It became Denmark's first television station when it began broadcasting in 1951 – at first only for an hour a day, three times a week.

Statsradiofonien Fjernsyn started broadcasts on 2 October 1951, initially carrying programmes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 8 to 9 pm every evening - the rest of the week was "TV-free".

On 30 August 1952, atop the Sygekasse building in Odense, television signals from Copenhagen were received precariously, as the signal travelled 140km in a straight line, while recorded film of the Queen's coronation in June gave television more impulse in Denmark.

A special telephone was installed at the television facilities in November 1962 for viewers to formally address their complaints directly to DR regarding the quality of the programmes that were broadcast.

[5] In 2004, DR announced plans for a complete switch from a 4:3 screen ratio to 16:9 widescreen broadcasts.

The last of DR1's productions to switch to widescreen was the daily news programme (TV Avisen) in November 2006.

[10] As with most channels in Denmark, foreign television programmes are shown in their original language but with Danish subtitles.