RTP1

History

RTP was established in December 1955 with test broadcasts conducted in September 1956 at the now-defunct Feira Popular amusement park in Lisbon. Regular broadcasts commenced at 21:30 on March 7, 1957. Initially the channel broadcast from 21:30 to either 23:00 or 23:30, with an additional period on Sundays between 18:00 and 19:00. Initially, RTP had a very limited coverage area, encompassing the northern and central coastal areas of Portugal, before expanding to the whole of the mainland in the mid-1960s.

On October 19, 1959, Telejornal went on air for the first time, becoming the longest-running Portuguese TV show in existence.

It was the only TV channel available in Portugal until December 25, 1968, when RTP2 started broadcasting. Because of that, RTP had to identify both channels as I Programa and II Programa in order to distinguish them.

Daytime broadcasts commenced in 1970, with a two-hour period running at various times mostly between 12:30 and 14:30. Before then, Telescola (educational classes) were generally the first programmes of the day and the regular schedule started at 19:00, running until midnight.

In 1974, RTP's ratings grew with the expansion of the acquisition of television sets in the country. The first color broadcasts were conducted in 1976, with the legislative elections.

In 1978, the channel was renamed RTP-1 (initially hyphenated). Color programming was now in production, and a heat of Jeux Sans Frontières has to be transmitted in said technology in order to air to the rest of Europe, which already had regular color broadcasts at the time. As the months progressed, more and more color broadcasts were included before launching regularly on March 7, 1980.

In October 1983, the daytime period was abolished in order to save energy. Weekday broadcasts were then restricted to start at 17:00 and end at 23:00. Said broadcasts were resumed in 1985, when RTP decided to broadcast the daytime block from Oporto. The educational broadcasts (then known as Ciclo Preparatório TV) were abolished in 1988. By then, daytime shutdowns were abolished.

Towards the end of the 1980s, RTP was facing challenges with the impending arrival of private broadcasters. As a result, RTP decided to rename RTP1 as RTP Canal 1, in readiness for a bigger rebrand that happened on September 17, 1990, where the channel was now officially rebranded as Canal 1, in order to reinforce its position in front of the new broadcasters. Having lost its leadership status slowly between 1994 and 1995, owing to SIC's success, it eventually turned into the vice-leader before falling into third place, when TVI got a ratings boost.

On April 29, 1996, Canal 1 reverted to RTP1.

In 2002, Emílio Rangel joined RTP 1, coming from SIC, changing the face of public television in Portugal but causing havoc on the broadcaster. During this phase, the channel had overly-long news bulletins (i.e. Telejornal ending as late as 21:30) and thought-provoking debate shows (Gregos e Troianos).

On March 31, 2004, RTP1 rebranded entirely now broadcasting from RTP's new headquarters. The channel started widescreen tests on June 8, 2012 with the Euro 2012 opening ceremony and the first match (Poland vs. Greece). On January 14, 2013, the channel formally became a widescreen channel.

Identity

RTP1's logotype has been changed various times over the years.

Up until 1978, RTP's logo was used on the channel without any indication of being either the first or the second channel starting from 1968. The first proper logo consisted of the RTP logo next to a 1, which quickly changed to a striped 1 with a large semi-circular track composed of four lines with four straight lines falling out from the right, with the text RTP-1 to the right of it.

From 1980 to 1985, both channels used the same logo format, and the first colour logo on the channel consisted of a sort of eye formed out of two swooshes with a circle in the middle and the text RTP-1 next to it. It was changed to a rounded rectangle with a yellow outline, a blue 1 and the RTP wordmark underneath. The only known ident with this logo is a breakbumper consisting solely of the channel's logo. Later on, RTP 1 used a succession of logos, constantly changing every few months, with red as the channel's colour.

In 1984, RTP1's logo was just the channel's name written in the Sinaloa typeface. This was replaced the following year by a new logo, consisting of the RTP1 wordmark inside a rounded rectangle, with a diagonal line separating the RTP from the 1.

In September 1986, RTP 1 changed to a logo consisting of a white 1 stuck between a blue circle, a green square and a red triangle. The main ident featured the 1 as a circle, the shapes fly to form the numeral and the RTP wordmark appears from the logo.

In 1988, the channel's logo was a green 1 inside a blue square. The picture seen here comes from a transitory phase in 1990.

In 1989, RTP1 was renamed Canal 1, and in 1990, a permanent, opaque and coloured DOG "C·1" was introduced in the upper-right corner of the channel until September 1991, when a smaller "C·1" was placed on the upper-left corner. The logotype consisted of blue, 3D characters with a golden armillary sphere inside the "C". Most Canal 1 idents were CGI, accompanied by a voice-over chorus singing the name of the channel, and featured several motifs in a short period of time, such as British and American skylines, playing cards, roulettes, riots and astronauts. This lasted for four years and was eventually replaced by a single ident where the "armillary sphere" is formed out of parts of it in 1994, followed by a simple look featuring the channel's logo forming up in 1995.

On April 29, 1996, Canal 1 was again renamed RTP1, and the new logotype consisted of a white "1" in a light blue background, with the letters "RTP" underneath in white, overlaid in a dark blue background. RTP1 idents consisted mainly on a tridimensional representation of the logo in a blue moving curtain background, with the channel tune played in piano and organ as the background music.

In 1998, RTP1 debuted a new ident collection, designed by Novocom, along with its sister channel, RTP2, that featured several motifs such as eyes, or Christmas ornaments during the Holiday season. This lasted until 2001, when a new identity, featuring a single ident was used, until 2002. This look was designed by BBC Broadcast.

In January 2002, RTP1's logo changed again, and with that, a new ident collection was created. This one featured idents where the logo was formed from snow, fire and sand. This collection lasted until early 2003, when then, it was replaced by a single ident, that features the channel's logo on a light blue background.

From the rebranding on March 7, 2004 until early 2009, RTP1 only used one ident at any period of time, instead of having a collection of idents (like its sister channel RTP2, for example). From 2004 to 2007, the single ident was the RTP corporate logo moving around a dark blue background which would at a given time "sit" at the proper background. In 2007, for the RTP's television department 50th anniversary, this was changed to a single ident that featured a few RTP-styled ribbons that would then give place to the RTP1 logo.

On January 7, 2009, the channel changed its identity again. Being the first true ident collection since 2003, it was composed with a variety of short animated films reproduced inside the RTP logo on a black or white background. This lasted until mid-September 2011.

From mid-September 2011 until January 14, 2013, the ident collection featured idents with the logo of RTP being formed by blocks side by side, while showcasing several elements of a specific year season.

On January 14, 2013, RTP1 was given a new rebranding. The 2004 logo was maintained, but a new collection of idents, featuring Portuguese locales and youth, was introduced. The rebrand also repositioned RTP1 as a channel for Portuguese-produced content, featuring new infotainment and documentary shows, as well as brand new sitcoms and drama shows. This rebrand also included a full conversion to the 16:9 aspect ratio (just like its sister channel, RTP2), as opposed to the 4:3, which was widely used until January 14, 2013. On January 6, 2014, RTP Internacional started to use the same graphics as RTP1, with their own logo instead.

On March 7, 2016, as part of a global rebranding of RTP, RTP1's logo was revised for the first time in 11 years. The inner part of the ribbons became rectangles without rounded corners, the RTP text has more straight angles and the number 1 is now written in the Roboto font. The idents are made by invited Portuguese graphic artists, such as Vhils in 2016 and João Paulo Feliciano in 2017. RTP1 adopted a new minimalist graphic, using light blue as its accent color and closing the promotions with a white version of the new logo in a blue background. Also, the on-screen logo is now static.

News

Variety shows

Portuguese

Foreign

TV series

Telenovelas

Game shows

Late-night talk shows

Sports

Music festivals

Documentaries or infotainment

Exclusive broadcasting rights

Co-shared broadcasting rights

^HD – Programming that is or will be broadcast in HD.

Controversies

In 1988, RTP pulled several sketches from Humor de Perdição: the last few sketches from the Historical Interviews series.

In 1995, Catholic groups and Rádio Renascença put RTP under pressure for airing the infamous "Last Supper" special edition of Herman ZAP. As a result, it and Parabéns were both pulled.