First ever Dutch TV news broadcast now digitised

First ever Dutch TV news broadcast (NTS, 1956)

Collectie: Beeld en Geluid

The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision has now digitised the very first NTS TV news programme originally broadcast on 5 January 1956. This pioneering broadcast, complete with sound, leader and weather forecasts was unearthed during the digitisation of all the old news items from the 1950s and 1960s as part of the Images for the Future project.

The news programme from 1956 will feature prominently during the Dutch Night of History (Nacht van de Geschiedenis) on Saturday 23 October 2010 in which Sound and Vision is organising a special programme in alliance with the TV programme Andere Tijden (‘Other Times’). The news programme was made accessible for use by the Sound and Vision image database.

The first news broadcast was shown shortly after the NTS (the Dutch Television Foundation) was granted broadcasting powers and its broadcasting times were extended from 3 to 10 hours a week. The news was broadcast three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The broadcast of 5 January presents an excellent impression of that period, especially since it was the only news on television at that time. It covers a range of features, including volunteers signing up for the West German army and a report from the home of chess champion Max Euwe, where everything on the wall is literally hanging upside down. The weather forecast is especially interesting because the weatherman actually draws the sun symbols and temperatures on the map by hand.

For more than 18 months, the newsreader was never actually featured on screen. It was not until 3 October 1957 that the very first newsreader, Coen van Hoewijk, would appear on screen. The NTS-Journaal news broadcast was the forerunner of today’s NOS Journaal.