Short answers, pulled from the story.
Radio Mayak was formally established by a resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on the 24th of June 1964. It began broadcasting on the 1st of August 1964 from a studio at 25 Pyatnitskaya Street.
Mayak is the Russian word for "lighthouse" or "beacon." The station's format and name were probably inspired by the BBC Light Programme.
Radio Mayak uses the melody "Moscow Nights" as its call sign, played every 30 minutes. In the 1960s, two different passages of the song played at different intervals, allowing listeners to tell the time by ear accurate to within half an hour.
Alexander Yakovlev is considered the founder of Radio Mayak. He later became one of the key ideologists of perestroika. The station's first editor-in-chief was Vladimir Dmitrievich Tregubov.
According to TNS Gallup Media research covering July through December 2014, the daily audience of Radio Mayak in large Russian cities amounted to about 4.2 million people, representing 6.6 percent of the total population over 12 years of age. The research covered cities with populations above 100,000 people.
Radio Mayak is owned by VGTRK, the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. The station became a branch of VGTRK when the Federal State Unitary Enterprise State Radio Broadcasting Company Mayak was liquidated on the 28th of December 2006.