Timeline of the introduction of radio in countries

This is a list of when the first radio broadcasts to the public occurred in the mentioned countries and territories. Non-public field tests and closed circuit demonstrations are not referred to; neither are license dates or dates of the official opening.

Year	Countries and territories
1916	United States (2XG New York City; 8MK Detroit > WWJ & 8XK Pittsburgh > KDKA 1920)
1919	Netherlands (PCGG The Hague; HDO Hilversum 1923)
1920	Argentina (LOR Buenos Aires), Canada (XWA Montreal > 9AM > CFCF)
1921	Australia (2CM Sydney), France (R. Tour Eiffel, Paris), Mexico (TND Monterrey)
1922	Brazil (SPE Rio de Janeiro),[1] Cuba (2LC Havana, followed by PWX), Hawaii (KGU Honolulu), New Zealand (R. Dunedin > 4AB), Paraguay (CXZ-27 Asunción; ZP1 1926), Philippines (KZKZ Manila), Puerto Rico (WKAQ San Juan), United Kingdom (2MT Writtle;[2] 2LO London), Uruguay (CW90A R. Paradizábal, Montevideo;[3] CWOA 1927)
1923	Belgium (R. Bruxelles), Chile (CBC R. Chilena Santiago), Czechoslovakia (Radiojournal, Prague), Germany (Funk-Stunde, Berlin), India (2FV R. Club Bombay > IBC 1927), Shanghai (XRO Shanghai), South Africa (JB Johannesburg), Switzerland (2HB Lausanne)[4]
1924	Alaska (KFQD Anchorage), Austria (RAVAG, Vienna), Dominican Republic (HIH Santo Domingo; HIX 1928),[5] Italy (IRO Rome URI), Luxemburg (R. Luxembourg), Newfoundland (8WMC St. John's > VOWR), Singapore (1SE AWSM > ZHI 1933),[6] Soviet Union (Moscow: RA1 Komintern, RA2 MGSPS), Spain (EAJ2 Madrid, EAJ1 Barcelona)
1925	Afghanistan (R. Kabul), Algeria (8DB Algiers), Byelorussian SSR (RA18 Minsk), Ceylon (Colombo R.), Denmark (Statsradiofonien, Copenhagen), Dutch East Indies (BRX, Batavia > NIROM),[7] Hungary (Magyarországi Rádióhírmondó, Budapest; wired Hírmondó 1893), Japan (JOAK Tokyo), Kwantung (JQAK Dairen), Latvia (Radiofon Riga), Norway (Kringkastingsselskapet, Oslo), Peru (OAX Lima), Portugal (P1AA Lisbon), Sweden (Radiotjänst, Stockholm), Ukrainian SSR (RA21 Kharkiv)
1926	Armenian SSR (RA49 Yerevan), Azerbaijan SSR (RA45 Baku), Burma (2HZ R. Club Rangoon), China (XOH Harbin; XKM Nanjing 1928; XNCR Yan'an 1940); CZ: Slovakia (Radiojournal, Bratislava), Danzig (Landessender Danzig), Egypt (R. Farouk et al., Cairo),[8] El Salvador (AQM San Salvador), Estonia (R. Ringhääling, Tallinn), Finland (Yle, Helsinki; 3NB Tampere 1924), Georgian SSR (RA27 Tbilisi), Iceland (H.f. Útvarp, Reykjavík), Ireland (2RN Dublin), Lithuania (Lietuvos radijas, Kaunas), Poland (Polskie R., Warsaw), Venezuela (AYRE Caracas), Yugoslavia: Croatia (R. Zagreb)
1927	Bolivia (CPX La Paz; CP1AA 1922), Costa Rica (TI4NRH Heredia), Kenya (VQ7LO Nairobi), Korea, South (JODK Keijo), Turkey (İstanbul Radyosu), Turkmen SSR (RA6 Ashgabat), Uzbek SSR (RA27 Tashkent)
1928	Greece (Thessaloniki; YRE 1938), Honduras (HRB La Voz del Trópico, Tegucigalpa), Hong Kong (GOW), Morocco (R. Maroc), Pakistan (YMCA, Lahore; Karachi 1926?),[9] Romania (R. Bukarest), Taiwan (JFAK Taihoku), Thailand (4PJ Bangkok), Vietnam: Tonkin (R. Sindex, Haiphong), YU: Slovenia (R. Ljubljana)
1929	Colombia (HJN Bogotá), Ecuador (El Prado, Riobamba), Réunion (R. Saint-Denis), YU: Serbia (R. Belgrade; Rakovica 1924)
1930	Bermuda (TJW Hamilton),[10] Bulgaria (Rodno R., Sofia), Guatemala (TGW La Voz de Guatemala, Guatemala City), Malaysia (KLAWS, Kuala Lumpur), Saint Pierre and Miquelon (R. Club), Tunisia (Tunis Kasbah), VN: Cochinchina (FZS Saigon)
1931	Kazakh SSR (RV60 Alma-Ata), Madagascar (R. Tananarive), Samoa (5ZA Apia), Tajik SSR (RV47 Stalinabad), Vatican City (Vatican R.)
1932	Southern Rhodesia (ZEA Salisbury)
1933	Curaçao (CUROM Willemstad), Macau (CQN/CRY-9), Mozambique (LM Radio, Lourenço Marques), Panama (HPJ5 R. Tembleque, Panama City), Spanish Morocco (EAJ-21 Melilla)
1934	French Polynesia (FO8AA R. Club Oceanien, Papeete), Mongolia (R. Ulaanbaatar), Nicaragua (YNLF Managua), Tenerife (EAJ-43 R. Club Tenerife, Santa Cruz)
1935	British Guiana (VP3BG Georgetown > ZFY), Dutch Guiana (AVROS, Paramaribo), Ethiopia (R. Addis Ababa), Fiji (ZJV Suva), French Equatorial Africa [AEF]/Congo (R. Club Brazzaville), Haiti (HHK Port-au-Prince), Hyderabad (VUV Deccan R.), Leeward Islands (VP2LO Caribbean Broadcasting Service, Basseterre > ZIZ), Mysore (VU7MC Ākāśavāṇī), Papua (4PM Port Moresby)[11]
1936	Bahamas (ZNS Nassau), Botswana (ZNB Mafeking), Iraq (R. Baghdad), Korea, North (JBBK Heijō), Las Palmas (EAJ-50 R. Las Palmas), Palestine (PBS, Jerusalem/Ramallah), Tyva (R. Kyzyl)[12]
1937	Angola (CR6AA Lobito),[13] Belgian Congo (OQ2AA R. Léo, Léopoldville), British Honduras (ZIK-2 Belize), Guadeloupe (R. Guadeloupe), Martinique (R. Martinique), New Caledonia (FK8AA Nouméa)
1938	Albania (R. Tirana), Kirghiz SSR (RV6 Frunze; wired earlier), Lebanon (R. Levant), Libya (ITR Tripoli), Liechtenstein (R. Liechtenstein), Italian Somaliland (R. Mogadiscio)
1939	Andorra (R. Andorra), Bangladesh (All India Radio, Dhaka), Baroda (Baroda), French West Africa [AOF]/Senegal (R. AOF, Dakar), Jamaica (VP5PZ Kingston)[14]
1940	Bahrain (R. Bahrain > Arabic 1955), Gold Coast (ZOY Accra; wired 1935), Iran (R. Tehran), South Yemen (ZNR Aden R. > 1954), Sudan (R. Omdurman)
1941	AEF: French Cameroons (R. Douala), Northern Rhodesia (R. Lusaka), Palau (JRAK Koror), Xinjiang (R. Dihua; wired 1935),[15] YU: Macedonia (R. Skoplje)
1942	American Samoa (WVUV Leone), Falkland Islands (Falklands R.), Greenland (Grønlands R., Godthåb), Syria (R. Damas)
1943	British Somaliland (R. Hargeisa), French Somaliland (R. Djibouti), Monaco (R. Monte Carlo), Travancore (Thiruvananthapuram)
1944	Gilbert and Ellice Islands (WXLF Tarawa), Guam (WXLI Agana), New Hebrides (WVUR Espiritu Santo), Solomon Islands (WVUQ Guadalcanal), Northern Mariana Islands (WXLD Saipan), YU: Montenegro (R. Cetinje)
1945	YU: Bosnia and Herzegovina (R. Sarajevo)
1946	Cambodia (R. Cambodge), Spanish Guinea (R. Atlántica, Fernando Póo), Yemen (Sana’a R. > 1955)
1947	Portuguese Guinea (CMQ Bissau), Trinidad and Tobago (R. Trinidad, Port of Spain)
1948	Portuguese India (R. Goa), Nigeria (R. Nigeria; wired 1935)[16]
1949	AOF: Ivory Coast (R. Abidjan), South-West Africa (SABC via sw), Saudi Arabia (R. Mecca, Jeddah)
1950	Liberia (ELBC Monrovia), Tibet (R. Lhasa),[17] U.S. Virgin Islands (WSTA Charlotte Amalie)
1951	French Guiana (R. Cayenne), Kuwait (R. Kuwait), Laos (RNL, Vientiane), Nepal (R. Nepal, Kathmandu), Tanganyika (Sauti ya Dar es Salaam), Zanzibar (Sauti ya Unguja)[18]
1953	Cyprus (CyBS, Nicosia; BBC 1948), AOF: Dahomey (R. Cotonou), AOF: French Guinea (R. Conakry), AOF: French Togoland (R. Lomé)
1954	Sarawak (R. Sarawak, Kuching), Windward Islands (WIBS, St. George's, Grenada)[19]
1955	AEF [SORAFOM]: Chad (R. Tchad, Fort Lamy), North Borneo (R. Sabah, Jesselton), Sierra Leone (SLBS, Freetown; wired 1934)
1957	Brunei (RTB), AOF: French Sudan (R. Soudan, Bamako), AOF: Mauritania (R. Mauritanie, Saint-Louis, Senegal)
1958	AEF: Ubangi-Shari (R. Bangui), Gibraltar (R. Gibraltar), AOF: Niger (R. Niger, Niamey), Uganda (UBS, Kampala)
1959	AOF: Upper Volta (R. Haute Volta, Ouagadougou), AEF: Gabon (R. Gabon, Libreville)
1960	New Guinea (VL9BR Rabaul), Ruanda-Urundi (R. Usumbura)
1961	Comoros (R. Comores, Moroni), Spanish Sahara (EAJ-202/203 R. Sahara, El Aaiún),[20] Tonga (ZCO Nukuʻalofa)
1962	Gambia (R. Gambia, Bakau), Maldives (Malé R.)
1963	Barbados (R. Barbados; wired 1935)
1964	Lesotho (R. Lesotho, Maseru), Malawi (MBC, Blantyre)
1965	Swaziland (SBS, Mbabane), United Arab Emirates (Voice of the Coast, Sharjah)
1968	Nauru (NBS)
1969	Anguilla (R. Anguilla, The Valley)
1970	Oman (R. Sultanate of Oman, Muscat)
1973	Bhutan (NYAB, Thimphu)
1993	San Marino (R. San Marino)

A map showing when radio broadcasting was introduced in each country.

  1920s, 1ˢᵗ half, or earlier (33)

  1920s, 2ⁿᵈ half (53)

  1930s (56)

  1940s (35)

  1950s (27)

  1960s or later (17)

  No data

Sources:

• Blin, Bernard. Milestones in radio: the first half century (1895–1945). The UNESCO courier (February 1997), p. 16–21
• Radio Review/Radio Listeners Guide (1925–1929), Broadcasting Yearbook (1935–2010), World Radio TV Handbook (1947–)
• Berg, Jerome S. The early shortwave stations: a broadcasting history through 1945 (2013)
• radioheritage.net
• worldradiomap.com (Europe, Americas, Asia, Oceania)
• Europe: Broadcasting abroad (1934); The media in Europe at Google Books (2004)
• Africa: Head, Sydney W. Broadcasting in Africa: a continental survey of radio and television at Google Books (1974); Ziegler, Dhyana. Thunder and silence: the mass media in Africa, p. 160–182, at Google Books (1992)
• Arab world: Boyd, Douglas A. Broadcasting in the Arab world: a survey of radio and television in the Middle East at Google Books (1982)
• Asia: Sterling, Christopher H. Encyclopedia of radio. Asia (2004); Luthra, H. R. Indian broadcasting at Google Books (1986); McDaniel, Drew O. Broadcasting in the Malay world: radio, television, and video in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore at Google Books (1994)

Notes:

Basis for each entry is the time of introduction.

Listed are

• independent countries
• dependent territories away from the ruling country
• territories within a country only
  • if they became independent later
  • if it is a large country and there is a vast time difference with the introduction in different parts.

Each entry comprises

• the flag linked to the country or territory
• the name of the country or territory

and in brackets

• the designation of the radio station, either by call sign or by name, linked to a main article
• its place
• sometimes additional information.

See also:

• List of oldest radio stations
• Timeline of the introduction of television in countries