Music Broadcasts in the First Period of Radio Istanbul (1927)

Turkey's first radio station was Radio Istanbul, which started scheduled and regular broadcasts on May 6, 1927. The radio, which was established as a private enterprise by Telsiz Telefon Türk Anonim ？irketi (Turkish Wireless Telephone Company) (TTTA？), mainly broadcasted music programs in the first period after its establishment (1927). Music broadcasts on the radio were prepared for listeners both in Turkey and in Europe. With its broadcasts, Radio Istanbul, aimed at both helping its listeners have a good time, and refining their taste in music. This research focuses on the range of music broadcasts according to their content and music genres in the first period (1927) of Radio Istanbul, which was established in 1927. Within the scope of this research, the broadcast programs of the first period of Radio Istanbul (1927) were identified, analyzed and described through the documents such as books, magazines, newspapers, photographs and comics obtained by archive research. In this respect, our research has a descriptive feature, as well. In addition, some texts written in Ottoman Turkish were transcribed into Latin alphabet, which is a contribution to the literature on history of Turkish music. As a result of the research, it has been concluded that the broadcasts of the first period of Radio Istanbul, in line with the music policies of the Republican era, played an important role in familiarizing the public with Western music as they included folk music, Western music, jazz, tango, canto, dance music, Russian folk songs and even Hawaiian music in addition to predominant Turkish music. It is also worth noting that the distinction between hosting guest artists and staff artists was first introduced through Radio Istanbul in 1927