The world’s first exclusively Rusyn-language radio station, the internet-based Ruska Internet Radio Stanjica (Rusyn Internet Radio Station, RIRS), marked its one-year anniversary on 13 April with its 52nd weekly broadcast.

The idea for the station began when Slavomir Olejar started a webpage dedicated to Rusyn folk songs. As the amount of material on the site grew, he decided to get his own server, which greatly expanded the site's possibilities.

Today, the volunteer-run RIRS broadcasts reports from Yugoslavia's Ruske Slovo newspaper and Dzvonki magazine, Radio-Television Novi Sad and Slovakia's Radio Prešov each weekend.

Radio broadcasting in the Rusyn language is nothing new. However, Rusyn-language radio broadcasts normally only reach a part of their target audience. For example, Radio Novi Sad has regular daily Rusyn-language programming, but those Rusyns who live outside of the city often cannot get the signal. RIRS theoretically has no such problem, since its program is easily accessible for all Rusyns with an internet connection.

Unfortunately, the number of Rusyns with internet access is not substantial. While the internet is widespread throughout North America, Australia and Western Europe, the majority of Rusyns live in Eastern and Central Europe, where the internet has yet to make significant headway.

Ruska Internet Radio Stanjica can be found at http://www.rusyn-radio.dns2go.com

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