The day-and-night accessible Szakcsi Radio will commence its test broadcast on 15 March, with the official launch scheduled for International Jazz Day on 30 April. ‘The embrace and broader presentation of Hungarian jazz artistry represent a true public service mission. The radio palette of public media will be complete with the addition of Szakcsi Rádió alongside the three popular music channels,’ Duna Media Service Nonprofit CEO Anita Altorjai stated during the announcement event held at the Budapest Music Center (BMC) on Tuesday.

As emphasized,

Hungary boasts world-renowned jazz artists,

including Aladár Pege, György Vukán, János Gonda, Mihály Ráduly, Gyula Babos, and Béla Szakcsi Lakatos, along with entire families, such as the Lakatos Pecek family. The radio is named in tribute to one of Hungary’s most esteemed figures in jazz, Béla Szakcsi Lakatos, Artist of the Nation and Kossuth Prize-winning pianist and composer who passed away in 2022.

‘Cultural heritage must be nurtured by all of us, not only in clubs and live concerts but also through accessible audio materials,’ Altorjai noted. She stated that in agreement with the most prestigious domestic jazz venues, it was acknowledged that there is a need for a jazz radio, which, she added, will be a fantastic addition to the array of domestic radio broadcasting.

As CEO of Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund (MTVA) Dániel Papp pointed out, there was little doubt that the radio would bear the name of one of the most outstanding figures in Hungarian jazz history, the pianist and composer Béla Szakcsi Lakatos, who passed away in 2022.

‘We strive for Szakcsi Radio to primarily become the radio of Hungarian jazz in the Carpathian Basin. On behalf of my colleagues and the professional advisory board, I promise that we will launch a radio of such high quality that it will be as famous as Bartók or Dankó Radio,’ Papp stated. The CEO opined that

jazz is a genre most akin to human life,

offering a multitude of possibilities for play, displaying a rich diversity, representing cultural encounters, and being one of the most demanding musical genres. He noted that public media has always been involved with jazz; it can be found in the evening slot of Bartók Radio, ‘but we thought there was a huge enough demand for the genre to have its own platform and space.’

The professional panel of Szakcsi Radio includes László Gőz, founder and director of Budapest Music Center, jazz musician, and academy professor; founder of the A38 Ship Attila Bognár; and Kossuth Prize-winning musician Tamás Szarka.

‘Everyone loved and respected Béla Szakcsi Lakatos; it is a great joy that his sons and wife agreed for the radio to bear his name. The launch of the online radio is a huge opportunity for the Hungarian jazz community; it will predominantly feature Hungarian music, about 60–⁠70 per cent’ László Gőz stated.

The popularity of the radio can be assured by the fact that in the publishing house of the Budapest Music Center, nearly 150 Hungarian-related jazz records were released in the past nearly thirty years, and numerous recordings have been made with Hungarian jazz musicians since the 1970s.

The new online radio’s editor-in-chief is Máté Esztergályos, and the voice of the channel will be internationally renowned singer–⁠songwriter Veronika Harcsa. Esztergályos stated that there would be programmes showcasing the history of Hungarian jazz, and they plan to conduct an interview series with prominent figures of domestic jazz. ‘In the highlighted evening programme slot, every night we will broadcast concerts with recordings of Hungarian and foreign musicians. We can rely not only on the Hungarian Radio archives but also receive recordings from A38 and BMC Opus Jazz Club,’ the editor-in-chief noted.

Read more:

Sources: Hungarian Conservative/BMC/MTI