View source for Radio Taiwan International

{{Short description|International broadcasting service of Taiwan}}
{{coord|25|4|39.98|N|121|31|38.34|E|region:TW|display=title}}
{{distinguish|RTI International}}
{{Infobox Network
| name = Radio Taiwan International<br>中央廣播電臺
| logo = File:Radio Taiwan International logo (2024).png
| country = [[Taiwan]]
| network_type = [[Radio network]]
| available = International
| owner = Radio Taiwan International
| key_people = 
| launch_date = 1928
| past_names = CBS, Voice of Free China, Radio Taipei International
| website = {{URL|https://en.rti.org.tw/|Radio Taiwan International}}|
| image = Central Broadcasting System 20040809a (cropped).jpg
| caption = Radio Taiwan International building in Taipei
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| pic = 
| picsize = 
| piccap = 
| showflag = cp
| t = 中央廣播電台
| s = 中央广播电台
| p = Zhōngyāng Guǎngbò Diàntái
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|zh|ong|1|yang|1|-|g|uang|3|b|o|4|-|d|ian|4|t|ai|2}}
| w = Chungyang Kuangpo Tien-t'ai
| tp = Jhongyang Guǎngbò Diàntái
| poj = Tiong-iong Kóng-pò Tiān-tâi
| order = ts
}}

'''Radio Taiwan International''' ('''RTI'''; {{zh|c=中央廣播電臺|p=Zhōngyāng Guǎngbò Diàntái}}) is the English name and call sign of the '''Central Broadcasting System''' ('''CBS'''), national broadcaster and international radio service of [[Taiwan]]. It is a public radio station that broadcasts in 14 languages around the world via the internet, shortwave and podcasts. It also has Facebook fan pages in five additional languages.

== History ==
{{Further|Broadcasting Corporation of China}}
[[File:Central Broadcasting System logo on Changsha Street 20101007.jpg|thumb|250px|Central Broadcasting System microphone plate]]
The Central Broadcasting System was founded in 1928 as the voice of the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) government quartered in [[Nanjing]] on [[mainland China]]. During the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] the KMT was forced by the [[Imperial Japanese Armed Forces|Japanese forces]] and [[Wang Jingwei regime|pro-Japanese "rebel" Wang Jingwei government]] to relocate the radio station &mdash; along with the capital city, first to [[Hankou]] in the central [[Hubei|Hubei Province]] and then to [[Chongqing]] in south-central China.

After the conclusion of the [[World War II|Second World War]], which saw the surrender and withdrawal of Japanese forces, the KMT and the [[Chinese Communist Party]] resumed their [[Chinese Civil War|civil war]]. The defeated KMT retreated to Taiwan in 1949 and the Central Broadcasting System moved with them.

== Current status ==
RTI currently offers audio news and programs about Taiwan in 14 languages. It also has YouTube channels offering video news and programs and can be seen on Twitter and Facebook as well.

After undergoing restructuring during the period 1996–98, CBS broadcast to mainland China and the rest of the world under the call sign '''''Radio Taipei International''''' and the '''''Voice of Asia'''''.  ''Radio Taipei International'' essentially replaced the international radio services of the [[Broadcasting Corporation of China]] (BCC), known as the '''''[[Voice of Free China]]'''''. ''Radio Taipei International'' broadcast to China and to an international audience; by contrast, the ''Voice of Asia'' was broadcast to the Asia-Pacific region only and offered a lighter format than RTI. In 2002 the ''Voice of Asia'' call sign was dropped to leave ''Radio Taipei International'' as the sole broadcasting name for the service. This was in turn changed to '''''Radio Taiwan International''''', to avoid confusion on the part of listeners, who had trouble associating Taipei with Taiwan.<ref>[http://english.rti.org.tw/Others/AboutRti.aspx Official Radio Taiwan International (RTI) Website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208233708/http://english.rti.org.tw/Others/AboutRti.aspx |date=2009-02-08 }}.</ref>

In addition, via domestic [[AM radio]] and shortwave, CBS also broadcast three different "networks" in Chinese (mainly [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] and [[Taiwanese Language|Taiwanese]]) to the mainland.  These networks were the ''News Network'' (a news and information-oriented service), the ''Variety Network'' (a music and features-oriented service, also known as the ''Mandarin Programme'', ''Taiwanese Programme'', ''Perspective Program'', or the ''Pop Network Programme''), and the ''Dialect Network'' (programming aimed at the minorities of China). In time, the ''Variety Network'' was renamed the ''General Network'', the ''News Network'' became the ''Mainland Network'', and eventually the ''Mainland'', ''General'', and ''Dialect Network'' were merged in with ''Radio Taiwan International''. One consequence of this was that CBS could no longer broadcast domestically over AM radio.

== Broadcasting details ==
Radio Taiwan International broadcasts to the following countries and regions:
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]]
* [[China]]
* [[Europe]]
* [[Indonesia]]
* [[Japan]]
* [[Korea]]
* [[Philippines|The Philippines]]
* [[South Africa]]
* [[South Asia]]
* [[Southeast Asia]]
* [[United States]]
{{div col end}}

Programming is carried in [[Taiwanese Mandarin|Taiwanese Mandarin (Guoyu)]], [[Taiwanese Hokkien]], [[English language|English]], [[Cantonese language|Cantonese]], [[Taiwanese Hakka]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Tagalog language|Tagalog (Filipino)]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[German language|German]], [[French language|French]], [[Russian language|Russian]] and most recently [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] (previously also in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] and [[Standard Tibetan|Tibetan]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=Radio station to target foreign community|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/02/10/2003222725|date=2005-02-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202085419/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/02/10/2003222725|archive-date=2008-12-02|publisher=[[Taipei Times]]}}</ref>

As of 1 July 2013, RTI terminated its shortwave broadcasts to North and South America due to budget cuts caused by the closure of [[WYFR]], a Christian religious shortwave station which RTI leased airtime from and whose Florida transmitter RTI used to broadcast to the Americas. RTI programming was broadcast over WYFR on 5.95&nbsp;MHz and 9.61&nbsp;MHz between 17:00/18:00 hrs. [[Eastern Time|Eastern]] until 03:00/04:00. After that point, [[Family Radio]] continued to host RTI's audio service to the Chinese community in the [[New York City]] area on a digital subchannel of Family Radio's television station, WFME-TV; this would end in October 2013, when the station was revamped into an international ethnic station, [[WNYJ-TV]].

Radio Taiwan broadcasts daily in Mandarin, Taiwanese (Minnan or Hokkien), Hakka, Cantonese, English, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian and Korean. It also has Facebook pages in English. <ref>{{cite web|title=About RTI|url=https://en.rti.org.tw/index/content/id/4|accessdate=2022-07-15|publisher=Radio Taiwan International}}</ref><ref>[http://www1.s2.starcat.ne.jp/ndxc/pc/ad/userlist1.txt A24 Shortwave Frequency List] Bi Newsletter 2024</ref>

==Programs==
*[[Taiwan Insider]], its flagship weekly video and audio news magazine program
*[[Taiwan Today]], an award-winning audio program on politics and society
*[[Feast Meets West]], an award-winning program about food and culture
*Love! On Air, a program on different aspects of romantic relationships in Taiwan, hosted by Brendan Wong
*As a Student, its only program focuses on campus life in Taiwan, hosted by YouTube creator Wanson Wang
*Behind the Beats, the flagship music program on the music scene in Taiwan, hosted by Emma Benack

== See also ==
*Media in Taiwan
* English language print media published by the Government Information Office
**[[Taiwan Review]]
**[[Taiwan Journal]]
*[[Voice of Free China]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official website}} {{in lang|zh|en|fr|de|id|ja|ru|es|th|vi|ko}}
* {{commons category inline}}

{{Chinese-language radio}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:International broadcasters]]
[[Category:Chinese-language radio stations]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Taiwan]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1928]]
[[Category:Public broadcasting in Taiwan]]