100 Years of Croatian Radio-Television

Five rows of radio waves: the first row shows the year of issue "2026" at the centre; the second and third rows carry the commemoration inscription "100 GODINA" and "HRVATSKE RADIOTELEVIZIJE". In the fifth row the issuing country abbreviation "HR" appears.

On 15 May 1926, Radio Station Zagreb broadcast the first regular radio programme in what is now Croatia — at the time still part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The station was among the early broadcasting outlets in Southeastern Europe and was from the outset a cultural and linguistic centre: at a time when Croatian as a written language was still striving for recognition, radio established itself as a medium that standardised and spread the Croatian language. After the Second World War, broadcasting was incorporated into Yugoslavia's state media system, though the Croatian programme remained separately organised and broadcast continuously in Croatian. With Croatian independence in 1991, the former Radiotelevizija Zagreb became Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT), which continues today as the country's public broadcaster.

Television followed in 1956, when Zagreb broadcast a test pattern for the first time, becoming one of the early television centres in what was then Yugoslavia. HRT is today one of Croatia's most widely used media providers, operating several radio and television channels. When Croatia introduced the euro in 2023 and became a member of the eurozone, the country also gained the right to issue its own 2-euro commemorative coins. With the 2026 issue, Croatia marks the centenary of its public broadcasting, an anniversary underscoring the role of Hrvatska radiotelevizija as a continuous institution in Croatian media history.