Radio Television Brunei (Malay: Radio Televisyen Brunei, Jawi: راديو تيليۏيشين بروني, officially abbreviated as RTB) is the national public broadcaster of Brunei. Radio Brunei made its first broadcast on 2 May 1957,[1] with a television service starting on 1 March 1975. RTB monopolises the free-to-air television in the country, and also radio until 1999, when the country's only commercial radio station, Kristal FM was founded. Currently, it operates 3 television channels and 5 radio stations. The network's logo was based from the national emblem of Brunei.
History
Brunei started its radio broadcasting on 2 May 1957 under the name Radio Brunei with an Eid al-Fitr message from SultanOmar Ali Saifuddien III. There was one studio which broadcast for 45 minutes each evening from 8:00 to 8:45 pm. The range of the single 1.2Kw transmitter was only five miles around the capital Brunei Town and surrounding areas. The first radio station would later become known as Nasional FM.[2]
In 1974, RTB had only 171 staff and three transmitting sites giving almost 100% coverage of the country and beyond.[3]
Radio Television Brunei launched the first pilot television service on 1 February 1975 when RTB Television Brunei test transmissions began.[4] Official regular television services began on 1 March 1975 from Brunei-Muara District. RTB1 was officially opened by the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah on 9 July 1975.[5][6] There were only three staff in the RTB studio and four to attend the transmitter.
Phase 1 - Used part of the Radio Studios as the television station.
Phase 2 - Utilising the current multi-purpose studio complex which was fully commissioned by 1980. A second television transmitter, operating was commissioned at Brunei-Muara District on 1 March 1976.
On 1 March 1976 was also the year of the first outside television broadcast which was the coverage of His Majesty's birthday parade from the then 'Town Padang'. The television project was budgeted at B$35M. FM Stereo Radio Services from Brunei-Muara District started on 1 March 1977. At the same time, two high power Medium Wave stations in Brunei-Muara District commenced transmission of the Malay language service. Today, around 1,100 employees work in RTB. Coverage by radio and television is almost 100% for Brunei.
In 1980, RTB sents 16 of its staffs to Singapore where they undergo on-the-job training at the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), the forerunner of Mediacorp.[7]
In 1982, RTB sents another 4 staffs to undergo certain training at the SBC in Singapore.[8] On the same year, it acquires 75% of programmes produced by SBC.[9][10]
In 1983, RTB through its Training Unit conducts a training programme for its staffs and officers as preparation to celebrates Brunei's independence by 1984.[11]
RTB aired a joint radio-TV simulcast of the ceremony of the declaration of independence day on New Year's Eve 1983 and the first National Day Parade in 1984.
In 1985, RTB allows a dressing changes for its Muslim news presenters, with men have his songkoks dispensed with and women have her traditional hijabwear shed.[12][13]
In 1987, a senior officer of RTB proposed an establishment of a consortium to operate an ASEAN satellite for news and TV program exchange for all ASEAN broadcasting stations.[14]
Towards the end of the 20th century, four more radio stations were established: vernacular station Pilihan FM on 31 December 1995, youth station Pelangi FM on 1 January 1996, family station Harmoni FM on 15 July 1996 and Islamic station Nur Islam FM on 2 May 1997. In 2002, RTB commissioned an initial transmission consultancy project on incorporating a digital broadcasting, which was conducted by NTL Asia Pacific.[15]
On 9 July 2003, 24-hour international television channel RTB4 International went on the air. By 2010, High Definition (HD) entertainment channel RTB3 and Islamic channel RTB5 were added to RTB's television network, but RTB3 and RTB5 each had only 6 hours of transmission per day and only broadcast in the evening.[16]
On 11 April 2017, RTB made a major rebranding project for its TV channels. RTB1 and RTB5 merged to form RTB Perdana, while RTB2 and RTB3 combined as RTB Aneka and RTB4 renamed as RTB Sukmaindera.[17][18] The rebranding was made as part of RTB's plan to transition the current analogue television broadcasting to digital television.[19][20][21]
On 2 May 2017, RTB celebrates 60th anniversary of its radio broadcast.[22]
RTM announced it was officially discontinued the analogue broadcasting transmitted from Bukit Subok on 31 December 2017.[23]
In 2020, RTB signed a memorandum of understanding with the Universiti Teknologi Brunei to create a mutual partnership in creative media industry.[24]
In 2021, RTB began to aired educational programmes to provide "additional learning support", which will be aired during school days.[25]
Properties and facilities
Bandar Seri Begawan
RTB Headquarters (Secretariat Building, Jalan Elizabeth II)
All logos of the RTB television channels consist of the italic letters R, T and B in three separate boxes, similar to pre-1998 BBC logos, with the channel's name below.
RTB Perdana's logo is blue. The word "perdana" is presented in lower case.
RTB Aneka's logo is orange. The word "Aneka" is presented in sentence case, the capital letter A is white superimposed on an orange diamond with grey shadow behind it.
RTB Sukmaindera's logo is green. The word "SUKMAINDERA" is presented in upper case.
RTB GO is RTB's Over-the-top media service (OTT).[29] It covers viewers across multiple devices such as computers, tablets, smartphones. The service's website contains all RTB's radio stations and television channels except for RTB Perdana. However, RTB Aneka and RTB GO Live are not available for view outside Brunei.[30]
Flagship programmes
Rampai Pagi (Jawi: رامڤأي ڤاڬي, Morning Medley) - An all-time breakfast television programme in the form of a talk show, which airs on RTB Perdana and RTB Sukmaindera.
^Also available in Malaysia through the border in the northern part of the state of Sarawak and the island territory of Labuan) and also worldwide through its international television channel, RTB Sukmaindera.
