ORF (television)
 |
|
| Type | Television and radio network |
|---|---|
| Country | Austria |
| Availability |
Austria (and also parts of Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland) |
| Slogan | ORF. WIE WIR. |
| Owner | Government of Austria |
|
Key people
|
Alexander Wrabetz |
|
Launch date
|
1 August 1955 |
|
Former names
|
Ravag (Radio Verkehrs AG) |
|
Official website
|
www.orf.at |
Österreichischer Rundfunk (English: Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, ORF) is the Austrian national public service broadcaster.
Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Austria was the last country in continental Europe after Albania to allow nationwide private television broadcasting.
The first unregulated test transmissions in Austria were made beginning 1 April 1923 by Radio Hekaphon, run by the radio pioneer and enthusiast Oskar Czeija (1887–1958), who applied for a radio license in 1921; first in his telephone factory in the Brigittenau district of Vienna, later in the nearby TGM technical college. September 2, it aired a first broadcast address by Austrian President Michael Hainisch. One year later, a powerful transmitter, designed by the German Telefunken company, was installed on the roof of the former War Ministry building on Ringstraße in central Vienna.
It was, however, the public Radio-Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft ("Radio Communication Company Ltd", RAVAG), a joint-venture of the Austrian Federal Government, the City of Vienna and several bank companies, which, in February 1924, was awarded the concession to begin broadcasting, with Czeja as its director-general. Regular transmissions began on 1 October 1924 from provisional studios inside the War Ministry building that were to become known as Radio Wien (Welle 530). By the end of October 1924 it already had 30,000 listeners, and by January 1925 100,000. Relay transmitters, established across the country by 1934, ensured that all Austrians could listen to Radio Wien at a monthly fee of two schillings.
...
Wikipedia