RTBF

Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF.be) is the public broadcasting organization of the French Community of Belgium, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium. Its counterpart in the northern part of the country is the Dutch-language Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT).

RTBF operates four television channels – La Une, La Deux, La Trois and Arte Belgique – together with a number of radio channels, La Première, RTBF International, VivaCité, Musiq3, Classic 21, and PureFM.

The organization's headquarters in Brussels is sometimes referred to colloquially as Reyers. This comes from the name of the avenue where RTBF's main building (shared with VRT) is located, the Boulevard Auguste Reyers (in Dutch: Auguste Reyerslaan).

History

Originally named the Belgian National Broadcasting Institute INR – Institut national belge de radiodiffusion (Dutch: NIR – Belgisch Nationaal Instituut voor de Radio-omroep), the state-owned broadcasting organization was established by law on 18 June 1930. On 14 June 1940 the INR was forced to cease broadcasting as a result of the German invasion. The German occupying forces, who now oversaw its management, changed the INR's name to Radio Bruxelles. A number of INR personnel were able to relocate to the BBC's studios in London from where they broadcast as Radio Belgique / Radio België under the Office de Radiodiffusion Nationale Belge (RNB) established by the Belgian government-in-exile's Ministry of Information.