The station started as a provincial Broadcasting Station in 1957 for relaying programmes from the defunct N.B.C in Kaduna and Lagos. At that time, it had a total of only one hour of broadcast of local programmes. Thus it was then seen just as a relaying station for most of its progammes from 5.30am to 1100pm daily on the Medium Wave (MW).
In 1970, a Short Wave Transmitter (SW) was installed giving the station a more powerful transmitting Capacity, consequently the station was allowed to run more local programmes but had to relay Network News, Educational Programmes and other important National Programmes.
In April 1979, the Federal Military Government through Decree No 8 of 1979 abolished the former N.B.C Stations and established the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) with effect from April 1978, the same decree also handed over the former NBC stations to their host governments in all the then nineteen (19) states.
As a result of that, in 1980 the Board of Governors approved the change of name of the Corporation of Borno Radio Corporation (BRC).
In August 1983, the state government set-up a State Television Station known as Borno State Television (BSTV) to transmit on 1KW UHF transmitter.
The General Manager of the Corporation was then appointed as the Administrative Manager to oversee the take-off of the Television Station.
The Radio and Television services were operated separately until 1984 when an edict was promulgated to merge the two organizations to be known as Borno Radio Television Corporation (BRTV) with staff strength of 330.
BRTV RADIO SERVICE
At a time in its history, the Radio Station has five (5) Transmitters located at Gubio and Baga Roads. At that time it broadcasts for 19 hours from 5.00am to Mid-night. With time all the transmitters became old and un-functional.
As of the early 1990s, the only functional Transmitter was the FM Transmitter whose reception was limited to some parts of the state capital. This unfortunate scenario forced the then military government to procure two (2) New 50 KWs Solid state Transmitters in January 1996 and were supplied in November of same year, but could not be installed by the successive administrations to date.
FM arm of the Radio was set-up through the conversion of an outside Broadcast vehicle in 1985 and started operation on a 500 watts capacity. The station was primarily set-up for entertainment but at a point in time, it was also relaying AM programmes due to lack of an AM Radio. Its performance over the years deteriorated down to only 25 or less watts between the 90s to part of 2003.
THE TELEVISION ARM
The Television arm started transmission on a 1 kw UHF Transmitter on Channel 38 in 1983 up to 1991. At its peak the transmitter which was serving only the state capital has since grounded.
This informed the decision of then Military Government to award contract for the supply and installation of a 10 kilowatts transmitter (VHF channel 8) in 1991. Both the TV and radio arms of the organization underwent series of transformations at it relates to procurement, installation and usage of media soft and hard wares to operate in tandem with current trend of globalization in ITC.
The Edict merging the two Stations into one viable corporate body was promulgated in April 1984, thus the station became Borno Radio Television Corporation.
OPERATIONAL AREAS.
The Corporation have six (6) establishments namely:-
The Administration block along Sir Kashim Ibrahim Road, Broadcasting House along Shehu Laminu Way, Commercial block at Ramat Shopping Complex, Baga Road Transmitting Station Gubio Road Transmitting Station and Sambisa Transmitting Station along Bama Road.
TIMES OF TRANSMISSION.
The Radio transmits for 18 hours and the programmes take all member of society through well laid out informative, educative and entertaining production.
The Television, which is fast becoming the choice TV in the North East Region, is for now about the only state owned media in the North which transmits in the morning between seven in the morning and sometime till 2pm as dictated by activities on ground in five major languages. However, the standard is 7am to 12 noon while evening transmission commences at about four (4pm) till 12 midnight. Weekends however transmission lasts till 3am.
The Television programmes which cover News, Programmes and Documentaries are broadcast in almost all the languages of the state on the Radio which includes Kanuri, Hausa, Babur Bura, Fulfulde, Marghi and Shuwa Arab in addition to English being official language with the sole aim of reaching all citizens of the state and beyond.
While on the television three (5) languages are used presently i.e English, Kanuri, Hausa, Babur-Bura and Shuwa Arab.
OBJECTIVES.
The objectives set out by the State Government immediately the Station became State-owned in 1979 were spelt out as follows:-
(a) To give the widest publicity to government plans and obtain a response to the authority on problems and Aspirations of the diverse people.
(b) To uphold our societal norms and values through news and programmes that would influence societal values, and in so doing, improve and strengthen the Social, Cultural, Economic, Political, and Technological fabric of the society.
(c) To improve the unity among the diverse people of the state in particular and the country in general by emphasizing on the common stock of experience, customs, values, and belief to develop a sense of unity by encouraging knowledge and promoting unfamiliar ways of life and customs.
(d) To serve as a medium of imparting skills, ideas, and experiences that are of value to society.
(e) To create a forum for debating on objectives and goals of the society and analyze existing governmental institutions.
(f) To awaken the consciousness of the people to their environment and to foster the spirit of hard work and high Productivity with a view to increasing the nation’s wealth and the quality of its manpower.
OPERATIONS AND DEPARTMENTS
The Station mostly run its services on Generators, it has a number of serviceable power Generating sets. Primarily BRTV has the following Departments:-
- News and Current Affairs.
- Programmes.
- Engineering.
- Marketing.
- Administration and Supply.
- Accounts and Finance
However, in April 18TH 2018, the Management of BRTV increased the number of Directorates for administrative convenience by creating new Directorates of Public Relations and Legal.
The News and Current Affairs Department was further split into two making each unit a Department while the new department of ICT was created out of Engineering Departments and the BRTV training School which was created in 1992 under the Programmes Department was made a Directorate after its renovation and subsequent conversion as ICT Training Centre on the 28th of April 2019 was made a Department.
