The Alien Diaries: June 2025

The power of radio is not that it speaks to millions, but that it speaks intimately and privately to each one of those millions. Hallie Flanagan

I have been a fan of radio since I was a child, and a music lover as well. During my teen years someone gave me a shortwave radio. Every night I would listen to broadcasts from different countries. Back then, the only way to listen to international radio stations was through shortwave. Despite the static, it was fascinating to listen to broadcasts in different languages and hear foreign views of the news (in English). Many stations aimed their broadcasts to the United States during the night hours when there is less interference in the atmosphere.

Radio Bulgaria has been broadcasting since the 1935 over shortwave. It was originally known as Radio Sofia. Radio Bulgaria, also known as Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) celebrated its 90th anniversary on January 25th of this year. I used to get their signal on the shortwave radio and didn't recognize it until I saw this YouTube video. The shortwave transmissions ended in 2012 due to financial reasons. The final broadcast on shortwave is in the video below:

I have been listening to the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on the Internet since 2007. They broadcast in 11 languages (including English) and have two main channels and 9 affiliates that broadcast in Bulgarian. Sometimes I would tune in to the Bulgarian channels/affiliates to search for folk music. This is the "seek and you shall find" method. While doing this I taught myself to read some Bulgarian as well. This was very helpful in my travels, both on the radio and in Bulgaria.

One announcer on BNR Plovdiv had my attention: Nikolay Chapanski. His program is on six days a week: Monday through Friday at 1900 (noon in my time zone; 0400 on Wednesday mornings (10 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday) and a two hour show on Saturday from 20:00 to 2200 (1300-1500).

The voice and the enthusiasm for folk music were obvious even with my limited Bulgarian. If I ever went to Bulgaria I had to meet Nikolay Chapanski in person. I didn't know if he spoke English so I got in touch with one of the staff at the English service in Sofia via e-mail (I would have liked to have visited one of the English announcers in Sofia but we were very busy in Sofia and the radio building wasn't close to the hotel.) She contacted the Plovdiv affiliate and explained the situation. They even arranged for a translator. In Bulgaria most young people speak English as a second language.

One of the stops on our trip was Plovdiv. Plovdiv is a beautiful, ancient and modern city in central southern Bulgaria. It was the second Monday of September and I had arranged (with help from one of the English speaking BNR staff) to meet Nikolay at the radio station in Plovdiv at 18:45. One problem, we couldn't find the radio station because we thought it was that big tower with the satellite dishes (see below) on the hill.

The studio of BNR Plovdiv with satellite dishes on the hill.

I approached a young woman walking a large dog to ask for directions. Not only was her English excellent but she was the girlfriend of the translator who was to be at work that evening. She walked with us to the building.

There were four people at the radio station at that hour: the guard at the door who let us in, the translator, who met us at the elevator, Nikolay Chapanski and the engineer who worked the controls. Radio Plovdiv became an affiliate in 1955. The studio is on the top floor of the building (where the air conditioning unit is. It was in use during our visit, the weather was hot that day. Nikolay had a big bottle of orange juice. I asked him for some water and he poured me a cup of orange juice. Good for potassium levels :)

Rad, the translator introduced us. We had a very warm welcome. Nikolay presented us a gift bag with a BNR Calendar, a notebook, a bottle of wine, and two of his publications: The Folklore Encyclopedia and the monthly newspaper Horizont (features folklore events in Bulgaria), and a CD with songs by Valya Balkanska. Nikolay is a big fan of Valya Balkanska and has a picture of her on his Facebook page; he celebrated her 83rd birthday in January on one of his Saturday programs earlier this year.

See picture below. I can read a little Bulgarian but not fancy fonts. This book has short bios of luminaries of Bulgarian folklore, both living and deceased, organized by the month of birth.

The interview went well. I was asked a bunch of questions:

1. Where was I from? New York

2. What was my ethnic background (not Bulgarian)

3. How did I get interested in Bulgarian folk music (folk dancing)

4. Who were my favorite folk musicians (Valya Balkanska, Boris Karlov)

5. How long have I listened to the folk music program on Radio Plovdiv? (approximately 12 years)

The engineer spoke some English and we were able to chat with him as well.

Nikolay gave us a tour of the studios in the building. My husband asked if Nikolay spoke German since he doesn't speak Bulgarian; the translator had left after the interview. We were able to communicate in German. What was really impressive was the studio where the concerts were held.

Here is a photo taken at the radio station. The Plovdiv affiliate celebrated its 70th anniversary on 6 June of 2025. Here is wishing them many more years of broadcasts! And a big thank you to the staff of BNR!