National Radio and Television (General Authority for Radio and Television)
The General Authority for Radio and Television is the government institution that owns and operates national radio and television in Sudan, headquartered in Omdurman (Al-Mulazimeen neighborhood). Sudanese radio began broadcasting in May 1940 during World War II, when the British colonial administration launched it to broadcast war news, broadcasting daily for about half an hour a mix of news, music and cultural programs, then gradually expanded until its programs covered wide areas outside the capital. After the end of the war, music became an essential element in its programs, and it founded the Omdurman Studio Orchestra, which launched the careers of many Sudanese singing stars in the sixties.
Sudanese television officially launched in 1963 with financial and technical support from West Germany, and its coverage in the early years was limited to the vicinity of Khartoum, later becoming terrestrial television broadcasting entirely governmental without private channels. National radio broadcasts its programs in several languages: Arabic, English, French and Swahili through national and regional networks.
The Authority houses one of the largest film archives in Africa: about 13 thousand film tapes (16 and 35 mm) dating back to the forties, documenting historical occasions such as the first parliamentary sessions, independence celebrations and Queen Elizabeth's visit in 1965. The archive was exposed to damage due to climate and storage conditions, so the Norwegian University of Bergen, with funding from the Norwegian Embassy in Khartoum (2013–2018), undertook a project to restore and digitize it, and the "Sudan Memory" initiative continues to work on it to this day.
(Sources: Sudan Memory, Wikipedia Encyclopedia — Media of Sudan and Television in Sudan, Music in Africa, State Media Monitor)
— Editorial Team