Vietnam Television (,Old spelling in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

abbreviated THVN), sometimes also unofficially known as the National Television ('), Saigon Television (') or Channel 9 (', THVN9), was one of two national television broadcasters in

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

from February 7, 1966, until just before the

Fall of Saigon The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...

on April 29, 1975. It was the first television broadcaster in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. THVN9 was operated by the Vietnamese Bureau of Television ('), part of the General Department of Radio, Television, and Cinema (') in the Ministry of Propaganda.THVN9
/ref> Vietnam Television broadcast from the capital

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

on channel 9 (4.5

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) in

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

-standard black and white. However, from 1972, all important events were broadcast in color as standard. The other national broadcaster was the English-language Armed Forces Vietnam Network or NWB-TV on channel 11. Both channels used an airborne transmission relay system from airplanes flying at the high altitudes, called Stratovision, as part of ''Operation Blue Eagle''.

History

Vietnam Television Station (THVN) was established in 1965; its first broadcast was on February 7, 1966, at 6:58 pm, and the last one was at 11:58 pm on April 29, 1975. The first broadcast recorded images of Prime Minister

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (; 8 September 1930 – 23 July 2011) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who served as the chief of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of Sout ...

and US ambassador Cabot Lodge.AFRS, AFRTS, AFVN Vietnam
/ref> Initially lasting for an hour,Smith, Harvey et al. ''Area Handbook for South Vietnam''. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1967. tr 293 the duration was later increased to two hours. On October 25, 1966, THVN's first above-ground establishment was finished. THVN was established at the same time as AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio Television Service), which was renamed as AFVN (Armed Forces Vietnam Network) in 1967. THVN broadcast on band 9, while AFVN on frequency band 11. AFVN broadcast the landing of Neil Armstrong on the Moon in 1969 for audiences in South Vietnam. Recording was first performed at the National Cinema Center No. 9 on Thi Sach Street. In 1967, THVN was split into 2 separate departments - Cinema and Television. THVN's headquarter was moved to 9 Hồng Thập Tự Avenue (now Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street) - which later became the headquarter of the current

Ho Chi Minh City Television Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV; ) is a Vietnamese television network owned by the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. Logo File:Logo cu HTV.png, Used from 01/02/1995 to 31/12/2002 File:Ho Chi Minh City Television logo (2003-present ...

. Historical events in early 1975 were also broadcast by Saigon Television. The chaotic and bloody evacuation from the Central Highlands to Tuy Hoa along Highway 7, dubbed as the "Convoy of Tears" was broadcast on television - causing more terror for the people in the South. This was followed by a live broadcast of the resignation speech of President

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnam, South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the Leaders of South Vietnam, president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Repub ...

on the evening of April 21, 1975. On April 30, the TV crew of THVN9 went to the Independence Palace to broadcast for President

Dương Văn Minh Dương Văn Minh (; 16 February 19166 August 2001), popularly known as Big Minh, was a South Vietnamese politician and a senior general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and a politician during the presidency of Ngô Đình Diệm. ...

, but did not because around 7 am, Minh told everyone to leave. A few hours later, the regime of the Republic of Vietnam ended. The last broadcast of THVN9 was from 18:45 to 22:45 on April 29, 1975, the day before the

. After the

, THVN9 was handed over to the

Viet Cong The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...

. Vietnam Television's final programming aired the evening of April 29, 1975. The next day, the station was reconstituted as Saigon Liberation Television Station (', SGTV) with a live broadcast of South Vietnamese President

's surrender. However, SGTV became

on May 1, 1975. The first broadcast (on channel HTV9 nowadays) was about the declaration of surrender by Dương Văn Minh. On July 2, 1976, THVN was renamed as Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV).

Governance and corporate structure

Board

*Executive committee : LC

Đỗ Việt Đỗ (Chữ Hán: 杜) is a Vietnamese family name. According to Lê Trung Hoa, a Vietnamese scholar, approximately 1.4 percent of Vietnamese people have this surname (2005).Lê Trung Hoa (2005). Họ và tên người Việt Nam, (Hà Nội), Vi� ...

(first director), FD

Đỗ Tiến Đức Đỗ (Chữ Hán: 杜) is a Vietnamese family name. According to Lê Trung Hoa, a Vietnamese scholar, approximately 1.4 percent of Vietnamese people have this surname (2005).Lê Trung Hoa (2005). Họ và tên người Việt Nam, (Hà Nội), Vi� ...

(second director),

Lê Hoàng Hoa Le is a romanization of several rare East Asian surnames and a common Vietnamese surname. It is a fairly common surname in the United States, ranked 975th during the 1990 census and 368th during the 2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-co ...

(first deputy director and executive producer)... *Operational divisions :

Hoàng Trọng Hoàng Trung Trọng (1922 in Hải Dương Hải Dương () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Hải Dương Province, Hải Dương, an industrialized province in the Hanoi Capital Region and the Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam. T ...

(music producer), Hoàng Thái (camera operator), Robert C. Gassert (technical advisor), Wyndham P. Duncan (sound advisor), Hoàng Thị Lệ Hợp (newsreader), Mai Thy (newsreader), Tuyết Mai (newsreader), Mai Liên (newsreader), Nguyễn Đình Khánh (newsreader), Nguyễn Văn Đông, Nguyễn Thế Bảo, Trần Văn Trạch ( MC), Ngọc Phu ( MC)... *Co-operators : Hoàng Thi Thơ, Hồ Điệp,

Thẩm Thúy Hằng Thẩm Thúy Hằng (6 October 1939 – 6 September 2022) was a Vietnamese actress. During the 1950s and 1960s, she was a star of the film industry in South Vietnam. She had starred in many movies, some of which were co-produced with companies ...

La Thoại Tân La Thoại Tân () is a pseudonym of Phạm Văn Tần (, 24 April 1937 – 13 March 2008), buddhist name Nhật Biện (), who was a Vietnamese American actor and singer. Biography La Thoai Tan was born on April 24, 1937 in Saigon with the o ...

Kim Cương Kim may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kim (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kim (surname), a list of people and fictional characters ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim dynasty (disambiguation), several dynas ...

, Túy Hồng, Tùng Lâm, Khả Năng, Thanh Việt, Trần Thiện Thanh, Mai Lệ Huyền,

Phạm Duy Phạm Duy (5 October 1921 – 27 January 2013) was one of Vietnam's most prolific songwriters with a musical career that spanned more than seven decades through some of the most turbulent periods of Vietnamese history and with more than one ...

, Tâm Phan, Trần Quang, Hùng Cường, Bạch Tuyết, Trường Kỳ, Nam Lộc, Nguyễn Thành Châu, Phùng Há, Thanh Nga, Túy Hoa, Thành Được, Út Bạch Lan, Minh Vương, Lệ Thủy, Thanh Sang, Út Trà Ôn, Diệp Lang, Phượng Liên,

Kiều Chinh Kieu Chinh (; born September 3, 1937) is a Vietnamese Americans, Vietnamese-American actress, producer, humanitarian, lecturer and philanthropist. Early life Dame Kieu Chinh was born on September 3, 1937, in Hanoi as Nguyễn Thị Kiều Chin ...

, Dũng Thanh Lâm,

Văn Chung Mai Văn Chung, stagename Văn Chung, (Hải Dương, 1914-1984) was a Vietnamese singer-songwriter.Thanh Lan, Thanh Tuyền,

Chế Linh Chế Linh (; b. 1942) is a Vietnamese popular singer, songwriter. An ethnic Cham, his stage name Chế Linh is a Vietnamese transcription of his Cham name. However, like many Cham people, he also has an official Vietnamese legal name, Lưu Vă ...

Bạch Lan Hương Bạch is a Vietnamese language surname, which means "white".''Behind the Name''"Surname Bạch" Retrieved on 26 January 2016. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese, and as Baek (also often spelled Baik, Paek or Paik) in Korean. Bach may b ...

, Tuyết Lan, Quốc Dũng, Kiểu Hạnh, Mộng Tuyền, Dũng Thanh Lâm, Huỳnh Thanh Trà, Phương Hồng Quế, Phương Hồng Hạnh, Phương Đại, Du Tử Lê,

Khánh Ly Khánh Ly (born as Nguyễn Thị Lệ Mai; 6 March 1945 in Hanoi) is a Vietnamese-American singer. She performed many songs written by Vietnamese composer Trịnh Công Sơn and rose to fame in the 1960s. She married South Vietnam journalist Ng ...

Trịnh Công Sơn Trịnh Công Sơn (February 28, 1939 – April 1, 2001) was a Vietnamese musician, songwriter, painter and poet. He is widely considered to be Vietnam's best songwriter. His music explores themes of love, loss, and anti-war sentiments during t ...

...

Services

List of featured programmes broadcast by the THVN9 : *00 giờ (00 o'clock entertainment show) by

*15 phút chuyện vui (15 minutes for funny stories) by

*Ban thiếu nhi Gió Khơi (Offshore Wind band) by Bùi Duy Tâm & Hùng Lân *Ban Tiếng Tơ Đồng (Sound-of-Musical-Instrument band) by

*Ban Tuổi Xanh (Green Age band) by Kiều Hạnh *Chương trình ca nhạc thiếu nhi Nguyễn Đức (Nguyen Duc's show) *Chương trình thiếu nhi Xuân Phát (Xuan Phat's show) by Xuân Phát *Đố vui để học (Funny charades for study) by

Vũ Khắc Khoan Vũ (wikt:武, 武) or Võ is a common Vietnamese name, Vietnamese surname that, through Genealogy, genealogy records, has been present in Vietnam since the 9th century. The Vũ surname originates from general Wǔ Hún (武浑) of the Tang dynasty ...

(producer), Đinh Ngọc Mô (announcer) and Cao Thanh Tùng (announcer) *Giác ngộ (Awakening) by

Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam The Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam was founded in 1964 as a Buddhist organization in Vietnam. It was banned by the government of Vietnam in 1981. It continues to operate in exile outside Vietnam. History The Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietn ...

*Giờ kịch Kim Cương (Kim Cuong's drama show) *Giờ kịch Sống (Life's drama show) by Túy Hồng *Giờ kịch Thẩm Thúy Hằng (Tham Thuy Hang's drama show) *Giờ kịch Vũ Đức Duy (Vu Duc Duy's drama show) *Giờ Mai Lệ Huyền (Mai Le Huyen's show) *Giờ nhạc trẻ (Young Music's show) by Trường Kỳ & Nam Lộc *Hoa bách hợp (Fleur-de-lys) by Vietnamese Scout Association *Hoa hồng xám (Grey Roses's drama show) by Tâm Phan *Hoàng Thi Thơ (Hoang Thi Tho's show) *Hoa thế hệ (Flowers from our generation) *Nhóm Tiếng Hát Đôi Mươi (Singing-of-Age-Twenty's show) by Trần Thiện Thanh *Phúc âm (Gospel's hour) by Christian and Missionary Alliance of Vietnam *Tạp lục Tùng Lâm (Tung Lam's vaudeville) / Tiếu vương hội (Comedy kings) by Tùng Lâm *Thép súng (For Soldiers) *Thế giới trẻ em (World of children) by Lê Văn Khoa *Thể thao (Sport's hour) *Tiếng chuông chùa (Bell ring from the pagoda) by

*Tuồng cải lương (Reformed theater's hour) *Tuyển lựa ca sĩ (Selection of singers) *Truyền hình Đắc Lộ (Alexandre de Rhodes's hour) by Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saigon * .. Nearby permanent programmes, THVN9's directorate permitted all of

es citizens to have the right to "bidding" (đấu thầu) for buying the TV signal. Normally including officials, scholars, especially artists (vocalists, actors...). Languages included Vietnamese (primarily), Chinese, French, English, Khmer and Montagnard. In divided

, the highlight of Vietnamese Catholicism and the Fátima messages was the visit of one of a few official statues of

Our Lady of Fátima Our Lady of Fátima (, ; formally known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fátima) is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portu ...

in 1965. Originally scheduled for a three-month visit, this particular statue came from the Blue Army chapter in Australia and ended up traveling the country until 1967. It was known as the “immaculate heart” statue because it puts her heart on the outside. This event was THVN (at the trial phase) lively recorded. Nearby the media, THVN9 Network also sponsored the Young Music Festival and Vietnam Film Day. During the 1970s, Young Music Festival was the biggest cultural event in Asia and

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

. It has attracted many vocalists and bands from

, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and even the United States. Their purpose was an

anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...

exhortation and a supporting

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

for whole world. On 27 April 1971, THVN9 reported

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

ese singer

Teresa Teng Teng Li-Chun ( zh, t=鄧麗君, s=, p=Dèng Lìjūn; 29 January 1953 – 8 May 1995), commonly known as Teresa Teng, was a Taiwanese singer, television personality, musician, and philanthropist. Referred to by some as the "Honorific nicknames i ...

's tour. She performed at Lệ Thanh Theatre, Bát Đạt Grand Hotel in the capital

for a month, then visited the Western Delta. Teng performed first hit ''No'' of composer

Nguyễn Ánh 9 Nguyễn Đình Ánh (1 January 1940 – 14 April 2016, baptismal name Jerome), known professionally as Nguyễn Ánh 9, was a Vietnamese song writer, songwriter and pianist. Early life He was born in Ninh Thuận Province, Vietnam on January ...

by Japanese and Mandarin language.

Cultural significance

Inheritances

After 30 April 1975, total of videotapes were transferred to

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...

's Archives at No. 83

Lý Nam Đế Lý Nam Đế (chữ Hán: 李南帝, 503 – 13 April 548), personal name Lý Bí or Lý Bôn (李賁), was the founding emperor of the Early Lý dynasty of Vietnam, ruling from 544 to 548. He was originally a magistrate of the Chinese Liang dy ...

street in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

. However, some still existed by collectors. Many other copytapes were held by governments such as Australia, Canada, Denmark (Danish Vietnamese Association), France ( AFP),

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, Hong Kong, India, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea (

KBS The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS; ) is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters under the government of South Korea. The KBS operates seven radio net ...

), Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom (

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

), United States ( AP). Besides, many of them were still used by modern

ese filmmakers to do propaganda documentary ones. From 2010, journalist

Lê Quang Thanh Tâm Le is a romanization of several rare East Asian surnames and a common Vietnamese surname. It is a fairly common surname in the United States, ranked 975th during the 1990 census and 368th during the 2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-co ...

has begun sharing some THVN9 tapes to

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Although clause as old reports of singers and actors. In 2020, he has ever litigated Asia Entertainment Inc. (Trung tâm Asia) for a copyright theft when they registered as an owner on

YouTube channel YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San B ...

with these tapes. In

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

during the 1980s, some former technicians re-established THVN9 to broadcast news and dramas by

Vietnamese language Vietnamese () is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language Speech, spoken primarily in Vietnam where it is the official language. It belongs to the Vietic languages, Vietic subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. Vietnamese is s ...

for service to the

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth largest Asian Ame ...

community. They registered a trademark as the Abroad-THVN Television Network () to differentiate former THVN9 or ''Domestic-THVN''.

Influences

According to MA Thành Lộc (born in 1961) about his childhood, father ( PA Thành Tôn) often used a

Vespa Vespa () is an Italian brand of scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy, to a ...

scooter for carrying his children to

ese avenue everynight. Because every

ese squares have always a

television set A television set or television receiver (more commonly called TV, TV set, television, telly, or tele) is an electronic device for viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or as a computer monitor. It combines a tuner, display, and loudspeake ...

for service freely poor people. "''A popular and familiar habit; a nice memory of my love city''" – said him. During the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...

's localities, every municipal families who want to buy

radio receiver In radio communications, a radio receiver, also known as a receiver, a wireless, or simply a radio, is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna. ...

s and

TV set A television set or television receiver (more commonly called TV, TV set, television, telly, or tele) is an electronic device for viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or as a computer monitor. It combines a tuner, display, and loudspeake ...

s must registered at the police office of their ward or county. Moreover, areas as countryside, frontier and especially 17th parallel were forbidden. Illegal cases could came the jail or revamped learned many years. So this enactment was like a resistance for all efforts of their enemy or, as called in

ese documents, as the "propagandas of our enemies" (tuyên truyền của thế lực thù địch). However, by the recall of author

Vương Trí Nhàn Vương or Vuong (Chữ Nôm: ) is a Vietnamese surname, meaning King. In the United States, Vuong was the 7,635th most common surname during the 1990 census and the 4,556th most common during the 2000 census.United States Census Bureau. Op. cit ...

to RFI ( Thụy Khuê's voice programme) about 2000s, many cultural & arts organizations, military and security agencies in

be still licensed to observe

ese radio and television, especially THVN9. By singer

Ái Vân Ai Van (born October 30, 1954) is a Vietnamese singer. Her family is an artistic family; her mother is a popular artist Ai Lien and her father is Ha Quang Dinh who owned and directed Vietnamese Film Studio (first private film studio in Vietnam ...

, she knew singing voice of Út Trà Ôn, Ngọc Giàu, Lệ Thủy, Út Bạch Lan, Thành Được... from the 1960s when was a post-war.Chân Dung Nghệ Sĩ - Ái Vân , Hồi Ức 1 Bông Hồng: Cuộc Vượt Thoát Từ Đông Âu
/ref> File:Hoàng-trọng và ban Tiếng Tơ Đồng.JPG, Composer

and Sound-of-Musical-Instrument band in 1968 File:HoangThiThoProgram.jpg, Hoàng Thi Thơ's choir on television File:Singer Thanh Lan.png, Singer Thanh Lan on TV show, 1970 File:Phương Hồng Hạnh.png, Singer Phương Hồng Hạnh on TV show, 1971 File:Economic Minister Phạm Kim Ngọc.png, Economic Minister Phạm Kim Ngọc on TV news, 1972

History

Governance and corporate structure

Board

Services

Cultural significance

Inheritances

Influences

Notes

References

See also

Further reading

Documents

External links