First Commercial Private Radio Stations in Ukraine: From Experiments to Business

Profit was not always among primary goals of the first commercial radio stations in Ukraine. No broadcasting market and no competition of formats are among the main reasons for that. In order to have profit from a commercial radio company in Ukraine at the beginning of the 90s, an owner or a founder had to solve several problems and, primarily, to define the purpose of the company (Sergiy Komarov [1, p.83-84]):

• To fight for the country's independence and for changes in society, to engage in propaganda of some ideology, to try to influence the public opinion, to be involved in an educational process.

• To engage in political games, to use the audience as a tool to access power.

• To satisfy private or corporate ambitions, to promote the interests of media holdings or financial and industrial groups.

• To try to profit from advertising on the radio, which actually is the basis of commercial a c- tivity on the radio.

The first three positions relating to politics, ideology and ambition are not connected with profitable activities, and are financed from the outside by founders or investors. The completion of such tasks is connected with the use of funds received outside the radio station as a business enterprise - radio broadcast was sold, but only according to the political or private interests of the owners. It was happening in Ukraine at the time when the first commercial radio organizations began to emerge. Some of the radio stations were considered by their founders as experimental and temporary, others were an attempt to "play a radio game", but many stations grew into solid business projects, which existed for twenty years or more.

In the early 90s not only private (individual or collective) enterprises, but al so state media organizations started commercial activities on the radio. Although the regional broadcasting companies were financed by the state treasury, the possibility to contribute to their own budget with the help of entrepreneurship opened new perspectives for creativity and business. Moreover, it was also the formation of an independent state and independent mass media. That is why, on January 31, 1991, by the decision of the Lviv Regional Council Radio-Independence was created. According to I. G. Mashchenko, "it was the first private commercial radio company in Ukraine. The radio station was actively defending the principles of democratisation of the country's life, its sovereignty" [2, p.311]. But is it really possible to consider Radio-Independence to be the first commercial radio station?

The decision of the Lviv Regional Council was about the creation of the radio information center "Independence" (Center "N") "under the auspices of democratic councils and the Lviv Regional Council of the National Rukh of Ukraine", not about a commercial radio station. Center "N" was provided with the premises on Mitskevycha str., 28, as well as with "the financial aid in the amount of 50 thousand rubles for the purchase of technical means and remuneration of labour of radio journalists". V. V. Lizanchuk also notes this when he writes about "Independence" as a radio program, not a radio station. The researcher, in particular, mentions, "I can't help mentio n- ing live radio program "Independence", which was a peculiar all-Ukrainian tribune of a wide circle of passionate fighters for independence of our country at that time, the main and genuine information provider of the events of tense social and political life" [3, p.39]. He also notes that "the first information and analytical program of the radio information center "Independence" was presented on the Lviv radio broadcasting network on September 27, 1991" [4, p.85 -86]. Thus, we have an example when the radio organization was created mainly with a political purpose: to fight for the independence of the country, democratic changes in society, propaganda and influence on public opinion. So, it has not been about profitability and entrepreneurship yet. It took time to understand the market, competition and possible profits. In the end, the radio information center "Independence" was reformatted into a commercial radio station on August 1, 1992 [5], which is the official date of it going live. This is also confirmed in the publication by Borys Skurativskiy "Ukrainian Radio:"From" and "To"", where it is mentioned that "the first radio broadcast [Radio-Independence] happened with the help of Lviv regional radio rented equipment, and the broadcast was in a range of short waves (25.36 metres) from the towers near St. George's Cathedral, which were originally used to jam "hostile voices". Such a technical decision was symbolic to some extent: the technical means used before to jam the free word were broadcasting it now (by the way, similar jammers installed in different parts of Ukraine were used in the same way, many of them began to be used as transponders of "Freedom", "Voice of America", "BBC", as well as for broadcasting in the range of VHF)" [6]. Thus, not having its own frequency the radio information center "Independence" broadcast radio programs on the airwaves of the regional state radio. With the acquisition of a new status of a commercial broadcasting station known as Radio-Independence it receives its own frequency and is first heard on the medium- frequency waves (1476 khz) in August 1992, and on the frequency of 106.7 FM from 1995. So, since August 1992 this radio station has begun to meet the necessary criteria of a radio business enterprise.

That is why the purpose of the article is the analysis of facts and documents (from the authors' personal archive), which certify the historical progress of Ukrainian commercial broadcas ting from the so-called "musical patchwork" to the powerful mass media and communication means. The objectives of the article include: the analysis of the first two years (1992-1993) of commercial broadcasting in Ukraine and of those factors that influenced the creation of the first commercial radio stations as business enterprises; the review of the importance and role of the first ten commercial radio companies (which are rated according to the documents from the authors' personal archives) for the formation of commercial private broadcasting in Ukraine; the publication of the documents on the creation of the first Association of Private Radio Stati ons and on the cycle of radio programs "Interview from Internews", which can be viewed as the first unifying broadcasting project for commercial radio stations, as well as the first student radio project in the private radio broadcast of Ukraine.

Research methods

The following scientific methods were used: systematic - to determine the place and role of commercial broadcasting and of the first commercial radio stations in the system of Ukrainian mass media communication in particular; descriptive-analytical - to reveal new facts and documents on the history of commercial radio of Ukraine, to include them into the annals of the Ukrainian radio and to present a new viewpoint on the chronology of the creation of the first commercial radio stations during the years 1992-1993; content analysis - to interpret and define the role of each of the ten first radio stations in the formation of commercial broadcasting in Ukraine as business enterprise and the creation of the Association of Commercial Radio Stations of Ukraine, to outline the future potential of Ukrainian commercial radio; comparative - to understand the urgency and necessity of clear formatting and promotion of Ukrainian radio stations on air and online and to inquire into the influence of social and market factors on the formation of modern commercial broadcasting in Ukraine.

Results and discussion

Commercial radio stations appeared in Ukraine at the time when they should have done it - the state independence was proclaimed, there were social and political changes in society, private form of ownership of mass media became a reality, foreign capital and international consulting entered the market. Moreover, there was an existing entrepreneurship spirit and creative energy, which had been accumulating for years and required its implementation in new radio-language forms and software content. However, to make a reality of entrepreneurial ideas each radio station had to carry out a strategic marketing analysis of the market, to choose a format as a profile, a specialization which is characterized by communication on the same topic during an hour, day or week and which satisfies the interests of the target audience and, consequently, allows to work with a specific kind of advertising, to plan, promote,etc. The Ukrainian radio stations had to make certain urgent steps in order to move from experimental to profitable broadcasting, from carrying out ideological, corporate, political orders to global market thinking, from "a game mode" to real radiobroadcasting enterprise. This was happening with a view to asserting influence over the target audience and to get some profit. For this purpose, Ukrainian radio broadcasting had to abandon chaos on the air, take advantage of experience of the world radio, in particular in the formatting of broadcasting, balance creative and business technologies and form the market of competitive radio formats.

It should be mentioned that not all the first commercial radio stations in Ukraine, which will be discussed further, met the necessary criteria that characterize a company as a business enterprise. These criteria are given briefly below:

• Founders and owners are private (individual or collective) enterprises;

• Own frequency/frequencies and state license for broadcasting ;

• Own office premises, hardware and studio facilities;

• Creative and technical workers;

• A salesroom and presence of production, own advertising agency may also be available;

• A concept of broadcasting and a format aimed at competition and profit;

• A business plan and strategic marketing (promotion technologies) for the next 3 -5 years.

Therefore, when talking about a commercial private radio station as a business enterprise, it is assumed that there is some organizational structure which seeks profit in the sphere of broadcasting, and its business is the sale of airtime for advertising. We have already mentioned [7] that commercial broadcasting is a form of business and a form of enterprise, while business entrepreneurship is the reason for existence of commercial radio. Thus, the combination of these components contributes to the fact that the radio market where commercial private radio stations are competing as business enterprises starts to work.

Radio-Radius from Mykolaiv should be considered the first commercial private radio station in Ukraine, which was close to the characteristic features of radio business enterprise. It went on air for the first time on May 1, 1992, at a frequency of 71 MHz and later got the name of RadioSET [8, p.40]. The station had its own transmitter, 12-hour daily broadcast, a soft rock music format (quite competitive at that time), 14 employees, its own studio and office. It also independently produced and placed advertising on air. The founders of the station were Leonid Lepler and Vadym Botnaryuk, who was also the director of the radio station for some time. Thus, taking into consideration the time of the first broadcasting, specified criteria correspondence and efforts to profit by means of commercial advertising Radio-SET may be considered the first commercial private radio station in Ukraine.

The list of the first ten commercial private radio stations in Ukraine, which are rated according to the first time on the air, is given below [9].

• June 23, 1992 - Trans-M-Radio (Simferopol) at a frequency of 102.3 FM targeted at Crimea (the founder is Volodymyr Medvedev);

• August 1, 1992 - Radio-Independence (Lviv) at a frequency of 1476 khz (later- 106.7 FM) targeted at Western Ukraine and Eastern Poland (Vasyl Chudik);

• August 11, 1992 - Radio-Lviv Wave (Lviv) at a frequency of 100.8 FM targeted at Lviv and the region (Yuriy Zelyk and Andriy Didun);

• December 28, 1992 - Radio-GLAS (Odessa) at a frequency of 106.6 FM (Stanislav Kiselyov);

• June 1, 1993 - Radio-Kyiv-Art (Kyiv) at a frequency of 69.68 MHz (Victor Kamensky);

• June 15, 1993 - Radio-Roks-Ukraine (Kyiv) at a frequency of 107 FM (Natalya Berezhna);

• June 8, 1993 - Radio-50 (Kharkiv) at a frequency of 105.7 FM (Ihor Piddubny);

• August 26, 1993 - Radio-Master (Kharkiv) at a frequency of 100.5 FM (Leonid Mochulin); *October 9, 1993 - Radio-MIX (Dnipropetrovsk) at a frequency of 107.3FM (Dmytro

Zapashchykov);

*October 20, 1993 - Radio-Premier (Dnipropetrovsk) at a frequency of 102 FM (Yuri Andrushko).

To illustrate the facts, some questionnaires of commercial radio stations filled in while creating the register of commercial radio stations of Ukraine are shown below.

The first Ukrainian commercial radio station Radio-SET from Mykolaiv functioned only till 1996. It was an experimental project on air, which tried to include stylistically different formats - rock music, art songs, underground music. Along with well-known American and European hits, songs by mainly Russian performers were broadcast. The first production projects were promoted, among which "Dialogue" should be mentioned. It was dedicated to the search and promotion of young singers who became real pop stars later. Known at that time musicians, performers and producers Kim Breitburg, Yevhen Fridlyand, Valeriy Meladze announced new hits on air, worked with musical airtime, studied the audience, tried to make the radio popular and profitable. In the absence of a competitive broadcasting market in Ukraine and in the presence of large -scale proposals from the Russian show business, the founders of Radio-SET decided to create new projects outside Ukraine. The frequency of 71.00 MHz was silent for a long time, then it moved from one station to another. It is probably symbolic that experiments at this "Mykolaiv" frequency still continue - since 2016 the winner of the competition for the right to use this frequency has been "College of Press and Television" LLC (Mykolaiv) with the expected 24-hour broadcasting of the radio station "Student News Radio".

Radio-Kyiv-ART at a frequency of 69.68 MHz existed even less - only till March 1994. The test broadcasting of this station started at this frequency on February 18, 1993 with the code name "7th Channel", which belonged to the TV and radio company "Ukrainian-American Broadcasting" with the TV channel under the same name in Kyiv. Again, Radio -Kyiv-ART did not have a certain format and a unique concept. Even taking into account the fact that two American presenters worked with the programs about rock-and-roll and country music on the air, the experiments on the creation of the first host radio programs were carried out. The radio station has managed to be remembered for the first radio records. All of them concerned the appearance of the first host programs on the commercial radio in Ukraine. For example, the first host radio program for motorists was Yuriy Zhuvelyk's program "Avto" in June 1993; the first specialized radio program about Ukrainian rock music was "Predslavynska, 6", which was broadcast by its author Mykola Dubinin on June 17, 1993; the first musical quiz was aired on September 4, 1993 and was named "Mark Your Score"; the first specialized jazz program was "Doctor Jazz" by Sergiy Ovsyannykov [10]. The radio station was a structural subdivision of TV and radio company "Gravis". That's why when the company ceased to exist Radio -Kyiv-ART also stopped broadcasting. This event proved once again that a strategic plan of profitable development for years is the basis of proper management and marketing. In January 1994, the radio station was rebranded and became Gala Radio at a frequency of 100 FM, but since then, it has already been a different story...

In fact, Kharkiv radio stations Radio-50 and Radio-Master have become legendary, even though they broadcast five and seven years respectively. Radio-50 worked exclusively in the format of national rock. Radio-Master, named after the character of the famous novel by Bulgakov, focused on international classic rock. The programs of the radio stations were so popular that listeners recorded them on the tapes and distributed with the help of street kiosks. You can listen to these programs online even now. They are posted in social media or in blogs by then- and contemporary fans of these radio stations. The names of the first Kharkiv DJs are considered the first successful DJs in Ukraine, among whom are Serhiy Korotkov, who organized discos in the 70s, created the courses of disc-jockeys in the 80s, and used all his experience in the radio program "Korotkovolnovka" in the 90s, the lectures of whom helped a whole generation of radio hosts grow professionally; Dmytro Merkulov with his quiz shows that resembled TV shows "What? Where? When?"; Yevhen Nemtsov with his "Rock-Studio"and others. In addition, such radio programs as "Radio-Stasyk" on Radio-50 and "Tehnofon" on Radio-Master in 1993, which acquainted listeners with the latest techno music, are good examples for the training of DJs-2020.

Taking into account the emergence of Radio-Oniks and Radio-Simon in Kharkiv in 1994 and Radio-Fora and Radio-Favoryt in the same city in 1995, Radio-50 and Radio-Master were the first radio stations in Ukraine that showed how to work in competitive conditions. Kharkiv (as the former capital of Ukraine where the first Ukrainian radio appeared in 1924), seventy years later, again became a platform where the history of Ukrainian commercial broadcasting was recreated. It concerned both on-air and off-air promotion of the stations which were tested on the Kharkiv radio market. There were first advertising campaigns and appearance of advertising agencies with a full range services, formation of advertising sales departments, the conducting of the first marketing research, creation of self-supporting enterprises, technological re-equipment of radio stations, computerisation (the first computers were used to create programs), information sponsorship of various events (car races, concerts, festivals, etc.), direct mailings to the winners of the quizzes with advertising products of the station put into the envelopes, car bumper stickers ("Do not rush, listen to "Master"), the production of souvenirs with emblems of the stations, first slogans of the stations (""Master" is a holiday which is always with you""), the duplication of the tapes with winners of hit parades from radio stations, etc.

As L. Machulin notes, from 1998 to 2000 "almost all local radio stations changed their owners and logos... Maybe, it would not have been so sad for Kharkiv radio stations if the economic factor had not made the political one even worse. Weak local stations were unable to overcome the August economic crisis [1998] and were "taken over" by strong capital" [11, p.57]. It was mainly powerful Russian advertising agencies that bought the frequencies in Ukraine and superseded local broadcasters. Radio-50 changed its logo to Radio-50+, and later to Radio-50 Plus Modern with broadcasting of St. Petersburg radio station of Radio-Modern, and Radio-Master began to broadcast St. Petersburg Radio-Melodia in 2000. According to L. Machulin, "... it was the end of the local stations. Out of the eight frequencies of FM-band two stations broadcast St. Petersburg programs, three - Moscow, two - Kyiv ones... It is only a pity that local politicians do not understand one thing: if they want to appeal to Kharkiv citizens tomorrow, they will have to seek approval from Moscow, St. Petersburg, or at worst, from Donetsk" [12, p.57].

The situation was a little different in Dnipro (former Dnipropetrovsk) where Radio -Premier and Radio-MIX functioned from 1993 till 1999 and ... 2018, respectively. They both worked mainly with Ukrainian and Russian popand rock music. Radio-Premier was created on the initiative of the head of the advertising department of Privatbank and the group of independent journalists to promote ideas of statehood and consolidation of society, to establish market conditions and entrepreneurship in the region, to form the consumer market for people, to create a positive image of local enterprises and organizations. Therefore, the slogan of the radio station "Good Radio" and "Music for the Soul" were the basis of the program concept which was based on useful and interesting information that did not overload the attention of the listener, promoted their successful activities, helped to understand some political, economic and legal issues. The motto "Information for Success"was created for this purpose. Together with good, heart warming, positive music the station tried to form a specific information and musical concept of broadcastings Radio-Premier was perceived as infortainment. Later, the host programs began to be created and substantial attention was given to sports, in particular to football and games of local football team, which eventually led to significant changes in the concept of broadcasting. The mix of music and information was very popular on the competitive Dnipropetrovsk radio, with Radio-MIX actively working in this specific way.That is why in 1999 Radio-Premier changed its format and its name to Radio-Sports-Ukraine. It can be considered as an example of the radio station that was first created to achieve certain corporate goals, then it became a successfull y implemented project, after which, under market pressure and competition the station was closed.

Radio-MIX also chose the format of light, good and soulful dance music (symbolically, the first composition on air was "What is Love" by the singer "Haddaway"). Thus, the program concept of Radio-MIX, which competed with the Radio-Premier, was aimed at classic business, rather than at solving corporate tasks. That is why it worked much longer than Radio -Premier (until 2018). For more than twenty years the radio station changed its music format repeatedly, adapting to the changes in the market, trying to "mix", to combine them on air, but, ultimately, it had to change its name to Radio-Informator and work in the format of CHR/Dance.

Today the Internet "reconciled" and "brought back to life" both of these stations. RadioPremier works online in the formats of New Age, Relax, Chillout, Light Pop, Enigmatic, Space,

Meditative, and Radio-MIX broadcasts club music in the format of НОТ AC - electrohouse, trance, dubstep, drum and bass.

Another radio station from the first dozen stopped broadcasting in 2018, and again because of the political situation. It is Trans-M-Radio which is the first Crimean commercial radio station, which is de facto the second commercial station in Ukraine (Simferopol) according to the time of the first broadcasting - June 23, 1992. In the late 90s, it already covered the whole Crimea (with its slogan "One radio in the whole Crimea"). Until 2014, it worked in the Soft AC format - light, romantic music, many songs of the 70-80s. Host programs which were related to urgent issues of the peninsula were also broadcast. In August, 2014, since the annexation of Crimea, Trans-M- Radio was forced to transfer its frequencies to the international information agency "Russia Today" and began broadcasting "Radio Sputnik", so it completely reoriented itself to the conversational political type of communication. In May 2017, IIA "Russia Today" stopped broadcasting on the transmitters and the frequencies of Trans-M-Radio and officially started with its new transmitters and frequencies. In 2018, the radio station Trans-M-Radio was registered as a mass media means in Crimea, but after losing the competition for the frequency in Simferopol, Yalta and Feodosia, from June 1, 2018 it stopped being on air, therefore, the radio station was completely closed.

The other four commercial radio stations, which were among the first ten stations in Ukraine, like Radio-MIX and Trans-M-Radio, made it through till 2000, were not closed and are trying to be successful now. Two Lviv radio companies Radio-Independence and Radio-Lviv Wave belong to this category. They are examples of how one can create a business enterprise on the uns table media market, overcoming economic problems and remaining popular among listeners.

However, there is a certain difference between these stations regarding successful promotion on the regional market. Radio-Independence is a family business of the Chudykivs aimed at "uniting the efforts of all political and public organizations, authorities, industrialists and businessmen in search of ways out of the political and economic crisis, which our state is experiencing now" [13]. Radio-Lviv Wave is an exceptional example of how changing owners does not change the concept of the radio station. Since 2004, "Lviv Wave" with the format of AC (Adult Contemporary) & CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio) and the slogan "Radio of Your City" has changed several owners, "after being owned by the former head of Lviv city Tax Service, Myros- lav Khomyak, it moved to President of the company "Intermarket" Roman Shlapak, and in 2008 it already belonged to the local entrepreneur Petro Dyminsky... Since June, 2011 the owner of the radio station has been "Ternopil Investment Company" LLC, the main owner of which is Yaroslav Krivoshyia, who is Myroslav Khomyak's father -in-law and Director of Department of Ecology and Natural resources of Lviv Regional State Administration" [14]. The answer to the question of how the station managed to stay on the market after so many reorganizations may be the words of Viktor Ivanitsky, director of Radio-Lviv Wave, "The company is founded by several fanatics having just 50 dollars". An additional point is that these "fanatics" have a competitive concept of broadcasting and a format which would convert 50 dollars in decades of profitable broadcasting.

It is said on Wikipedia that Radio-Roks station was first aired on March 24, 1992, but with the footnote - in Russia. Roks was indeed the first FM station in Kyiv and since 1993, it has successfully been broadcasting at a frequency of 103.6 FM. The format of rock music in the theory of commercial broadcasting is generally considered as specialized [15], but in Ukraine it belongs to a group of major formats. Therefore, Radio-Roks is a good example of how a rock station is able to unite and preserve their audience for decades not depending on changes in mu s- ical priorities and satisfies the information needs of several generations that have already grown during the existence of this radio station. It is worth noting the economic stability of the radio company. Having chosen a popular format for Ukraine, its management has succeeded, in co n- trast to other regional stations that existed for a short period of time, in becoming an influential business enterprise based on the rock format. And the morning entertainment show "Come together", which was first aired in 2010 and is on air every weekday from 7 to 10 a.m., is generally a record holder in Ukraine in this segment of radio programs. The hosts of this show, Sonia Sot- nyk and Serhiy Kuzin, should also be included in "the anthology of Ukrainian rock". They do not only work on air with such successful long-term programs as "Victim of the Year" and "Crush Test", but also actively promote the radio station "outside" as rock singers at their recitals and as organizers of rock communities in social networks and blogs. Thus, having passed the way from the time of formation of commercial broadcasting in Ukraine to one of the highly rated radio stations of successful Ukrainian media holding "TAVR", Radio-Roks, is a typical example of a profitable business enterprise, which underwent transformation from experimental radio broadcasting of the 1990s to a powerful radio business of the 2000s.

The "oldest" in Odessa Radio-GLAS can also be considered a peculiar example of business radio enterprise, which for many years has been typical for Ukrainian commercial radio stations. During its existence the station changed its format and name for several times: from 1993 to 1997 with the format CHR/AC - GLAS, then the broadcast of the Russian station "Silver Rain" with a similar format, during the year 2000 it was together with "HIT FM Odessa" with a similar type and style of broadcasting, and then again it was Radio-GLAS with Contemporary Hit radio. So, no matter how the form of the station changed, the internal content remained the same. Radio - GLAS, which is now part of the Odessa Media Group "GLAS" (three TV channels with a different target audience + the radio station) has not changed even its slogan "Radio for Business People", which really reflects the ability of the management to work successfully for many years with different age, social and cultural groups of the audience. As it is noted at the s tation, their audience is "middle and senior managers interested in economy, politics, those who are able to work and rest tastefully". Most of the projects that are on air are aimed at information support of business development. They are news of the largest corporations, ups and downs of the market, unknown facts from the lives of "powerful people of this world" [16]. That is, the station tries to differentiate the audience clearly and to work purposefully for energetic business people of different social and demographic characteristics, who know how to make decisions and know how to implement them.

Radio-GLAS was one of the first commercial stations in Ukraine that started cooperation with international foreign broadcasters, such as British Broadcasting C orporation (BBC), Deutsche Welle (DW), Voice of America (VOA), providing broadcasting of foreign language and later Ukrainian speaking programs. Its first director Stanislav Kyselyov mentions, "We paid attention to a number of musical programs of foreign b roadcasters, as it was really a high-quality product. At that time nobody in Ukraine had experience in how to create music and information radio products. But there was a search for options in order to provide the normal information flow during the whole day" [17, p.90]. In the mid-90s several Ukrainian stations already broadcast programs of these international media companies, as well as Radio Free Europe (Radio Liberty), Radio-France International, Polskie Radio, Radio Canada International and others. Ho w- ever, at that time the management of Odessa Radio-GLAS was more open and flexible concerning promoting new radio ideas and technologies, making changes to the broadcasting format, which contributed to profitability. Therefore, it is quite expected that the Association of Private Radio Stations of Ukraine, which will be discussed further, was created on the basis of this station.

Thus, by the time of the creation of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcas ting in Ukraine (December 21, 1993) there had already existed more than ten commercial radio stations which tried to experiment with programs and to look for the ways of getting profit. In the questionnaires filled in by these radio stations more than a half mentioned only Russian as a language of broadcasting. The emergence of the constitutional state regulatory and supervisory body in the field of electronic mass media, relevant legislation, and in particular the law "On amending the Law of Ukraine"On television and radio broadcasting (on the share of songs in the state language in musical and information radio programs)", which has introduced radio quotas for songs in Ukrainian and for Ukrainian language programs, have made significant changes in this issue.

In January 1994, Radio-Lux (Lviv) and GALA-Radio (Kyiv) were on air for the first time. Radio stations started to appear in many regions of Ukraine. In May 1994, there were already more than 20 commercial radio stations in Ukraine, which covered almost 30% of potential listeners of the country and developed as competitive entities in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odessa, Crimea. Since the number of commercial radio companies was supposed to double during the following year (mainly in the regional centers), there was a question of creation of the Association of Private Radio Stations of Ukraine as a center of protection of political, economic and legal interests of radio stations. The creation of such an informal association of the stations was discussed for the first time at the seminar "Local Radio", which was held from May, 20 till June, 3, 1994 in Pushcha-Vodytsia near Kyiv. The organizers of the seminar, International Media Center - Internews (Ukraine) and BBC World Training Service/MPM BBC (England), gathered management of almost all the existing radio stations to take initial decisions regarding the formation of the Association, the development of main directions of advertising activities and exchange of radio products, search for opportunities of cooperation in training for those stations that were preparing to work on their own frequencies.

The Association of Regional (Commercial) Radio Stations of Ukraine was created on the basis of broadcasting, creative, organizational, financial and economic activities in 1994. The participants of the Association were considered to be organizations that agreed with the text of the statute of the organization, had valid broadcasting licenses, took part in its work and paid me m- berships. The Council of the Association, which includes eight radio companies - Radio-Simon (Kharkiv), Radio-50 (Kharkiv), Radio-Premier (Dnipropetrovsk), Radio-Crimea (Sevastopol), Radio-Lviv Wave (Lviv), Gala-Radio (Kyiv), Radio-SET (Mykolaiv) and Radio-GLAS (Odessa), became the supreme body of the organization.

At the seminar "Local Radio" such questions were discussed as the functioning of higher educational institutions with faculties or departments of journalism and the activity of other training centers which were to be re-oriented to the educational process with a specialization of "TV and Radio Journalism" for the needs of commercial broadcasting (employees of commercial stations, independent producers or creative groups, and students). Universities and training centers were also to invite experienced specialists and teachers, including from abroad, to teach such subjects as "Commercial Broadcasting", "Radio Management", "Radio Formats", "News on the Radio" and others and to hold specialized trainings and seminars, lectures and practical classes with the help of modern technical equipment.The first basic training center of this kind was MMC-Internews, which founded a modern technical, educational and production center in 1994 - 1995 to create format radio programs for commercial radio, to organize and coordinate distribution and exchange of host programs between the stations, to hold free training sessions for managers, editors, DJs, directors, operators. Besides, licensed music material was offered to the stations, the archive of the first joint radio projects was created for the system of commercial broadcasting in Ukraine, which was gradually being formed and was acquiring certain conceptual features.

Among the first programs, which were offered to broadcast on the radio by MMC -Internews, there were social and political host programs, which were oriented to the regional network or were ordered by the stations, as well as separate blocks of such programs oriented to various station formats; educational programs in Ukrainian, English, German, Russian ordered by foreign media, (e.g., "Mass media in Ukraine and the elections"); round tables with MPs of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, with well-known figures of politics, economics and law, talks and interviews with employees of foreign representative offices and embassies; programs of different formats and different genres created by independent producers, creative groups or future journalists; consulting, educational, motivational radio programs of foreign journalists and trainers. It was more difficult to organize the process of the exchange of radio programs, taking into account the sense of urgency as the basic function of the radio and the ways of exchange of the products which were available at that time - by post, transport, and telephone. However, the topical programs from the regions, educational host programs, consulting blocks, record libraries for broadcasting - all this was requested by the stations in different regions of Ukraine, since it was quite problematic to form daily broadcasting agenda for most of the stations.

One of such radio projects in 1995 was "Interview from Internews", which, in fact, might be considered the first unifying radio project for commercial radio stations, as well as the first student radio product, which was presented on the private radio station of Ukraine.

The peculiarity of this radio project was that it took into account the broadcasting types of many stations, which, in general, at that time were usually informative and musical, but differed in the formats of the station - someone worked with classical rock music, someone tried to find themselves in underground music, it was easier for someone to play pop and dance music. That is why it was important to find common content which would be suitable for most of the formats promoted by different radio stations. Thus, the basis of the project became a 3 -4-minute program in the genre of interviews on urgent and merely interesting, motivational, consulting topics of the week which would be requested in different regions of Ukraine and which could "b e built" into the format of any radio station. The programs were planned as personal interviews with profe s- sionals in the social sphere, economics, medicine, public life, sports, culture, art and others. After a bit of assembling, this interview was presented as a 3-4-minute story "woven" from the thoughts of the interviewee on this or that important subject, a story with some dramatic moments and emotional peaks, oriented to arouse listeners' interest.

This type of programs was appreciated by the management of the stations, because "Interview from MMC-Internews" were prepared as separate blocks of 9-10 programs with original jingles and were sent weekly to the regions. The majority of radio stations at that time only tried to create their own newsrooms, information and analytical services and reporters' departments, so this project became a good addition to local news, DJs' sketches and host programs. The radio stations used interviews according to their broadcasting formats (some stations presentedthem several times during a day at a different time), combined them into separate blocks, or used as illustrative segments of their own information messages. Thus, the project "Interview from Internews", as noted by the radio station managers, was the best way to partially solve information and analytical content problem, which was already been mentioned in the broadcasting licences of the stations.

of Journalism of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, who searched for interesting personalities for the program, had a conversation with them and then prepared interviews to be broadcast, assembling them with the help of the first audio editing software installed on the computers of MMC - Internews. To some extent, it was the first comprehensive attempt to involve students, future broadcasting professionals, in commercial radio. Firstly, this activity played into new educational plans in the system of journalistic education in Ukraine and, secondly, it was very similar to the practice of commercial broadcasting where such factors as the target audience, rating, competition and profit are taken into account during the creation of a radio product.

Conclusions

The activity of the first commercial radio stations in Ukraine during the years 1992-1993 showed the tendency to changes in the Ukrainian media. Since the beginning of the 90s the first media organizations which are financially independent on the monopoly have begun to appear. Although it is a concept of profit that plays a crucial role in any conversation about the essence of commercial broadcasting, these organizations were not always aimed at making it. The radio station is successful only when it operates as a business enterprise, sells its air time for adverti sing, has some profit and responds to the demands of its audience. Otherwise, it is just a creative, technical, financial resource which is unreasonably wasted, it is not a business, but some ente r- tainment or a hobby. The "life span" of such radio stations is 5 -7 years at best, and the fate of the first ten commercial radio broadcasting companies of Ukraine, more than half of which was closed until 2000, confirms this fact. Nevertheless, the experience of the first stations that worked as independent private broadcasters is extremely important. Today we can outline the algorithm of their success, analyze their achievements and mistakes and assess their contribution to the history of commercial broadcasting of Ukraine. A lot of managers of the stations changed the job or the country, many journalists/sound producers/ editors found themselves in related arts and media... In fact, it was the first wave of daredevils, thanks to whom Ukrainian commercial broadcasting appeared.

The start of Ukrainian private broadcasting must be dated as early as May 1992, when in Mykolayiv, along with the creation of the first television company (TC Tonis), the first private commercial station Radio-Radius (later Radio-SET) was on air. During 1992-1993, ten radio stations which represented seven regional centers of Ukraine in total were among the first who tried to choose a format of their broadcasting, wanted to enter the radio market and become bus iness media enterprises. These attempts were rather declarative at that time: in fact, without any competition with other stations they had to compete only with state regional radio companies. And in this competition, private broadcasters tended to win as they tested new methods of communicating with the audience, used comprehensive content and, in the end, were bolder in e x- periments. At the same time the first broadcasting of commercial radio stations was far from the standards of profitable broadcasting. However, these very stations have laid the foundation of the future of Ukrainian commercial radio, allowing dozens of the next stations which began to appear actively in 1994-1995 to form the radio infrastructure and competitive media environment in Ukraine.

The law of Ukraine "On Television and Radio Broadcasting", which was adopted in 1993, and Article 11 "The Structure of National Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine" officially approved the dual radio broadcasting system in Ukraine. It was stated that "the structure of national television and radio broadcasting of Ukraine includes both state and private television and radio broadcasting organizations". However, at that time private broadcasters already tried to create their own system. They were united in the organization which would protect their profe s- sional and corporate interests and determine the ways of cooperation between radio companies which worked in different regions of the country. Thus, in 1994, the Association of Private Radio Stations was founded. However, the format specifics of the founding radio stations as profitable were not mentioned in any paragraph or article of the statute of the Association, because at that time this specialization of each station was not sufficiently relevant. The Association of Regional (Private) Radio Stations was functioning for a little less than a year, since there was a number of internal reasons which influenced gradual "cooling" of the interest of its founders and participants in the principles of cooperation in the conditions of regional competition. Moreover, the legislative aspect of commercial media activity was not established at that time. Nevertheless, the Association helped to kick start joint projects, production and distribution of programs by co m- mercial stations, confirmed the need to protect professional interests of broadcasters, to organize training aimed at the qualification improvement of employees of radio stations, to establish contacts with radio organizations and associations of other countries.

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