Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana
Encyclopedia
Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana (RSI, abbreviated as RTSI until 28 February 2009) is a Swiss
public broadcasting
organisation, part of SRG SSR. RSI handles production and broadcasting of radio
and television
programs in Italian
for Switzerland
. RSI's administrative headquarters are located in Via Canevascini in Lugano
-Besso
.
was placed. After several years of experimental broadcast, in 1933 the "Società svizzera di Radiodiffusione" (Swiss Radio Broadcasting Corporation) began regular transmissions in Ticino
and Grigioni. The intentions of its founders were to promote cohesion in the confederation
while promoting the value of the Swiss Italian culture. In the 1930s and 1940s, when most of Switzerland's neighboring states were under fascism
, Radio Monte Ceneri was the only Italian language
radio free of censorship
, becoming the only reliable voice for the Italian population and a prominent outlet for Italian intellectuals: during these years it hosted people like Benedetto Croce
and Delio Tessa
.
The first television broadcasts started on 18 November 1958
, at first produced in studios in Zurich
and transmitted with Italian
subtitles. In 1961
, with the foundation of Televisione svizzera di lingua italiana (TSI), the studios were relocated in Paradiso
, near Lugano
. This was eight years after the experimental debut of television in Zurich
and Genève. The channel began broadcasting in colour in 1968
.
During the 1970s
, when Italian television
was still under the RAI
monopoly, Swiss television in Italian was the only alternative to the public network for Italians living in Lombardy
and Piedmont
: the signal reached the city of Milan
. Some important personalities of Italian television, such as Corrado, Mina, Enzo Tortora and the founder of the first commercial television in Italy
, Telebiella, Peppo Sacchi worked with TSI.
RSI lanched two new thematic radio stations, a cultural one, Rete Due
, in 1985 and another more youth-oriented, Rete Tre
, in 1989.
In 1997
a second channel was created, called TSI 2. The first TSI channel thus was renamed TSI 1
.
In December 2005, RSI began digital broadcasts using the DAB
system on the Saint Gottard autoroute. On 26 July 2006
at 12:45, SRG SSR idée suisse
interrupted analog
broadcasting in Ticino
making it the first all-digital canton of Switzerland This affected the Italians in northern Italy, as they were deprived of all the TSI channels, with the sole exception of those close to the frontier.
Radio Director:
Television Director:
-Besso
. TSI studios are found in Comano, 5 km north of Lugano
.
RSI's radio department is in charge of production and transmission radio programs in Italian language
for the Italian speaking Swiss. Its studios are located in Via Canevascini in Lugano
-Besso
. It was known as Radio svizzera di lingua italiana (RSI) until 2009.
RSI's television department is in charge of production and transmission of television programs in Italian language
for the Italian speaking Swiss. Its studios are found in Comano, 5 km north of Lugano
. It was known as Televisione svizzera di lingua italiana (TSI) until 2009.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
public broadcasting
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
organisation, part of SRG SSR. RSI handles production and broadcasting of radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
programs in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
for Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. RSI's administrative headquarters are located in Via Canevascini in Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
-Besso
Besso
Besso is a mountain in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland.The name Besso means 'twins' in the dialect of the Val d'Hérens and refers to the twin summits of the mountain....
.
History
"Radio svizzera di lingua italiana" was established in 1925 as "Radio Monte Ceneri", originally named after the mountain where the transmitterTransmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
was placed. After several years of experimental broadcast, in 1933 the "Società svizzera di Radiodiffusione" (Swiss Radio Broadcasting Corporation) began regular transmissions in Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
and Grigioni. The intentions of its founders were to promote cohesion in the confederation
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
while promoting the value of the Swiss Italian culture. In the 1930s and 1940s, when most of Switzerland's neighboring states were under fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, Radio Monte Ceneri was the only Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
radio free of censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, becoming the only reliable voice for the Italian population and a prominent outlet for Italian intellectuals: during these years it hosted people like Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce was an Italian idealist philosopher, and occasionally also politician. He wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, methodology of history writing and aesthetics, and was a prominent liberal, although he opposed laissez-faire free trade...
and Delio Tessa
Delio Tessa
Delio Tessa was an Italian poet from Milan. He is the most renowned writer in Milanese dialect after Carlo Porta. The originality of his poetry stands mostly in his obsessional expressionism and his allucinated and satirical way to depict Death...
.
The first television broadcasts started on 18 November 1958
1958 in television
The year 1958 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1958.-Events:*January 14 – TWW, the first ITV franchise for South Wales and West of England, went on the air....
, at first produced in studios in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
and transmitted with Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
subtitles. In 1961
1961 in television
The year 1961 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1961.For the American TV schedule, see: 1961-62 American network television schedule.-Events:...
, with the foundation of Televisione svizzera di lingua italiana (TSI), the studios were relocated in Paradiso
Paradiso, Switzerland
Paradiso is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-History:Paradiso is first mentioned in 1335 as Calprino. In 1835 it was first called Paradiso, though that didn't become the official name until 1929....
, near Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
. This was eight years after the experimental debut of television in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
and Genève. The channel began broadcasting in colour in 1968
1968 in television
The year 1968 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1968.For the American TV schedule, see: 1968-69 American network television schedule.-Events:...
.
During the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, when Italian television
Television in Italy
Television in Italy was introduced in 1939, when the first experimental broadcasting began. However, this lasted for a very short time: when fascist Italy entered World War II in 1940 all the transmission were interrupted, and were resumed in earnest only nine years after the end of the conflict,...
was still under the RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
monopoly, Swiss television in Italian was the only alternative to the public network for Italians living in Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
and Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
: the signal reached the city of Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. Some important personalities of Italian television, such as Corrado, Mina, Enzo Tortora and the founder of the first commercial television in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Telebiella, Peppo Sacchi worked with TSI.
RSI lanched two new thematic radio stations, a cultural one, Rete Due
Rete Due
Rete Due is the second Italian-language radio station from Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana . It was launched in 1985.Its headquarters are at the RSI-building in Lugano-Besso, reaching a daily average of between 26,000 and 28,000 listeners...
, in 1985 and another more youth-oriented, Rete Tre
Rete Tre
Rete Tre is the third Italian-language radio station from Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana , aimed at younger viewers broadcasting popular and alternative music. It was launched at 00:03 on 1 January 1988 and is available via FM mainly in the Italian speaking cantons of Ticino and...
, in 1989.
In 1997
1997 in television
The year 1997 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1997.- Events :-Debuts:-Miniseries:*Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac, a reunion of the 1979–93 series*The Last Don...
a second channel was created, called TSI 2. The first TSI channel thus was renamed TSI 1
TSI 1
RSI La 1 is one of two television channels produced by Radiotelevisione Svizzera di lingua Italiana for the Italian-speaking community of Switzerland...
.
In December 2005, RSI began digital broadcasts using the DAB
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
system on the Saint Gottard autoroute. On 26 July 2006
2006 in television
2006 in television may refer to:*2006 in American television*2006 in Australian television*2006 in British television*2006 in Canadian television*2006 in Japanese television...
at 12:45, SRG SSR idée suisse
SRG SSR idée suisse
SRG SSR is the Swiss public broadcasting organisation, founded in 1931 as SRG-SSR. Headquartered in Bern, SRG SSR is a non-profit organisation, funded mainly through radio and television licence fees and making the remaining income from advertising and sponsorship.Switzerland's system of direct...
interrupted analog
Analog transmission
Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying voice, data, image, signal or video information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that of a variable...
broadcasting in Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
making it the first all-digital canton of Switzerland This affected the Italians in northern Italy, as they were deprived of all the TSI channels, with the sole exception of those close to the frontier.
Direction
General Director:- Remigio Ratti : from 1 January 2000
Radio Director:
- Jacky Marti
Television Director:
- Dino Balestra
Headquarters
The administrative headquarters of RTSI and the RSI studios are located in Via Canevascini in LuganoLugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
-Besso
Besso
Besso is a mountain in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland.The name Besso means 'twins' in the dialect of the Val d'Hérens and refers to the twin summits of the mountain....
. TSI studios are found in Comano, 5 km north of Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
.
Radio
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
for the Italian speaking Swiss. Its studios are located in Via Canevascini in Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
-Besso
Besso
Besso is a mountain in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland.The name Besso means 'twins' in the dialect of the Val d'Hérens and refers to the twin summits of the mountain....
. It was known as Radio svizzera di lingua italiana (RSI) until 2009.
- Rete UnoRete UnoRete Uno is the principal radio channel of the Swiss public-service broadcasting organization RSI.Broadcasting in Italian, it is receivable throughout Switzerland via FM, DAB, cable, and satellite...
: general programming - Rete DueRete DueRete Due is the second Italian-language radio station from Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana . It was launched in 1985.Its headquarters are at the RSI-building in Lugano-Besso, reaching a daily average of between 26,000 and 28,000 listeners...
: cultural programming - Rete TreRete TreRete Tre is the third Italian-language radio station from Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana , aimed at younger viewers broadcasting popular and alternative music. It was launched at 00:03 on 1 January 1988 and is available via FM mainly in the Italian speaking cantons of Ticino and...
: youth-oriented programming
Television
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
for the Italian speaking Swiss. Its studios are found in Comano, 5 km north of Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
. It was known as Televisione svizzera di lingua italiana (TSI) until 2009.
- La 1
- La 2La 2 (Switzerland)RSI La 2 is a Swiss public television channel owned by Radiotelevisione Svizzera di lingua Italiana. It's a sister channel of RSI La 1, broadcast in Italian. It mainly transmits sport programmes, but also reruns and music programmes. It does not broadcast any newscast.- History :TSI launched its...