Until that point, RTP1 closed down with the national anthem, but this practice stopped not too long before infomercials filled the overnight slots.

At 21:30 that evening, a speech was made by Raúl Feio, in the Nervos program, introducing viewers to television, considered at that time to be "one of the greatest revelations of our time", and stating that the television service would enter the definitive stage in 1957, with hopes for the five transmitters to be active by then, locating the transmitters on a map.

Daily, a pre-recorded continuity announcement was made by Gina Esteves about the reception of RTP's signal and how to obtain a television set.

[6] Throughout December (excluding Sundays) the experiments consisted largely of music videos, American imports and filmed features from France made for television.

RTP wanted to commission a march used to open its daily schedule, but since the task was time-consuming, the problem was then solved upon finding a bunch of Chapell discs to later select the track.

[14] Its first operations outside Portugal were done by the news team in Barcelona, followed by coverage of the official visit of President Craveiro Lopes to Brazil in June 1957.

[16] Initially, RTP had a limited coverage area, using 5 transmitters (Monsanto, Montejunto, Lousã, Monte da Virgem and Foia) that covered about 60% of the country's population.

[26] That same year, Natal dos Hospitais was broadcast on television for the first time, and in 1959, emphasis was put on outside programming, in order to diversify its contents.

Engineer Sousa Veloso hosted it throughout its existence; the program was also relatively cheap to produce at the time of starting.

[29] Associated-Rediffusion visited Lisbon in the same month and accepted a special hour of programming, that wasn't attractive for most of its viewers, aside from a few documentaries in the Hora Inglesa strand that ran for a week.

The newscast suffered constant cuts from the censors, as well as technical problems[31] Broadcasts from the Monte da Virgem studios in Vila Nova de Gaia started on October 20, 1959.

[37] A contract with Movierecord Portuguesa SARL was signed on September 26, 1962, eyeing to exploit advertising slots.

1969 was marked with one of the first successful talk-shows on Portuguese television, the variety show Zip-Zip, that ran between May and December,[41] as well as live coverage of the Moon landing.

[43] Before then, Telescola (educational classes) were generally the first programmes of the day and the regular schedule started at 19:00, running until midnight.

A "unilateral" with Brazilian technicians helped provide RTP with assistance to produce live carriage of the solemn delivery to Brazil of the mortal remains of its Emperor D. Pedro I on April 22, 1972.

Days later the news team also provided details of the visit of the Portuguese president of the time to Brazil.

[54] As the months progressed, more and more colour broadcasts were included with experimental broadcasts approved on 15 February 1980, with colour test cards being shown from 18 February,[55] before launching regularly on 7 March 1980, symbolically its 23rd anniversary, with the final of the 1980 Festival da Canção, which gave José Cid a place in that year's edition in the Netherlands.

This plan wasn't properly achieved as the Ciclo Preparatório TV educational broadcasts were still reserved to air in a five-hour period (13:30 to 18:30).

[66] After the 1988 Humor de Perdição scandal, Herman José returned to the channel in January 1990 with Casino Royal.

[68] The reface also saw the premiere of new game shows adapted from international formats, Roda da Sorte (Wheel of Fortune), Casa Cheia (Bob's Full House), O Preço Certo (The Price is Right) and a return of 1, 2, 3.

[70] Having lost its leadership status slowly between 1994 and 1995, owing to SIC's success, it eventually turned into the vice-leader before falling into third place, when TVI got a ratings boost.

The channel started widescreen tests on 8 June 2012 with the Euro 2012 opening ceremony and the first match (Poland vs. Greece).

In 1976, RTP was forced to cancel the programme Nome Mulher after a controversial instalment of the program highlighted the illegal abortion trade in Portugal.

[72] In 1995, Catholic groups and Rádio Renascença put RTP under pressure for airing the infamous "Last Supper" special edition of Herman ZAP.