Estonian Radio

Eesti Raadio (Estonian Radio, ER) was the public service radio broadcaster of Estonia that, at the time of closure, operated five national radio stations. It was closed in 2007 as a result of a merger with Eesti Televisioon (Estonian Television, ETV) to form the Estonian Public Broadcasting service, or Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR). History It was founded in 1926 as "Radio Broadcasting" (, RRH), in the same year it launched a radio station of the same name on medium waves and in 1934 it was reorganized into the State Radio Broadcasting (, RRH). In 1940, the Radio Committee of the Council of People's Commissars of the ESSR (Radio Committee of the ESSR) renamed the radio channel into ER, becoming the republican time slot within the All Union First Programme, the retransmission of which began through the Riga radio transmitter. In 1941, the ER radio transmitter was confiscated by the German occupation radio station, launching the radio station through it. In 1944, the radio transmitter was returned to the Radio Committee of the Estonian SSR, and the retransmission of the Comintern radio station in Estonia resumed. In 1953, the Radio Committee of the ESSR was reorganized into the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Culture of the ESSR (Radio Administration of the ESSR). In 1957, the ESSR Radio Administration was reorganized into the ESSR State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting (Eesti NSV Ministrite Nõukogu Riiklik Televisiooni ja Raadio Komitee, or simply ESSR State Radio and Television). On 3 April 1967, the ESSR Gosteleradio launched the later named Vikerraadio ("rainbow").