Raina Konstantinova is among the personalities who have dedicated their entire professional career to the radio medium. In recent years she was the chairman of the Public Council of the Bulgarian National Radio, and for a long time before that she headed the Radio department at the European Broadcasting Union based in Geneva, Switzerland. But her biography also includes more than two decades devoted to Radio Bulgaria.

Yet, she started her professional career as a regular part-time collaborator:

"I came to the English section of Radio Bulgaria in 1973 as an eighth-degree literary collaborator, I was 24 years old," Ms. Konstantinova recalls. “I was given the task to respond to the letters of the listeners, who were so many at that time – from England, USA, Western Europe, Australia. It was exciting – you enter a whole new world and do journalism for audiences abroad – something unique that no one can really teach you. Looking back, this was the best time of my professional youth. I worked with young people, well-educated, cheerful, with a skepticism about things that is inherent in intelligent people. We were sympathetic to each other and unbiased, we wanted the voice of Radio Bulgaria to be frank, sincere and competent, of course.

From a literary collaborator I became an editor.

The good thing was that we had the freedom to make our own shows in the languages ​​we work with. Each language section made original programs and they were all different. There were things in common, of course. We had an awful lot of listeners and they invariably became friends with our country, although they often didn't know where it was. But we somehow managed to bring out that characteristic, good thing about Bulgaria, which would make them open their maps (there was no internet then), and try to find where our country is located, to write a letter, to become friends of Bulgaria.

Then there were clubs of friends of Radio Bulgaria in 7-8 countries.

Radio Bulgaria offered a fantastic atmosphere for work – we learned to be open-minded journalists there. We were proud to do journalism in a foreign language, we were away from the censorship that existed at that time. We managed to pass unnoticed. It was a very nice and exciting time with people who gave meaning to what you do. I am happy to have had the opportunity to work with personalities such as our Deputy Editor-in-Chief Tamara Gerova, the wife of the famous poet Alexander Gerov, who watched over us and rejoiced because we were enthusiastic and very different against the background of the formal state-governed journalism at the time”.

Over the years, Ms. Konstantinova has held various positions at the Bulgarian National Radio – she headed the English department and in the 1990s, the most tumultuous period in our recent history, she was programming director, deputy general director of the Bulgarian National Radio, and director of Radio Bulgaria.

"After the changes in 1989, it was a revolutionary time," she said. “Suddenly we felt that this is what we had always wanted to do.

The country was boiling, everything was changing, we had to do some things for the first time and start learning again from scratch.

And when young people came who wanted to do just that, to learn and to teach others after themselves, it was amazing, it can only be understood by those who have experienced it. Yes, it may be nostalgia, but also a very good memory.

I would like to see that, despite the global changes in communications, Radio Bulgaria is able to maintain the feeling of empathy with its listeners.

Because the radio is a voice, the contact is through the voice, and behind the voice there is a person and this is what creates the feeling of empathy. What I miss now in Radio Bulgaria – of course, in the first place is the air, the fact that the medium and short waves could not be digitized and Radio Bulgaria could not remain a real radio, and not just one of the thousands of online platforms.

I think that in case of possible changes and possibilities, it should return to the its original medium.

You need to get as close as possible to the original of the Radio, and it is giving people a choice to listen to what they want and when they want, a choice of good content. Now there are plenty of information sources, but how many are the sources of information about Bulgaria as it is – with all its good and bad sides, with the problems, achievements and failures.

The people living in Bulgaria deserve to be valued properly.

Who, if not Radio Bulgaria, could do it, in the language that is most accessible to the people of the world. This is done not so much with money, but with people who want to make good-quality radio and programmes that are ultimately human and emotional. I have always insisted on this when I was the director of Radio Bulgaria.

Let the people feel the soul of this country. I wish you success in these difficult times!"

English version Rositsa Petkova