On June 12, LRT marks its 99th anniversary. Here are some of the key events since the first broadcast in 1926.
June 12, 1926. LRT RADIO begins broadcasting from a building on Vaižganto Street in Kaunas, opening its first radio report with the following words: “Alio, alio – Lietuvos radijas – Kaunas“ (“Hello, hello – Lithuanian Radio – Kaunas”). At the time, there were only 323 radio receivers in the country.
April 30, 1957. The first broadcast by Lithuanian Television. Its era opened with the words: “Dėmesio, dėmesio, kalba ir rodo Vilnius. Pradedame bandomąją Vilniaus televizijos studijos programą” (“Attention, attention, Vilnius speaks and shows. We are beginning a trial programme from the Vilnius Television Studio”).
September 18, 1962. The radio programme Nature – Everyone’s Home (Gamta – Visų Namai) was launched, it is still on the air today. The current presenter, naturalist Selemonas Paltanavičius, has said that many things have changed over the years, but nothing is more eternal than nature.
October 12, 1962, another long-running radio programme, Native Land (Gimtoji žemė), was launched (though it originally had a different name).
December 25, 1965. Television audiences saw the first Lithuanian sitcom, In the Petraitis Family (Petraičių šeimoje), which was broadcast until 1972. The series was so popular that streets would empty during its airing, and trolleybuses would run nearly empty.
July 14, 1969. Engineer Zita Ikimaitė began working at Lithuanian Television – and remarkably, she still works there today. She is the oldest member of the team, with nearly 56 years of service. She was 18 when she joined LRT. Since 1972, another long-standing employee has been Liucija Čižiuvienė, a former editor now working as an archivist.
January 1, 1970. The first edition of Panorama was broadcast, which is now Lithuania’s longest-running TV programme.
February 10, 1974. The children’s and school pupils’ song contest Dainų dainelė was launched. Its first director, Judita Ušinskaitė, said she still remembered the programme with great affection. For many Sundays in a row, LRT's corridors would fill with the cheerful voices of young singers from cities and towns across Lithuania.
In 1986, Eglė Bučelytė began working at LRT. She initially worked in the Lithuanian Radio programming department as a publisher, then became a programme editor and host of Evening News (Vakaro Žinios). Today, she presents Panorama.
Also in 1986, Audrius Giržadas joined Lithuanian Television. He began as an administrator in the music editorial department, became a radio announcer in 1987, and soon appeared frequently on TV music shows.
In 1987, journalist Edita Mildažytė joined the LRT team after winning a competition for announcers. She started as a reporter and presenter of Evening News (Vakaro Žinios) before moving on to entertainment programming. Her talk show Bėdų Turgus, launched in 2001, gained wide popularity and helped many people solve personal problems.
November 30, 1987. The first broadcast of Labas Ryta (Good Morning) was aired. Initially, the show lasted just 20 minutes and was hosted by journalist Vytautas Kvietkauskas. The original title was meant to be Good Morning, Lithuania (Labas Rytas, Lietuva), as it is today, but at the last minute the word “Lithuania” was dropped, as it was deemed inappropriate by some – the country was still occupied by the Soviet Union.
January 13, 1991. The radio and television building at 49 S. Konarskio Street was occupied. At the time, news presenter Eglė Bučelytė was in the TV news studio. In the radio studio, announcer Bernadeta Lukošiūtė declared: “They won’t drive us out of here by force…” Nevertheless, the military held the Lithuanian Radio and Television buildings for 122 days.
November 16, 1997, journalist Algimantas Čekuolis returned to Lithuanian Television with the show Afternoon with Algimantas Čekuolis (Popietė su Algimantu Čekuoliu). He first appeared on TV in 1973 with the programme Restless Meridians (Neramūs Meridianai). He worked on Afternoon with Algimantas Čekuolis until 2016, when he turned 85, earning recognition as the world’s longest-serving presenter.
May 11, 1998. LRT KLASIKA went on air for the first time.
July 10, 2000. LRT.lt was launched and became a news website in 2006. Since then, it has undergone several updates and improvements.
September 1, 2006. LRT OPUS began broadcasting – another radio station, this one focusing on alternative music.
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