Tuesday 31 October marks exactly 70 years since the first regular television broadcast in Belgium was aired, a historic moment which is being celebrated by the national television broadcasters RTBF and VRT.
After a few experiments on the occasion of major events such as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June, regular television broadcasts took place for the first time in Belgium on Saturday 31 October 1953.
At the time, it was aired by the National Institute for Radio Broadcasting (NIR), the predecessor of current the Dutch-speaking VRT and French-speaking RTBF, founded in 1930 as a broadcaster on the model of the BBC.
The first programmes were broadcast from the Flagey building in Ixelles. That evening’s broadcast started in Dutch, with the so-called "test image" starting at 19:15, followed by the "opening image" at 19:25.
At 19:30, an episode of ‘Panorama’, featuring the week’s current affairs, was scheduled to broadcast, but this only started at 19:44 as then-TV director Bert Leysen spoke first, according to VRT NWS. This was followed by a TV adaptation of the play ‘Three Dozen Red Roses’ and the screening of a film on the occasion of the third International Tourism and Folklore Film Week.
Celebrating milestone
That same broadcaster will be celebrating this historic moment on Tuesday night, with a special programme "70 years of TV" diving into the archives and reconstructing the broadcast schedule of that first day.
The show, hosted by television presenter Luc Appermont, can be viewed at 19:45 on VRT 1. He will revisit this milestone by leaping forward by ten-year increments on the show starting from the first programme.
RTBF, the French-speaking public broadcaster, is inviting its viewers to its "RTBF Experiences Village" for the 70th anniversary of television broadcast. It will tour the Wallonia-Brussels Federation for a month, offering an immersive experience of RTBF's history, with audiovisual experiences of the past, present and future.
Other activities linked to RTBF's 70th anniversary are planned outside the village, including a behind-the-scenes look at RTBF and a 'Repair Café' for audiovisual equipment with PointCulture. Various programmes celebrating this milestone have also been scheduled in the past days, and will be broadcast in the days to come.
