Qatar Radio
| Broadcast area | Qatar |
|---|---|
| Frequency |
AsiaSat 2 Arabsat 2B Badr 4 Hot Bird 9 NSS-7 Hispasat 1C Galaxy 19 |
| Language(s) | English |
| Website | Qatar Radio |
Qatar Radio (Arabic: إذاعة قطر), abbreviated as QR, is a Qatar Government owned public service national radio station in Qatar which is owned and run by the public service broadcasting network Qatar General Broadcasting and Television Corporation (QGBTC). Broadcasting is multilingual, with Arabic, English, French and Urdu being represented.
The station was established on 25 June, 1968.
Qatar Radio is currently an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), while all competing countries of the Eurovision Song Contest must be active members of the Union. The broadcaster first revealed on 12 May 2009 that they were interested in becoming active members of the Union, which would allow the nation to compete in the Contest. Qatar Radio has stated that they hope to join Eurovision by 2011.
Qatar first became involved in the Contest at the 2009 edition, where the broadcaster sent a delegation to the contest and broadcast a weekly radio show called '12pointsqatar' dedicated to Eurovision, which received favourable responses and has initiated the further involvement of Qatar in Eurovision.
Qatar Radio has said that they feel that they would be happy to join all other competitors in the contest, including Israel if Qatar gets membership.
Qatar is required to have a broadcaster which has at least associate membership of the EBU in order to have a chance to take part, as Qatar Radio is only a radio station and Qatar lies outside the European Broadcasting Area and cannot apply for Council of Europe membership with Australia being the only exception after being an associate member for over 30 years. The broadcaster would most likely be Qatar Television (QTV) also owned and run by the Qatar General Broadcasting and Television Corporation. If Qatar Radio gets accepted too, then they would be able to air the contest alongside the television broadcast.
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Wikipedia