; on the
international level it functions in a purely ideological capacity.

There are twelve mediumwave radio transmitters: two are located in
Pleven; two in Kurdzhali; two in Sofia; and one each in Plovdiv,
Blagoevgrad, Varna, Shumen, Stara Zagora, and Stolnik. There are eleven
ultra-shortwave stations: three are located in Sofia, two in Botev, two
in Slunchev Bryag, two in Kyustendil, one in Snezhinka, and one in
Plovdiv. There are four shortwave radio stations in Bulgaria. Of the
total number of twenty-seven radio stations in the country, six
broadcast in both amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation
(FM); twenty broadcast in AM only; and one located at Botev Peak
broadcasts only in FM.

Bulgarian radio stations are on the air approximately 500 hours per
week. Foreign broadcasts are transmitted approximately twenty-six hours
a day Monday through Saturday and twenty-nine hours on Sunday. These
programs are broadcast in Bulgarian, Turkish, Greek, Serbo-Croat,
French, Italian, German, English, Spanish, and Arabic and are
transmitted to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, and South
America. The number of domestic listeners has approximately doubled over
the 1960-71 period. In mid-1973 over a quarter of the population owned
radio sets.

The leading radio programs are transmitted by Radio Sofia. Radio
Plovdiv, Radio Varna, and Radio Stara Zagora also transmit popular
programs. Radio Rodina is the main station transmitting to Bulgarians
residing abroad. Generally, radio programs consist of news bulletins
dealing with both local and international events; programs for rural
listeners and industrial workers, which deal with industrial,
agricultural, and cultural matters; programs for children, which
complement the formal educational curriculum; literary and cultural
programs; and scientific programs.

In January 1971 Radio Sofia took steps to refurbish its old programming.
Some critics felt that the old programming was lacking in variety,
causing listeners to turn to foreign broadcasts for more enjoyable
entertainment. Others within the medium wanted to have more freedom and
creativity in programming. As a result, in mid-1973 the three main
programs of Radio Sofia had a singular and distinctive character.
"Horizont" provided both general information and popular music. "Christo
Botev" had a more cultural and propagandistic nature, presenting
ideological, literary, and educational programs. "Orfei" wa