When Heydar Heydarov was seven, he dreamed of his favorite radio host coming to his birthday party.

The year was 1960 and, for children in Soviet Azerbaijan, the host of the “Daddy Rooster” radio program, Huseynaga Sadigov, was a super star.

“It was the program of our childhood. I even wrote a letter to him when I was small. I invited him to my birthday. He read my letter during the show and said with his own intonation: ‘I aa-m cooo-miiiing!’” Heydar remembers.  “I was eagerly waiting for him to come all day.”

The first radio station in Azerbaijan started broadcasting on November 6, 1926. With the words "Attention, Baku is speaking," Radio Azerbaijan began. There weren't many channels but radios were a permanent fixture in most homes. 

Heydar remembers how important radio broadcasts were even after television came to Azerbaijan in 1961. 

"At that time, television was a new invention. Very few people owned a TV set, but everyone had a radio,” he says. “Radio was the primary means of receiving information, and its value was widely recognized. While television had limited broadcasting hours, the radio was operational eighteen hours a day, from 6 in the morning to 12 at night."

Even after TV became the main source of information, radios still played an important role in people’s lives. For example, in the 1990s, people living outside the capital Baku relied on radios to bring the latest news as the Soviet Union collapsed and the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia raged. During those years, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty gained a large following in the country.

Radio journalist Zarkhanim Ahmadli recalls that everyone eagerly awaited RFERL's news in the 1990s.

"People in Azerbaijan's regions used to tell me that they waited with two batteries on top of their radio devices. They eagerly waited for the programs! Sometimes, if they missed the evening broadcast, they would wake up early to catch the repeat in the morning. They needed the radio like air and water."

Social researcher Toghrul Abbasov points out that the radio's popularity during that period highlights its significance in shaping collective memory. 

“Despite the dominance of television and video in the 1990s, radio managed to remain influential. This underscores that technological advancement isn't the sole factor; accessibility and the meaning of the medium used also play vital roles,” he says.  “Communication is not just a matter of technology.”

Despite the plethora of information channels available today, the radio is on every day in the Heydarov house and the couple still loves to listen together and reminisce about the old shows they used to enjoy. They also long for the radio programs that are not there anymore. One of the programs was "Poetry - song garland". "Especially, I loved Amina Yusifqizi's poetry recitation. In the show, presenters like Samandar Rzayev and Hasan Abluj were performing. One's heart melted when listening to them!" says Gulshan.

Gulshan remembers radio dramas she used to enjoy listening to. With no visual component, radio plays based on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story.

"You don't see the acting, but you feel it. You imagine what's happening,” she says. “For example, you hear the sound of the wind, followed by the rustling of leaves. You hear a dog barking, a bird chirping, actors tapping their feet—you know they're walking. You feel the tension in the scene, anticipating what's about to happen. Each detail is crafted for the listeners' ears. It brings me joy to listen to."

Social researcher Toghrul Abbasov believes that the nostalgia experienced by radio listeners differs from the nostalgia prevalent in mainstream pop culture.

“Nostalgia essentially involves a sense of belonging to a past era rather than the present one. However, since the 2000s, nostalgia has become ingrained in pop culture as a way of calming anxieties about the present and future,” he says, adding however that listening to the radio is a reflection of a desire to “connect with a different time or to slow down the rapid pace of today's world and offering a sense of belonging.”

“In a world where everything is instantaneous and easily forgotten, holding onto personal memories becomes crucial for meaningful thought. Radio listening, in my view, serves as a defense of personal memory in this context,” Togrul explains.

Following a career in radio, journalist Zarkhanim Ahmadli, 72, has remained a dedicated radio listener.

"When I was in school, I listened to the radio all day. The voices were very familiar to me. I mainly listened to news and music. But at that time, I never imagined I would work in radio."

Zarkhanim's first personal radio was a larger model with a flashlight. Currently, she has three devices at home. One of them was a gift from her son—a relatively large radio from Japan purchased 15 years ago.

She began working as a radio journalist in the Azerbaijan State Tele-Radio Broadcasting Committee in 1970 while studying at the Faculty of Journalism of Baku State University. Zarkhanim went on to be the editor of Azerbaijani Radio during the Soviet years, then the Baku correspondent of RFERL, and later, she helped establish Azerbaijan’s Public Radio station.

"When I was a first-year student, radio was a very popular medium. Artists like Aydın Garadaghlı, Gultekin Jabbarlı, Sabutay Guliyev, and Fatma Jabbarova were very interesting to me. All cultural, theater, cinema, and art figures would appear on the radio,” she recalls. 

Nostalgic about old radio programs, Zarkhanim sometimes listens to recordings of her own interviews with various artists.

"I can't listen to the radio with headphones like today's youth. That's why the radio device holds value for me. The sound from that device seems more natural and convincing to me. That's why I prefer not to listen to the radio online from my phone."

Zarkhanim Ahmadli believes that although fewer people carry radios with them due to smartphones, they still exist and are not uncommon.

"For me, the radio is a device that I want to listen to quietly in a room,” she says. “At one point, there were sayings that the era of newspapers was over. But they still exist. So, I do not believe that radio devices will become obsolete, or that the need for them will ever diminish. There will always be a demand for radios."