VRT (broadcaster)

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Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie
TypeTerrestrial radio and television
Country
Belgium (Flanders and Brussels)
AvailabilityBelgium
OwnerFlemish Community
Launch date
1930 (radio)
1953 (television)
Former names
NIR (1930–1960),
BRT (1960–1991),
BRTN (1991–1998)
Official website
www.vrt.be
The communications tower at the headquarters of VRT / RTBF in Brussels, the Reyers Tower.

The VRT (Dutch: [ˌveːjɛrˈteː]), is the national public-service broadcaster for the Flemish Community of Belgium.

History[]

See also: RTBF § History

VRT is the successor to a succession of organisations. The Belgian National Institute of Radio Broadcasting was known as the Nationaal Instituut voor de Radio-omroep (NIR) in Flemish and the L'Institut National de Radiodiffusion (INR) in French, was founded in 1930 and existed until 1960. This became the Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT) in 1960 and the Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep Nederlandstalige Uitzendingen (BRTN) from 1991 to 1998.[citation needed]

The NIR/INR and BRT (Radio-Télévision Belge, or RTB, in French) had each been single state-owned entities with separate Dutch- and French-language production departments. They were housed in Le Flagey, formerly known as the Maison de la Radio, from when the new building was completed in 1938 until 1974, when the building became too small.[1][2] However, in 1977, as part of the ongoing state reform in Belgium broadcasting became reserved to the language communities rather than the national government in 1977. Accordingly, BRT/RTB went their separate ways in 1977. While the former French half changed its name to RTBF in 1977, the Dutch side retained the BRT name until becoming BRTN in 1991. However, the two broadcasters share production facilities on Auguste Reyerslaan (French: Boulevard Auguste Reyers) in Brussels.[citation needed]

The final renaming to VRT, on 1 January 1998, followed a change in the organization's legal status: from being part of a semi-governmental entity (a parastatale in Belgian terminology) it had, on 16 April 1997, became a publicly owned corporation (NV van publiek recht) in its own right.[citation needed]

As successors to the NIR/INR, VRT and its counterpart in the French Community of Belgium, RTBF, share the Belgian membership in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – an association of public broadcasters in the countries of Europe and the Mediterranean rim that, amongst other activities, organises the annual Eurovision Song Contest.[citation needed] Much like RTBF, it is also one of the 23 founding members.

With the ending of its television monopoly – marked by the creation of VTM, a commercial television company that initially captured more than half of VRT's audience – the public broadcaster has been compelled to fight back, and part of its successful response has been the use of external production houses such as Woestijnvis, the creator of such formats as The Mole (De mol) and  [nl] (Man bijt hond).[citation needed]

Television channels[]

Television channels are transmitted on:[3]

Current channels[]

  • Één (Dutch for: one), the main channel, formerly known as VRT TV1. Started in 1953 on VHF channel 10. In PAL colour since 1971. In 1977 the transmission standard changed from Belgian 625 to European CCIR) standard.
  • Canvas, the quality TV channel. Started in 1997.
  • Ketnet, the children's channel. Formerly took up Canvas's channel from 6am to 8pm.
  • Sporza, the sports channel. Sport programs (like cycling, football, tennis...) are aired under the Sporza name but on the channels of Één, Canvas or Ketnet. During big sport events (like the Olympics) it is not uncommon for two or more channels to simultaneously air Sporza.

Former channels[]

  • BRTN TV2 was launched on 26 April 1977 as BRT TV2. BRT(N) TV2 broadcast Terzake and Het Journaal 8 uur until Sunday, 30 November 1997, when TV2 ceased transmission. On Monday 1 December 1997, BRTN TV2 was split into two channels: BRTN Ketnet and BRTN Canvas. The two channels were part of BRTN until 1998 – Canvas and Ketnet are still broadcasting as part of VRT2.
  • OP12 (Dutch for: on twelve) was a channel used as backup in the event of primetime shortage. Mostly used for excess sport- and culture programs. It was discontinued in 2014.[6]
  • BVN was a joint Dutch-Flemish TV station for international audiences; some VRT programmes aired as part of BVN's schedule. VRT left the BVN venture in July 2021; the channel is currently owned exclusively by the Dutch public broadcaster NPO and airs an exclusively Dutch schedule.

Radio channels[]

The VRT broadcasts radio channels in both analog format (FM) and digital format (using DAB+). All channels are also broadcast live over the Internet.

International broadcasting was done via VRT's Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal (RVi).

regular channels[]

  • Radio 1 - info channel
  • Radio 2 - Flemish channel
  • Klara - classical channel
  • StuBru - young and alternative channel
  • MNM - hit channel

digital-only channels at DAB+ & radioplus.be[]

  • Klara continuo - uninterrupted classical music
  • MNM Hits - uninterrupted popular music
  • VRT NWS - latest news programme continuously repeated

streaming-only channels at radioplus.be[]

  • Radio 1 Classics - uninterrupted classics songs
  • Radio 1 De Lage Landen Lijst
  • Radio 2 Bene Bene - uninterrupted music from Flemish artists
  • Radio 2 Unwind
  • Ketnet Hits - uninterrupted kids music
  • MNM Hits - the music you love
  • MNM R&Beats - uninterrupted urban music
  • MNM 90's & 00's - uninterrupted popular music from the nineties and nillies
  • StuBru De Tijdloze - uninterrupted alternative classics
  • StuBru Hooray - uninterrupted hiphop music
  • StuBru Bruut - uninterrupted heavy music
  • StuBru UNTZ
  • StuBru #ikluisterbelgisch

TMC[]

They also have a TMC service transmitted on Radio 2.

Logo history[]

  • NIR logo (1953–1960)

  • VRT's third and older logo used from 1960 to 1978.

  • BRT logo (1977–1991)

  • BRTN logo (1991–1998)

  • VRT logo (1998–2002)

  • VRT's sixth logo used from 7 January 2002 to 21 June 2017.

  • VRT's seventh and previous logo from 22 June 2017 to July 2021.

  • VRT's eighth and current logo since July 2021.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Le Flagey, the former Maison de la Radio". Brusselslife.be. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  2. ^ "The Flagey Building". Flagey. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  3. ^ "Televisie kijken" [Watch TV] (in Dutch). VRT.
  4. ^ "VRT News, May 17 2018". VRT News. 17 May 2018.
  5. ^ "VRT blijft via de ether uitzenden" [VRT to keep broadcasting via ether]. Totaal TV (in Dutch). 7 July 2018.
  6. ^ "OP12". VRT. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.

External links[]

Coordinates: 50°51′10″N 4°24′06″E / 50.85278°N 4.40167°E / 50.85278; 4.40167

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