Editing NHK (section)

==History==
[[File:Tokyo broadcasting station in Atagoyama.jpg|left|thumb|[[Atago, Tokyo|Atagoyama]] Broadcasting Station, the birthplace of NHK, in 1930]]
NHK's earliest forerunner was the {{nihongo|Tokyo Broadcasting Station|東京放送局}}, founded in 1924 under the leadership of Count [[Gotō Shinpei]]. Tokyo Broadcasting Station, along with separate organizations in [[Osaka]] and [[Nagoya]], began radio broadcasts in 1925. The three stations merged under the first incarnation of NHK in August 1926.<ref>{{cite web |title=NHK Corporate Information: History |url=http://www.nhk.or.jp/pr/english/history/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118052529/http://www.nhk.or.jp/corporateinfo/english/history/index.html |archive-date=18 November 2022 |access-date=29 July 2014 |publisher=NHK}}</ref> NHK was modelled on the [[BBC]] of the [[United Kingdom]],<ref name="s67"/> and the merger and reorganisation was carried out under the auspices of the pre-war [[Ministry of Communications (Japan)|Ministry of Communications]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Regular Radio Broadcasting Begins |url=http://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/aboutstrl/evolution-of-tv-en/p04/column/index1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020608213604/http://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/aboutstrl/evolution-of-tv-en/p04/Column/index1.html |archive-date=8 June 2002 |access-date=27 July 2015 |publisher=NHK}}</ref> NHK's second radio network began in 1931, and the third radio network (FM) began in 1937.

===Radio broadcasting===
NHK began [[shortwave radio|shortwave]] broadcasting on an experimental basis in the 1930s, and began regular English- and Japanese-language shortwave broadcasts in 1935 under the name '''[[NHK World-Japan#Radio Japan|Radio Japan]]''', initially aimed at ethnic Japanese listeners in [[Hawaii]] and the west coast of [[North America]]. By the late 1930s, NHK's overseas broadcasts were known as '''Radio Tokyo''', which became an official name in 1941.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}

In November 1941, the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] nationalised all public news agencies and coordinated their efforts via the Information Liaison Confidential Committee.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} All published and broadcast news reports became official announcements of the Imperial Army General Headquarters in Tokyo for the duration of [[World War II]]. The famous [[Tokyo Rose]] wartime programs were broadcast by NHK.<ref name="s67"/> NHK also recorded and broadcast the ''[[Hirohito surrender broadcast|Gyokuon-hōsō]]'', the surrender speech made by Emperor [[Hirohito]], in August 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Allen |first1=Thomas B. |last2=Polmar |first2=Norman |date=2015-08-07 |title=The 4-Minute Radio Broadcast That Ended World War II |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/08/emperor-hirohito-surrender-japan-hiroshima/400328/ |access-date=2023-07-12 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref>

Following the war, in September 1945, the Allied occupation administration under General [[Douglas MacArthur]] banned all international broadcasting by NHK, and repurposed several NHK facilities and frequencies for use by the [[Far East Network]] (now [[American Forces Network]]). Japanese-American radio broadcaster [[Frank Shozo Baba]] joined NHK during this time and led an early post-war revamp of its programming. Radio Japan resumed overseas broadcasts in 1952.{{fact|date=March 2024}}

A new {{ill|Broadcasting Act (Japan)|ja|放送法|lt=Broadcasting Act}} was enacted in 1950, which made NHK a listener-supported independent corporation and simultaneously opened the market for [[commercial broadcasting]] in Japan.<ref>{{cite web |title=Broadcast Law: Broadcasting for the Public |url=http://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/aboutstrl/evolution-of-tv-en/p08/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018085435/http://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/aboutstrl/evolution-of-tv-en/p08/index.html |archive-date=18 October 2015 |access-date=27 July 2015 |publisher=NHK}}</ref> NHK started [[television]] broadcasting in 1953, followed by its educational TV channel in 1959 and color television broadcasts in 1960.

NHK opened the first stage of [[NHK Broadcasting Center|its current headquarters]] in [[Tokyo|Japan's capital city]]'s [[special wards of Tokyo|special ward]] [[Shibuya]] as an international broadcasting center for the [[1964 Summer Olympics]], the first widely televised Olympic Games. The complex was gradually expanded through 1973 when it became the headquarters for NHK. The previous headquarters adjacent to [[Hibiya Park]] was redeveloped as the Hibiya City high-rise complex.

===Satellite broadcasting===
NHK began experimental satellite broadcasting with the NHK BS&nbsp;1 channel in 1984, followed by NHK BS&nbsp;2 in 1985.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Broadcasting Technology |url=http://www.nhk.or.jp/digital/en/techhistory/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925013913/http://www.nhk.or.jp/digital/en/techhistory/index.html |archive-date=25 September 2012 |publisher=NHK}}</ref> Both channels began regular broadcasts in 1989. In April 2011, BS&nbsp;1 was rebranded while BS&nbsp;2 channel ceased broadcasting and was replaced by "BS&nbsp;Premium" which broadcasts on the channel formerly used by BShi.

International satellite broadcasts to North America and Europe began in 1995, which led to the launch of [[NHK World]] in 1998. It became [[free-to-air]] over the [[Astra 19.2°E]] ([[Astra 1L]]) and [[Eurobird]] satellites in Europe in 2008.

===Digital television===
{{Further|Digital television transition in Japan}}
NHK began [[digital television]] broadcasting in December 2000 through BS Digital, followed by terrestrial digital TV broadcasts in three major metropolitan areas in 2003. NHK's digital television coverage gradually expanded to cover almost all of Japan by 24 July 2011, when analog transmissions were discontinued & ended (except in three prefectures that were heavily affected by the [[2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami]] – [[Iwate Prefecture|Iwate]], [[Miyagi Prefecture|Miyagi]], [[Fukushima Prefecture|Fukushima]] – where it was discontinued on 31 March 2012).

===''Studies of Broadcasting''===
{{Infobox journal
| title        = Studies of Broadcasting
| cover        = 
| discipline   = Broadcasting science
| abbreviation = Stud. Broadcast.
| editor       = 
| publisher    = 
| country      = 
| frequency    = <!-- e.g. Annual -->
| history      = 1963–1999
| impact       =
| impact-year  =
| website      =
| link1        =
| link1-name   =
| link2        =
| link2-name   =
| ISSN         = 0585-7325
| eISSN        =
| OCLC         = 474034025
| LCCN         =
| JSTOR        =
| italic title = no
}}

From 1963 to 1999, NHK published the journal ''Studies of broadcasting: an international annual of broadcasting science''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Studies of broadcasting: an international annual of broadcasting science |publisher=[[OCLC]] |oclc=474034025}}</ref>