Radio Televisyen Malaysia (, Jawi: ; abbreviated as RTM, stylised in all lowercase), also known as the Department of Broadcasting, Malaysia (; Jawi: ) is the national public broadcaster of Malaysia that serves as the primary national public broadcasting company of the country, headquartered at Angkasapuri, Kuala Lumpur. Established on 1 April 1946 as Radio Malaya, it is the first and the oldest broadcaster in the country.
After Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963, Radio Malaya was renamed Radio Malaysia. On 28 December that year, television service in Malaysia began with the establishment of Televisyen Malaysia. RTM came into its current state with its present name in 1969 when it merged its radio and television services to form the present-day broadcast department. As of 2021, RTM employs over 4,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 2,000 are in public-sector broadcasting, including part-time, flexible as well as fixed contract staff.
Its work is formerly funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is charged to all Malaysian households, companies, and organisations until the licence was phased out in 1999. RTM monopolised the free-to-air television until 1984 and also radio until 1989, when private television and radio stations such as TV3 and Best FM began operations. Currently, it operates 7 television channels and 34 radio stations nationwide as well as an over-the-top streaming service, RTMKlik. Unlike the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which is a chartered corporation, RTM is a department under direct government control via a ministry.
RTM is a principal owner and operator of Orkestra RTM (), which was established in 1961 and touted as the oldest musical orchestra in Malaysia. News and current affairs content across all platforms is produced by its news division. RTM's digital presence, managed by its Interactive Digital Media Division, spans platforms such as Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. It has been listed in Triton Digital's Global Streaming Rankers for March 2025 and ranked 30th worldwide in recognition of its digital transformation. Its official YouTube channel has collectively garnered more than 250 million followers, while its Berita RTM's YouTube channel has garnered over 860 thousand subscribers as of May 2025.
Since its formation in 1946, RTM has played a prominent role in Malaysian life and culture. In 2019, RTM became the most trusted media organisation in Malaysia ahead of Astro Awani, TV3 and Malaysiakini, according to a survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
RTM has often been subjected to criticism and controversy concerning its content and programming, news coverage and governance as well as corruption scandals. In the past, RTM radio stations often starts up with the interval signal.
History
1921–1946: The birth of local broadcasting History of local broadcasting in Malaysia began in 1921 when an electrical engineer from the Johor Government, A.L. Birch, brought the first radio set into British Malaya. He then established the Johor Wireless Association in 1923 and commenced broadcasting through 300 meter waves. Similar associations were also established in Penang (Penang Wireless Association) in 1925 and in Kuala Lumpur (Malayan Wireless Association) in 1928.
In 1930, Sir Earl from the Singapore Port Authority commenced its short wave broadcast every fortnight either on Sundays or Wednesdays. The same effort was emulated by the Malayan Wireless Association, broadcasting from Bukit Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, via 325 meter waves. Penang Wireless Association led by Khoo Sian Ewe launched Station ZHJ – Malaya's first radio station on 24 August 1934, which operates out of George Town, Penang. British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation (BMBC) was formed on 21 July 1935 and awarded a broadcasting license by the British crown on 1 June 1936 as a radio network. On 1 March 1937, Sir Shenton Thomas opened the BMBC Studio and its transmitter at Caldecott Hill in Singapore. The corporation was taken over by the Straits Settlements Government in 1940, subsequently nationalised and reorganised as the Malaya Broadcasting Corporation and was placed under the British Department of Information.
During the World War II in 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army occupied British Malaya and used the existing radio channels in Penang, Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban and Singapore to transmit Japanese propaganda. Malaya Broadcasting Corporation was renamed Syonan Hoso Kyoku ('Light of the South' Broadcasting Corporation), the local counterpart to the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nippon Hoso Kyokai, NHK for short). Meanwhile, the Radio Station in Penang was renamed Penang Hoso Kyoku (Penang Broadcasting Corporation). After the war, the British came back into power and reclaimed the radio station, with the station managed by the interim government – British Military Administration (BMA).
1946–1969: Early history On 1 April 1946, Radio Malaya or Department of Broadcasting of Malaya was established at Caldecott Hill in Singapore (after Singapore out from Malaysia in 1965, the office is used by Radio Television Singapore (RTS) and its successors Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS), Radio Corporation of Singapore (RCS), Singapore International Media (SIM) and Mediacorp until the end of 2017). Apart from its headquarters in Singapore, it also had broadcast stations in cities and towns across Malaya such as Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban and Malacca. Radio Malaya consists of five language services – Malay, Aslian, English, Chinese and Tamil language, the latter three became known as the Blue, Green and Red Networks in 1959. Blue, Green and Red Networks were also used to refer to regional stations and programmings and radio broadcastings were done using amplitude modulation (AM) or short and medium wave transmissions during those times.
In the British Crown Colonies of North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak, Radio Sarawak was launched on 7 June 1954, while Radio Sabah was launched on 9 November 1955 after test broadcast since 1952. These two radio stations offers language services in Malay, Chinese and English, in addition to the native languages of Iban for Sarawak and Kadazan for Sabah.
With the independence of Malaya on 31 August 1957, Radio Malaya was split into two separate stations: the original studios in Singapore were taken over by a new station called Radio Singapura and Radio Malaya moved to Kuala Lumpur going on air from the new location – the 5th to 6th floor of the Federal House on 1 January 1959. It would be later renamed Radio Malaysia on 16 September 1963, with the transmissions beginning with its trademark words Inilah Radio Malaysia (This is Radio Malaysia) on the day the Malaysia of today, a federation which consists of the States of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore (until 1965) was born. On the same day, Radio Sabah, Radio Sarawak and Radio Singapura became part of the Radio Malaysia network as state stations for Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore listeners respectively. Radio Malaysia's flagship international shortwave radio service, Voice of Malaysia (, VOM) was launched on 15 February the same year to promote the country, with three languages in the beginning: English, Mandarin and Indonesian.
Television services under the name Televisyen Malaysia or Malaysia Television (Malaysia TV) started on 28 December 1963 in time for the national New Year celebrations in Kuala Lumpur and regional telecasts in the Klang Valley in Selangor state, with its first studios being located in Jalan Ampang. The then 10-month-old Television Singapura (launched on 15 February 1963) became part of Televisyen Malaysia in January 1964 as its state station for Singapore viewers, a role served until 1965, when Singapore became independent. During its time as part of Malaysia, Singapore like its three other partners–Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya had its own radio network, but it was the only state to have its own television network. The state's radio and television broadcast right were included as an annex in the Malaysia Agreement, which it garnered autonomy in this area, among others.
Upon joining Radio Malaysia, Radio Sabah consisted of two language networks: the main Malay language network which later became Sabah FM and the Blue Network for Kadazan, Murut, Dusun, Bajau, English and Mandarin language which later became Sabah V FM. Radio Sarawak on the other hand, consisted of four language networks: the main Malay language network, the Blue network for Bidayuh language, the Green network for Iban and Kayan/Kenyah languages and the Red network for English, Mandarin, Bisaya and Murut language programming.
News broadcasting began on 30 December 1963 with the first television news broadcast by Televisyen Malaysia (TV Malaysia). In the beginning, TV Malaysia functioned as the official information channel of the Malaysian government and became a pioneer in news broadcasting in the country.
At that time, the news broadcast included local and international issues as well as the political, economic, and social developments of Malaysia. This news is available in 4 languages such as Malay, English, Mandarin and Tamil. It remains one of the main sources of news in Malaysia to this day.
The then-Information and Broadcasting Minister, Hamzah Abu Samah announced in May 1969 that the radio and television services would be merged to create a new public broadcasting department in August. In August 1969, he confirmed that the merger will be took place in October or will be finalised by the year-end. As part of the preparation for its merger with Radio Malaysia, Televisyen Malaysia moved from its former headquarters in Jalan Ampang to Angkasapuri.
1969–2001: Merger and expansion of radio and television operations Radio and Television operations merged on 11 October 1969 as the new Angkasapuri headquarters was inaugurated. Thus Radio Malaysia and Televisyen Malaysia's identities merged to become Radio Televisyen Malaysia, abbreviated as RTM. A second TV station, which was first mooted by then-Information and Broadcasting Minister, Senu Abdul Rahman, opened on 17 November in the same year as its rebranding.
On 19 April 1971, Radio Malaysia's Malay language unit became the first radio station to broadcast 24 hours a day nationwide, thus becoming National Network () in the process. On 5 November 1973, RTM launched a radio station named Radio Ibu Kota (Capital City Radio) specifically for the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. On 20 June 1975, Radio Malaysia's first Stereo FM format radio station went on the air, mainly broadcast pop music and initially focus on the Klang Valley area. On this same year, it subsumed operations of Sabah TV, an independent television broadcaster ran by Sabah's local state government through its Rangkaian Ketiga ("Third Network") connecting to Sarawak as well.
By 31 August 1978, Voice of Malaysia had expanded its broadcast to include 5 other language services namely: Thai (1 January 1972) Arabic (1 November 1972) Tagalog (22 October 1973) Malay Burmese The expansion of the Voice of Malaysia was meant to foster the relationships between Malaysia & ASEAN countries of Thailand & the-then Burma, as well as fostering the Islamic fraternity between Malaysia & Arab countries. The Tagalog service was launched to cover the Southern Philippines, during the Moro conflict to support the rebels at that time. The Thai, Arabic & Burmese language services was terminated in 2009, while the Malay, English, Chinese & Indonesian language services was terminated on 31 August 2011. Tagalog service, broadcasts on MW & later FM later followed suit, terminated service on 30 April 2022, all due to low listenership & the rise of FM radio stations as well as the internet that waned it's importance.https://dewanmasyarakat.jendeladbp.my/2024/02/18/20284/