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Yleisradio Oy ( Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
's national
public broadcasting Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
company, founded in 1926. It is a
joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders a ...
which is 99.98% owned by the Finnish state, and employs around 3,200 people in Finland. Yle shares many of its organizational characteristics with its British counterpart, the BBC, on which it was largely modelled. For the greater part of Yle's existence the company was funded by the revenues obtained from a broadcast receiving licence fee payable by the owners of radio sets (1927–1976) and television sets (1958–2012), as well as receiving a portion of the broadcasting licence fees payable by private television broadcasters. Since the beginning of 2013 the licence fee has been replaced by a public broadcasting tax (known as the
Yle tax The Yle tax (, ) is a Finnish tax collected to fund the operation of the country's public broadcasting company, Yle. The tax has been collected since 2013, when it replaced the television licence payment (''televisiomaksu'', ''televisionsavgift'') ...
), which is collected annually from private individuals and corporations together with their other taxes. By far the largest part of the Yle tax is collected from individual taxpayers, with payments being assessed on a sliding scale. Minors, as well as persons with an annual income of less than
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...
7,813 are exempt. At the lower limit the tax payable by individuals amounts to €50 per annum and the maximum (payable by an individual with a yearly income of €20,588 or more) is set at €140. The rationale for the abolition of the previous television licence fee was the development of other means of delivering Yle's services, such as the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
, and the consequent impracticality of continuing to tie the fee to the ownership of a specific device. Yle receives no advertising revenues as all channels are advertisement-free. Yle has a status that could be described as that of a
non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...
. It is governed by a parliamentary governing council. Yle's turnover in 2010 was €398.4 million. In 2018, Yle's annual budget was about €530 million. Yle operates three national television channels, 13 radio channels and services, and 25 regional radio stations. As Finland is constitutionally bilingual — around 5.5% of the population speaks Swedish as their mother-tongue — Yle provides radio and TV programming in Swedish through its Swedish-language department, Svenska Yle. As is customary in Finnish television and cinemas, foreign films and TV programmes, as well as segments of local programmes that feature foreign language dialogues (e.g. news interviews), are generally
subtitled Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...
on Yle's channels. Dubbing is used in
cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
intended for young children who have not yet learned to read; off-screen narration in documentaries is also frequently dubbed. In the field of international broadcasting, one of Yle's best known services was Nuntii Latini, the news in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
, which was broadcast worldwide and made available over the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
. Yle was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the
European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the C ...
in 1950. Yle hosted the
Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...
in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
.


History

''Suomen Yleisradio'' (Finland's General Radio) was founded in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
on 29 May 1926. The first
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...
programme was transmitted on 9 September in that year, and this is the date generally considered to be the birthday of regular broadcasting activities in Finland. However, it was not until 1928 that Yle's broadcasts became available throughout the country. After this the broadcasting network was developed and by the beginning of the 1930s, 100,000 households were able to listen to Yle programmes. In 1957, Yle made its first television broadcast tests, and the following year regular TV programming was started under the name ''Suomen Televisio'' (Finland's Television), which was later renamed Yle TV1. The popularity of television in the country grew rapidly. In 1964, Yle obtained TES-TV and Tamvisio, which were merged to
Yle TV2 Yle TV2 ( fi, Yle TV Kaksi; sv, Yle TV Två) is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Yle. TV2 was launched in 1965 as the successor to the former television channels TES-TV (Tesvisio) and Tamvisio, and broadcasts public service ...
. In 1969, the Finnish Broadcasting Company began broadcasting television programs in colour, but due to the high cost of technology, virtually all programs appeared in colour only in the late 1970s. On May 1, 1977, ''Tv-uutiset'' (~ TV-news) and TV-nytt switched to colour. In the 2000s, Yle has founded a number of new radio and television channels. In 2007 there was a
digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...
switchover. A completely new digital channel, ''Yle Teema'' (~ Yle Theme) was introduced, and the Swedish-language FST (''Finlands Svenska Television,'' ~ Finland's Swedish Television) was moved from reserved analogue channel time to its own digital channel YLE FST5, which was later renamed to Yle Fem. In addition to these four channels (TV1, TV2, Teema, and Fem), a fifth channel, called YLE24, was launched in 2001 for 24-hour news programming. However, this channel was replaced by YLE Extra, a channel attempting to cater to the youth, which was in turn decommissioned in 2007. Until 4 August 2008, the fifth channel was used to broadcast Yle TV1 with Finnish subtitles broadcast on programmes in foreign languages (without having to enable the TV's or digital set-top box's subtitle function).


Logo history

File:Oy-Suomen-Ab-Logo-1930.png, alt=, Yle's First logo 1926 to 1940 File:Yleisradio logo 1965.svg, Yle's second logo used from 1940 to 1991 File:Yleisradion logo 1990.svg, Yle's third logo used from May 1990 to 30 September 1999. File:YLE logo.svg, Yle's fourth logo used from 1 October 1999 to 4 March 2012. File:Ylen logo.svg, Yle's fifth and current logo since 5 March 2012. File:Ylen logo (white).svg, Variant of Yle's fifth and current logo since 5 March 2012.


Television

* Yle TV1: TV1 is the oldest of Yle's channels and also the flagship TV channel of the institution. It serves as the main news, current affairs and factual journalism outlet for Yle, and is also used to broadcast a number of documentaries, drama, cultural, and educational programmes. Satirical entertainment, cinema, and shows of British production are also included in its programming. The channel's headquarters are located in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
. *
Yle TV2 Yle TV2 ( fi, Yle TV Kaksi; sv, Yle TV Två) is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Yle. TV2 was launched in 1965 as the successor to the former television channels TES-TV (Tesvisio) and Tamvisio, and broadcasts public service ...
: TV2, founded in 1964, is the main channel for sports programmes and children's and teenagers' broadcasting. The channel is also used to broadcast drama, entertainment, and factual programmes. Emphasis in current affairs output is on domestic items, regional content and
citizen journalism Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, a ...
. The channel's headquarters are located in
Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population ...
. *
Yle Teema & Fem Yle Teema & Fem is a Finnish free-to-air television channel owned by Finnish state-broadcaster Yle. It was launched on 24 April 2017, after Yle Teema and Yle Fem merged to this channel. Teema & Fem is Yle's channel for culture, education, and sci ...
: Yle Teema & Fem (~ Yle Theme & Five) combines the operations of the previously separate Teema and Fem channels. Teema & Fem is Yle's channel for culture, education, and science. It focuses on recordings of performing arts, classical music, art, and history documentaries, films, and theme broadcasts. The channel also broadcasts Swedish-language full service channel broadcasting news, factual and children's programmes and entertainment. It also shows many Nordic films and series and
Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...
-language Ođđasat. Finnish subtitles are available for most programmes, they can be enabled using the digital set-top box. Outside
prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
, Teema & Fem shows selected broadcasts from
Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...
, Sweden's equivalent of Yle. *
TV Finland TV Finland is a Finnish free-to-air television channel broadcasting in Sweden. It was originally created broadcast in that country as part of a reciprocal agreement between the Finnish and Swedish governments that also established SVT Europa (or ...
: TV Finland is a digital satellite channel showing a selection of Yle's programmes in Sweden. * Yle Text-TV: Yle Text-TV ( fi, Yle Teksti-tv) shows news, sport and programme information round the clock. Theme pages on the weather, traffic, work and leisure. As of January 2014, all of Yle's TV-channels except TV Finland are available in high definition.


Radio

* : A radio channel for culture, in-depth current affairs, and other speech-based programmes. Classical music (concerts by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra), jazz, folk, world music, and religious music also feature. *
YleX YleX (formerly known as YLEX) is one of the major radio stations of the Finnish Broadcasting Company ( Yle) featuring pop music and cultural programming. The station started as Radiomafia, and name changed to YleX in 2003. Programming targets the ...
: A fast-tempo programme-flow channel featuring new music and in tune with popular culture, targeted at 17- to 27-year-olds. The percentage of music is 70%. New domestic and foreign pop and rock and several special music programmes. *
Yle Radio Suomi Yle Radio Suomi is a radio channel owned and operated by Finland's national public service broadcaster Yleisradio Yleisradio Oy ( Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), ...
: The national and regional news, service and contact channel, also sport and entertainment. Musical fare comprising domestic and foreign hits, adult and nostalgic pop. * (formerly Yle Radio Peili): The news and current affairs channel presenting talk programmes from Yle's other radio and television channels. Classical jazz. Also broadcast on digital television. *
Yle X3M Yle X3M ( kstrẹ:m ''Radio Extrem'') is a Finnish Swedish-language radio station, owned and operated by Yle. It is generally aimed at the youth audience, and the target audience is 15- to 30-year-olds. It was established in 1997. In 1998, X3M ...
: The Swedish-language youth channel for current affairs debate and popular culture, broadcasting also news. New pop and rock and special music programmes. * Yle Vega: News, current affairs and culture in Swedish for all audience groups, also offering culture and regional programmes. Adult pop, jazz and classical music. * Yle Sámi Radio: A Sami-language network covering most of Lapland. Produced in co-operation with SVT and
NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...
. ;Digital services Yle phased out digital audio broadcasts by the end of 2005. Three channels continued to be available as
DVB Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) o ...
audio services. DVB audio services were shut down on 30 June 2016. * : The 24-hour digital supplementary service of classical music also broadcast on digital television. ;International services * : Broadcasts in English and other languages, mostly compiled from international radio services. Yle Mondo is available on FM in Helsinki and throughout the country as an audio attached to digital TV.


Yle tax

Until the end of 2012, Finnish citizens paid Yle a license fee for the use of a television, set at 252 euros per year in 2012. The license fee was per location, which could hold several sets (e.g. in a living room as well as a bedroom). The public broadcasting tax, also known as the Yle tax, replaced the license fee in 2013. The tax ranges from 50 euros to 140 euros per person and per year, depending on income. Minors and persons with low income are exempt from the tax.


Controversies

In radio, Yle was a legal
monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
until 1985, when local radio stations were permitted, and maintained a national monopoly until 1995, when national radio networks were allowed. In the past, Yle has been seen in Finland as a "red" or
leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in so ...
medium. This was true especially in 1965–1969, during the term of Director-General
Eino S. Repo Eino Sakari Repo (September 6, 1919, Isokyrö – December 15, 2002, Helsinki) was the president of state owned Finnish Broadcasting Company from 1965 to 1969 and head of the radio from 1969 to 1974. His time as president was known as Repo ...
, who got the position with the backing of the Agrarian League and President Kekkonen (who was a member of the Agrarian Party), as he was Kekkonen's personal friend. He was accused of favouring leftist student radicalism and young left leaning reporters with programs critical of capitalism that demanded reforms to bring Finland closer to the Soviet Union, and Yle was given the nickname "Reporadio". After his resigning, he was demoted to the position of director of radio broadcasting, on the
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
-led People's Democratic League mandate. Repo resigned in 1969, but according to Yle, the "political mandate" remained, as Erkki Raatikainen was named director directly from the
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...
office. Subsequently, all directors after him until 2010 were Social Democrats. This was ended by appointment of the right-wing National Coalition Party's Lauri Kivinen as director in 2010. During Finlandization and the leftist radicalization of the 1970s, Yle contributed to Kekkonen's policy of "neutrality" by broadcasting the programme ''Näin naapurissa'' about the Soviet Union. This programme was produced in cooperation with the Soviets and as such, supported Soviet propaganda without criticism. The appointment of Lauri Kivinen in 2010 received much criticism as he was previously head of
Nokia Siemens Networks Nokia Networks (formerly Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)) is a multinational data networking and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia Corp ...
, which had sold monitoring equipment to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, allowing them to arrest political dissidents throughout the protests in the fall of 2009. English-language newscaster
Kimmo Wilska Kimmo Wilska (born 5 August 1956 in Helsinki) is an English-speaking Finnish newscaster. He worked at YLE from 1985 until 2010 in YLE's morning broadcast, and read the English-language news on ''YLE News''. On 13 August 2010, Wilska was fired ...
was fired on 13 August 2010 – after pretending to be caught drinking on-camera following an alcohol-related news story on ''Yle News''. Wilska's stunt was not well received by Yle management who fired him that same day. Wilska received a lot of support after his termination. Yle has been criticized for buying many HBO series. Yle has responded to criticism emphasizing suitability of series to channels with no ad breaks, quality and low price of HBO programming and stating that American programs even with HBO form only 7% of Yle programming.


Decision to close shortwave

The broadcasts on
shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
from Yle Radio Finland were closed at the end of 2006. Expatriate organisations had been campaigning for a continued service, but their efforts did not succeed in maintaining the service or even in slowing the process. The decision also affected a high-powered medium wave on 963 kHz (312m). A smaller medium wave covering the Gulf of Finland region (558 kHz, 538m) remained on air one more year.


Parliamentary question about shortwave

In November 2005, MP Pertti Hemmilä ( N) submitted a question in
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
about the plans of Yle to end its availability on international shortwave bands. In his question, Hemmilä took up the low cost of the world band radio to the consumer travelling or living abroad. In her response the Minister of Transport and Communications, Susanna Huovinen ( S) noted that Yle would now be available via other means, such as
satellites A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotop ...
and the Internet. She also underlined the fact that Yle is not under government control, but under indirect parliamentary supervision.


YLE Gate 2017

The
Council for Mass Media in Finland The Council for Mass Media in Finland ( fi, Julkisen sanan neuvosto, abbr. ''JSN''; sv, Opinionsnämnden för massmedier) is a self-regulatory organ of the Finnish mass media. It controls journalists related to publishers who have adopted ''the goo ...
criticized Yleisradio for restricting news reports about Prime Minister
Juha Sipilä Juha Petri Sipilä (; born 25 April 1961) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2015 to 2019. A relative newcomer to politics, he has a successful background in business. He was the leader of the Centre Party fr ...
's investments and business in 2017. The chief editor of Yle threatened that Yle would resign from the Council. PM Sipilä had been angry over Yle reports on the
Talvivaara mine The Talvivaara mine is one of the largest nickel mines in Finland. The mine is located in Sotkamo in Kainuu region of Finland. The mine is owned by government-established Terrafame, which bought it from the bankruptcy-bound Talvivaara Mining ...
and Ketera Steel (a company owned by relatives of Sipilä). Several reporters were barred from publishing stories about of political connections between Sipilä and companies owned by his relatives, and state financing of the Talvivaara mine (Terrafame mine).Mitä Missä Milloin. ''2018 Annual News Book''. Otava 2017. pages 109 and 341-342


List of YLE directors

* L. M. Viherjuuri, 1926–1927 (acting) * Yrjö Koskelainen, 1927 (acting) * Armas Deinert, 1927 (acting) * Hjalmar Woldemar Walldén (since 1935 Jalmar Voldemar Vakio) 1927–1945 *
Hella Wuolijoki Hella Wuolijoki (née Ella Marie Murrik; 22 July 1886 – 2 February 1954), also known by the pen name Juhani Tervapää, was an Estonian-born Finnish writer known for her ''Niskavuori'' series.Wuolijoki, Hella. Eesti Entsüklopeedia 10. Estonian ...
, 1945–1949 *
Einar Sundström Einar Sundström (9 September 1919 – 13 May 2002) was a Finnish weightlifter. He competed in the men's bantamweight event at the 1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known ...
, 1950–1964 *
Eino S. Repo Eino Sakari Repo (September 6, 1919, Isokyrö – December 15, 2002, Helsinki) was the president of state owned Finnish Broadcasting Company from 1965 to 1969 and head of the radio from 1969 to 1974. His time as president was known as Repo ...
, 1965–1969 * Erkki Raatikainen, 1970–1979 * Sakari Kiuru, 1980–1989 *
Reino Paasilinna Reino Paasilinna (5 December 1939 – 21 July 2022) was a Finnish politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, which is part of the Party of European Socialdemo ...
, 1990–1994 * Arne Wessberg, 1994–2005 * Mikael Jungner, 2005–2010 * Lauri Kivinen, 2010–2018 * Merja Ylä-Anttila, 2018–in office


Notable news anchors

* Marjo Rein * Matti Rönkä * Tommy Franti * Jussi-Pekka Rantanen * Arto Nurmi * Marjukka Havumäki *
Piia Pasanen Piia Pasanen (born 17 April 1973, in Kuopio) is a Finnish journalist and Yle's news anchor. She previously worked as a sports reporter for Urheiluruutu, later she became a TV news reporter. She also hosted Yle TV2 Yle TV2 ( fi, Yle TV Kaksi; ...


See also

*
List of radio stations in Finland This is a list of radio networks and stations in Finland and elsewhere broadcasting exclusively or partly in the Finnish language. Yleisradio National stations * * YleX * Yle Radio Suomi * Yle Vega * * Yle X3M Regional stations Yle R ...
* Television in Finland *
Media of Finland Mass media in Finland includes a variety of online, print, and broadcast formats, such as radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. Magazines Newspapers ''Åbo Underrättelser'' newspaper began publication in 1824. Radio Yleisradio O ...


References


External links

*
About Yle in English

Svenska.yle.fi
– Svenska Yle. Official site in Swedish
Yle News
– News in English
Yle Sápmi
– News in Sámi (Lappish)
Yle Novosti
– News in Russian
Nuntii Latini
– News in Latin
Yle Areena
– in Finnish
Yle Arenan
– in Swedish
Yle Elävä arkisto
– the Living Archive in Finnish
Yle Arkivet
– the Archive in Swedish {{DEFAULTSORT:Yle Publicly funded broadcasters European Broadcasting Union members Commercial-free television networks Mass media companies of Finland Radio stations established in 1926 Television in Finland Companies based in Helsinki State media 1926 establishments in Finland