Turkish Radio and Television Corporation

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation,  also known as TRT, Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu) was founded in 1964, it is the national public broadcaster of Turkey. Around 70% of TRT's funding comes from a tax levied on electricity bills and a sales tax on television and radio receivers. As these are hypothecated taxes, as opposed to the money coming from general government funds, the principle is similar to that of the television licence levied in a number of other countries. The rest of TRT's funding comes from government grants (around 20%), with the final 10% coming from advertising.
Affectionately known to local consumers as the "School", it was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio in 1990, and subsequently commercial television in 1992, it held a monopoly on broadcasting. More recent deregulation of the Turkish television broadcasting market produced analogue cable television. Today, TRT broadcasts around the world, especially in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. It is frequently heralded[by whom?] as the most widely respected broadcaster in Turkey.
TRT's predecessor, "Türkiye Radyoları" was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950; it would return to the EBU fold as TRT in 1972. The original company started radio test broadcasts in 1926, with a studio built in Istanbul in 1927 and a studio in Ankara following in 1928.
It organized the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.



Television channels


All television channels can be watched via Turksat satellite.


Domestic


Test transmissions started on TRT 1 on January 31, 1968. A full national television schedule, which at that time linked the areas in and around Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir, started in December 1971. TRT renewed its membership in the European Broadcasting Union (having been a founding member previously offering only radio) starting on August 26, 1972, with Turkey's first Eurovision Network event, a football match (Turkey vs. Italy), airing across Europe on January 13, 1973. TRT also joined the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union in 1976, the same year their first color television test was showcased via laboratory at the general assembly of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

All programming was in black and white from the start of test transmissions in 1968 until the New Year's Eve programming on December 31, 1981, when the first on-air color tests started. The entire lineup switched to color on March 15, 1984.
TRT 1 (launched January 1968) - General entertainment channel with a broad schedule featuring local and foreign series, Turkish and Hollywood cinema, live shows with Turkish folk music, Turkish classical music and pop music, live sport, news & current affairs plus special events such as the Eurovision Song Contest.
TRT Haber (launched September 1986 as TRT 2) - The daytime schedule of TRT Haber consists of news and current affairs, plus sports news and weather. Primetime programming focuses on culture, arts, documentaries and world cinema.
Trt Spor-Parliament (launched October 1989) - TRT 3 broadcasts live and archive sport including Formula 1, World and European Figure Skating Championships, World and European Athletics Championships, Turkish Women's Volleyball league, U18 Basketball plus feature programmes. When parliament is in session, TRT 3 relays live coverage of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM-TV).
TRT Gap (launched October 1989) - TRT Gap airs programming aimed at the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The channel timeshares with TRT 3.
TRT Çocuk (launched November 2008) - TRT Çocuk airs children's programming, animated programmes and educational programmes. The station timeshares for most of the day with TRT Okul, which signs on in the primetime hours.
TRT 5 Anadolu - Broadcasting with regional TV channels of Turkey.
TRT 6 (launched January 2009) - TRT 6 broadcasts mostly Kurdish language programmes.
TRT el Türkiye (launched April 2010) - Broadcasts 24 hours a day in Arabic language with programs aimed at Arabs in Turkey, as well as the wider Arab world and Middle East.
TRT Müzik (launched November 2009) - TRT Müzik is a 24 hour music channel with for Turkish folk and Turkish classical music. It also airs pop, rock, jazz & ethnic music.
TRT Belgesel (launched November 2009) - TRT Belgesel is a 24 hour documentary channel.
TRT HD (launched May 2010) - High definition television channel of TRT




International


TRT Türk (16:9, but this is not encoded in DVB signal) (formerly known as TRT INT) - Broadcasts international news, current affairs, documentaries and cultural programming aimed at both Turks and Turkish speaking audience living abroad. It's the first TRT channel to make extensive use of a private production company for news programming.
TRT Avaz (formerly known as TRT Türk) (launched March 2009) - International channel broadcast aimed at the Turkic republics and Turks living in the Balkans. The channel has a focus on entertainment and documentaries as opposed to TRT Türk's new focus on news. Programmes are broadcast in a mixture of languages including Turkish, Azeri, Kazak, Uzbek and Turkmen.




Teletext and EPG


TRT started teletext trial-runs with the name “Telegün” on December 3, 1990. Only 7 from 10 channels are broadcasting the teletext: TRT 1, TRT 2, TRT 3/TRT Gap, TRT 4/TRT Çocuk, TRT TÜRK and TRT Avaz. 6 channels are also broadcasting their programs with the Electronic program guide (EPG).




Celebration


In January 2008, TRT celebrates their 40th anniversary, TRT will broadcast old idents and news studio (Still being modern logo). In each day, It will have newer idents. This event also in 1998, 1988 and 1978. In 2018 they will have the bigger celebration.




Closing and opening times throughout the years


31 January 1968 TRT 1 launched at 19:15 and closed at 20:51
1990 TRT 1 close at 1am, TRT 2 at midnight, TRT 3 at 23:30, TRT 4 at 22:30
Now all are 24/24 (TRT 4/TRT Çocuk(4th channel of TRT) and TRT GAP/TRT Spor/TBMM-TV(3rd channel of TRT) couples are exception but in whole couples they broadcast 24/24 too.)




Radio channels


TRT Radio Istanbul headquarters in Harbiye, Şişli, Istanbul
Radyo 1 (launched on May 1927) - Mixed diet of programming
TRT FM (formerly Radyo 2, launched January 1975) - A mixture of Turkish pop, folk and classical music, foreign pop, call ins, news and travel information
Radyo 3 (launched on January 1975) - Classical music, jazz, world music, foreign pop & rock
Radyo 4 (launched on October 1987) - Turkish classical and Turkish folk music
Radyo 6 (launched on 2009) - Broadcasting for Kurds in Turkey
TRT Nağme - Turkish classical music
TRT Avrupa FM - Broadcasting for Turks in Europe
TRT Türkü - Turkish folk music and türkü
Voice of Turkey (launched December 1982) - Broadcasting with 26 different languages and around the World.




Regional channels


Antalya Radyosu - Broadcasting in Antalya, coverages west Mediterranean Region, Turkey
Çukurova Radyosu - Broadcasting in Adana, coverages east Mediterranean Region, Turkey
Erzurum Radyosu - Broadcasting in Erzurum, coverages Eastern Turkey
Trabzon Radyosu - Broadcasting in Trabzon, coverages Northern Turkey
Radyo GAP - Broadcasting in Diyarbakır, covarages South Eastern Turkey