How did the first television station reach Baghdad in the mid-fifties? Here is the full story

Radio and Television Building in Iraq (Al Jazeera)

Baghdad -

67 years have passed since the establishment of the first television station in Iraq, the first in the Arab countries after a specialized British company donated an entire station to Iraq in 1956, and from there television spread in the country with various programs, different departments, and a screen in black and white, then color, so where did it come from? The story started? Where have you reached?

The beginning of the story

At the end of the royal era in Iraq, specifically in 1956, the British company “Bay” came to participate in the British trade exhibition hosted by Baghdad. Among its exhibits was a black and white television broadcast system with a ready-made studio, which caught the attention of King Faisal II, who opened the exhibition, so he asked Purchasing equipment from the company and installing it at the radio site in the Iron Shed, or what is popularly known as “Al-Bankla”.

“Al-Bunkla” later became the headquarters of Baghdad TV, which is considered the oldest television station in the Middle East and the Arab world, according to journalist and researcher Muhammad Khalil Al-Tamimi.

Al-Tamimi pointed out that Adnan Rasim Al-Nuaimi was the first director of television, while Sabiha Al-Mudarres was the first broadcaster on the small screen in Mesopotamia.

Al-Tamimi said that the Iraqi government had difficulty purchasing the station due to financial and technical obstacles. It was offered at 65,000 dinars, and the amount was approximately equal to the Iraqi radio budget for a full year. In the end, the British company decided to present the television station as a gift to the Iraqi government.

The station consisted of 3 cameras and a 16 mm cinema machine. The station was installed in the radio house at its current headquarters, and the mast rose, which was able to deliver the broadcast to a range of 30 kilometers from Baghdad.

Some television sets have been distributed in certain areas and stores in Baghdad, so that the public can watch programs and learn about the “wonderful device.” Among the devices is an external broadcast car that can transmit events of interest to the public from anywhere in the Iraqi capital.

Researcher Al-Tamimi told Al-Jazeera Net that the television set amazed people, aroused their attention, and changed their lifestyle, as it brought families together, united positions, and led councils, then toppled governments and changed opinions and trends, and despite its arrival in Iraq in the mid-1950s, its spread was widespread throughout the country. It started in the late sixties and early seventies.

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Political recruitment

This apparatus - which was new to Iraqi society - faced social and legal rejection at the time, but - in return - it changed the shape of societies and enriched cultures, then created stars and was a means of revolutions and military coups.

Al-Tamimi believes that television came in a way that was different from cinema, despite its widespread presence in Baghdad, as it arrived in Iraq in a wooden box very similar to a puppet theater box, and some people would sneak behind the device trying to see the actors inside that box, while the women were They wear the abaya in case the broadcaster appears, fearing that he will see them while they are at home.

All successive Iraqi governments realized the importance of television and the extent of its influence on the public, so it was used politically in different eras, and through it, political propositions, resonant statements, and famous trials were broadcast.

Despite this, television remained popular with audiences who were attached to its famous series and unique characters, such as the series “Under the Barber’s Razor” and the characters “Haji Radi,” played by Salim Al-Basri, and “Abusi,” played by Hamoudi Al-Harithi, and then many characters such as “Abu Fares.” (Khalil Al-Rifai), “Abu Dhawiya” (Rasem Al-Jumaili), and “Abdul Qader Bey” (Khalil Shawqi).

Accumulation of experiences

The work of Iraqi television has developed over time after going through several stages, moving from black and white to color thanks to modern techniques, artistic projects, and the accumulation of experience to show it as best as possible, according to the current head of the Iraqi official media network, Nabil Jassim.

Jassim told Al Jazeera Net that the accumulation of experience from generation to generation has brought about qualitative shifts, “and we, as responsible management of the network - of which television is part of its institutions - were keen to create a qualitative shift in the field of special technologies, whether at the level of image or sound, by introducing the best Types of technical equipment, including modern cameras from the best facilities, or by building studios that are comparable to their counterparts on international satellite channels and with own hands and minds from within the network.”

Jassim confirms that the Iraqi official media network has been supplemented with new young faces who have achieved remarkable success, while viewers have noticed a clear change in the level of media discourse to be the media of a democratic state with a responsible national discourse that cares about people’s concerns and aspirations and meets their needs and tastes.

Khairiya Habib while preparing the “Art Lens” program in the early seventies (Iraqi Press)

programs in memory

In its long history, Iraq Television has known many programs that are still stuck in the memory of Iraqis, the most important of which is “Say and Don’t Say,” which was presented by the linguist and historian Mustafa Jawad, and the “Amo Zaki Fund” program, which was presented by radio personality Zaki Al-Hassani, which is a program directed at children.

Every Tuesday evening, the “Sports in a Week” program by Moayad Al-Badri was shown, and every Wednesday evening, the “Science for All” program by Kamel Al-Dabagh, and the “Art Lens” program - which was presented by the media personality Khairiya Habib - was shown on Thursday evening.

Habib told Al Jazeera Net that her program was launched in the sixties of the last century, and was prepared by the late Khaled Naji, and she assumed the duties of presenting it in the early seventies until 1986.

Habib talks about the method of preparing the program at that time, as the preparer relied in formulating television materials - including news - on tapes coming from abroad to the station, so that we would transcribe and prepare them.

She points out that viewers' opinions about the program were surveyed through mail messages received from all over the country, attributing the success of her program to its being diverse and one of the pillars of Baghdad TV, along with "Sports in a Week" and "Science for All."

1970s television

In turn, Qasim Hussein Saleh - one of the broadcasters and preparers of television programs in the 1970s, who also supervised children's programs - spoke about some of the programs that he presented on screen, including the "Psychological Counseling" program, as he specialized in psychology, and the program aimed to spread psychological culture.

Saleh told Al Jazeera Net that the famous program “Beware of Despair” was transferred from radio to television by order of the then Minister of Culture, Hamed Youssef Hammadi, but I stipulated from the TV director, Sabah Yassin, that the text I write should not be subject to the text review committee, and I had that.

As for Saleh’s closest colleagues on television, they were: the poet Ibrahim Al-Zubaidi and the owner of the “Knowledge for All” program, Kamel Al-Dabbagh, in addition to the late Ghazi Faisal and Nihad Naguib.

Saleh was a contemporary of a number of radio and television directors, the best of whom - in his opinion - was Muhammad Saeed Al-Sahhaf, “who would usually wander around the studios while I was with him. He was smart and decisive, as he transferred and developed television work, especially drama works that declined at some point, and to him he returns.” The tradition of broadcasting Fayrouz songs every morning.”

Algeria was the second Arab country to know television broadcasting at the end of December 1956, with limited transmission that operated within French standards, as it was under the control of the French occupation.

Source: Al Jazeera