History
"Radio svizzera di lingua italiana" was established in 1925 as "Radio Monte Ceneri", originally named after the mountain where the transmitter 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 launched 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.
Read more about this topic: Radiotelevisione Svizzera Di Lingua Italiana
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