May 7th- Radio Day (Russia, Bulgaria, and Armenia)

The invention of the radio in 1895 had a large impact on communication for individual countries and the world as a whole. Radio Day (or Radio and Television Day, as it is called in Bulgaria) became a holiday on May 7th 1945, exactly 50 years from the Day Alexander Popov first successfully established the Radio as a tool. The brilliant Russian physicist built upon Tesla and Marconi's prior achievements in the process of radio development and is generally credited in Eastern Europe with its invention. Because Tesla and Marconi had already begun work with the idea of "emission and reception of signals by means of electromagnetic oscillations", Western Europeans typically acknowledge them as the radio's inventors. 


In celebration of the holiday, some radio stations in Russia, Bulgaria, and Armenia will be running commercial-free all day. In downtown Sofia, The Bulgarian National Orchestra will be conducting a concert to mark the day. Today in Armenia, the Prime Minister visited the Yerevan Office for RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty and praised them for their exposure of "problems and shortcomings in Armenian society". However they may celebrate, it is clear that the people in these  Eastern European countries have an appreciation for all that radio broadcasting has done for the world's expansion of communication. 

Sources: 
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/07/49979351.html
http://times.am/2011/05/07/congratulations-on-radio-day/
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=128007
http://www.armradio.am/eng/news/?part=soc&id=19918
http://www.rferl.org/content/armenian_prime_minister_visits_rferl/24094253.html
Picture from: http://cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/b7aeddf2380aeb91ee5f9d258fa9ca7d.jpg