| TV Tupi Rio de Janeiro | |
| Callsign: | ZYB 513 |
| Analog: | 6 (VHF) |
| Affiliations: | Rede Tupi |
| Location: | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Former Callsigns: | PRG-3 TV (1951-1970) |
| Owner: | Diários Associados |
| Licensing Authority: | DENTEL |
TV Tupi Rio de Janeiro was a Brazilian television station located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, capital of the state of the same name. It operated on VHF channel 6 and was owned and operated by Rede Tupi throughout its existence. It was the second TV station to be opened in Brazil, after TV Tupi São Paulo, which would soon form Rede Tupi.
As early as July 1944, when Assis Chateaubriand had talks with RCA executives David Sarnoff and Vladimir Zworykin, he demanded that his conglomerate should build two television stations, one in São Paulo and the other in Rio de Janeiro.[1]
On January 27, 1948, Diário da Noite reported the arrival of television to both Rio and São Paulo.
The station conducted camera tests in April 1950.
Experimental broadcasts started on October 5, 1950, callsign PRG-3. The station signed on for the first time on January 20, 1951, seven days before awarding its license.
Launch day solemnities atop Sugarloaf Mountain were held from 12pm, reaching out to at least 5,000 television sets installed. A succession of speeches then followed. After the ceremony ended, the station put its test pattern until 8:30pm when Luiz Jatobá gave a three-minute introduction of the coming programs. This was followed by a concert by Orquestra Tabajara with Brazilian songs, Calouros em Desfile presented by Ary Barroso at 9pm, and a special show at 9:30pm: Tupi e a Televisão, starring many celebrities of the time, including comedian Mazzaropi, who attended the launch of the São Paulo station and became the first face to appear in two station launches. At 10:30pm, a special edition of Telejornal was broadcast with a film about the launch of the station and a report about its launch ceremony. The schedule ended with a jiu-jitsu fight between Hélio and Carlos Gracie. TV Tupi Rio had a 5KW transmitter that covered the entire city and neighboring Niterói and Petrópolis.
The station broadcast the Brazilian telenovela, Sua Vida Me Pertence (Your Life Belongs to Me), starting from the end of 1951, and broadcast the first televised kiss on February 8, 1952.
On April 1, 1968, Spanish company Movierecord secured a two-hour slot for its Latin American Ola Vision project.[2]