It was founded by the US occupational authorities after World War II in 1946 to provide the German population in and around Berlin with news and political reporting.

For the first months the programme could be distributed via telephone line only (as DIAS – Drahtfunk im amerikanischen Sektor),[1] until a first medium wave transmitter was installed in September.

Its importance was magnified during the Berlin Blockade in 1948-49, when it carried the message of Allied determination to resist Soviet intimidation.

Under the supervision of the United States Information Agency from 1965, the station was staffed almost entirely with German employees, who worked under a small American management team.

RIAS-TV, began broadcasting (as a part-time optout on the terrestrial frequency of SAT.1) from West Berlin in August 1988, which also acquired the German Educational Television Network in United States.