Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française
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Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (French Broadcasting-television or RTF) was the French national public broadcasting company between 1949 and June 27, 1964. It was created on February 9, 1949 to replace Radiodiffusion Française (RDF) and was replaced by the notionally less-strictly government controlled Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF).
The RTF was both state-owned and state-controlled due to having a budget set by the French National Assembly under the direction of the Ministry of Information; this meant that new investments and programmes were not possible without the direct agreement of the Minister and of the Minister of Finance.
Alain Peyrefitte, Minister for Information in 1963 said of the RTF "it is the government in the dining room of all the French!"
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[edit] Offices
The head office of the RTF was located in the avenue de Friedland dans le VIIIème district of Paris. The studios and technical buildings for television were located 13-15 rue Cognac-Jay.
[edit] Channels
By the 1960s, the RTF consisted of 5 radio and 2 television channels:
[edit] Radio
- France I (later France-Inter)
- France II, regional programmes (closed December 8, 1963)
- France III, (later France-Culture)
- France IV, on FM only (later France-Music)
- France V, formerly Radio Algiers, a name which it took again on July 5, 1962 following the independence of Algeria when it stopped being part of RTF.
[edit] Television
- La première chaîne, literally "The First Channel", broadcast on VHF 441 lines until January 3, 1956 and in 819 lines in black and white from July 25, 1948.
- La deuxième chaîne, literally "The Second Channel", created on December 21, 1963 on UHF 625 lines in black and white.
[edit] Regional television
Regional television, other than for Paris, was slow in development compared with the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The first regional station began April 10, 1950 with two hours a day of programming for Lille. The main news programme was called "Images of North" (Images du Nord). "Tele-Lille" had a reach across borders, with five times more Belgian viewers (in Ghent and Tournai) than in northern France. By February 1952, a co-axial link with the main studios in Paris allowed "Tele-Lille" to rebroadcast main RTF programming when not on air. On October 15, 1953 "Tele Strasbourg" began, marking the beginning of the spread of regional television. Marseilles followed on September 20, 1954, Lyon on November 8, 1954, Toulouse in August 1961, Bordeaux on January 25, 1962 and most other regional centres following shortly afterward.
From late 1963, the regional programmes moved to La deuxième chaîne, and remained there until the opening of La troisième chaîne (The Third Channel) under the ORTF on December 31, 1972.
[edit] Directors
The directors of the RTF were directly appointed by the Minister of Information.
Directors-general:
- Wladimir Porché : 09/02/1949 - 01/02/1957
- Gabriel Delaunay : 01/02/1957 - 07/1958
- Christian Chavanon : 07/1958 - 21/03/1960
- Raoul Ergman : 21/03/1960 - 02/1962
- Robert Bordaz : 02/1962 - 23/07/1964
Assistant directors-general:
- Raymond Janot : 21/03/1960 - 02/1962
Directors of programmes, television:
- Jean Luc : 04/1949 - 02/1951
- Jean Arnaud : 02/1951 - 06/1952
- Jean d'Arcy : 06/1952 - 10/1959
- Albert Ollivier : 10/1959 - 23/07/1964
Directors of news:
- Louis Terrenoire : 07/07/1958 - 11/1958
- Albert Ollivier : 11/1958 - 06/1961
- André-Marie Gérard : 06/1961 - 04/1963
Directors of news (television):
- Raymond Marcillac : 04/1963
Directors of sport:
- Raymond Marcillac : 12/09/1958
