Birth and early years Rai announced the opening of its second television network in late 1960. Its early plans suggested that the network would open by the autumn of 1961. In the company's roadmap, it was planned that Rai would have 32 transmitters and 11 relayers carrying the service by year-end 1962. Rai 2 begins its regular broadcasts on 4 November 1961 (after three months of experimental broadcasts, starting from 1 August that same year) under the name
Secondo Programma: the birth of Rai's second network was baptized by
Aba Cercato, who presented the inaugural broadcast of the nascent channel, dedicated to the
First World War, with the airing of
Giuseppe Dessi's miniseries
La trincea, given the coincidence of the launch of the channel with
National Unity and Armed Forces Day; the birth of the new channel was also celebrated by
Mina during
Studio Uno, on the air, though, on
Programma Nazionale, the extant network. Its first director was
Angelo Romanò, flanked by Fabio Borrelli and
Pier Emilio Gennarini. Already from its inception, the channel had the aim of broadcasting alternative programming to that of Programma Nazionale, but for a long time, it was considered Rai's
minor channel: its programmes had much more limited budgets compared to the first channel and furthermore, while the variety shows on the National Programme featured the great stars of the time as protagonists, on the Second Programme instead space was given to the new talents of entertainment who, once they achieved popularity, were "promoted" on the first channel. Some examples in this sense are
Diamoci tu and
Teatro 11. Precisely because of this dynamic and experimental vocation, the channel proved to be a true hotbed of talent, who would later become stars of the first magnitude on the television scene and beyond, and also of new
formats. Starting from 1965,
Jeux Sans Frontières (where Italy would eventually take part in every edition) aroused interest throughout the country; furthermore in 1969
Renzo Arbore debuted with the variety show
Speciale per voi, one of the first television programmes aimed at a young audience with musical guests and studio debates; in 1967 another historic summer event began to be broadcast, the
Festivalbar, a musical event that became an event for young people. In 1970,
Rischiatutto debuted, the famous game show by
Mike Bongiorno which became a great success, so much so that the Rai top management decided to move it to the first channel for the 1972 and 1974 finals. From its first day on air the channel aired
Telegiornale del Secondo Programma (the current
TG2), a brief news bulletin that aired after
Telegiornale which had the aim of informing all those viewers who had missed the news on the first channel; this news programme, which included rapid investigations and quicker news, was produced in a different way than that of the Programma Nazionale.
Enzo Biagi, already director of Telegiornale, debuted as a presenter in 1962 on Secondo Programma with
RT Rotocalco Televisivo, the first Italian topical magazine programme. In these years, Secondo Programma aired TV series and miniseries produced for the channel (with a smaller budget than their counterparts on Programma Nazionale): these included
Mastro Don Gesualdo, ''L'ultima boheme
, Paura per Janet
and the French miniseries Belphegor, or the Phantom of the Louvre, this last one also repeated on the first channel. In the early 70s, it aired programs related to animation, such as Mille e una sera
and GULP! - I Fumetti in TV''. Even the second channel reserved a small slot for advertising, in alternative to the first channel's
Carosello with
Intermezzo, which aired until the end of 1976. At 3:50pm on August 22, 1972, the channel made its first color broadcast - albeit experimental - employing the
PAL format. Rosanna Vaudetti, who launched Secondo Programma in 1961, delivered the first color announcement, introducing the opening ceremony of the
1972 Summer Olympics. She donated the dress she wore for the announcement to the Rai Radio and Television Museum in 2025.
The Fichera management With the 1975 RAI reforms, Secondo Programma, in 1976, was given the new name
Rete 2 (Network 2), and as consequence, Telegiornale del Secondo Programma became
TG2, separating itself from the extant Telegiornale brand (eventually becoming
TG1) and becoming completely autonomous; the network and its newscast were given their own directives, assuring the contents they aired. The first network and TG2 directors were respectively
Massimo Fichera (nominated on 2 December 1975) and
Andrea Barbato (nominated on 16 December), of Socialist expression. The network declared itself more youthful and experimental in contrast to Rete 1: here, programs such as ''
L'altra domenica came to be, seen as an alternative to Domenica in, aired until the early 80s, and Buonasera con...'', program which featured the participation of showbiz personalities. Still under Fichera's management, other programs deemed controversial for its period were born, such as
Odeon, airing from 1976 to 1978,
Stryx, aired in 1978 and presented by
Tony Renis,
Onda libera (noted under the name
Televacca) presented
Roberto Benigni and the historic tourist travel program
Sereno variabile, presented by
Osvaldo Bevilacqua, which aired until 2019. In 1979, the channel airs the
Processo per stupro. There was also
Portobello, created and hosted by Enzo Tortora, who returned to Rai after eight years of exile spent managing local stations. The program aired starting in May 1977; initially placed in late evening and broadcast in black and white, after a short time it became a successful program so much so that from the following autumn it was promoted to prime time and began to be broadcast in color (in reality it should have broadcast with this system from the first episode, so as to be officially the first color program on the channel, but the studios at the Milan fair from where it was broadcast were only equipped at the beginning of 1978). == Logo ==