Radio Svizzera Italiana

RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana

Type	Broadcast, radio, television and online
Country	Switzerland
Availability	Switzerland, online
Motto	Parte del tuo mondo
TV stations	La 1, La 2
Radio stations	Rete Uno, Rete Due, Rete Tre
Headquarters	Lugano
Broadcast area	Nationwide and Italy
Parent	SRG SSR
Key people	Maurizio Canetta
Launch date	1931; 86 years ago (1931)
Former names	RTSI
Official website	http://www.rsi.ch

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.

"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.