is a certified broadcasting
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
headquartered in
Osaka
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. Until March 31, 2018, it was a unified
radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
and
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
broadcaster serving in the Kansai region.
On April 1, 2018, its radio and television broadcasting divisions were spun off into two subsidiaries, with taking over the radio broadcasting business, and took over television broadcasting.
History
Radio
In 1948, when the Asahi Shimbun set up a committee for a private radio station in Tokyo, the name ABC was decided upon to be the name of the station. Asahi Broadcasting requested licenses in December 1949 to both Tokyo and Osaka, but in December 1950, the original company merged with Tokyo Broadcasting (Dentsu), Yomiuri Broadcasting and Radio Nippon (funded by
Mainichi Shimbun) to create Radio Tokyo (JOKR, KRT, now TBS). In 1951, the ABC plan was revived for a new radio station in Osaka.
The new Asahi Broadcasting Corporation was founded in Nakanoshima,
Kita-ku,
Osaka
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
on March 15, 1951, with
Mitsujirō Ishii appointed as its first president. ABC started AM radio broadcasting on November 11 (1010 kHz). It became the third commercial radio station to sign-on in Japan overall.
On April 1, 1958, the station relocated to the Shin-Asahi Building and in June, started simultaneous broadcasts with KRT Radio, carrying the first commercial radio simulcasts between Tokyo and Osaka. The frequency output doubled from 10KW to 20 in 1959.
After joining JRN in 1965, ABC moved again to the ABC Center in 1966. The output increased again in 1971, this time to 50KW. In line with changes to the frequency plan set up by the ITU, ABC Radio moved from 1010 kHz to 1008 kHz on November 23, 1978.
On April 1, 1989, the station adopted ABC Radio as its commercial name.
On March 19, 2016, ABC started broadcasting over the Wide FM band, alongside OBC and MBS.
Television
Japan's private TV began with the idea of Masori Matsutaro, the owner of the
Yomiuri Shimbun
The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ''The Asahi Shimbun'', the ''Chunichi Shimbun'', the ''Ma ...
, to use the microwave communication network to build a TV station covering the whole of Japan. In July 1952,
Nippon Television in Tokyo obtained a television preparatory license and became Japan's first private television station. At the same time,
Sankei Shimbun, Kyoto Broadcasting, Kobe Broadcasting, Yomiuri Shimbun and other companies also intended to set up private TV stations in Osaka Prefecture, and the two private broadcasting stations in Kansai, Asahi Broadcasting and New Japan Broadcasting Company (currently Mainichi Broadcasting System) decided to join forces. In August 1952, Asahi Broadcasting and Nippon Broadcasting revoked their original application for a TV license, and jointly applied for a TV license in the name of (OTV, renamed "Osaka TV Broadcasting" in August of the following year). In the following year, Osaka TV Broadcasting purchased land in Dojimahama-dori, Osaka City, for the construction of the headquarters' building. Osaka TV Broadcasting also selected the trademark through public solicitation in newspapers. On December 3, 1955, Osaka TV Broadcasting obtained the preparatory license; the call sign is JOBX-TV. Before broadcasting, OTV set a goal of 40% self-made programs, and decided to rebroadcast the programs of Tokyo's KRT TV and Nippon TV at the same time to maximize profits. In order to popularize television, OTV also set up 60 street TV sets in various parts of Kansai before the broadcast started. In November 1956, Osaka TV Broadcasting began to conduct trial broadcasts, broadcasting 2.5 hours of programs every day. At 9:30am on December 1, 1956, OTV officially started broadcasting, becoming the first private TV station in Kansai. At the beginning of the broadcast, TV dramas, audience-participating programs, and news programs accounted for nearly half of all programs broadcast on Osaka TV. Osaka TV purchased two taping machines in 1958 and was the first TV station in Japan to introduce video recording facilities. In the same year, Osaka TV also achieved Japan's first live broadcast from the top of Mount Fuji.
In January 1957, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued a new basic policy for the VHF band in Japan at the same time as OTV, and the metropolitan areas outside Tokyo were allocated more TV channels. There were also 7 operators in Kansai who applied for TV licenses, and Asahi Broadcasting and Mainichi Broadcasting also joined the list of operators applying for TV licenses. However, due to the limited number of channels, the two parties finally agreed to apply for a new station license from Mainichi Broadcasting after the talks between the two parties, while Asahi Broadcasting and Osaka TV Broadcasting merged. At that time, among the employees of TV Broadcasting in Osaka, 200 people wanted to stay in the new company after the merger, and 104 people wanted to join Mainichi Broadcasting. At the same time, because Nippon Television stopped providing programs to Osaka TV after Yomiuri TV started broadcasting in August 1958, Osaka TV and KRT TV established a network relationship. On June 1, 1959, Osaka TV Broadcasting and Asahi Broadcasting merged on an equal basis to become the TV division of Asahi Broadcasting.
* May 25, 1955 - ABC and New Japan Broadcasting Company (NJB, the predecessor of
Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc.) founded in Dojima, Kita-ku, Osaka. Currently, ANA Crowne Plaza Hotel Osaka is located at the place the head office of OTV used to be.
* December 1, 1956 - OTV started television broadcasting on channel 6, under the callsign JOBX-TV ''(not to be confused with
Oita Asahi Broadcasting which currently uses the JOBX callsign)''. The station was a primary KRT (TBS) affiliate with a secondary NTV affiliation.
* 1958 - NTV programming was dropped with the launch of Yomiuri Television.
* March 1, 1959 - ABC acquired OTV and renamed the television station and its callsign of TV station was changed (JOBX-TV → JONR-TV).
* June 1, 1959 - ABC merged with OTV, and has been broadcasting both television and radio since then. The head office of OTV was named "ABC Dojima Station" for the use of the TV station.
* May 2, 1965 - ABC joined
Japan Radio Network (JRN), and the next day it also joined another commercial radio network
National Radio Network (NRN).
* 1966 - Dispersed offices and studios were integrated into the headquarters building in Oyodo-minami, Oyodo-ku (present: Kita-ku), Osaka.
* March 31, 1975 - ABC pulled out of JNN and joined
All-Nippon News Network (ANN) on behalf of
Asahi Shimbun
is a Japanese daily newspaper founded in 1879. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan.
The ''Asahi Shimbun'' is one of the five largest newspapers in Japan along with the ''Yom ...
, one of major shareholders of ABC. ABC was one of founders of
Japan News Network (JNN), the first news network of commercial television stations in Japan.
* November 23, 1978 - The frequency of ABC AM radio
changed from 1010 kHz to 1008 kHz.
* March 23, 2001 - ABC acquired
ISO 14001
The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for Natural environment, environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ...
certification, the first broadcaster in Japan to do so. At the same time, the current
advertising slogan of the station, Info Designing ABC, was also launched.
* January 1, 2008 - The ABC logo was redesigned, featuring the call letters ABC and the name "Asahi Broadcasting Corporation", "朝日放送", "Radio", or "TV" under the slope line from the letter "C". A simplified version (only three letters of "ABC") is used in program credits.
* May 19, 2008 - ABC moved the headquarters from Oyodo-minami Nichome, Kita-ku to Fukushima Itchome, Fukushima-ku, Osaka.
* June 23, 2008 - ABC started broadcasting from its present headquarters.
* July 24, 2011 -
Analog television
Analog television is the original television technology that uses analog signals to transmit video and audio. In an analog television broadcast, the brightness, colors and sound are represented by amplitude, instantaneous phase and frequency, ...
operations
ended on ABC at noon, in line with stations in most prefectures across Japan. The station now broadcasts in
digital only.
* April 1, 2018 - ABC became a certified broadcasting holding company and renamed Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings Corporation. Asahi Radio Broadcasting Corporation took over radio broadcasting business, and Asahi Television Broadcasting Corporation took over TV broadcasting business, employees, and administrator for ABC website.
Network affiliations
Radio
*
Japan Radio Network (JRN)
*
National Radio Network (NRN)
TV
*
Japan News Network (JNN) (until March 30, 1975)
*
All-Nippon News Network (ANN) (March 31, 1975 – Present)
Broadcasting
Radio
JONR
*Osaka::1008 kHz, 50 kW; 93.3 MHz FM
*Kyoto:1008 kHz, 300 W
*Total:50.3 kW
*Time: from 4:30 a.m. on Monday until 2:30 a.m. on Monday (24-hour operation)
*Time signal: 523.251 Hz (
C5)
TV (Analog)
;JONR-TV (former callsign
: JOBX-TV)
:*Channel 6
TV (Digital)
;JOAY-DTV (former callsign
: JONR-DTV)
:*Channel 15 (Remote controller button: 6)
Offices
*Headquarters: 1-30, Fukushima Itchome,
Fukushima-ku, Osaka-shi, Japan (
Hotarumachi)
*Tokyo Office: 10th floor of Nippon Life Hamamatsucho Crea Tower, 2–31,
Hamamatsucho Nichome,
Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
*Nagoya Office: 9th floor of Ricco Sakae, 14–7, Sakae Sanchome,
Naka-ku,
Nagoya-shi, Japan
*Kobe Office: Kobe Asahi Building, 60 Nakaniwamachi,
Chuō-ku,
Kobe-shi, Japan
*Kyoto Office: Kyoto Asahi Building, 65 Yanagihachimanchō,
Nakagyō-ku,
Kyoto-shi, Japan
Programming
Current programming
*''
Pretty Cure
The is a Japanese magical girl anime franchise created by Izumi Todo and produced by ABC Television, ABC Animation, ADK Emotions and Toei Animation. Each series revolves around a group of magical girls known as Pretty Cures who battle ag ...
'' series (both with TV Asahi, onwards)
Former Programming
*''
Saint Tail''
*''
Marmalade Boy''
Animation
See also
*
Television in Japan
*
Osaka Tower
Notes
References
External links
*
Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings Corporation website*
{{Coord, 34, 41, 38.18, N, 135, 29, 18.32, E, region:JP_type:landmark, display=title
All-Nippon News Network
Radio in Japan
Television stations in Japan
Japanese-language television stations
Asahi Shimbun Company
Companies based in Osaka Prefecture
Mass media in Osaka
Mass media companies established in 1951
Radio stations established in 1951
Television channels and stations established in 1956
Japanese companies established in 1951
Companies listed on the Osaka Exchange
Anime companies