Originally named the Belgian National Broadcasting Institute (French: INR, Institut national belge de radiodiffusion; Dutch: NIR, Belgisch Nationaal Instituut voor de Radio-omroep), the state-owned broadcasting organisation was established by law on 18 June 1930,[citation needed] and from 1938 was housed in the Flagey Building, also known as the Radio House, a purpose-built building in the "paquebot" style of Art Deco architecture.

The German occupying forces, who now oversaw its management, changed the INR's name to Radio Bruxelles.

The RTB's first broadcast in colour, Le Jardin Extraordinaire (a gardening and nature programme), was transmitted in 1971.

Accordingly, the French-language section of the RTB became the RTBF (Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté française) and a second television channel was set up with the name RTbis.

On 13 December 2006, at 20:21 CET (19:21 UTC), the RTBF replaced an edition of its regular current affairs programme Questions à la Une with a fake special news report in which it was claimed that Flanders had proclaimed independence, effectively dissolving the Belgian state.

After the first half-hour of the 90-minute broadcast, however – by which point RTBF.be's response line had been flooded with calls – this was replaced with a caption reading "This is fiction".

The report also featured footage of King Albert and Queen Paola getting on a military jet to Congo, a former Belgian colony.