GBC

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Gandoor Broadcasting Corporation
Statutory corporation
IndustryMass media
PredecessorRadio Company Gandoor
Founded14 August 1917, 109 years ago (as Radio Company Gandoor)
7 May 1921, 106 years ago (as Gandoor Broadcasting Corporation)
HeadquartersGBC Centre
Gandoor City, Gandoor
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Pauline Miers-Allen (Chairman)
Jennifer Blythe (Executive Officer)
Products
  • Broadcasting
  • Radio
  • Web portals
Services
  • Television
  • Radio
  • Online
OwnerGovernment of Gandoor
Number of employees
13,783 (2024)

The Gandoor Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) (Japanese: ガンドア放送協会 Gandoahōsōkyōkai, Russian: Гандур Радиовещательная Корпорация Gandur Radioveshchatel'naya Korporatsiya) is the public television and radio broadcaster in Gandoor.

History

The GBC traces its origins to 1917, with the establishment of Radio Company Gandoor, which began broadcasting in Gandoor City on 20 August 1917 under the callsign RKG1. While not the first radio station in Gandoor (that being Z7Q, an experimental station that broadcast for three months in 1907 from Osaka), it was the first to be granted a non-experimental broadcasting license from the Government of Gandoor.

Aware of the growing importance of the then-new medium of radio broadcasting, Radio Company Gandoor began to establish radio stations in other major cities across Gandoor, with over 60% of Gandoor's population able to receive their radio broadcasts by mid-1919. However, these actions were not without controversy, with Wonder Waves Radio Corporation arguing in 1918 that a broadcasting license only applied to a single station and that Radio Company Gandoor should be forced to either acquire broadcasting licenses for all of its stations or shut down all but one of their stations.

The argument reached the High Court in August 1919, who ruled that the wording of the broadcasting licenses granted to both Radio Company Gandoor and Wonder Waves Radio Corporation should be considered as a 'general license to broadcast on the radio', irrespective of how many stations a broadcaster operated, but under the condition that 'both the callsign and owner of a radio station be made known to listeners at regular intervals'.

With the Government of Gandoor wishing to both establish a foothold in the growing medium and establish a new public service, the Public Broadcasting Act was passed by the Forum on 7 May 1920 by a vote of 627 to 373. Under the provisions of the act, effective one year from passing, Radio Company Gandoor would officially be dissolved and its assets reorganized into a new organization known as the Gandoor Broadcasting Corporation, which was to be a publicly-funded service of the Government of Gandoor but operating independently of the Government outside of its funding. The act also allowed for the continued existence of Wonder Waves Radio Corporation and the establishment of future private broadcasters for the purposes of 'providing listeners with a variety of broadcasters to choose from' and 'to encourage healthy competition in the medium of broadcasting'.

The GBC began experimenting with television broadcasting in 1935, broadcasting from the GBC Centre in Gandoor City. As television sets were not yet purchaseable by the public in Gandoor, members of the public who wished to view these broadcasts had to visit universities or public libraries which had 'television broadcast rooms' within the limits of Gandoor City. Starting in mid-1936, television sets were able to be rented by the public for usage in their own homes at a cost of 50 GDY per month (equivalent to 552 GDY in 2027). The release of television sets for home rental corresponded with the establishment of a nine hour broadcast day for the GBC's experimental network (three hours in the morning from 6:00 AM until 9:00 AM, three hours in the afternoon from 12:00 PM until 3:00 PM, and three hours in the evening from 7:00 PM until 10:00 PM) and of the first regularly scheduled television programming in Gandoor.

These experimental broadcasts ended in 1941 due to the State of Emergency law, which went into force the year prior under the declaration of Prime Minister Alexei Petrikov.

On 31 December 1949, the Gandoor Broadcasting Network would go on the air, the first television station to broadcast in Gandoor. While private companies would begin broadcasting mere months after the inaugural television broadcast, the Gandoor Broadcasting Network would become the dominant television station in Gandoor, as well as the only GBC-operated one until the 1963 establishment of GBN 2.

In 2019, the GBC officially began international operations with the establishment of three, later increased to four, channels intended for international broadcast, alongside the potential for creation of local GBC channels catered specifically for a nation.

That same year, the Foreign Language GBC Act was passed, declaring that the GBC would establish two channels with programming entirely in Japanese and Russian, Gandoor's two additional official languages, by 2030. These channels will be the first GBC-operated channels to broadcast exclusively in languages other than English.

In April 2023, the GBN's two non-English channels officially began broadcasting: GBN Nihongo and GBN Russkiy.

In August 2024, Alexander Johnston, who had been Chairman of the Gandoor Broadcasting Corporation since 2010 retired and was replaced as Chairman by Pauline Miers-Allen, only the second woman to be appointed Chairman by the GBC General Board.

Services

Current Services

Television

The GBC currently operates six television channels in Gandoor, four international channels, and co-owns numerous local channels in nations worldwide.

Television Channels Operated by the GBC [1]
Name of Channel Broadcasting Area
(Gandoor or International)
Year Established
GBN Gandoor 1949
GBN Alt Gandoor 2004[2]
Gandoor News Network Gandoor 1990
Chiddies Gandoor 2003
GBN International International 2019
GBN International 2 International 2021
Chiddies International International 2019
GNN World International 2019
GBN Nihongo Gandoor 2023
GBN Russkiy Gandoor 2023

Radio

The GBC currently operates four radio stations in Gandoor.

Radio Stations Operated by the GBC
Name of Station Year Established
GBC Radio 1 1917 (as Radio Gandoor)
1921 (as GBC Radio)
1961 (as GBC Radio 1)
GBC Radio 2 1961
GBC Radio News 1951
GBC Radio Entertainment 1970

Former Services

Television

There have been four television channels operated by the GBC that have since ceased broadcasting.

Defunct Television Channels Operated by the GBC
Name of Channel Year Established Year Defunct
GBN 2 1963 1976
GBN Kids 1981 1989
GBN Culture 1986 2003
GBN Classics 1996 2004[3]

Radio

There have been two radio stations operated by the GBC that have since ceased operating.

Former Radio Stations Operated by the GBC
Name of Station Year Established Year Defunct
GBC Radio Emergency 1951 1983
GBC Radio Classics 1985 2009

Media Archival

In addition to its television and radio services, the GBC manages the Gandoorese Television and Film Archives. The archives, which were established in 1959, are intended to act as a preservation service for television programs and films which were first released in Gandoor in order to prevent their loss due to circumstances such as wiping or junking of tapes and film. Despite being managed by the GBC, they contain programming from all television and film companies in Gandoor. Since 1970, the sending of at least one copy of an episode of a television series or motion picture to the archives is mandatory under Gandoorese law.

Funding

Within Gandoor, the GBC is funded entirely by the Gandoorese government with households that own at least one television set or radio being required to pay a 100 GDY annual license fee, the license fee increases by 20 GDY for every additional television set or radio, up to a maximum of 200 GDY annually.

The GBC's international channels are commercial and are funded via advertising and fees from satellite and cable companies which carry the international channels, as the GBC is prohibited from using funds from the Gandoorese government to operate television channels outside of Gandoor.

Notes

  1. Does not include local GBC channels broadcast in foreign nations
  2. Replaced GBN Classics on 16 March 2004
  3. Replaced by GBN Alt on 16 March 2004