For approximately twenty years, Iceland decided not to broadcast television on Thursdays. The reasons for this decision were varied, but they triggered a belief: the obligation not to watch television made many young people look for other entertainment. And they did it. And the birth rate skyrocketed. Today we delve into the history behind this decision and decide what is reality and what is urban legend.
TV stories. Iceland did not have its own television channel until 1966with the creation of the state radio station RÚV. Until then, the only television available to some Icelanders was the one broadcast by the US military base in Keflavík, since 1955 and with an antenna only for soldiers, an invention soon imitated by Icelanders. When RÚV began broadcasting (after the controversial decision to leave Icelanders unable to receive the signal, which caused a tidal wave of complaints), it did so with a very restricted schedule. Initially, it only broadcast two days a week (and a few hours a day). As its programming expanded, a day without television was established: Thursday.
Why wasn’t it broadcast on Thursdays? There were two reasons. The most well-known and romantic reason is that they wanted to promote social and family life. The government wanted Icelanders to dedicate a day to socializespend time with family, read or enjoy the outdoors instead of staying home in front of a screen. People were encouraged to participate in community activities, meet with neighbors and keep traditions alive. There was also some concern about foreign cultural influence (already present with the programming at the Keflavík military base) and it was felt that limiting national television hours could help protect Icelandic identity.
A more practical reason. But there was another reason of a budgetary and personnel nature. RÚV, the state broadcaster, operated with a very limited budget and staff. Leave a day without broadcast (and also a whole month in julyuntil 1983) was a practical way to give a day off to its employees, many of whom multitasked to keep the channel running. Since the station had a monopoly, it could afford this luxury without losing audience, since there was no other option to watch on television.
A summit ended the custom. The first interruption of the Thursday blackout occurred in October 1986, when RÚV broadcast on an exceptional basis on Thursday to cover the historic Reykjavík summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. The definitive change, of course, came with the appearance of competition: in 1986 a new private channel, Stöð 2, was launched, broadcasting seven days a week. Since October 1, 1987, RÚV also began broadcasting on Thursdays, ending this tradition of almost two decades.
The myth of “Thursday babies.” The popular belief that this tradition increased the birth rate is actually a joke or myth that Icelanders who lived during that time tell themselves: by not having the distraction of television, couples spent more time together, which supposedly increased the probability of conceiving. And although it is a correlation that has remained in the popular imagination of Iceland, there is no scientific evidence to show that the birth rate in Iceland increased significantly on Thursdays, or nine months after Thursdays. But it says a lot about how entertainment and family life were conceived not so long ago.
Photo of Cassie Mouth in Unsplash
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