According to the findings of research conducted by the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT), A significant number of commercial radio broadcasters in Montenegro are owned by foreign capital. However, the ownership structure is somewhat different compared to TV outlets, portals and print media – previous analyzes by CDT have shown that most influential media in Montenegro will be predominantly managed from abroad.
Various research also shows that radio, as an information channel, has been increasingly losing importance in Montenegro compared to online portals and TV outlets in recent years. However, one would never draw that conclusion based on the current number of radio stations.
In addition to 16 local public broadcasters, as many as 35 commercial broadcasters, as well as two non-profit radio broadcasters, have been registered in our country. According to the national registry, out of the 35 broadcasters, 25 of them broadcast general radio programs, while 10 broadcast specialized music or entertainment programs.
The majority of radio stations have a local frequency, followed by those that are listened to in one of the country’s regions, while only five radio stations have national coverage.
Of the five with national, the ownership structures of two radio stations – Play Radio and S Radio are connected to Serbia, that is, politicians from that country.
Kopernikus Montenegro, a company whose media in the region are associated with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, stands behind the Play Radio. Its owner, and at the same time owner of Prva Television, is the offshore businessman Srdjan Milovanovic, whose brother Zvezdan Milovanovic was a longtime political commissioner of the SNS in Nis, Serbia.
Radio S has ties with a Serbian SPS official and businessman, Zoran Andjelković Baki, the founder of the S Media Team, which owns this radio in Herceg Novi, as well as S3 Radio, which is broadcast only in the Montenegrin capital.
In addition to said radio stations, two other radio broadcasters with regional and local frequencies are owned by foreign nationals.
Jadran Radio is owned by Adria Management Services, same as A1 television and the Borba.me portal. The other broadcaster is TDI radio, whose owner is Sasa Blagojevic, who, according to Serbian media, is close to the country’s ruling parties. In addition to the radio, he owns the Alo daily and the Alo.rs online portal.
All this points to the fact that although slowly losing its importance, radio remains a point of interest of businessmen from other countries. However, the research shows that small local private companies, NGOs and religious communities are also interested in radio.
The research “Who owns ‘our’ media “is part of the project of monitoring foreign media influences in Montenegro.
Jelena Gardović
Raskrinkavanje.me journalist