Radio Televizioni Shqiptar

Despite the country's tiny size and isolationist policies, Radio Tirana was a fairly major international broadcaster during the Cold War. Its programmes had a reputation for being little more than dull propaganda.

During Albania's alliance with China in the 1960s and 1970s, Radio Tirana had to walk a fine line between being anti-West whilst also being anti-Soviet. As such, Radio Tirana kept close to the official policy of the People's Republic of China, which was also both anti-West and anti-Soviet whilst still being socialist in tone. Following the break with China, programming still remained Marxist-Leninist in nature.

Polish Communist Kazimierz Mijal broadcast his radical opinions in Polish 1966-1978.

Pin badge, late 1980s

During the 1970s, the station broadcast to Europe on 1214 kHz, causing interference problems for the British BBC Radio One on the same frequency. During the 1980s and early 1990s the international service was broadcast on 1395 kHz (along with various short wave frequencies) and was received throughout Europe during the evening and through the night. Radio Tirana also upset many amateur radio operators in Europe by operating transmitters in the 7 MHz (40 metre) amateur band.

In 1985, it broadcast only 2.5 hours per day. It opened at 20:00 and closed at 22:30. Later, in 1986, it broadcast each day for 4 hours, from 17:00 to 18:30 and 20:00 to 22:30. Most of the programming during the communist era consisted of propaganda and news programs.

Political programming predominated during this period. Features included Marxism-Leninism – an Ever-Young and Scientific Doctrine and Socialism and the Youth. The feature Leafing Through the Marxist-Leninist Press reviewed the journals of foreign communist parties allied to the Albanian Party of Labour. Other programs included Introducing You To Albania, Leafing Through Our Listeners' Letters, Culture and Art in Socialist Albania and The Song of Our Life. Radio Tirana also presented irregular programs of revolutionary music from around the world, while the programme What We Saw in Socialist Albania offered interviews with foreign visitors to Albania.

The interval signal of Radio Tirana during this period was the first few bars of the Albanian revolutionary song With a Pickaxe in One Hand and a Rifle in the Other (Albanian: Në njërën dorë kazmën në tjetrën pushkën). This song also served as the signature tune of Radio Tirana's foreign language broadcasts. The pickaxe and rifle were part of the logo of Albanian Radio-Television during this period, and can be seen in the above photograph.

During the last months of the socialist era, overtly political programming was drastically scaled down, and the long-established practice of playing "The Internationale" at the end of each broadcast was abandoned.

Mount Dajt overlooking Tirana. RTSH transmitters are mounted on the highest peak at the altitude of 1613 meters.

A similar ideological battle took place on the television spectrum. The neighboring TV signals of Italian RAI and Yugoslav RTV Titograd were particularly affected. During the 1960s, RAI was received in Tirana in decent quality. As time passed, the signal was strengthened by RTSH at Mount Dajti transmitter site only to broadcast the day's main news bulletin (TG1), films, and children's programmes. It is observed that in the news program, reports containing music concerts and papal activities, or even regular commercial spots were jammed. A similar phenomenon occurred with RTV Titograd's frequencies.

After the fall of the communist system, Albania's TV frequencies started to be filled by a variety of Western broadcasters: from RAI to CNN International. In 2002, the practice was partially discontinued as Parliament passed a law outlining protective measures for the Albanian broadcasting industry.

The former grounds of the headquarters of Radio Tirana.

Radio Tirana is widely seen as a symbol representing Albanian culture in the world. Through its educational, cultural, and informative programs broadcast nationally and internationally, Radio Tirana has played a major role in the transmission of Albanian people's cultural values. The station served as the first academy of Albanian literal language as in its archive can be found interesting historical artifacts such as a speech made by Fan Stilian Noli or the voice of Albanian arts' ambassador, Alexander Moissi. Furthermore, it served as a venue on which emerging Albanian artists first showcased their talents later becoming icons. The voices of Tefta Tashko-Koço, Marije Kraja, Kristaq Koço, Viktori Xhaçka and many others were first heard in the station's studios. In addition, Albanian personalities such as renowned actor Reshat Arbana, singer Vaçe Zela and Dr. Sulçebeg hosted the most popular programs.

RTSH has dominated the Albanian broadcasting field up to the mid-1990s, a period when privately owned radio and TV stations started to occupy the vast empty Albanian frequencies resulting in a gradual brain-drain. Lured by higher wages and not only, numerous experienced journalists and employees left RTSH for the new media outlets. For instance, Albania's current popular political talk shows such as Opinion by Blendi Fevziu (formerly E Diela Debat) or Fokus by Robert Papa can track their beginnings at RTSH. Despite the brain-drain, the institution has held a leader's position in the production of programs pertaining to civics, education and science.

Classic Logo of Albanian State Television (TVSH) since the 1990s replaced by RTSH 1 HD in February 2017

One of the post-communist programs leaving a lasting impression was that of talented show-man Adi Krasta, entitled Rreth Fatit për 12-Javë. The show was embedded in a national lottery, something unseen before in Albania and ran on primetime state TV for about 5 hours non-stop in addition to offering tunes of famous American song ballads such as (I've Had) The Time Of My Life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and hit song Auberge by British Blues icon Chris Rea. In addition, American actor of Albanian descent James Belushi offered his salutations to the Albanian people from the United States in the program through an exclusive interview. Other impressive programs included 12 vallzime pa nje te shtune, Miss Albania, and musical productions from Leonard Bombaj.

TVSH is known for producing high quality documentaries on Albanian national heritage topics such as important personalities, surveys of Albanian historic regions and geographic landscapes. The Theater on the Screen segment features theater performances of past years both in the drama and comedy genres.

Another typical TVSH production is the Green Space (Hapesire e Blerte) agricultural show, a long lasting programme entirely dedicated to the Albanian agricultural scene and countryside.

The End-Year Festive Concert, a yearly TV program styled as a celebration of the New Year where a variety of humorous sketches are conducted by talented comedy troupes from across Albania directed by talented TV directors is a successful TVSH production.

Up to the early 2000s, the journalistic field was represented by experienced iconic personalities such as news anchors Tefta Radi, Roland Roshi, Arben Kamberi, Reiz Çiço, and Arben Mevlani, while TVSH journalists are known for commanding a clear spoken Albanian language. RTSH also covers daily and special proceedings of the Parliament of Albania.

In 1997, in Albania, educational institutions were temporarily shut down due to the civil unrest. As a result, RTSH broadcast instructional programs for the barricaded youth, that made for a substitute to regular instruction. RTSH is known also for the vast number of shows for children and adolescents produced each year.

In 1998, journalists of RTV Pristina were obliged to flee Pristina as the situation in Kosovo was escalating. They took temporal refuge in RTSH by anchoring specific news bulletins on their region's situation.

RTSH owns and operates a vast number of transmitter sites throughout the country such as the Fushe Dajt and Dajt 1613m stations at Mount Dajt in the periphery of Tirana. As such, a number of Western radio and TV broadcasters lease the sites to broadcast their own feeds since the 1990s.

• Radio Tirana (also, Radio Tirana 1) is the name of Albania's first radio program, concentrating on news, talk, and features
• Radio Tirana 2 is the second radio program targeted at youth broadcasting mainly music
• Radio Tirana 3 is the third radio program dedicated to all genres of Albanian music
• Radio Tirana International is the name of the international service broadcasting in Albanian, English, French. Greek, German, Italian, Serbian, and Turkish
• Radio Tirana Klasik is a radio station broadcasting in Tirana at 101.2 MHz dedicated mainly to classical music.
• Radio Tirana Jazz is a radio station dedicated to jazz classics broadcasting only on digital and not on FM.

• RTSH Gjirokastra is the local version of RTSH in Gjirokastër
• RTSH Korça is the local version of RTSH in Korçë
• RTSH Kukësi is the local version of RTSH in Kukës
• RTSH Shkodra is the local version of RTSH in Shkodër

In 2017, RTSH launched "RTSH Tani" an app which enables users of Android and iOS to watch all the channels from the RTSH digital platform including the regional channels such as TV Korca. In addition, the app enables users to watch catch up TV content from the last 7 days for all 9 channels.

The unveiling of the new logo of RTSH took place on the opening of the 56th edition of the Festivali i Kenges national music competition on 21 December 2017. The logo is made up of rectangular shapes representing the principal of rationality, and the focus of the camera lens. Meanwhile, 2 coloured rectangular shapes represent the red and black colours of the Albanian flag. Some critics have argued that the logo strongly resembles the Croatian public broadcaster HRT instead.

|Dimnesioni 4||align=center|Instruction talk show||align=center|Albania