star) football club. However those fans from the south stands, manipulated by the ideas of national chauvinism, were a precursor of the rallies in the struggle to make tripartite Serbia whole again. In the autonomist period we were reproached for broadcasting that song two days in a row and after the Yogurt Revolution we were reproached for not having broadcast that song for two whole days On March 29, 1989 we were given the order that programming should be festive on that day of joy in honor of the new Serbian Constitution, even though the day before there had been twenty or so casualties of the armed conflict in Kosovo (it was not until page 15 that the newspaper Politika reported this news) The struggle to preserve classical music programming was particularly difficult. The programming on RNS was, as I have stated, mixed, and consequently so also was the music with which we worked to please, at least to some extent, all the tastes of the

audience. In the first period of RNS, classical music made up about one third of the music programme. This decreased to one quarter, and in the years in question was reduced to just ten percent. Even these remaining shows were transferred to the most inconvenient time, usually late at night and during prime-time TV shows. As the director of the Serbo-Croatian Department said on June 18, 1987 nowhere does it say there has to be classical music. Oskar Pandi wisely noted at that time: 90% of the population doesnt listen to classical music and 90% of the journalists in radio hate that music! There were about seventy people working at the Music Department at that time (including typists, secretaries, language editors, and programme coordinators). During the era of the self-management socialist system we managed to become equal in status with the other departments (UALs) and to make Art Production (orchestras, producers, music library) an equal BOAL with the Radio and TV. However, the new organization of RTV in January 1991 completely marginalized the music sector. The editorial staff and the production staff were integrated and reduced to the level of one of the seven sectors of radio. The editorial staff and the production staff of the radio, about two hundred people total who produced forty hours of programming every day, were reduced to the level of, for example, the music department of a TV program involving six people who produced forty hours of programming a year. When on September 20, 1991 the new director of RNS told me: As of today I dont want to hear Croatian music on our programme (alas, once again I didnt ask for that in writing!), I convened the staff the classical, popular and folk music and illustration editors. We racked our brains about what to do. Seventy people with their families depended on us. Should we resign? Can one be too bold with ones biggers and betters? I telephoned the music director of Radio Zagreb: Im sorry, this is the way things are, unfortunately, we wont be broadcasting you anymore. I understand completely she said to me because weve been in the same situation ourselves recently. Were not broadcasting you anymore either. XXX When offered the opportunity to create radio programs in Israel in 1993, I told the director of The Voice of Music radio station in Jerusalem that the very thought of radio made me ill. He said: If you still feel that way when you enter the studio, it will mean they have won. But if you overcome this, you will have won! I went into the studio and I felt at home, programming a show in Hebrew. They did not win! 2004 by Dushan Mihalek