Under its then name Radiojournal, Czechoslovak Radio (Československý rozhlas) began regular broadcasting on 18 May 1923, doing so as a private company. A turning point in the history of radio in Slovakia came on 3 August 1926, when Radiojournal launched regular broadcasting from Bratislava. The next year it opened a station in Košice, and in 1936 another one in Banská Bystrica. The creation of the wartime Slovak State in March 1939 resulted in the establishment of state-controlled radio broadcaster Slovak Radio (Slovenský rozhlas). During the Slovak National Uprising in August–October 1944, the Free Slovak Broadcasting Company (Slobodný slovenský vysielač) was operating out of Banská Bystrica. Following the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948, Československý rozhlas was established as a single state organisation by a law of 28 April 1948, with centralisation and censorship to the fore. The 1989 Velvet Revolution brought a restoration of freedom of speech in radio. Slovak Radio (Slovenský rozhlas) was established as a public broadcaster, and on 1 January 2011 it merged with Slovak Television (Slovenská televízia) to form Radio and Television of Slovakia (Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska).
Obverse:
The obverse features a trio of loudspeakers atop an old-style condenser microphone. In the background, pulsating radio waves appear above a depiction of audio signal frequency. At the right edge is the Slovak coat of arms, and at the left edge is the coin’s denomination ‘10’ and currency ‘EURO’, one above the other. The name of the issuing country ‘SLOVENSKO’ is inscribed along the bottom edge, with the year of issuance ‘2023’ positioned above it.
Reverse:
The lower part of the reverse shows the Slovak Radio Building. Above and behind it is a transmitter emitting radio waves that overlie an outline map of Czechoslovakia. To the left of the building is the mint mark of the Kremnica Mint (Mincovňa Kremnica), consisting of the letters ‘MK’ placed between two dies; to the right is the mark of the coin’s designer, Miroslav Schovanec. The inscription ‘ČESKOSLOVENSKÝ ROZHLAS’ (Czechoslovak radio) appears along the bottom edge, below the year ‘1923’.
Designer: | Miroslav Schovanec |
Composition: | .900 silver, .100 copper |
Weight: | 18 g |
Diameter: | 34 mm |
Edge: | • 100 ROKOV ROZHLASOVÉHO VYSIELANIA (100 years of radio broadcasting) |
Producer: | Kremnica Mint |
Engraver: | Dalibor Schmidt |
Issuing volume: | 3,100 coins in brilliant uncirculated quality 7,200 coins in proof quality |
Issuing date: | 17 May 2023 |