Tilos started out as an underground pirate radio station due to the frequency moratorium in the early 1990s. This is where the name comes from, meaning ’forbidden’. Since then Tilos has gone through various stages of media experimentation: starting off in the pirate period as a civilian initiative 18 years ago, followed by a 12-hour broadcast curriculum on a shared frequency (1995-2000) and then cable/internet broadcasting (2000-2003), until it finally won permission to operate as a round-the-clock, non-profit, independent community radio station on FM 90.3. In the past 18 years Tilos has created a model which is exemplary not only to the Hungarian but also to international free-form radios. Several leading members of Tilos have been repeatedly elected as officials to the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), where Tilos Radio has been a member since 1994. Beside broadcasting, Tilos is also known for organising cultural events, festivals, parties and social gatherings with entertainment, educational and civilian purposes.
Tilos is the only Hungarian medium that is mostly supported by donations from its audience. Hungarian taxpayers may choose to donate 1% of their income tax to non-profit organisations. Listeners also donate a lot at the “Tilos Marathon”, a one-week fundraising event held once a year. In addition, the staff also contributes a minimal monthly sum in order to cover the station’s operating costs. The editors and hosts of the Radio’s programmes do not receive any financial compensation for their work. They enjoy total autonomy in terms of the content of their programmes, however, they have to obey the Radio’s democratically formed organisational and operational regulations (Statues and Regulations of Tilos Radio) and the paragraphs that concern community radio broadcast in the media act.
The objectives and basic principles have remained the same since the Radio’s establishment. It is independent, as it has no owners, advertisers or political affiliations. It is interactive and audience-oriented, as most of the programmes are built on audience involvement, phone-in comments and the active cooperation between hosts and listeners, making use of the “vox populi” method of free-form radio (it was Tilos that introduced the participatory radio broadcast to the Hungarian media). It is non-profit, commercial-free, public and transparent, as the staff has no financial interest in the station and all the data concerning the Radio, its intentions and goals are public and accessible for the listeners. The programming model and structure has a strong civilian approach, as it promotes independent thinking, creativity, communication, self-expression and involvement in public life on a national and international level. One of the main characteristics of the Radio and its cultural events is musical diversity. The basic principle is to provide room for performers and trends from very different styles that cannot be heard anywhere else. The live discussions and interviews fulfill a public service function, as these provide relevant and up-to-date information on everyday life and public affairs and encourage listeners to be sensitive to community matters. Many programmes focus on issues concerning underprivileged social groups and minorities, interpreting the concept of minority in a broad way. Many of the editors and hosts have different ethnic and national backgrounds (Chinese, Serbian, British, German, Russian etc). Another important element is the regularity of thematic days or weeks, where the editors organise the programmes around a selected topic, e.g. Far East Day, the Day of the Blind, Tibet Day, Romano Dyes (Gypsy Day), Radio History Day, Bicylce Day etc.
Beside the Tilos Office there are two boards overseeing the work of the Radio.
The Editorial Board has five editors who are chosen by the assembly from the radio’s staff each year. Their task is to monitor and evaluate programmes, to cancel weaker programmes, to launch new programmes, to organise and co-ordinate the monthly “thematic days”.
The entire operation of the Radio, its events and actions are supervised by the Tilos Cultural Foundation’s Board. The establishment of this supervisory board whose members are elected every two years from the Tilos community does not interfere with the autonomy of the programme hosts or with the thematic and stylistic freedom, but it provides a reassuring guarantee that there will be no room for views that contradict the station’s core values.
SLAM AT TILOS
There is a regular slam program on Tilos Radio called Sztriit Noiz (Street Noise) hosted by Chi-Korea every second Monday between 01.30-3.00.
In April 2009, Tilos held a notable slam contest, the TILOS SLAM at Budapest Jazz Club. The theme was Liberation, the winners were: Ponza and IndianA.
See VIDEO
The second Tilos Slam was held on March 20, 2010 with a range of international slam performers, taken place at Sirály, Budapest. Thanks to the support of the International Visegrad Fund, young slammers came from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland. The international line-up was extended by a Swedish-Spanish-Italian trio, performing the “Smoke & Mirrors” slam show, originated in Berlin at the First European Poetry Slam Days in 2009 by the slammers of the Artists-In-Residence program. The theme of Tilos Slam 2010 was discrimiNATIONS, thus Tilos could proudly join the anti-racist action week connected to the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21). The whole day of March 20 was declared as a Slam Day on Tilos Radio (in line with the Tilos tradition to have occasional thematic days when the programs of the whole day are dedicated to the given theme), there were interviews, talks, sound-collage radio mixes and live slam acts on air. In the afternoon slam programs continued at Sirály: DJ Sanyi (Tilos) delivered a spoken word lecture entitled "The Medium is the Mass.age", followed by a workshop by the Slam Poetry Budapest (SPB) crew. Then came THE Competition, where the winner was MASHA from the Czech Republic. 2nd: István "id" Matits, 3rd: Busa Pista. Finally, the Tilos Slam day was honorably closed by the slam performance of Márk Süveg & Péter Závada (Saiid & Újonc from Akkezdet Phiai), accompanied by musicians. The visuals of the event were provided by 1000% and Kiégő Izzók VJ crew.
