Vatican Radio

Vatican Radio: 2nd Anniversary of the Papal Radio Station at St. Maria di Galeria Scott 262-263 (1959) Vatican Radio was established by Guglielmo Marconi on 12 February, 1931. Here is a photograph from opening day, featuring, from left to right, Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII), Guglielmo Marconi and Pope Pius XI: Inauguration of Vatican Radio, 12 February 1931 From Wikimedia Commons (in the public domain) Its original broadcast tower stands in the Vatican Gardens. In 1957, it was supplemented by a larger tower located at Santa Maria Galeria, northwest of Rome. Here is a recent view of the Vatican Radio towers at Santa Maria Galeria: Photo by Pippo-b From Wikimedia Commons Used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license Vatican Radio broadcasts in 47 languages by both radio and television and its programming is developed by 200 journalists operating in over 60 countries around the world. It provides 42,000 hours of simultaneous broadcasting annually. During World War II, Vatican Radio broadcast prisoner of war information. In addition to this set, Vatican City has issued a number of other stamps and philatelic items featuring Vatican Radio and Marconi: Airmail Set of 1967 Scott C48 and C51 50th Anniversary of Vatican Radio Scott 681 to 684 and Aerogramme (1981) Centenary of Radio Scott 978-979 (1995) 75th Anniversary of Vatican Radio Cover for 2006 Postal Card Set 90th Anniversary of Vatican Radio and 160th Anniversary of L'Osservatore Romano Scott 1765 (2021) Guglielmo Marconi 150th Anniversary of Birth Scott 1856 (2024) REFERENCES: Wikipedia, Vatican Radio Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search