Turkey has a radio market shaped by a strong state broadcaster with a long history and a large commercial sector that has grown rapidly since the 1990s. It also has two very distinct musical traditions — Turkish pop and Turkish folk music — that exist in parallel, serving different generations and different parts of the country.
TRT: the state broadcaster
Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT) has been Turkey’s national broadcaster since 1964. Its radio division runs multiple channels: TRT 1 carries general programming; TRT Türkü is dedicated to Turkish folk music (halk müziği); TRT FM plays pop; TRT Nağme focuses on Turkish classical and art music. TRT’s folk and classical channels are a significant archive of traditional Turkish musical culture, broadcasting performances that commercial stations have no interest in carrying.
Turkish pop (Türkçe pop)
Turkish pop has been a major commercial force since the late 1980s. Synthesiser-driven, melodically ambitious, and often incorporating Eastern musical scales alongside Western production, it has artists with followings across the Turkish-speaking world and among diaspora communities in Germany, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. Radio stations tagged “Turkish pop” or “Türkçe pop” play this mainstream, ranging from classic 1990s artists like Sezen Aksu (sometimes called “the mother of Turkish pop”) to contemporary chart acts.
Turkish folk music (Türk halk müziği)
Turkish folk music is a rich tradition of regional styles, each tied to specific geography and instruments: the saz (long-necked lute) is central, but regional variants use different instruments and modes. The Anatolian folk tradition runs alongside an Alevi devotional music tradition (semah). Folk stations, particularly TRT Türkü and online folk-music stations, preserve and broadcast this tradition for audiences who are often older and more rural than pop radio listeners.
Arabesk
Arabesk is a melodramatic, emotionally intense style of Turkish popular music that blends Turkish folk tonality with Arabic musical elements and Western orchestration. It was hugely popular with urban migrant workers from the 1970s onward, often dismissed by cultural elites but beloved by millions. Artists like Orhan Gencebay and Ibrahim Tatlises defined the genre. Arabesk and “arabesk fantazi” (a more pop-oriented variant) remain distinct radio formats in Turkey, serving an audience for whom the music carries significant emotional and cultural weight.