Yamaguchi Broadcasting Co., Ltd. (山口放送 later named KRY) is a Japanese television and radio broadcasting company serving the city of Shūnan and Yamaguchi Prefecture. The initials come from K. K. Radio Yamaguchi.
History
In 1953, the mayors of Tokuyama City, Shimotatsu City, and Hikari City in Yamaguchi Prefecture agreed to establish a radio station. Represented by the then Tokuyama City Council Speaker Yukihiko Kunihiro, they applied for the establishment of a radio station in the name of "Yamaguchi Radio" (Rakuya Yamaguchi).[1]: 16 Two years later, on July 8, 1955, Yamaguchi Radio received a preliminary license.[1]: 16 In December of the same year, Yamaguchi Radio launched a public offering and received investment from local companies such as Tokuyama Soda, with a cumulative investment of 35 million yen.[1]: 17 At 5:40am on April 1, 1956, Yamaguchi Radio officially began broadcasting.[1]: 20 Yamaguchi Radio set up a relay station in Hagi City the year after it started broadcasting, so that Yamaguchi Radio programs could also be heard in the Hagi and Nagato areas.[1]: 26 In October 1958, Yamaguchi Radio opened a relay station in Shimonoseki City, the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture.[1]: 28 Yamaguchi Radio's advertising revenue also increased rapidly, its turnover increased from 73.58 million yen in the first year to 115.3 million yen in the third year, and its profit also increased from 2.56 million yen to 7.67 million yen, and in the second year Stock dividends were held.[1]: 29
In October 1957, Yamaguchi Radio obtained a preparatory television license and began preparing to broadcast television.[1]: 26 In order to meet the equipment requirements for broadcasting television, Yamaguchi Radio built a two-story new headquarters in Tokuyama City Park District.[1]: 26 On October 1, 1959, Yamaguchi Radio officially began broadcasting television programs.[1]: 32 At that time, China Radio in Hiroshima Prefecture to the east of Yamaguchi Prefecture (now China Broadcasting Corporation) and RKB Mainichi Broadcasting in Fukuoka Prefecture to the west were both members of the Tokyo Radio and Television Series network, while Fuji TV and NET TV had not yet prepared for syndicated broadcasts because they had just launched. network system, so Yamaguchi Radio decided to join the Nippon Television Network to gain business advantages.[1]: 35 In the first TV ratings survey in the Tokuyama area in 1960, Yamaguchi Radio accounted for 18 programs among the top 20 programs.[1]: 40 In the same year, Yamaguchi Radio opened a broadcast relay station in Iwakuni City in the east.[1]: 41
In 1961, the television division of Radio Yamaguchi obtained a television broadcast license for Shimonoseki (the closed area), making Yamaguchi Radio's television programs also available in the western Yamaguchi Prefecture and Kitakyushu areas. However, this also resulted in the Kitakyushu area being able to watch the programs of two members of the Nippon Television Network (the other one was West Nippon Television, which was a Nippon Television series franchise station at the time), resulting in competition between members of the same network, and it also became West Nippon Television One of the reasons for withdrawing from the Nippon Television Network.[1]: 42–43 On June 1 of the same year, in response to the fact that television has surpassed radio as the main source of income, Yamaguchi Radio changed the company name to Yamaguchi Broadcasting and increased its capital to 230 million yen.[1]: 44 The following year, the new headquarters of Yamaguchi Broadcasting was completed, with a construction area of 2,696 square meters, which greatly improved Yamaguchi Broadcasting's TV program production space.[1]: 46 In the same year, Yamaguchi Broadcasting also opened TV signal relay stations in Hagi and Iwakuni. The TV signal basically covered the entire Yamaguchi Prefecture.[1]: 47 In 1965, Yamaguchi Broadcasting went to Hawaii to cover the Yamaguchi Prefecture Tourism and Product Exhibition, which was the first time Yamaguchi Broadcasting went overseas.[1]: 61
On October 1, 1967, Yamaguchi Broadcasting began broadcasting color television programs. At that time, color programs accounted for 16.3% of all Yamaguchi Broadcasting programs, and 35% during prime time.[1]: 70 Five years later, in 1972, Yamaguchi Broadcasting achieved colorization of all programs.[1]: 70 Also in 1967, the conflict between labor and management of Yamaguchi Broadcasting intensified, and there was an incident where management blocked the headquarters of Yamaguchi Broadcasting for 59 days from May 6 to July 3.[1]: 73 In 1969, Yamaguchi Broadcasting fully introduced an automatic program control device (APS) to realize program broadcast automation.[1]: 78 The following year, Yamaguchi Broadcasting opened a new television studio with an area of 238 square meters.[1]: 82 The 1975 Japan Private Broadcasting Conference was held in Tokuyama City. Yamaguchi Broadcasting, as one of the organizers, fully supported this conference.[1]: 108–109 In 1978, Yamaguchi Broadcasting built the KRY Yamaguchi Broadcasting Building in front of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Office. The building is 8 stories high and has a construction area of 4,000 square meters. The first floor houses Yamaguchi Broadcasting's studio and auxiliary control room, the second floor is an exhibition space, the third to eighth floors are for rent, and there is a parking lot underground.[1]: 124 In 1979, Yamaguchi Broadcasting began to broadcast stereo TV programs. The first private television station to broadcast stereo programs outside the Kinki region in Western Japan.[1]: 129 In the same year, Yamaguchi Broadcasting also signed a sister station agreement with South Korea's Masan MBC.[1]: 130
In August 1985, Yamaguchi Broadcasting began construction of a new nine-story headquarters building[5]:155, which was completed in September of the following year.[1]: 160 In 1988, Yamaguchi Broadcasting launched its current trademark.[1]: 171 The following year, Yamaguchi Broadcasting introduced the satellite news broadcast (SNG) system.[1]: 174 Yamaguchi Broadcasting has begun televising the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon in 1990, and has joined Taiwan Broadcast Network in some Japanese TV networks in Western Japan.[1]: 178 The following year, Yamaguchi Broadcasting produced the Tomo Kazama starring in the Bakumatsu period drama "Ruyan Yoshida Shoin" (火の如く Yoshida Shoin), which was broadcast nationwide on the Nippon Television Network.[1]: 184
In 1993, with the launch of Yamaguchi Asahi Broadcasting, the third private TV station in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Yamaguchi Broadcasting no longer broadcasts TV Asahi programs and became a full member of the Nippon Television Network.[1]: 190 Yamaguchi Broadcasting won the triple crown in annual ratings in 1995, the first time Yamaguchi Broadcasting received this honor.[1]: 199 By 2006, Yamaguchi Broadcasting had won the triple crown of ratings for 12 consecutive years.[1]: 236 In 1996, Yamaguchi Broadcasting opened its official website.[1]: 204 In 2001, Yamaguchi Broadcasting held Claude's exhibition at the Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art. The Monet exhibition attracted 265,000 visitors, setting a record at the time for the Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art.[1]: 225
In preparation for broadcasting digital television signals, Yamaguchi Broadcasting completed the Digital Broadcasting Center in 2005.[1]: 242 On October 1 of the following year, Yamaguchi Broadcasting began to broadcast digital TV programs, and stopped broadcasting analog TV signals on July 24, 2011.[1]: 250
KRY announced a suspension of its AM signal from February 5, 2024 to January 31, 2025, in preparation for the definitive shutdown of AM radio signals in Japan by 2028.[2]
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