History
1930s and 40s: build-up
In 1938, RCA set up a stand at its headquarters in New York, featuring a complete system for television transmission and reception. The aim was to show interest in the new technology not only in the USA, but also abroad. One of the foreign invitees was Diários Associados. Who went to New York to represent the company was its director at the time, Dário de Almeida Magalhães. Upon returning, he wrote in an editorial at the group's main newspaper of the time, O Jornal do Rio de Janeiro, about the experiment.[4]: 37–38 The first television demonstration was held on June 3, 1939[4]: 63–64 with the help of the German company Telefunken but without the direct involvement of Diários Associados.
In July 1944, Chateaubriand visited the United States, a country he hadn't visited until then. One of the aims of the trip was to talk with David Sarnoff, who had prepared a stand showing the advances in radio and television in the world, something that, especially for radio, would be beneficial in the post-war world, perfecting the existing technology. One of the people present was Vladimir Zworykin, who answered some of Chateaubriand's questions, and demanded Sarnoff to build licenses for the first television stations in the Americas outside of the USA. Chateaubriand's ambitions were to build two television stations, one in Rio de Janeiro and one in São Paulo. However, in order to gain the equipment, Chateaubriand had to wait for the end of the war, as the war had affected the production of television equipment.[4]: 85–87
Once the war was over, in 1946, Chateaubriand convinced Sarnoff and Zworykin to obtain financial means for the stations, in exchange for extensive advertising contracts, with a varying length between 12 and 18 months. The equipment bought weighed in at US$5 million. Such sponsors had to take part in a portion of the costs of building the station, whereas a long financing with suppliers was up to Diários Associados.[4]: 88
The following year, Chateaubriand returned to the USA to finish the ordering of the equipments he bought.[4]: 89
RCA and Emissoras Associadas signed a contract on May 2, 1949, in São Paulo, however, it took close to two years to receive the equipments in Brazil.[4]: 91
1948-1950: Obtaining the licenses
S/A Rádio Tupi, who had already owned namesake radio stations in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, formalized a requirement at the Federal Government on January 7, 1948, soliciting special authorization to operate two television channels. Television still demanded high investments, so the requirement had to be done in the name of another company of the group, with Rádio Difusora São Paulo S/A being selected. In October 1948, the buying of the RCA equipment was made official, which would later be used exclusively for the São Paulo station.[4]: 107
Twenty days after Rádio Tupi's request, on January 27, 1948, Diário da Noite reported about Chateaubriand's plans for the first time: at the top of its front page, the headline announced "Television for Rio and S. Paulo" and at the bottom of the page, a small report: after being in New York, Chateaubriand would travel to London and Paris. It was initially supposed that São Paulo would get television from November 1948 and Rio de Janeiro, from February 1949.[4]: 110
Diário da Noite's reports in 1948 informed that the equipment would arrive to Brazil in June 1949, with the transmitter to be installed at the Banco do Estado de São Paulo building, at the time the tallest in the continent, and with studios in the Sumaré neighborhood, where Diários Associados had built Cidade do Rádio (Radio City) for its radio studio compound in 1942. On May 3, 1949, the day following the signing of the contract and Diário da Noite's revealing reports about the station, other newspapers owned by the group put the then-upcoming TV Tupi, specifically the São Paulo station as "South America's vanguard in the field of television". From then to the end of August that year, phrases regarding the upcoming station were published, one of them being "Aguardem as instalações de televisão dos Associados" (Wait for Associados' television facilities).[4]: 112
On October 29, 1949, the equipment for the Rio station provided by General Electric had finally arrived, whereas for the São Paulo station, from RCA, had arrived in late January 1950. Rádio e Televisão do Brasil, which had vowed for the channel 2 frequency in Rio de Janeiro, revoked its contract with General Electric at a time the proposed station was facing financial uncertainties (the station's preliminary license was revoked by order of Decree nº 30583 on February 22, 1952).[4]: 117
In May 1950, 2,400 television sets were made available in Rio de Janeiro, mainly aimed at stores, some aimed at the company. The initial goal of starting the station in late June failed, numerous delays occurred, and with the first experimental broadcasts (weeks later converted to regular broadcasts) of XHTV in Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro no longer had the "primacy" of housing the first television station in Latin America.[4]: 132
In São Paulo, RCA-Victor engineers arrived in February 1949, with the aim of studying ideal locations for the building of the studios, the transmitter and the antenna. During the building in 1950, these engineers were joined by technicians from RCA and Mario Alderighi, who started supervising the project following the conclusion of Rádio Tupi's new technical park the previous year.[4]: 135 The building was authorized on September 18, 1949 - exactly one year ahead of the start of the São Paulo station. The equipment left the USA on January 11, 1950, this time from Philadelphia,[4]: 143 arriving in São Paulo from Santos on March 24.[4]: 147
Formation
The arrival of the equipment to Rio de Janeiro was reported by the American and Argentine press. The initial goal was to have the equipment ready in time for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, held in six Brazilian cities from June 24 to July 16, with the potential televised carriage of eight matches, including the inaugural match and the final, held at the Maracanã Stadium, built for the competition. The equipment came from New York on October 14, 1949, transported by cargo to Rio de Janeiro where it arrived on October 30, 90 days before the Tupi station in São Paulo got its equipment. The expectation for the Tupi station in Rio de Janeiro was to be on air in March or April 1950.[4]: 127 Sugarloaf Mountain was selected as the site for the Rio transmitter and antenna. This selection came after a negative result from the Catholic Church to install it in Corcovado, which would have provided the station with better video and audio quality. The technical director of the station in Rio said that the potential location of the transmitter in Corcovado, which was ultimately rejected, gave proof that "science and the church have never maintained good relations". Transporting the equipment to Sugarloaf Mountain was a challenge in itself, and by then, projections for the Rio station's sign-on were aimed at June 1950. The World Cup would have been the first content seen on the station.[4]: 129–130
Camera tests were conducted in Rio de Janeiro during April 1950.[4]: 131
Tests in São Paulo
At the end of June 1950, RCA and Emissoras Associadas technicians were finishing the process of installation of the studios at the Sumaré and Banespa buildings. Finishing touches for equipment used for the station were also on the order.[4]: 165 According to the Catholic Church's calendar, 1950 was considered to be a "holy year" and numerous activities were being held in that period. Aside from that, Insústrias Alimentícias Carlos de Britto S/A had just turned 50, and to coincide with these two special occasions, Chateaubriand brought Mexican religious singer Friar José Mojica to Brazil, to perform live on Rádio Tupi São Paulo, Rádio Tupi Rio de Janeiro and Rádio Farroupilha (Porto Alegre) - all of which were under Associadas' control.[4]: 167 Mojica was subsequently invited to perform in the experimental broadcasts of TV Tupi in São Paulo, whose first test was conducted on July 4, 1950, with equipment brought in from the mobile unit and the Sumaré studio. The test broadcast with Mojica's performance was seen on two monitors totalling around 600 viewers.[4]: 169
Said experiment started at 10pm that evening starting with an RCA test pattern followed by a static ID of a native man, symbol of the station, with the inscription "PRG-3 - Tupi TV" and the start of formalities held by Homero Silva, Yara Lins and Walter Forster, who announced that this was the first broadcast, and the appearance of José Mujica.[4]: 170 Television was already starting to become a reality, even though it was still in closed circuit mode.[4]: 171 According to actor Lima Duarte, Mojica likely sang the song "Júrame", his greatest hit in his secular phase, however, said song wasn't listed in the repertory. It's unknown if Mojica sang the song live, creating an urban legend. The first test night in the closed-circuit system had great image quality, and had lived up to what Diário de São Paulo called "the greatest happening in bandeirante broadcasting".[4]: 172 Mujica did further appearances in further test broadcasts during July.[4]: 175–176
The first broadcast of the terrestrial station, on channel 3, took place on July 24, 1950 - eight days after XHTV in Mexico City did the same. The first tests used had the RCA Indian-head test pattern, which would end up being used by other stations in Brazil, including those that didn't rely on RCA for its equipment. Said test pattern would be used during the entirety of the run of monochrome television in Brazil.[4]: 195–197 This experiment lasted for 23 days.[4]: 197 Another technical challenge was the possibility of having its signal received in Jundiaí and Campinas in inland São Paulo.[4]: 197–198
Experimental programming over the terrestrial signal started on August 16, 1950, airing from 5pm to 7pm.[4]: 200 The line-up consisted of some filmed content produced by Diários Associados, including musical performances, with the length of about three to five minutes, documentaries on general topics, including football, and cartoons without subtitles in Portuguese.
1950s
On August 5, 1950, it was determined that the São Paulo station (PRF-3) would operate on VHF channel 3 under the revised callsign PRF3-TV. The number 3 had no relation to the channel's frequency and was already existent in the radio station's callsign by default.[4]: 109 Regarding the name of the station, the name "Tupi" was secondary, as the preferred name was PRF-3 and sometimes TV-3. At a later stage the channel was also known as TV Tupi-Difusora, referring to the group's two radio stations. The name "Tupi" came from a desire Assis Cheateaubriand had for years, using native Brazilian names to represent the roots of Brazilian culture.[4]: 109
The station was set to be launched on September 5, but was later delayed to September 7 (Brazil's Independence Day), and subsequently the second half of September (starting from September 16). The official launch date was announced on September 13: September 18, 1950.[4]: 206
That day, the station went on the air at 5pm with solemn formalities. At 6pm, a private cocktail for invitees was held, without being broadcast. At 9pm, broadcasts resumed with the launch show TV na Taba, featuring a variety of talents that already worked for the group's radio stations, running for two hours. All the events were held at the studios in Sumaré, which had become the "cradle" of television.[4]: 206
The test pattern was switched on at 4pm. During the solemn ceremony, Assis Chateaubriand was in the studio alongside Catholic figure Paulo Rolim Loureiro; poet Rosalina Coelho Lisboa Larragoiti, chosen as the "godmother" of PRF3-TV; young actress Sônia Maria Dorce; presenter Homero Silva; and actresses Yara Lins and Lia de Aguiar. Numerous civil, military and religious figures also attended the event.[4]: 207 Said event started thirty minutes later than planned (at 5:30pm) when the test pattern gave way to Sônia Maria Dorce, who became the first face seen on the regular service, saying "Boa tarde! Está no ar a televisão do Brasil!", dressed up in a Tupiniquim outfit, alluding to the channel's name. Yara Lins followed, mentioning the names and callsigns of all of the Associadas radio stations, more than twenty, and introduced "the first television program in Latin America".[4]: 208–210 The first commercials were read out by Homero Silva and Lia Borges de Aguiar, with congratulatory messages from four brands that invested in its building: Guaraná Antarctica, Lãs Sams, Sul América and Prata Wolff.[4]: 213
The succession of speeches ended at 6pm, during which the station, covering the hours of the private cocktail, would put the test pattern back on the air, and would also promote the 9pm show. Over time, some of the visitors who attended the ceremony entered the sectors of the station to view its facilities.[4]: 215
TV na Taba was scheduled to at 9pm. Produced by Cassiano Gabus Mendes and Luiz Gallon, it was presented by Homero Silva, who did the same in the earlier formalities. Stars from the radio stations owned by Associadas were invited and presented in small sketches, but since they had no experience in television, they thought that the show wouldn't go as planned.[4]: 216
The first night had a stressful situation, of which several versions exist. Ahead of the start of TV na Taba, the RCA TK-30 camera at studio B wasn't working. The version that is most circulated was that Chateaubriand broke the camera with a champagne bottle. Contrary to popular belief, the camera was damaged after the priest who attended the blessing ceremony threw holy water to it.[4]: 217–218 Due to the issue that damaged one of the three cameras, TV na Taba started 40 minutes later than scheduled. A two-minute film showing footage of São Paulo, troops (recorded on Independence Day less than two weeks earlier), the presses of the Associados' newspapers and people listening to radio, followed an initial slide.[4]: 222 Homero Silva introduced the station as "something so exceptional, so revolutionary". As the camera aimed at one of the women in the studio asking about what would the station offer, Homero Silva said that music was one of the key elements of the new station, before starting a succession of performances.[4]: 223 Near the end of the program, at 11:30pm, Lolita Rodrigues sang "Canção da TV", especially composed for the station, after Hebe Camargo declined.[4]: 225–226 The show lasted until 12:20am. At closing time, during the performance of Dorval Caymmi's song Acalanto, Homero Silva gave one last message:
"A televisão é tudo isso, em espetáculos diários que irão ter no recesso do lar de um imenso público. A televisão é alegria, é cultura, é divertimento!"[4]: 226
In subsequent days, the station faced another problem: obtaining content to fill the schedule. Such need arose in the hours following the inaugural broadcast. From September 19, the schedule would be filled by educational films and documentaries, as well as cartoons without translation, and content prepared for the experimental phase. Cassiano Gabus Mendes invented the catchphrase "de noite tem" (there is [content] at night), representing that the content would be shown in the evening hours.[4]: 235 Only from September 27 would Diário da Noite publish the schedules.[4]: 236 From then on, programming produced by TV Tupi would gradually appear. Only the first program of the day had a fixed starting time (8pm). The remaining programs still had uncertain starting times, meaning that in such situations, either the test pattern or the filler films would take its place.[4]: 237
The first televised news program, Imagens do Dia, in newsreel format, aired on September 28, 1950. Early editions paid attention to the then-upcoming presidential elections, which were ultimately won by Getúlio Vargas, who returned to presidency. Often, after the news, they aired cartoons: Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda, both creations by Walter Lantz.[4]: 237–238 The first feature film broadcast by Tupi was the 1947 Italian production Tragic Hunt on September 24 - Sundays were dedicated to feature-length films and Mondays were rest days. Movies were either in their original language, yet few of them had subtitles. In rare cases, dubs coming from Portugal were ordered.[4]: 241
The first football match was televised on October 15, 1950 at 3:30pm. The match was for São Paulo's state championship in which Palmeiras defeated São Paulo 2-0 at the Pacaembu Stadium. Diário de São Paulo reported the good quality of the match and soon would also air horse racing from the São Paulo Jockey Club. A competing newspaper, however, noted that such broadcast had technical issues.[4]: 243
On November 29, the first televised stage play aired: A Vida por um Fio, adapted from the American movie Sorry, Wrong Number.[4]: 245 The station managed to gain advertising revenue, although of an irregular nature, in 1950, in December that year, a regular advertising contract was signed for the first time, and regular television advertising started on January 1, 1951. Companies would also line up to sponsor entire shows. Initially commercials were read live from art cards in a wall of the studio, before changing to slides or live advertising.[4]: 251
The station awarded its definitive license on March 7, 1951.[4]: 252
The Rio station started its experimental broadcasts on October 5, 1950, callsign PRG-3.[4]: 260 The station signed on for the first time on January 20, 1951, seven days before awarding its license.[4]: 262
Over time, outside broadcasts in the São Paulo station started to become more frequent, with football matches, Sunday services and turf, the latter of which had its first telecast on November 10, 1951 from the Cidade Jardim hippodrome. Out of all these broadcasts, football matches were the main source of attraction.[4]: 312
TV Tupi Rio de Janeiro broadcast the first televised kiss on Brazilian television in its first telenovela, Sua Vida Me Pertence (Your Life Belongs to Me), on February 8, 1952.
Facing competition not only in the city alone but also in the technological field, TV Tupi reacted to TV Record and, with its updated equipment, would carry a test from São Caetano do Sul, which consisted of a friendly match between São Bento and Palmeiras. The first experiment was satisfactory, mostly due to the proximity of the two municipalities, as well as the possibility of sending the signal direct to the São Paulo studios.[4]: 313 A similar experiment was conducted in Santos for a live telecast of a match between Santos FC and Palmeiras on December 18, that same year. In July 1956, a relay station opened in Santos.[4]: 313 From then on, TV Tupi started broadcasting live football matches from Santos in addition to those already played in São Paulo.[4]: 315
When TV Record linked up its stations between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in 1956, Tupi again lagged behind. The two Tupi stations decided to form a bespoke network in the same year, by means of a provisional (but fixed) network of 500 km worth of microwave lines. The network would later extend to TV Itacolomi, in Belo Horizonte, founded in November 1955. With that, the two stations started interchanging programs.[4]: 316 With the combined efforts of the two teams, the first experimental broadcast between Rio and São Paulo took place at 5pm on July 7, 1956, when Guilherme Figueiredo, artistic director of the Rio station, introduced viewers in São Paulo. On July 9, a live broadcast from the Senate was held.[4]: 316–317
1960s
Between April 20 and 23, 1960, 12 million viewers saw live broadcasts of Juscelino Kubitschek's historic trip to Brasília in alignment with its founding and that of TV Brasília, by means of an improvised microwave link to the southeastern stations.[4]: 370–371
The arrival and massification of videotapes have led to the increase in the quality of its telenovelas. In 1963, TV Excelsior produced its first daily novela, 2-5499 Ocupado. Facing the competition, in early 1964, Tupi received a proposal from Palmolive to create daily telenovelas in the 8pm slot, with a length of 40 minutes per episode. Festival de Novelas Palmolive started with Alma Cigana, broadcast between March 2 and May 8 that year. Later, O Direito de Nascer became its first hit in the genre, which was also seen as an affront to Excelsior's competing A Moça que Veio de Longe, which didn't attract enough ratings.[4]: 392
Tupi had its own mark in news: Rede Tupi de Noticias (Tupi News Network) became one of its successful programmes. The newscast was unique because it was broadcast three times each night. Ana Maria Braga was the main presenter. It had three sections: sports, local news and national/world news.
In 1964, it became Brazil's second television network to experiment with television programmes broadcasting in color following Rede Excelsior in 1962. After its founder's death in 1968, the network, due to a crisis with its owners, transitioned itself becoming the first national television network in 1970, composed of its two main stations, Channels 4 and 6, its 7 other stations and 17 affiliate stations nationwide.
1970s
In 1972, Tupi joined other Brazilian stations in the move to full color TV broadcasts. On March 31, that very year Tupi's special program, Mais Cor em Sua Vida (More Color in Your Life) officially kicked off its color transmissions, and debuted a new logo in celebration, replacing the old number 6 logo used in Rio during its monochrome days.
The network started to experience difficulties during the 1970s, including a huge debt, which resulted in a strike by the actors of their telenovelas. Things went from bad to worse after a fire broke out in 1978.
Closure
Rede Tupi was ordered by the federal government of Brazil (military dictatorship at the time) to cease its operations. This happened from the 16th to the 18th, in July 1980, when its two stations in São Paulo (Tupi Channel 4) and Rio de Janeiro (Tupi Channel 6) shut down, together with its 7 other stations nationwide. The Department of National Telecommunications did not approve the planned extension of Rede Tupi's television licenses. Following the closure of Rede Tupi's seven stations the previous day, The Rio station signed off for the last time on midday of the 18th. The final days of broadcasts at the network's Rio de Janeiro studios are the 18-hour long vigil. The network rebroadcast the mass attended by Pope John Paul II (during his visit to Brazil) at Rio de Janeiro. Its sounds was replaced by a voiceover appealing to president João Figueiredo, accompanied by emotional background music. Then, it switched to the staff of the station who they turned emotional. "Até breve, telespectadores amigos" (See you soon, friendly viewers) and its network's name under the words, was appeared on the screen in capital letters. This was switched to its logo in a black background, with the theme song of American documentary series "Victory at Sea", composed by Richard Rodgers, as its background music, then to static. Various networks in Brazil covered the closure of the station, including Rede Bandeirantes.
Tupi's São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Belém channels became the nuclei of SBT (Brazilian Television System, then TVS, TV Studios Channel 4) of the Grupo Silvio Santos (Silvio Santos Group) of Silvio Santos later in August 1981. Its Rio, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Fortaleza outlets became the nucleus of Rede Manchete (Manchete Network Channel 9), of the Bloch Editores (Bloch Editors) publishing group of Adolpho Bloch, in June 1983.
