The manager: Valery Todorov
The job: Director-General, Bulgarian National Radio
In brief: Appointed for a three-year term of office to head one of Bulgaria’s three public media, Todorov – a veteran journalist who has worked as a foreign correspondent and in print, radio and television – has the job of keeping ratings high and further expanding the audience.

The face is familiar from, although the hair a shade greyer than, the stock photograph that viewers of Bulgarian National Television (BNT) have seen for several years, usually superimposed over a scene of Moscow. Before the Council for Electronic Media voted to appoint Valery Todorov to head Bulgarian National Radio, he reported for BNT from the Russian capital, augmenting a career that has seen him calling in from several Central and Eastern European capitals, narrating transitions of various kinds.

Transition is a key word when it comes to the public media in Bulgaria. There are three: BNT, BNR and Bulgarian news agency BTA. Being appointed to head one is more than a matter of charming the members of the regulatory body during the public interviews. Not unlike being commissioned to command an 18th century naval vessel, keeping the post means having to win the confidence of the crew. In the past decade, all three public media have seen mutinies against various directors-general, and each of these mutinies resulted in their being ousted.

Todorov, always ready with a smile and whose dark eyes shine with confidence and enthusiasm for his new job, has the advantage of long experience in the media. He sees himself as a journalist among journalists (hence the style of his greeting) rather than a mandarin seeking only the austere seclusion of his office, the better to contemplate his power.

He has come a long way from the boy who sent in stories to the print media, carving a niche for himself in Bulgaria’s newspapers of the time, and continuing to do so as student and as a conscript, when he was a correspondent for a newspaper dedicated to the themes of the military and youth.

At Sofia University, he became deputy editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, then a respected newspaper vigorous and forward-looking enough to occasionally tweak the noses of the communist authorities of the time. He is proud of the generation that worked on the paper then, who in the changed Bulgaria have risen to become senior journalists, authors, heads of publishing houses, poets and in one case – Boyan Belchev – rector of the university. The names include Dimitar Tomov, today head of the university publishing house, and Dimitar Hristov, a famous poet and also head of a publishing house.

“All of us today share warm feelings about those days, when times were (he smiles ruefully) a bit difficult. Everyone acknowledges that this was a time of learning for us.”

Besides his contributions to the university newspaper, Todorov was managing a prolific output for various newspapers and magazines.

In his second year, Todorov started hosting radio programmes on BNR’s Hristo Botev programme, and when he did an internship as part of his journalism degree, he spent it at BNR’s Horizont. He moved on later to being editor-in-chief of the international programme.

Throughout this time he found it difficult to decide between working for print or for radio. Later, when he was correspondent for BNT in Moscow, he also filed for BTA.

In Moscow, so as not to lose his connection with print media, he joined with a number of colleagues in publishing a newspaper called Bulgarski Vestnik (“Bulgarian Newspaper”). It was published by a Bulgarian-Russian forum called Partniori (“Partners”).

“Fortunately, in my career, I have been able to gain experience working for different kind of media.”

Asked how he sees the role of a journalist and of BNR in today’s Bulgaria, Todorov says that BNR is the only media in the country that offers a diversity of programmes.

It has two authoritative programmes, Hristo Botev, and the other is Horizont, offering information and music. The latter has the largest network of correspondents in the country. Hristo Botev is unique and the most public broadcast-orientated outlet in the country, offering music, information and cultural and educational programmes. BNR also has Radio Bulgaria, broadcasting in 11 languages including English. BNR has five regional stations, and in one or two months, Radio Sofia will be added to this stable. Todorov’s plans for BNR include opening new regional centres in Vidin, Pleven, Bourgas and Kurdjali. He sees huge potential in expanding BNR’s regional services.

He is proud of that fact that BNR broadcasts on every possible type of frequency “this is very important when it comes to our technical development”.

BNR cannot be compared to any of the country’s commercially-orientated radio station.

“We have studios, unique for Bulgaria, to do news, radio dramas, musical performances. Many foreign producers use our Studio 1.

 We have a Big Band, a symphony orchestra, a children’s choir. Besides being a media, we are a very solid cultural institution. We have an archive of music, and of the voices of many Bulgarian and foreign public figures of the past and present.”

He has an appreciation for the radio’s history. The building is being renovated, but Todorov has told his staff to preserve the look of some of the studios, as a bow to history.

“So now you see to govern this massive conglomerate is a challenge.” The smile again. “That’s why I took up this opportunity, with my experience in various fields to help me.”

Radio in Bulgaria, he says, is facing a new era – the digital era. Besides developing the programmes offered, Todorov wants to push forward its technological capabilities.

In the world of broadcasting, there are various models for public broadcasters. Many professionals, and listeners, venerate the US’s National Public Radio, for example. Does he have a model that he wants to emulate?

“When BNR was established, they took on board the experience of the world’s leading broadcasters – the BBC, Deutsche Welle, Voice of America, other US, French, German and British broadcasters. Even some time back, foreign colleagues have been astonished because more than 70 per cent of our broadcasts are live. This brought us respect.”

In times past, former music programmes and educational programmes were merged, for financial reasons, into Hristo Botev. With the development of digital equipment, these elements of Hristo Botev will be expanded to return as separate programmes, he says.

“Bulgaria is a unique country when it comes to radio. Frankly, I don’t know of any other country in Europe where people listen to the radio as much as they do here.”

The flourishing number of commercial radio stations is proof of this, he says, noting that many of these stations are staffed by former BNR employees.

His mandate as director-general obliges him to keep BNR’s listener ratings high.

“Without being too self-congratulatory, our research shows us on a par with other international media.” BNR also promotes cultural and ethnic tolerance.

“As a journalist who has worked in the field of international news, visits like that of president Bush (on a table nearby, a television was narrating in low tones the closing minutes of the US president’s visit) show that journalists who work in the field of international news are dependent on domestic news. I think we should satisfy the national interests of Bulgaria in relation to other countries.

 When I was elected, I emphasised the need to make the international news angle stronger. I worked for almost 12 years in Russia, and so as someone who has worked abroad, I know what it is like when you know not only what is happening in your country, but in every other one in the world. I have had the opportunity and the challenge as a journalist to witness some historical moments, I have covered the changes that happened in Eastern Europe after the end of the Warsaw Pact and the USSR, and the first democratic elections in every Eastern European country. The knowledge of my colleagues who had worked as foreign correspondents helped these changes. As journalists, we get the news first and have the opportunity to influence the news, to govern the news, in a way.”

This is why, Todorov says, he puts such value on every journalist being able to write what he or she wants.

As director-general of a public media, he wants to enable professional development of his staff.

In seeking the post, he decided that he wanted to take two steps: to make space for people to move up in the profession, and to use his experience in a more influential position.

“I hope that I won’t disappoint my colleagues.”

He wants to pass on the value he has accumulated in working as a foreign correspondent, a job that he describes as in a category of its own, combining the roles of journalist, manager, diplomat and cultural intermediary. The contacts that he built with other media around the world are useful to him in his new post, he says.

“I think that one of the problems here is that Bulgarian journalists focus too much on domestic issues. There is a bigger world, more complicated than our personal and national problems,” he smiles again.

He says that during the transition, the profession suffered. Some of the best went to other trades, and public respect for and trust in the media declined. Especially because of those colleagues who became affiliated with, and served the interests of, individual politicians and political parties, he says. “To me, this was a loss that we will never recover from,” although he adds that he hopes that this loss can be compensated for with time.

Todorov says that he is not bound to any political party.

He says that his appointment, as a professional, shows that professional experience has a value in Bulgaria.

After a long period, Bulgaria is returning to the values of professionalism, not only in journalism. “I see people with different political orientations are put in various positions, which shows that professionalism is gaining value. I don’t think that this is just a result of the tripartite governing coalition, but of a broader process. What is the use of someone weak who will serve the interests of an individual political force? Because the damage they will cause will outweigh anything positive.”

Todorov smiles: “We are returning from emotions to common sense. If I can make this comparison, it is not important whether (football teams) Levski or CSKA wins, it is important for Bulgaria to succeed”.

We turn to Russia and its media environment, where freedoms and rights have been rolled back. What is his analysis, and does he see any risk of a similar process in Bulgaria?

He does not. In Russia, the state moved to take media out of the hands of the organised crime groups that controlled them. Phase one, as Todorov puts in, succeeded. Phase two, the transition to a free media, has not. Russian president Vladimir Putin has a contradiction: he lived abroad and gained an international outlook, but ultimately what was important was his KGB background. “So, he thinks like a European, and understands what needs to be done, but does it in the way that he was trained.”

Russia, he emphasises, is a truly unique country. Working there taught him not to proceed anywhere with preconceived notions.

“The history of this country shows that every time the regime becomes liberal, it leads to a revolution. That is why in every Russian, there is a strong defensive reflex.

“Russians love a strong hand and a dead hero. Better a hero in a mausoleum than on the public square.”

The changes going on right now are facing this mentality.

“Russia is what it is and Russia will always follow its own way. When I had colleagues visiting Russia, they would say, ‘this cannot be happening’ and I would say, ‘forget what you thought before and look around’. I never say, ‘this cannot be happening,’ but I ask, ‘why is this so?’ I think that this is habit that is very useful.”

Todorov is asked to profile the BNR listener.

“We have a very good idea not only of the silhouette of our listener, but also the face. If I can say, we want to make this face look younger. We lack listeners aged between 15 and 40. Our listeners are more conservative, people of higher social status, middle-aged or older; on one side, that works well when it comes to our function, but at the same time I want BNR to be a very dynamic and provocative media, that we give enough reasons for people aged 15 to 40 to listen to BNR.

“That is why I want to make more provocative, more entertaining, more youth-orientated programmes. To have a stronger regional policy. We have a very old, still not forgotten, tradition in BNR to take our programmes outside the studio, to meet the people, to make them participants in events. If we have limited ourselves in this, it is because of our technical capabilities. But I want to emphasise live contact with people, with our audience, with the youth of Bulgaria. I think that I will be able to bring back people between these ages to listen to us again.”

He says that the audience is sophisticated and actively seeks dialogue with BNR, but is also conservative and established. “That’s why I think that without losing some of the positions that we have at the moment, we will use technical and programme development to gain new positions. Whether I will succeed I will find out after three years.”

He imagines out loud how he might justify himself to his successor, and quickly is asked whether he thinks he will serve only one term, given that the law allows him to bid for a second term in office.

“What you will see in three years will be only a fraction of what we want to do. At the moment, there is a possibility that I will only do one term. It is like the saying in the army, that any private could become a general. But he may find out that he does not like being a general. I am a journalist first and everything else comes after that.

“If in some way, my career gets in the way of my professional development, I will choose the profession. I do not want to deprive myself of the nice feeling of being a journalist, and I certainly hope that my position at the moment is just a phase.

“Compared to some other colleagues, I think, the vanity attached to being a well-known, high-profile executive is beyond me. I take this as an opportunity to prove my professional experience. The rest is just detail.” He smiles.

Notes from History: Bulgarian National Radio

In 1930, a team of Bulgarians with lots of entrepreneurial spirit, including engineers Dimitar Bunev and Dimitar Georgiev, leading Bulgarian scientist Professor Assen Zlatarov, writer Elin Pelin and others, formed the first co-operative to apply for a permit for radio broadcasting. Politicians, military officers and journalists later joined the initiative.

The founding meeting of the co-operative Rodno Radio (Homeland Radio) was held on March 30 1930. The meeting elected a board of directors, including the group above, as well as the then director of Bulgarian news agency BTA, Henri Levenson, among others. A building on Benkovski Street in Sofia was granted to Homeland Radio on May 15 1930. This is where the first transmitter and the first studio were installed. In June that same year, Homeland Radio started its first broadcasts from 6 pm to 8 pm.

The first Bulgarian radio programmes could be heard in Pernik, Kyustendil, Dupnitsa, Cherven Bryag and Lom, as well as in Shoumen when the weather was fine. In Sofia, the broadcast could be heard using crystal detectors.

Homeland Radio changed its name to Radio Sofia on June 6 1931. In early 1932, when daily three-hour broadcasts began, the radio station had 6030 subscribers.

On October 31 1931, a microphone was placed in the big hall of the Savings Bank on Moskovska Street (in today’s headquarters of DSK Bank) and the first live broadcast was a festive meeting of the co-operative Homeland Radio, in connection with the Day of Enlighteners.

On December 31 1931, King Boris III addressed a New Year message to the nation on radio live from the officers’ ball at Sofia’s Military Club. The radio was the only channel of communication for the head of state’s New Year messages, until December 31 1960, when they started to be televised as well. The station also relayed drama performances from the National Theatre and Sunday liturgies from the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

Another radio station opened in Varna in 1934, and a third in Stara Zagora in 1936.

On January 25 1935, Royal Decree No. 25 endorsed a Statutory Ordinance on Radio Broadcasting, issued by the Cabinet on January 17 1935, that declared radio broadcasting state property.

Transmission of news from Bulgaria in Esperanto began in 1936. It was followed by a short-wave external service in Italian, German, French and English on May 1 1937. That programme could reach its audience abroad thanks to a 352.9 m transmitter in Vakarel, inaugurated on October 3 1937.

A building was purpose-built for the station at 4 Dragan Tsankov Boulevard between 1938 and 1941, designed by Georgi Ovcharov and Genko Popov, and the radio moved there in 1942. The eastern facade and roof of that building were destroyed in Allied air raids in 1944, and the station was evacuated to the Novi Han village school. A new building, next door to the old one, went up in 1971.

Designed by Georgi Stoilov, it is shaped as an inverted pyramid, each of the six floors protruding above the lower one.

A second national programme went on the air in 1945. Four domestic programmes of the Bulgarian Radio were launched on January 4 1971: Horizont, Hristo Botev, Orfei (Orpheus) and Znanie. Horizont began round-the-clock transmission on September 9 1974.

Bulgarian National Radio (so designated since March 24 1992) now operates two 24-hour domestic programmes: Horizont (on FM, MW, SW and LW) and Hristo Botev (on FM and MW). Since the end of 1998, Horizont has been available via live streaming on the internet round the clock.

Radio Bulgaria (the foreign service of Radio Sofia) broadcasts an average 55 hours daily in 11 languages: Albanian, Arab, Bulgarian, English, French, German, Greek, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Turkish on MW and FM to an estimated audience of 10 million listeners in 140 countries in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and even Antarctica.

The radio’s Golden Sounds Library (established November 27 1957) keeps 13 000 archive units and 22 000 tapes, documenting various events since 1935, reminiscences, statements and speeches by politicians, artists, recordings of music, literary works and stage performances, and sittings of Parliament.

The station has been headed by prominent writers like Sirak Skitnik (the first director of the radio), who was also an artist, poet and critic, Konstantin Konstantinov, Orlin Vassilev, Bogomil Nonev, journalists including BTA staffers like Boyan Traikov, Stefan Tihchev, Vecheslav Tunev, and communist functionaries like Karlo Lukanov and Filip Bokov.

Former BNR staff include European Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kouneva, former environment minister Valentin Vassilev, writers and poets Valeri Petrov, Lyubomir Levchev, Kolyo Georgiev, Kalin Donkov, band leader Vili Kazasian, journalists Peter Uvaliev, Vladimir Kostov, Kevork Kevorkian, Dilyana Grozdanova, Radosvet Radev (now owner of Darik Radio), Petar Punchev (owner of Radio FM+), CNN anchor Ralitsa Vassileva and current BTA Director-General Maxim Minchev.