Timeline of RTÉ Television

This is a timeline of RTÉ Television.

1960s

1960

• 6 April – The Broadcasting Authority Act, establishing a new television service for the Republic of Ireland, is enacted.
• 1 June – RTÉ Television is founded.

1961

• 5 September –
  Telefís Éireann begins transmission of test pictures.^[1]
• December – The first issue of
  RTV Guide, RTÉ's original programme journal, is published.^[1]
• 31 December – Launch of
  Telefís Éireann. Its opening night includes an address by President Éamon de Valera,^[2] and the first news bulletin read by Charles Mitchel.^[1]

• January – First broadcast of the weekday topical news magazine programme Broadsheet on
  Telefís Éireann.^[1]
• 12 January – First broadcast of the long-running religious and social documentary series Radharc.[1]
• February – The BBC relays commentary of the Friendship 7 space flight which sees Colonel John Glenn become the first American to orbit the Earth.^[1]
• April – Telefís Éireann staff move to the Montrose studios following the completion. Until then they had been in temporary accommodation in Dublin city centre.^[1]
• May –
  Telefís Éireann shows the first party political broadcast following that year's Budget.^[1]
• 6 July –
  The Late Late Show, one of the longest-running talk shows in the world, airs for the first time.^[1]
• Autumn – Edward J. Roth resigns as
  Director-General of RTÉ. He is succeeded in December by Kevin C. McCourt.^[1]

• 1 June –
  Telefís Éireann.^[1]
• 26–29 June – RTÉ provides extensive coverage of the visit of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.^[1]
• 18 October – The wildlife programme Amuigh Faoin Spéir airs for the first time.^[1]
• November – Father
  Catholic Religious Programmes.^[1]

• 3 January – Tolka Row, an urban drama serial by Maura Laverty first goes on air.^[1]
• January – Reverend Fergus Day, of the Church of Ireland is appointed to advise on the broadcasting of Protestant religious programmes.^[1]
• 4 February –
  Telefís Éireann.^[1]
• March – Patrick Jennings appointed RTÉ's Agricultural Advisor.^[1]
• 14 September –
  Newsbeat, a topical and often humorous programme, first goes on air. It features reporters Frank Tuomey and Frank Hall with caption stories by cartoonist Terry Williers.^[1]

• January – RTÉ and BBC collaborate on an historic television broadcast as Taoiseach Seán Lemass and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Terence O'Neill meet for the first time in Belfast.^[1]
• 4 January – First airing of
  Emmerdale Farm
  .
• 20 March – Ireland enters the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time with I'm Walking the Streets in the Rain performed by Butch Moore.^[1]
• 7 April – Ireland's first televised General Election coverage, presented by John O'Donoghue and produced by Gerry Murray.^[1]
• 2 May – Telefís Feirme, an innovative programme designed for group viewing and discussions in rural communities is first aired.
• May – Second
  RTÉ Authority appointed.^[1]

• 8 March – The
  Radio Telefís Éireann.^[1]
• 10 April – RTÉ's current affairs programme,
  Seven Days is first aired.^[1]
• 10–17 April – RTÉ Television airs the dramas Insurrection and Cuimhneacháin 1916 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising.^[1]
• May –
  RTÉ Authority following the resignation of the previous incumbent Eamonn Andrews.^[1]

• April – RTÉ Television abandons its plans to provide coverage of the Vietnam War following intervention from the Irish government.^[1]
• 16 July – The Irish language current affairs programme, Féach is first aired by RTÉ Television.^[1]
• 30 September – The popular and long-running children's programme, Wanderly Wagon is first aired on television.^[1]

1968

• January –
  Biafran War.^[1]
• 12 February – Director-General McCourt announces the transfer of responsibility for Seven Days to the RTÉ News Division, a decision which leads to industrial unrest and the suspension of several members of the production team for "blacking" the programme on air. The dispute is finally resolved in March.[1]
• 16 March – Thomas P. Hardiman replaced Kevin McCourt as Director-General of RTÉ, and is the first Director-General to be appointed internally within the organisation.^[1]

1969

• February – RTÉ opens a studio in Belfast, and subsequently becomes an important international provider of coverage relating to events in Northern Ireland.^[1]
• 11 November – The
  Seven Days that investigated money lenders. Among the issues examined are complaints by members of the Garda Síochána that they were misrepresented. In 1970 the tribunal concludes that the programme did not present sufficient evidence to support allegations that the Gárdaí had failed to do enough to stop money lending.^[1]
• Unknown – Live relays from the Oireachtas to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the first Dáil Éireann.^[1]

1970s

1970

• May – Finnish Television airs a four-hour broadcast of RTÉ programmes titled Ireland Tonight. The broadcast includes King of the Road, a film of the life of a Tipperary roadworker, the children's series Wanderly Wagon, Guests of the Nation, a dramatisation of Frank O'Connor's short story; Ballad Sheet, July the Mad Month, a film on the political and religious situation in Northern Ireland, and Sports Magazine.^[1]

1971

• 17 March –
  colour – coverage of the Railway Cup Finals from Croke Park, Dublin.^[1]
• Unknown – The Eurovision News Exchange enables RTÉ to link with other European and U.S. broadcasting networks.[1]
• Unknown – Establishment of RTÉ Relays to provide commercial service for wired television.^[1]

1972

• 23 June – The
  RTÉ Authority to express its displeasure at RTÉ Television's decision to air film of IRA members.^[1]
• 24 November – The government dismisses the RTÉ Authority and a new authority is appointed.[1]

1973

• February – The
  second television channel for the Republic of Ireland. It is envisaged that it will broadcast a mix of domestic and foreign programming.^[1]

• May – In its long-awaited report the
  second television channel for Ireland.^[1]
• Undated – The limit on the number of households that can be connected to high-specification aerial is abolished. Furthermore, it is agreed that RTÉ will receive a percentage of gross rental income from television aerial contractors by way of compensation for the estimated loss of advertising revenue RTÉ will experience due to competition with other television stations.[1]
• Undated – The cable television company
  RTÉ Relays Ltd (later Cablelink) is established.^[1]

• 6 January – RTÉ Television begins broadcasting News for the Deaf, the first daily broadcast of news for deaf people.^[1]
• 23 September – Going Strong, a series for the elderly presented by Bunny Carr and Ann O'Dwyer is first aired.^[1]
• October – Geraldine McInerney becomes the first female newsreader on RTÉ Television.^[1]
• Undated –
  Director-General of RTÉ.^[1]

• 18 October – Minister for Posts and Telegraphs Conor Cruise O'Brien issues a directive to RTÉ providing clarification on the organisations whose members are banned from broadcast. The move follows the issuing of the original directive regarding this issue in 1971.^[1]

1977

• 5 July – Pádraig Faulkner is appointed Minister for Posts and Telegraphs.^[1]

1978

• January – The controversial
  nude scene in Episode 5 which sparked criticism from Irish conservatives, and has never been retransmitted.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}
• 2 November – Ireland's second television channel,
  RTÉ 2 goes on air.^[1] The opening night features a variety gala performance from the Cork Opera House and the 1968 film Bullitt.^[9]
• November – The UK soap
  HTV Wales
  .

• 1–4 June – RTÉ presents live coverage of
  Today Tonight and a special edition of Newstime which is broadcast on U.S. television.^[1]

• March –
  Director-General of RTÉ.^[1]

• The first teletext pages are shown during the afternoon on RTE2 as part of experimental tests for the forthcoming launch of RTE's teletext service
  Aertel.^[10]
• 9 November – The current affairs series
  Questions and Answers first goes on air. It is presented by Olivia O'Leary.^[1]

• 22 June – RTÉ Television's Aertel teletext service is formally launched after two years of test transmissions.^[1]

1988

• September –
  RTÉ 2
  is rebranded as Network 2 as part of a major overhaul of the channel.

1989

• 18 September – Irish television soap Fair City is first transmitted.^[1]

1990s

1990

• 25 June – A season 4 episode of American sitcom ALF is deferred due to an extended broadcast of the match between the Republic of Ireland and Romania at Italia '90. The episode due to air was the season's 20th; "Mr. Sandman". After a scoreless draw, the Irish side advanced, winning the penalty shootout 5 goals to 4.

1991

• 30 January – Proceedings from the Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament are aired on a regular basis.^[1]

1992

• 21 January – RTE goes on strike. Around 1,600 staff at RTE from three unions (SIPTU, NUJ and ETU) had gone on strike over staffing levels at RTE. The dispute began on 21 January 1992 when two person camera crews were introduced without the agreement of the SIPTU union. For nearly four weeks, all live home produced programming on both RTE One and Network Two were axed, with RTE filling its schedules with already recorded home produced shows along with a large amount of imported new programming and archive programming from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, USA and Australia, along with many films. RTE News output on television was reduced to short news summaries. It ended on 17 February 1992 with a resolution reached between the unions and RTE management.^[11]
• 28 December – The Irish language drama serial Ros na Rún is first aired on RTÉ Television as a series of 15-minute episodes.^[1]
• Unknown –
  Network 2 to RTÉ 1
  .