Omrop Fryslân is a broadcaster on the Netherlands Public Broadcasting (NPO) which serves the Frisian community. Because West Frisian is an official language of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the NPO is also responsible for broadcasts in the West Frisian language.
Omrop Fryslân is also the regional public broadcaster for the province Friesland, and they have their own radio station and TV channel broadcasting primarily for the province itself.
The province of Friesland has had a regional broadcaster since 1946. In the early years, broadcasts were provided by Regionale Omroep Noord (RON). In the 1950s, RON was renamed RONO (Regionale Omroep Noord en Oost). RON (and later RONO) was the regional broadcaster for the provinces of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel, and, from 1965, Gelderland as well. The Frisian branch of RON/RONO provided radio broadcasts for Friesland (partly in Frisian).
In 1978, RONO was split into three stations: Radio Noord, Radio Oost, and Radio Friesland (in Frisian: Radio Fryslân). In 1988, Radio Fryslân became independent as Omrop Fryslân. In 1994, Omrop Fryslân began broadcasting one-hour television programs. A few years later, they began broadcasting a one-and-a-half-hour program, which was repeated throughout the night. Omrop Fryslân is also the emergency broadcaster, informing the Frisian population in the event of a disaster. The broadcaster also provides Fryske skoalletelefyzje (school television). The broadcaster is permitted to broadcast 52 hours of Fryslân DOK per year on public networks (NPO 2), in addition to 40 Frisian school television programs. Omrop Fryslân was the first regional broadcaster to air its own drama series, "Baas Boppe Baas." This series was followed by the legal series "Danker and Danger," based on the Frisian legal duo Wim and Hans Anker. In 2009, Steven de Jong created the series "Bit" for Omrop Fryslân, about horses.
In 1946, the RON (Radio Omroep Noord)âÂÂlater RONO (Radio Omroep Noord en Oost)âÂÂstarted broadcasting for the north and east of the Netherlands. In 1978, RONO was split in Radio Noord, Radio Oost and Radio Fryslân. Since 1988, Omrop Fryslân is a broadcaster in its own right.
Omrop Fryslân can be received on analogue terrestrial radio on 92.2 MHz FM. It is also available on cable (both analogue and digital), Digitenne (DVB-T) and the internet.
Since 1994, Omrop Fryslân has had its own regional TV channel. The regional news bulletin called Fryslân Hjoed (meaning Friesland Today) is broadcast daily at 18.00, and repeated every hour, with the last rebroadcast the next morning at 8.00.
Omrop Fryslân TV can be received free-to-air on DVB-T (Digitenne). It is also available on cable (both analogue and digital), satellite and the internet.
Because West Frisian is an official language in the Netherlands, Omrop Fryslân also has airtime on national public television for 36 hours a year. Out of these 36 hours, 15 hours are assigned for school television in West Frisian. The rest of the airtime is mainly used for documentaries, which are broadcast on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons on NPO 2.