Radio Belgrade (1929–1958)

Radio Belgrade began its broadcasts in 1929. The first news announcer in 1929 was Jelena Bilbija. The first radio program in Serbia was broadcast in February 1929, when released radio signal was transmitted from the transmitter in Belgrade suburb of Rakovica. After five years, on 24 March 1929 Radio Belgrade began its regular broadcasting program, with art music.^[4][5]

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 (unfortunately, 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.^[6] The Yugoslav government eventually relented and removed Mitević from his position at RTB.^[7] On 8 October 1991, four RTB journalists were killed on the Glina–Petrinja road, in central Croatia, while covering Yugoslavia's civil war.^[8]

RTS headquarters damaged after NATO bombing

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.^[9] All transmitters, relay stations, antennas and other television equipment once owned by these broadcasters were inherited by RTS.^[10] 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.^[11] During the Siege of Sarajevo, RTS newscasts showed an image of Sarajevo from the 1980s, untouched, thereby downplaying the severity of the siege.^[12] 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.^[13]

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.^[14] NATO missiles struck RTS at 2:06 a.m on 23 April.^[15][16] Serbia's Minister of Information, Aleksandar Vučić, scheduled to appear on CNN's Larry King Live from RTS's headquarters at 2:30 a.m., narrowly escaped the bombing.^[17] 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.^[18] NATO officials stated that the alliance considered RTS a legitimate target because of its "biased and distorted coverage" of the war.^[14] The bombing temporarily forced RTS off the air, but it resumed broadcasting several hours later, and continued to do so for the rest of the conflict.^[14]

Most of RTS's headquarters was reconstructed after the war, but part of it was left in ruins as a memorial to those killed. The victims of the bombing were later memorialized by the Zašto? (Why?) monument in Belgrade's Tašmajdan Park.^[19] 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.^[20]

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.

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.^[21]

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.^[22] 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.^[23]

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."^[24]

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.

Channels

There are currently five channels:

• RTS1 is the oldest television station in Serbia, launched on 23 August 1958 as Televizija Beograd. It is available nationally free-to-air and is the most watched television channel in the country beating the other two most popular television networks in Serbia, RTV Pink and Prva.^[25] RTS1 offers viewers political shows and debates and domestic and international shows. RTS1 airs a range of locally produced dramas, which are among the most watched television shows in Serbia.
• RTS2 is first colour television station in Serbia, launched on 31 December 1971 as TVB 2. Available nationally free-to-air, it focuses on educational programmes and sporting events. Parliamentary sittings are also broadcast live on RTS2.
• RTS3 is first digital-only channel which began broadcasting on 26 November 2008 as RTS Digital. The channel, available nationally free-to-air, mainly airs cultural programmes, with emphasize on music (classical musical and jazz performances, in particular) broadcasting various concerts as well as ballet performances. Among other things, the channel broadcasts the Vienna New Year's Concert and the Eurovision Song Contest live each year.
• RTS Svet, launched on 14 May 1991, is the satellite service created to serve the Serbian diaspora across the world. It broadcasts the most popular programmes from RTS1, RTS2 and RTS3. RTS Svet now covers Australia, Europe, North America and Eurasia (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia).

Programming