Radio Television Brunei

Bruneian public broadcaster

4°53′27″N 114°56′25″E﻿ / ﻿4.8907905°N 114.9404052°E﻿ / 4.8907905; 114.9404052

Radio Television Brunei

RTB's headquarters in Pusat Bandar, Bandar Seri Begawan

Native name

| Radio Televisyen Brunei
Company type| Crown corporation
Industry| Mass media
Predecessors|

* Radio Brunei (1957–1975)
* Televisyen Brunei (1975)

Founded| 2 May 1957; 67 years ago (1957-05-02)
Headquarters| Secretariat Building, Jalan Elizabeth II,

Bandar Seri Begawan

Brunei BA8610

Area served

| Nationwide[a]

Key people

| Pengiran Ismail Pengiran Muhammad Kifli (Acting Director)
Products|

* Broadcasting
* web portals

Services|

* Television
* radio
* online

Owner| Government of Brunei

Number of employees

| 5,000 (2021)
Parent| Prime Minister's Office
Website| www.rtb.gov.bn

Radio Television Brunei (Malay: Radio Televisyen Brunei, Jawi: راديو تيليۏيشين بروني, officially abbreviated as RTB) is the national public broadcaster of Brunei, headquartered at the Secretariat Building, Bandar Seri Begawan. Radio Brunei made its first broadcast on 2 May 1957,[1] with a television service starting on 1 March 1975. Modelled after Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), which is a government department, RTB came into its current state with its present name in 1975 after the merger of its radio and television services.[2]

RTB monopolises 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 as well as an over-the-top streaming service, RTB Go. The broadcaster's logo was based from the national emblem of Brunei.[3]

## History

[edit]

Brunei started its radio broadcasting on 2 May 1957 under the name Radio Brunei with an Eid al-Fitr message from Sultan 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 Town and surrounding areas. The first radio station would later become known as Nasional FM.[4]

By September 1958, Radio Brunei began on air six hours a day after underwent a test period for two weeks.[5]

In 1974, RTB had only 171 staff and three transmitting sites giving almost 100% coverage of the country and beyond.[6]

Ahead of the launching of television service in Brunei, the broadcaster sent more than five of its staff members to undergo training at Radio Television Singapore (RTS) in late January 1975.[7]

Radio Television Brunei launched its first pilot television broadcast on 1 February 1975 when RTB Television Brunei test transmissions began.[8] 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, with the Radio Brunei and Television Brunei identities merging to become Radio Television Brunei, abbreviated as RTB.[9][10][11] There were only three staff members 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 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.

In 1980, RTB sent 16 of its staff members to Singapore where they underwent on-the-job training at the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), the forerunner of Mediacorp.[12]

In 1982, RTB sent another 4 of its staff members to undergo certain training at the SBC in Singapore.[13] That same year, it acquired 75% of programmes produced by SBC.[14][15]

In 1983, RTB, through its Training Unit, conducted a training programme for its staff and officers in preparation for the celebration of Brunei's independence by 1984.[16]

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.[17]

In 1985, RTB allowed dress code reforms for its Muslim news presenters, with men having their songkoks dispensed with and women having their traditional hijabs shed.[18][19]

In 1987, an RTB senior officer proposed an establishment of a consortium to operate an ASEAN satellite for a news and TV program exchange for all ASEAN broadcasting stations.[20]

On 24 December 1993, RTB introduced a one-hour satellite broadcast service using the Indonesian Palapa B2P satellite. The service, named RTB Sukmaindera, was set to start on 1 January 1994. The primary target audience was Bruneians in the Malay archipelago, delivering news, current affairs programmes and documentaries produced by the broadcaster.[21] The service also became a basis for one of its eponymous TV channels, which was launched in 2003.

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. In 2001, RTB started its NetRadio service where its radio stations became available for streaming on the Internet.[22]

In 2002, RTB commissioned an initial transmission consultancy project on incorporating a digital broadcasting service, which was conducted by NTL Asia Pacific.[23] On 30 September 2002, the broadcaster and Kristal TV signed an agreement with Singaporean news channel Channel NewsAsia (CNA) to broaden the news channel's reach to Bruneian audiences.[24]

On 9 July 2003, 24-hour international television channel RTB4 International 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 and only broadcast in the evening.[25]

RTB, alongside Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS), Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) and OBS, have secured a content deal with Singaporean media company Bomanbridge Media in 2015, which saw it acquiring factual programming in the environmental genre in high definition.[26]

The broadcaster discontinued the satellite service for RTB4 on 28 February 2017.[27]

On 11 April 2017, RTB made a major rebranding project for its TV channels. RTB1 and RTB5 merged to form RTB Perdana, while RTB2 and RTB3 combined as RTB Aneka and RTB4 renamed as RTB Sukmaindera. The cause for the reduction in the number of channels was the fact that viewers preferred at least two of the five channels.[28][29] The rebranding was made as part of RTB's plan to transition the then-current analogue television service to digital television.[30][31][32]

On 2 May 2017, RTB celebrated the 60th anniversary of its radio service.[33][34] In November 2017, the broadcaster became the host of ASEAN Digital Radio Broadcasting.[35]

RTM announced it would officially discontinue the analogue broadcasting service from its transmitter in Bukit Subok on 31 December 2017.[36] The broadcaster concurrently migrated to digital HD service on 1 January 2018.[37] During the RTB Carnival 2019 at The Airport Mall, the RTB director, Haji Md Suffian Haji Bungsu said that the broadcaster had highlighted the improvements on three fields of excellence, namely "operations, productivity and organisation".[38]

In 2020, RTB moved its headquarters from its old headquarters in Jalan Stoney to Secretariat Building, Jalan Elizabeth II.[39][40] The broadcaster signed a memorandum of understanding with the Universiti Teknologi Brunei to create a mutual partnership in the creative media industry.[41]

In 2021, RTB began to air educational programmes to provide "additional learning support", which would be aired during school days.[42]

## Properties and facilities

[edit]

### Bandar Seri Begawan

[edit]

* RTB Headquarters (Secretariat Building, Jalan Elizabeth II)
* RTB Sungai Akar Broadcasting Complex
* RTB Centre for Broadcasting Development (CfBD)
* Berakas RTB Orchestra Unit Building

### Tutong District

[edit]

* RTB Tutong District Branch, Tutong

### Belait District

[edit]

* RTB Belait District Branch, Kuala Belait

### Temburong District

[edit]

* RTB Temburong District Branch, Bangar

## Services

[edit]

RTB camera operator during a national event in 2023.

### Radio

[edit]

Logo  | Station  | Frequencies (Area/Transmitter)[43][44] | Language  | Format  | Ref

|
|
|
|
|

| Nasional FM  | 92.3 MHz (Bandar Seri Begawan/Bukit Subok)
93.8 MHz (Kuala Belait/Andulau)  | Malay | News and Full-service | [45]
| Pilihan FM  | 95.9 MHz (Bandar Seri Begawan/Bukit Subok)
96.9 MHz (Kuala Belait/Andulau)  | English, Chinese (Mandarin) and Nepali | Infotainment, Top 40 (CHR) and Oldies | [45]
| Pelangi FM  | 91.4 MHz (Bandar Seri Begawan/Bukit Subok)
91.0 MHz (Kuala Belait/Andulau)  | Malay and English  | Infotainment, Top 40 (CHR) and Talk radio | [45]
| Harmoni FM  | 94.1 MHz (Bandar Seri Begawan/Bukit Subok)
97.7 MHz (Kuala Belait/Andulau)  | Malay  | Classic hits and Talk radio  | [45]
| Nur Islam FM  | 93.3 MHz (Bandar Seri Begawan/Bukit Subok)
94.9 MHz (Kuala Belait/Andulau)  | Malay  | Religion (Islam) | [45]

### Television

[edit]

All logos of the RTB television channels consist of the italic letters R, T and B in three separate boxes, similar to pre-1998 BBC logos, with the channel's name below.

* RTB Perdana's logo is blue. The word "perdana" is presented in lower case.
* RTB Aneka's logo is orange. The word "Aneka" is presented in sentence case, the capital letter A is white superimposed on an orange diamond with grey shadow behind it.
* RTB Sukmaindera's logo is green. The word "SUKMAINDERA" is presented in upper case.

Name  | Language  | Programming  | 24-hours | Ref

|
|
|
|

RTB Perdana | Malay, English and Indonesian | News, culture, entertainment and sports |  | [31]
RTB Aneka | Malay, English, Korean, Tagalog, Chinese (Mandarin), Turkish and Thai | Culture, entertainment, children, sports and education |  | [31]
RTB Sukmaindera | Malay and English | News, culture, entertainment, children and sports |  | [31]

### Digital platforms

[edit]

RTB GO logo.

RTB GO is RTB's Over-the-top media service (OTT).[46] 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 and RTB GO Live are not available for view outside Brunei.[47] The Android television version of RTB GO was launched in December 2023.[48]

## Flagship programmes

[edit]

* Rampai Pagi (Jawi: رامڤأي ڤاڬي, Morning Medley) - An all-time breakfast television programme in the form of a talk show, which airs on RTB Perdana and RTB Sukmaindera.

## See also

[edit]

* Media of Brunei
* List of Malay language television channels

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Also available in Malaysia (through its international border located 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.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Radio expansion for Brunei". The Singapore Free Press. 23 February 1962. p. 2. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
2. ^ "Brunei Television Services continue to Move Forward". The Free Library. 9 July 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
3. ^ "RTB penghubung, penyampai maklumat kerajaan kepada masyarakat". Pelita Brunei. 12 January 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
4. ^ "Radio Brunei is planned". The Straits Times. 2 January 1957. p. 10. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
5. ^ "Brunei now on air six hours a day". The Straits Times. 5 September 1958. p. 7. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
6. ^ "TV warna di Brunei". Berita Harian. 9 October 1974. p. 3. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
7. ^ "Kakitangan Radio-TV Brunei berlatih di RTS". Berita Harian. 27 January 1975. p. 5. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
8. ^ "Pelancaran siaran TV warna di Brunei capai kejayaan". Berita Harian. 6 March 1975. p. 2. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
9. ^ "Peringkat pertama projek TV warna Brunei dilancarkan". Berita Harian. 10 July 1975. p. 11. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
10. ^ "TV berwarna di Brunei". Berita Harian. 4 March 1975. p. 1. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
11. ^ "RTB penghubung dua hala antara kerajaan dan rakyat" (PDF). Aneka. Pelita Brunei. 18 July 1990. p. 1. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
12. ^ "SBC latih kakitangan Radio dan TV Brunei". Berita Harian. 22 November 1980. p. 2. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
13. ^ "Empat lagi k-tangan RTB mengikuti latihan di SBC". Berita Harian. 20 January 1982. p. 2. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
14. ^ "Brunei beli 75% rancangan2 terbitan SBC". Berita Harian. 12 October 1982. p. 2. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
15. ^ "Brunei buying SBC shows". The Straits Times. 22 October 1982. p. 9. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
16. ^ "RTB terus giatkan usaha latih pegawai2". Berita Harian. 22 August 1983. p. 2. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
17. ^ "Brunei merdeka lagi berdaulat". Berita Harian. 1 January 1984. p. 1. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
18. ^ "'New look' for TV newsreaders". The Straits Times. 7 December 1985. p. 9. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
19. ^ "Pembaca berita TV kini 'berwajah baru'". Berita Harian. 12 December 1985. p. 4. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
20. ^ "Usul satelit Asean". Berita Harian. 28 July 1987. p. 2. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
21. ^ "Brunei TV to introduce satellite broadcasts". The Straits Times. 25 December 1993. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
22. ^ "Radio Television Brunei (RTB)". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
23. ^ "Brunei tests the digital waters". Edge Middle East. 4 June 2002. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
24. ^ "CNA expands". Today. 1 October 2002. p. 6. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
25. ^ "RTB Television Channels". RTB. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012.
26. ^ "RTB Brunei, EBS Korea and Thai PBS acquired factual content in high definition format". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
27. ^ "Siaran satelit RTB4 dihentikan". Pelita Brunei. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
28. ^ 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.
29. ^ "State broadcaster to revamp, digitise TV channels". Borneo Bulletin. 12 April 2017. Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
30. ^ "Brunei Mansuh Siaran Analog, Kini Digital Penuh". My News Hub. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
31. ^ a b c d Salawati Haji Yahya (12 April 2017). "RTB lancar penjenamaan baharu". Media Permata. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
32. ^ Salawati Haji Yahya (11 April 2017). "Satu titik sejarah buat RTB". Media Permata. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
33. ^ Salawati Haji Yahya; Pg Fairol RMF (2 May 2017). "Radio Brunei sambut Jubli Intan 60". Media Permata. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
34. ^ "Radio Brunei rai enam dekad penubuhannya". Media Permata. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
35. ^ "RTB-Brunei hosted the ASEAN Digital Radio Broadcasting Conference". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
36. ^ "Penutupan siaran televisyen analog 31 Disember ini". Pelita Brunei. 23 December 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
37. ^ "RTB catat peningkatan peratus penonton dan pendengar". Pelita Brunei. 19 January 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
38. ^ "RTB seeks improvements on three fronts to meet rising expectations". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
39. ^ "RTB pindah ke alamat baharu". Pelita Brunei. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
40. ^ "RTB moves some offices, divisions to new premises » Borneo Bulletin Online". RTB moves some offices, divisions to new premises. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
41. ^ "Radio Television Brunei signs MOU". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
42. ^ "RTB Brunei to Broadcast Additional Educational Programming". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. 20 August 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
43. ^ "FM Radio Stations in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore 87.5-95.9 MHz". www.asiawaves.net. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
44. ^ "FM Radio Stations in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore 96.0-107.9 MHz". www.asiawaves.net. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
45. ^ a b c d e James Kon (22 April 2023). "Festive radio, TV programmes to enliven Raya celebrations". Borneo Bulletin. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
46. ^ "Aplikasi RTBGo dilancarkan". Pelita Brunei. 10 October 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
47. ^ "Radio Televisyen Brunei, RTB.Go – Digital Media Delivery Platform". IPSB Technology. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
48. ^ "RTB Mini Media Carnival and Launching of RTBGo Android TV Apps". The Free Library. 1 December 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
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* e

Radio Television Brunei

Television|

* RTB Perdana
* RTB Aneka
* RTB Sukmaindera

Radio|

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