The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie ("Flemish Radio and Television broadcasting organisation"), shortened to VRT, is one of the national public service broadcasters for the Flemish Community of Belgium. Its counterpart in the French Community is the French-language RTBF (Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française), and in the German-speaking Community it is BRF (Belgischer Rundfunk).
The VRT operates six television channels (VRT 1, VRT Canvas, Ketnet, Sporza, VRT NWS and VRT MAX) together with a number of radio channels, including Radio 1, Radio 2, Klara, Studio Brussel, and MNM.
History
The VRT is the successor to a succession of organisations. Belgium's National Institute of Radio Broadcasting (INR-NIR) was founded in 1930 and existed until 1960. It was subsequently split along linguistic lines with Dutch language programming becoming the Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT) in 1960 and the Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep Nederlandstalige Uitzendingen (BRTN) from 1991 to 1998.
The NIR/INR and BRT (RTB) had each been single state-owned entities with separate Dutch- and French-language production departments. They were housed in the Flagey Building, also known as the Radio House, from when the new building was completed in 1938 until 1974 when the building became too small.[1]