Radio Belgrade-Rakovica (1924–1929) Radio Belgrade is among the oldest electronic media in
Europe and its first broadcast from the radio-telegraph station was in
Rakovica on 1 October 1924 as
Radio Belgrade-Rakovica. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 6:45 PM to 7:45 PM, concerts were broadcast, along with news, service information, advertisements, water level updates, and stock market reports. During World War II, because of its relative proximity to
North Africa, and the fact it had a limited number of
gramophone records, Radio Belgrade -- then requisitioned by the
Nazi German occupiers and renamed
Soldatensender Belgrad (Soldiers' Radio Belgrade) -- was the place where the schmalzy homesick longing song
Lili Marlen became broadcast fairly regularly and thus gained enormous popularity among both German and
Allied soldiers.
Radio Television Belgrade (1958–1991) Radio Television Belgrade (RTB), consisting of Radio Belgrade and Television Belgrade (TVB) was established as a result of the decision by the Executive Council of the
Socialist Republic of Serbia on 13 February 1958. This came after the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's government decision of 1956 to invest in a television network. The first televised broadcast was on 23 August 1958, an edition of the
Dnevnik (Journal) news programme with
Miloje Orlović, Branislav Surutka, Olga Nađ, Olivera Živković and Vera Milovanović. The first RTB program was broadcast from the
Belgrade Fair and from a new TV Studio build there. From 1961, RTS began to use
quadruplex video tape recording equipment. The Sixties saw dramatic development in all genres of TV programs. TVB became famous by its sitcoms, directed and written by Radivoje-Lola Djukić, Novak Novak and others (only a small proportion is preserved, owing to implicit censorship and shortage of tapes). Also, TVB had excellent documentary programs (series
Karavan,
Reflektor and others) and quizzes. By 1970, the entire territory of Serbia was covered by the RTS signal. On 31 December 1971, TVB started broadcasting in
PAL color system on its second network. A new AM (radio) broadcast equipment in Zvečka, Obrenovac, with 2000 kW transmitter was erected in 1976. After the political turmoil in the 1970s (against the "liberals") the program of RTB became more sterile, however, in the 1980s it reached the zenith. In 1989, preparation for the formation of the RTS system officially began. That same year, 3K TVB started broadcasting as the youth, alternative TV channel. Along with it, Radio 101 started broadcasting in Belgrade and Vojvodina. Radio 101 was the more commercial youth radio, carrying pop and turbo-folk hits. It was intended to complement the more alternative Belgrade 202. In 1990, a few regional studios (Niš, Kragujevac, Jagodina, Šabac) officially started
broadcasting regional programming via a window in place of "Beogradska hronika". In 1991, all public broadcasters within Serbia began the formation of the RTS network system by merging their stations and programming direction to RTB, which served as flagship of the RTS network.
Radio Television of Serbia (1990s) During the
March 1991 anti-war demonstrations in Belgrade, the protesters issued a series of demands, one of which was the sacking of RTB's general director, Dušan Mitević. The Yugoslav government eventually relented and removed Mitević from his position at RTB. On 8 October 1991, four RTB journalists were killed on the
Glina–
Petrinja road, in central
Croatia, while covering Yugoslavia's civil war. RTS was established in 1992 with the merger of RTB and regional networks Radio-Television Novi Sad and Radio-Television Priština into a true national network. All transmitters, relay stations, antennas and other television equipment once owned by these broadcasters were inherited by RTS. As Yugoslavia
disintegrated, RTS's journalistic standards plummeted. During the
Siege of Dubrovnik, RTS claimed that smoke rising from the city's Old Town was the result of automobile tires set on fire by locals. During the
Siege of Sarajevo, RTS newscasts showed an image of
Sarajevo from the 1980s, untouched, thereby downplaying the severity of the siege. As the wars dragged on, the Yugoslav government began terminating the employment of many dissenting journalists. By January 1993, nearly 1,300 RTS employees – amounting to one-third of the broadcaster's pre-war workforce – had been fired. RTS was active during the
Kosovo War and the concurrent
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. On 20 April, the
Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General
Wesley Clark, ordered that RTS was to be bombed off the air. NATO missiles struck RTS at 2:06 a.m on 23 April. Serbia's
Minister of Information,
Aleksandar Vučić, who would become
Prime Minister in 2014 and
President in 2017, scheduled to appear on
CNN's
Larry King Live from RTS's headquarters at 2:30 a.m., narrowly escaped the bombing. Sixteen RTS employees were killed and an additional 16 were injured. The human rights organization
Amnesty International condemned the attack and described it as a war crime. NATO officials stated that the alliance considered RTS a legitimate target because of its "biased and distorted coverage" of the war. In 2002, Dragoljub Milanović, the general manager of RTS, was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years' imprisonment for failing to evacuate the broadcaster's headquarters despite repeated threats by NATO officials that it would be bombed.
Radio Television of Serbia (2000s) After Milošević's removal from power, RTS underwent reconstruction in order to regain respect amongst much of its audience which the network had lost during the '90s. Particular emphasis was put on news programming which suffered greatly during the 1990s. In 2006 RTS became the most viewed television network in Serbia and has retained this position since then. Early that year, RTS decided to shut down one of its television channels.
3K (Treći kanal RTS-a) was a channel dedicated to the youth, which, however, became the main film, series and sports channel in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.
General directors • 1955–1959:
Mirko Tepavac • 1959–1962: Dušan Popović • 1962–1972: Zdravko Vuković • 1972–1985: Milan Vukos • 1985–1988: Ratomir Vico • 1989–1991:
Dušan Mitević • 1991–1991: Ratomir Vico • 1992–1992: Dobrosav Bjeletić • 1992–1995:
Milorad Vučelić • 1995–2000: Dragoljub Milanović • 2000–2001: Nenad Ristić • 2001–2004: Aleksandar Crkvenjakov • 2004–2013:
Aleksandar Tijanić • 2013–2015: Nikola Mirkov • 2015–2026: Dragan Bujošević • 2026–present: Manja Grčić In 2007, the
BBC World Service Trust launched an extensive training programme at Serbia's national broadcaster. This 30-month project, which was funded by the
European Union, provided extensive journalism, craft and management training to all levels of staff at the broadcaster. In 2008, RTS underwent major changes as it celebrated 50 years of existence. The network launched its digital network which uses DTT
Digital terrestrial television via several
DVB-T transmitters. It has also invested millions in new technology. The new high-definition television system was first put in place in May for the
2008 Eurovision Song Contest while on 26 November 2008, RTS began airing its new channel "RTS Culture and Arts" which is a DTT-only channel, transmitted in 16:9 standard definition format, with stereo and 5.1 digital audio. During 2008 the networks web presentations was greatly improved. On 23 August 2008, the 50th anniversary of
Dnevnik (the RTS news bulletin) was celebrated. A special edition of the 19:30
Dnevnik was aired with
Mića Orlović, the first newsreader to host the news in Serbia, hosted the special addition helped by Dušanka Kalanj, the first female newsreader in Serbia. The theme of the evening's news included a reflection on the past 50 years a projection of the future as well as the news of the day. The weather was read out by Kamenko Katić, the first weather forecaster. All babies born on 23 August 2008, received a
flat screen television set from RTS. On 9 September 2009, at 21:00
CET, RTS launched its first high definition channel – RTS HD. RTS was the host broadcaster of the semi-final and finals of the
Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Serbia gained the rights to host the contest after
Marija Šerifović's 2007 victory in
Helsinki, Finland. The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was held in
Belgrade. RTS broadcast the event as usual (since 2004) on RTS1. The host couple were
Jovana Janković and
Željko Joksimović. The rating of the final of Eurovision was overwhelming with 4,560,000 people tuning in to watch making it the most watched event on Serbian television as well as on RTS.
Radio Television of Serbia (2010s) In 2011, RTS issued a written apology to the citizens of Serbia and former Yugoslavia for its actions during the regime of Slobodan Milošević and the break up of Yugoslavia. The letter apologises for the network's senseless reporting and the hurt it caused to the public. It vows "never to let history repeat itself." On 23 August 2014, at the 56th anniversary of the broadcaster, RTS got a new visual identity: focusing on new on-screen logos introduced on 18 February for their terrestrial channels. At the same day, the watermarks changed themselves to fit into the 16:9 format. Since the entry of the
Serbian Progressive Party and
Aleksandar Vučić to power after 2012, RTS has been regularly accused of being biased in favor of the incumbent SNS government and against the opposition. Multiple reports have indicated that the state broadcasting service and its
Vojvodinian counterpart have given disproportionate time to the government and pro-government voices during election campaigning. The opposition has called for resignations from the board of the and the Radio Television of Serbia during anti-government protests. ==Television==