RCC Broadcasting

Early history

After the passage of the "Three Radio Laws" in 1950, plans to expand private broadcasting took place across Japan. Two companies, "Hiroshima Heiwa Broadcasting" and "Radio Hiroshima" applied for the establishment of private radio stations. Later, upon recommendation by the Radio Supervisory Committee, the two companies merged. On April 21, 1951, Hiroshima Broadcasting (the newly merged company) was granted a license to broadcast. On February 25, 1952, they held a promoters' meeting and received funding from newspapers Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun.

On August 8, 1952, after a general meeting of shareholders, Hiroshima Broadcasting was renamed to Radio Chugoku, using RCC as an abbreviation for Radio Chugoku Company. Radio Chugoku started broadcasting on October 1, 1952, at 6:30 am, operating for at least 16 hours and 30 minutes every day.

Expansion to TV broadcasting and further developments

Radio Chugoku applied for a TV license in 1954, and received a preliminary TV license on October 22, 1957. On March 17, 1959, Radio Chugoku began TV broadcast trials. By April 1, 1959, Radio Chugoku started TV broadcasts. Also in the same year, it joined the Japan News Network.

During its early operations, the broadcaster didn't have any professional TV studios, instead its radio studio was multipurposed for TV broadcasts. It was then decided that a new headquarters would be built in Motomachi (which started on November 5, 1960), adjacent to the Hiroshima Castle. On October 19, 1961, Radio Chugoku started broadcasting from its newly built headquarters.

On March 20, 1966, Chugoku Radio and Television began TV broadcasting in color. On April 1 of the same year, it started 24 hour TV broadcasts. The company was then renamed to Chugoku Broadcasting on April 1, 1967, to reflect its TV and radio operations. RCC continued to be used to refer to the company.

Since the mid-60s, RCC produced documentaries with foreign productions. These include a documentary about Japanese immigrants in Hawaii in 1965, and a documentary about Hiroshima City and Volgograd becoming sister cities in 1968.

On April 15, 1970, Nippon Professional Baseball opening day, RCC aired the first color Hiroshima Toyo Carp local game broadcasts for its broadcast markets. Chugoku Broadcasting became an official broadcaster for airing highlights of the Hiroshima Flower Festival since it started in 1977.

RCC began using digital broadcasts on October 1, 2006, and ended analog broadcasts on July 24, 2011, alongside that of JOEE-TV.