Radio Television Brunei

Radio Television Brunei (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. Radio Television Brunei also monopolise 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.

Radio Television Brunei (RTB)
TypeState Broadcaster
BrandingRadio Televisyen Brunei (RTB)
Country
Brunei
First air date
2 May 1957
AvailabilityNationwide (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
Founded2 May 1957
Radio stationsNasional FM (Brunei), Pelangi FM, Pilihan FM, Harmoni FM and Nur Islam FM
HeadquartersSecretariat Building, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
AreaBrunei
OwnerGovernment of Brunei
ParentPrime Minister's Office of Brunei
RTB Perdana, RTB Aneka, RTB Sukmaindera
Official website
www.rtb.gov.bn

History

RTB started its radio broadcasting on 2 May 1957 under the name Radio Brunei with a Hari Raya Message from His Majesty Al-Marhum DYMM Paduka Seri Baginda Maulana Al-Sultan Sir Muda Omar 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 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 Channel 5 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] 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 RTB2 or Channel 8 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.

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.

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. On 1 September 2006, 24-hour international television channel RTB International (later known as RTB4) 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.[6]

On 11 April 2017, RTB made a major rebranding project for its TV stations. RTB1 and RTB5 merged to form RTB Perdana, while RTB2 and RTB3 combined as RTB Aneka and RTB4 renamed as RTB Sukmaindera.[7][8] The rebranding was made as part of RTB's plan to transition the current analogue television broadcasting to digital television.[9]

Terrestrial stations

Radio stations
Frequency Station Language Format Launch date Ref
92.3 and 93.8 MHzNasional FMMalayNews and Full-service2 May 1957[10]
95.9 and 96.9 MHzPilihan FMEnglish, Chinese (Mandarin) and NepaliInfotainment, Top 40 (CHR) and Oldies31 December 1995[11]
91.0 and 91.4 MHzPelangi FMMalay and EnglishInfotainment and Talk radio1 January 1996[12]
94.1 and 97.7 MHzHarmoni FMMalayClassic hits and Talk radio15 July 1996[13]
93.3 and 94.9 MHzNur Islam FMMalayReligion2 May 1997[14]

Television channels
Name Language Programming Ref
RTB PerdanaMalay, English and IndonesianNews, culture, entertainment and sports[15]
RTB AnekaMalay, English, Korean, Tagalog, Chinese (Mandarin), Turkish and ThaiCulture, entertainment, children, sports and education[16]
RTB SukmainderaMalay and EnglishNews, culture, entertainment, children and sports[17]

Over-the-top media service

RTB GO is RTB's Over-the-top media service (OTT). 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 is not available for view outside Brunei.[18]

Programs

Action

Animated shows

Anime

Children's Programmes

Wrestling

Drama

Telenovela

Western

Sports

Soap Opera

Reality

Comedy

Space Opera

Detective

Magazine

Anthology

Game Show

Lifestyle
  • All Muck and Magic

Hidden Camera

Documentary

TV Specials/Films

Cooking

See also

References
  1. "Radio expansion for Brunei". The Singapore Free Press. 23 February 1962. p. 2. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  2. "Radio Brunei is planned". The Straits Times. 2 January 1957. p. 10. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  3. "TV warna di Brunei". Berita Harian. 9 October 1974. p. 3. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  4. "Pelancaran siaran TV warna di Brunei capai kejayaan". Berita Harian. 6 March 1975. p. 2. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  5. "Peringkat pertama projek TV warna Brunei dilancarkan". Berita Harian. 10 July 1975. p. 11. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  6. "RTB Television Channels". RTB. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012.
  7. Fizah Hab (12 April 2017). "State broadcaster to revamp, digitise TV channels". Asia News Network. Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  8. "State broadcaster to revamp, digitise TV channels". Borneo Bulletin. 12 April 2017. Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  9. "Brunei Mansuh Siaran Analog, Kini Digital Penuh". My News Hub. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  10. "Nasional FM". RTB.
  11. "Pilihan FM". RTB.
  12. "Pelangi FM". RTB.
  13. "Harmoni FM". RTB.
  14. "Rangkaian Nur Islam". RTB.
  15. "RTB Perdana". RTB.
  16. "RTB Aneka". RTB.
  17. "RTB Sukmaindera". RTB.
  18. "RTB GO's official website". RTB.
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