RTSH — BrandWiki

RTSH

Overview

Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH)

type	Public broadcasting
country	🇦🇱 Albania
available	Worldwide
founded	1938, Tirana
founder	Albanian Kingdom
headquarters	Rruga Ismail Qemali 11, 1010, Tirana, Albania
key people	Eni Vasili (General Director)
owner	Albanian State
former names	Radiodifuzioni Shqiptar TVSH RTVSH
launch date	November 28, 1938 (radio) April 29, 1960 (television)
website	https://rtsh.al/

Radio Televizioni Shqiptar ('Albanian Radio and Television'; formerly TVSH, now mostly referred to as RTSH ) is the national public broadcasting company of Albania. Founded in 1938, it operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. The international television service via satellite RTSH Sat (former TVSH Sat) was launched in 1993 and is aimed at Albanian-speaking communities in Kosovo, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and northern Greece, plus the Albanian diaspora in the rest of Europe. RTSH is funded by a combination of commercial advertising, an annual licence fee of US$10.00[1] and grant-in-aid from the Albanian government.[2]

There are 12 TV channels in the first multiplexer and 11 radio channels. RTSH also runs a Satellite Multiplexer with 7 channels. RTSH 1 is the flagship generalist channel. RTSH 2 is dedicated to niche communities, including cultural and ethnic minorities, broadcasting news editions in Greek, Montenegrin and Aromanian. RTSH 3 is dedicated to Albanians living abroad. RTSH also has dedicated channels, for news (RTSH-24), sports, music, children, etc. In addition, four regional radio and TV stations serve local areas in Gjirokastër, Korçë, Shkoder, and Kukës.

History

Early development

The beginnings of RTSH date to the creation of Radio Tirana on 28 November 1938. The first Albanian radio station was launched by King Zog I (1895–1961) and Queen Geraldine Apponyi (1915–2002) in a ceremony at the former building of the Municipality of Tirana.

A year earlier, a shortwave transmitter with a power of 3 kW at 40 meters was put in operation in Laprake (Tirana) and intended mainly for communication, but was also used to broadcast 3 hours of programmes per day. The first broadcast consisted of choral singing, where Jorgji Truja and Marije Kraja sang an introductory piece, followed by the unique timbre of Kaliopi Nushi's voice who pronounced the following phrase: "Mirëdita, kjo është Radio Tirana" (English: Good day, this is Radio Tirana). This officially marked the first broadcast of Radio Tirana. In 1987, 66 hours of programmes were broadcast in 20 foreign languages every day.[5]

In 1959, Radio Tirana's director by that time, Petro Kita, founded the first Experimental Television Centre to provide the basis for the latter Albanian television, TVSH. With equipments from the USSR and East Germany,[6] the first test programme was held on 29 April 1960, at 6:00 pm and was introduced by the journalist Stoli Beli. The official launch was set for 1 May 1960. Children movies and then adults’ programmes were broadcast, three times a week for about one hour.[7] Television programs were regularly launched by 1971.[8] Color broadcasts started in 1981, and became regular by 1982. In 2002 TVSH ranked second with an audience share of 17.1%. The second channel, TVSH 2, began experimental broadcasts in 2003. Until 2017, it relayed the main TVSH channel without having its own programming and identity, and covered the Tirana-Durrës area. In 2012, several digital only channels were launched by RTSH.

Communist period

Despite the country's small size and isolationist policies, Radio Tirana was a fairly major international broadcaster during the Cold War. Its programmes had a reputation for being little more than dull propaganda.

During Albania's alliance with China in the 1960s and 1970s, Radio Tirana had to walk a fine line between being anti-West whilst also being anti-Soviet. As such, Radio Tirana kept close to the official policy of the People's Republic of China, which was also both anti-West and anti-Soviet whilst still being socialist in tone.

Polish Communist Kazimierz Mijal (1910–2010) broadcast his radical opinions in Polish 1966–1978.

During the 1970s, the station broadcast to Europe on 1214 kHz, causing interference problems for the British BBC Radio One on the same frequency. During the 1980s and early 1990s the international service was broadcast on 1395 kHz (along with various short wave frequencies) and was received throughout Europe during the evening and through the night. Radio Tirana also upset many amateur radio operators in Europe by operating transmitters in the 7 MHz (40 metre) amateur band.

In 1985, it broadcast only 2.5 hours per day. It opened at 20:00 and closed at 22:30. Later, in 1986, it broadcast each day for 4 hours, from 17:00 to 18:30 and 20:00 to 22:30. Most of the programming during the communist era consisted of propaganda and news programs.

Political programming predominated during this period. Features included Marxism-Leninism – an Ever-Young and Scientific Doctrine and Socialism and the Youth. The feature Leafing Through the Marxist-Leninist Press reviewed the journals of foreign communist parties allied to the

Contemporary

RTSH has dominated the Albanian broadcasting field up to the middle of the 1990s, a period when privately owned radio and television stations started to occupy the vast empty Albanian frequencies resulting in a gradual brain-drain. Lured by higher wages and not only, numerous experienced journalists and employees left the broadcaster for the new media outlets. For instance, Albania's current popular political talk shows such as Opinion by Blendi Fevziu, formerly E Diela Debat, or Fokus by Robert Papa, can track their beginnings at RTSH. Despite the brain-drain, the institution has held a leader's position in the production of programs pertaining to civics, education and science.

One of the post-communist programs leaving a lasting impression was that of talented show-man Adi Krasta, entitled Rreth Fatit për 12-Javë. The show was embedded in a national lottery, something unseen before in Albania and ran on primetime state television for about five hours non-stop in addition to offering tunes of famous American song ballads such as I've Had The Time Of My Life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and hit song Auberge by Chris Rea. In addition, American actor of Albanian descent James Belushi offered his salutations to the Albanian people from the United States in the program through an exclusive interview. Other impressive programs included 12 vallzime pa nje te shtune, Miss Albania, and musical productions from Leonard Bombaj.

The broadcaster is known for producing high quality documentaries on Albanian national heritage topics such as important personalities, surveys of Albanian historic regions, and geographic landscapes. The theatre on the screen segment features theatre performances of past years both in the drama and comedy genres. Another well-known production is the Hapesire e Blerte, an agricultural show, a long lasting programme entirely dedicated to the Albanian agricultural scene and countryside. Another important highlight is the year-end festive concert show, a yearly television program styled as a celebration of the new year where a variety of humorous sketches are conducted by talented

Broadcasting improvements

The broadcasting quality of Radio Tirana has gradually improved throughout the years. After the Second World War, noticeable improvements were observed in Albania's coverage with signal. Improvements were also noted in the external service, as the radio centre of Shijak (Durrës) was opened in November 1961 equipped with 3 transmitters, 2 in shortwave intended for the external service.

In December 1965, a new building of Radio Tirana was inaugurated. During the upcoming years, a combined total of 18 medium and short wave transmitters were installed, part of which carried Radio Tirana's external service programmes for many years.

In 2003, an attractive TV news room studio was created, and the TV (TVSH) signal on VHF band in Tirana was strengthened. TVSH became available also on UHF and experimental broadcasts of the second TV channel TVSH 2 were initiated. Later, screen graphics experienced an extreme makeover. The FM channel in the capital at 99,5 MHz was put on Stereo, and the second radio program was expanded to 24 hours a day.

In 2007, RTSH launched its official webpage with daily news briefs and a variety of information on its services. The online stream of Radio Tirana 3 was launched on 28 November 2008 by the German Radio 700 team while the Radio Tirana 1 stream was launched in January 2009.

In 2011, RTSH launched live streaming of the 50th edition of Festivali i Kenges, by possibly marking the first time that RTSH launched an online streaming video service in its history.

In 2012, RTSH started broadcasting in HD. In 2013, RTSH launched four specialty channels including: RTSH HD, RTSH Muzikë, RTSH Art, RTSH Sport. By far, RTSH holds a monopoly in rural areas where its signal dominates airwaves.

In 2017, RTSH launched three additional channels including: RTSH Fëmijë (featuring children's programming) and RTSH Kuvend, a channel dedicated to Kuvendi, the Albanian Parliament and RTSH 24.

In recent years, RTSH has upgraded TV studios and broadcasting equipment, launched a number of digital TV channels, added live online TV and radio streams, and has uploaded TV programs on YouTube.

Their old YouTube channel with dozens of videos was shut down in June 2021, losing historical documentaries and a new one was created which holds archives, the news chronics, and especially radio Tirana podcasts.