There are over 3,000 radio stations in China. China National Radio, the nation's official radio station, has eight channels, and broadcasts for a total of over 200 hours per day via satellite. Every province, autonomous region and municipality has local broadcasting stations. China Radio International (CRI), the only national overseas broadcasting station, is beamed to all parts of the world in multiple languages.
In 1950, approximately 1 million radio sets existed in China, mostly in bourgeois urban households.[1] The People's Republic of China began establishing a radio reception network assigning "radio receptionists" in schools, army units, and factories. These receptionists organized group listening sessions and also transcribed and distributed written content of radio broadcasts. Through the practice of rooftop broadcasting, village criers using homemade megaphones would also relay the content of radio broadcasts. Radio receptionists and rooftop broadcasting remained a significant component of broadcasting practices until wireless broadcasting became widespread in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1978, China stopped jamming broadcasts from Voice of America (VOA).[2] VOA opened a bureau in Beijing in 1981.[3] In 1982, Radio Peking and VOA began regular exchanges.
In 1998, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) began the Connecting Every Village with Radio and TV Project, which extended radio and television broadcasting to every village in China.[4]
Radio manufacturing expanded significantly during China's Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's rugged interior in case of invasion by the Soviet Union or the United States.[5] In the Third Front regions, radio manufacturing increased by 11,668% percent as a result of the campaign.