Link to Radio Heritage Foundation - radioheritage.net

The Co-operative Global Radio Memories Project


The main website of the Radio Heritage Foundation is now


https://www.radioheritage.com


Most content on this legacy website is no longer actively maintained and may not be up-to-date. It is preserved on-line purely for historical interest as part of the Radio Heritage Foundation’s digital collection.


Remembering Rediffusion: Malta

Rediffusion House in Gwardamangia.

In 1935, radio broadcasting began in Malta by a company called Rediffusion (Malta) Limited, which had been given the power and authority by the Government of Malta to operate sponsored radio programmes as well as ordinary commercial radio programmes. The station: Rediffusion Radio was initially launched, with the aim of countering Fascist propaganda from Italy. It had been given a complete monopoly of broadcasting of news, features, music and entertainment to about 50,000 subscribers...
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Broadcasting in Malta

Deutsche Welle relay station near Cyclops, Malta.

The origin of broadcasting in Malta dates back to the first broadcast transmitted from the Naval Wireless Station at Rinella in 1933. In 1934 an agreement was reached between the Government of Malta and the Rediffusion Group of Companies to set up a sound wired system in Malta and Gozo. Rediffusion (Malta) Ltd inaugurated its broadcasting services in Malta on November 11, 1935...
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Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 12: Lewis Pass
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Lewis Pass Canvas Art Print, Linelle Stacey. prints.co.nz

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas.

In the latest episode we travel the Lewis Pass..
 > read more & listen

New Buildings for KJQR & WSZO in 1969

The new building which will house radio stations KJQR on Saipan and WSZO on Majuro are straightforward, functional, and typhoon-resistant. Design and engineering is being provided the Trust Territory government by Honolulu-based Hawaii Architects & Engineers, Inc.

Construction of two new radio stations in the Trust Territory will begin early this year. They are scheduled for completion in April, 1969.

The stations are KJQR, located on Navy Hill in Saipan, Marianas Islands, and WSZO near the Mobil Oil Bulk Plant on Majuro, Marshall Islands. The broadcasting operations are currently housed in old and obsolete buildings...
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A Very Brief History of Guernsey's Radio Stations

From the Channel Island of Guernsey, the thoughts of Island FM radio presenter, journalist and Douzenier (councillor) Richard Harding.

In 2015 the Bailiwick's newest radio station took to the air although you may not know it unless you live in Alderney. On the 12th February, following a series of short-term trial licences, Quay FM became the Channel Islands first Ofcom-licenced community station broadcasting on 107.1MHz. It was founded by broadcasting veteran and island resident Colin Mason. Licences were advertised for the whole Bailiwick and although there were rumours several groups had shown an interest only Quay FM applied by the closing date in March last year...
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Radio Vanuatu Celebrates Golden Jubilee

Radio Vanuatu logo. Image: SWLing.com

Port Vila, August 3, 2016

The Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation (VBTC) is celebrating its 50 years of broadcasting in the then New Hebrides, and today the Republic of Vanuatu...
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Despite Gibraltar's size, there is a lot of news to report

Gibraltar from the air © 2020 VPNFan website

Newstatesman Gibraltar 20 January 2015

Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) is Gibraltar's public broadcaster, and has been providing the Rock's community with television and radio programmes since the 1960s. Its head, Gerard Teuma, takes us behind the scenes to discuss the early days of the station and some of the unique challenges of being a journalist on the Rock...
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50 Years on the Air
Radio Seychelles celebrates half-century as the archipelago's first broadcaster

The Radio Seychelles 50-year anniversary exhibition displays various photos of well-loved former radio personalities (Louis Toussaint, Seychelles News Agency)

Victoria, Seychelles July 24, 2015

This week marks fifty years since the first radio station in Seychelles began broadcasting - Radio Seychelles, presently part of the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), made its maiden broadcast from the station in July 1965.
 > read more

History Preserved
AWA Broadcast 500W Transmitter
Model P5 Serial Number 1

The AWA BTM-P5 was a 500 Watt broadcast transmitter manufactured in Australia in the 1960s. The P5, and its big brother the BTM-2J, were produced by Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Limited for more than a decade starting in mid-1961. Many of this model were used throughout Australia...
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4LM Mount Isa
Queensland, Australia

The growing Northwest Queensland mining town of Mount Isa had by 1958 a population approaching 15,000 but radio reception was virtually non existent. The nearest stations in the medium frequency band were 4QL and 4LG at Longreach, 350 miles away. Few people were aware of, or listened to the Brisbane short wave stations VLQ9 and VLM4...
 > read more

Finding local Emergency Alert Stations in the US

Franklin Township's Information Radio Station WRBX 655 AM 1630 logo. © Township of Franklin

During the pandemic a source of local information for residents in certain areas of the country can be found on Emergency Advisory Radio stations that dot the country and provide 24/7 information pertinent to a community. Not all communities have these stations, which can be found from 1610 - 1710 kHz and operate at varying power outputs...
 > read more

1ZB Radio Theatre
The Art Deco Years

It was where seven worlds could collide, from big bands to punk. Durham Street West was ground zero for popular music in Auckland for many decades: it was the heart of Auckland's music precinct in the central city. Durham Street was more of an alley than a street, and the narrow space was dominated for nearly 50 years by an Art Deco masterpiece: Auckland's Broadcasting House, purpose-built and designed with great flair in 1939 when radio promised a brave, new world.

For most of its life, Broadcasting House overlooked His Majesty's Theatre, beloved from First World War concerts to the Split Enz extravaganzas in the 1970s. In that decade, the radio hub was adjoined on Durham Lane by Granpa's, a nightclub that once hosted the Rolling Stones before evolving into Zwines, punk mecca. Across the street was Record Warehouse, the hippest store of the era.

Broadcasting House was a modernist statement, designed in Art Deco style by architect Alva Bartley. His client was the National Broadcasting Service, established in 1936. The director-general James Shelley wanted a building that epitomised the goals of public broadcasting: to enlighten, educate, and entertain. All to the highest possible standards.

- Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 915-Album-148-1

Besides being the home of 1ZB and 1ZM for many decades, Broadcasting House contained the Radio Theatre, where countless concerts, plays, variety shows, quizzes and musical comedies were broadcast live or recorded for later airplay from an acetate or magnetic tape...
 > read more

Tristan da Cunha - ZOE Radio Tristan 3290 kHz
A rare QSL from the world's most remote inhabited archipelago.

Tristan da Cunha, the main island of the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, is situated in the south Atlantic Ocean, 2 805 km from Cape Town and 3 353 km from Rio de Janeiro.

Google Earth Image of Tristan da Cunha showing Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, the only major settlement on the island.

ZOE Radio Tristan, from the island of Tristan da Cunha in the south Atlantic, will probably be remembered as an elusive radio station that many DXers used to dream about receiving. I guess that I was among the many long distance radio enthusiasts who tuned to 3290 kHz in an attempt to hear the local broadcasting service of Radio Tristan during their tropical band broadcasting days. I was not able to hear the station's low-power 40 watt signal, despite many attempts over the years...
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Barbados Rediffusion: The End of an Era in Broadcasting History

Bridgetown, Barbados. © Windstar Cruises

BRIDGETOWN, Dec 2 1997 (IPS) - When the clock struck midnight Monday, signaling the climax of celebrations of the 31st anniversary of independence in Barbados it also marked the loss of a significant portion of the island's history.

It was the end of the line, and the end of an era, for Barbados Rediffusion or Star Radio as it was also called - one of the two remaining original cable radio services in the world.
 > read more

Investor plans 'Mightier 1090' after leasing signal of former sports radio station

'SoCal-Sports-Talk' format, summer launch planned for rebranded San Diego station

Planning to relaunch San Diego radio station 1090-AM but with less sports content, the owner of an Arizona advertising agency has obtained broadcast rights to the far-reaching radio signal that beams from Baja California...
 > read more

Radio Anguilla Celebrates Station's 48th Anniversary

ANGUILLA - This year staff at Radio Anguilla are celebrating the 48th Anniversary of the station. On Sunday, April 9, members of staff attended the Palm Sunday service at the St. Gerard's Catholic Church...
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Radio Anguilla: Mother of All Local Radio Stations

Road Bay, Anguilla. Photo: www.navalia.com Navalia Srl - Tour Operator

What do Radio Anguilla and the Anguilla Revolution have in common? The answer is: they are inter-related. The broadcasting station, as limited as it had been at its inception, and now set to observe its 48th Anniversary next week, was a critical necessity at a time when the island was facing a most serious and complex challenge in its political and constitutional history. Hence, there was a need for an effective means of communication by the intervening British Government with the rebelling people, who simply wanted to be free. They desired freedom from an unpopular and demeaning yoke they had endured since Anguilla's convenient annexation with St. Kitts in 1825...
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It will take more than a lockdown to stop Radio Active broadcasts

Radio Active was ready when lockdown hit but nobody could prepare for the pet dog almost stopping transmission...
 > read more

Radio Saint Lucia Closure

All formalities and loose ends are expected to be tied by July 31 regarding the closure of the cash-strapped state-owned Radio Saint Lucia (RSL), according to Broadcast Minister Dominic Fedee...
 > read more

ZNS Radio 79th Anniversary
YouTube Report

Enjoy this YouTube report on the 79th Anniversary celebrations of ZNS Radio...
 > watch video

A Brief History of Radio in Guyana

Image of times past: The old Radio Demerara

The origin of radio broadcasting in Guyana is located somewhere in the 1920's and the first evidence of radio is credited to several local 'buffs'. The introduction of short wave broadcasts was preceded by a modest wired service that relayed broadcasts from the BBC over the telephone system in Georgetown. The subsequent short wave service which was reportedly provided for a few hours each week lasted until 1931 when it ended abruptly...
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Farewell to RNW shortwave broadcast from Bonaire
YouTube Feature

The Radio Netherlands' relay station on the Caribbean island of Bonaire lies a few hundred metres off a narrow road. A white patch on a rock is a reminder of the dynamite that was used to make enough room to get the transmitters to the site. The last regular shortwave transmission from Bonaire was on 30 June...
 > watch video

About ZIZ Radio

The name ZIZ is not new to St. Kitts. In the mid 1930s the sons of Administrator Douglas Roy Stuart and their friend, Kittitian radio enthusiast Kenneth Mallalieu, applied for permission to conduct experimental commercial broadcasting on the island and were issued with the call-sign ZIZ. The transmissions were heard mostly by residents in the Basseterre area. When Stuart died, his family left the Caribbean and the radio station went silent...
 > read more

Managing SW Broadcasts From Ascension Island

The remote Atlantic Relay Station transmits critical radio broadcasts to millions in Africa and beyond .

ENGLISH BAY, Ascension Island - A six-mile stretch of volcanic rock in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean is home to the BBC's Atlantic Relay Station...
 > read more

Trinidad & Tobago's First Radio Broadcast
YouTube Report

In celebration of Trinidad and Tobago's Independence, we take a look at T&T's Firsts. Events in our history that helped shape the nation into what it is today...
 > view video

BFBS Connects British Military Worldwide

Forces Radio BFBS' Fiona Weir & Rachel Cochrane on board a Chinook

SUFFIELD, Alberta - Drive to Suffield - just east of where the Canadian Rocky Mountains rise up - tune the car radio to CKBF on 104.1 FM, and you can enjoy the latest in contemporary British pop radio (music and witty talk) with a military twist...
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ZBVI Radio Erects New Tower
YouTube Report


 > view video

Radio Havana Cuba, 55 Years Broadcasting the Truth to the World

Even though the formal inauguration of Radio Havana Cuba did not happen until a few days later, on May First, during a mass rally of Havana residents that filled to capacity the huge Plaza de la Revolución, Revolution Square, in celebration of the victory over the U.S. sponsored invasion, our Radio Station had its baptism of fire as the mercenaries were smashingly repelled at Playa Giron. We carried news and information about the fighting, and duly announce Cuba's victory over the invaders, armed, trained, financed and led by the United States. Our Radio Station had received its baptism of fire...
 > read more

Radio Antilles Montserrat
Recording from 1993

Radio Antilles, Montserrat BWI 930 AM © David Ricquish Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation


 > listen here

The Māori radio stations that play dance music and hip-hop

George FM is one of two MediaWorks-owned Māori radio stations in Auckland. Photo: CHRIS MCKEEN/STUFF

The bright green building sticks out in the middle of Auckland's Ponsonby Rd.

At all hours of the day, everyday, DJs are drawn in through the small door marked "George". Upstairs, in a street-side studio below the numbers "96.6", they play their own mixes and some of the "biggest club bangers" around.

But what does this all have to do with te reo Māori, which is, after all, the reason why 96.6 George FM broadcasts in Auckland city?

 > read more

Radio Belize: George McKesey and old photos from the history of radio in Belize

Radio announcer and comedian George McKesey broadcasting from his studios in the 1950's. It was located behind Paslow Building.

The Ghost of George McKesey Still Haunts Us All!

Pinned down in a green and mahogany sofa set near the radio my father made from his own hands in our small but neatly arranged living room, the captivating voice of the Belizean storyteller, George McKesey, that Belizeans of the 1960s and 70s had come to know as the true theater of the mind, explodes in the best Kriol lingo.

 > read more

Guyana has a rich history in radio

IF any Caribbean or even South American country has had a rich history in radio broadcasting then it has to be our very own Guyana. And from its humble beginnings in the 40's, radio broadcasting has been building over the past decades leading to the eventual establishment of the Voice of Guyana (VOG) and the National Communications Network. But my research tells me that radio broadcasting was one of its first in the Caribbean and was started as early as the 1920's. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) programming was dominantly being aired for the first, but more programmes ensued not long after. Radio Demerara came to reality in 1951; The Guyana Broadcasting Service (GBS) in 1958; Action Radio in 1968, and the GBC in 1979. The changes did not end there. The Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was divided into two factions with a new motto: "One station, two channels". Channel One and Channel Two later became Radio Roraima and The Voice of Guyana respectively. Then, finally in March 2004, National Communications Network (NCN) emerged out of the Guyana Television Broadcasting Company Limited (GTV) as a new company.

 > read more

10 Facts About the History of Radio in Jamaica

Radio is a vital part of Jamaican life. Since the first official broadcast on Radio Jamaica on Monday, July 10, 1950, Jamaican radio has become an increasingly essential avenue for mass education, entertainment and information on a variety of issues relevant to Jamaican life. From daily talk shows to newscasts, radio is by far the most popular medium for news and views in Jamaica. In fact, Jamaica has been at the cutting edge of developments in radio in the Caribbean region and Commonwealth since the technology’s very inception. Through RJR, Jamaica was the first country in the British Commonwealth to broadcast regular scheduled programmes on the FM band...

 > read more

Covid-19: Lockdown won't stop East FM playing the hits

Lockdown for the prevention of Covid-19 spreading has not deterred East Auckland's community radio station from broadcasting.

East FM is continuously transmitting through the Coronavirus crisis, albeit with fewer of the regular live shows presented by all of the station's 30 volunteer DJs and hosts...

 > read more

Gone By Lunchtime
The spirited life and sudden demise of Radio Sport

Talking about it still gives Jason Pine goosebumps.

The veteran broadcaster, who up until Monday was the host of Radio Sport's nine to noon show, has plenty of highlights to choose from when it comes to his most memorable broadcasting moment.

As the excitable voice of New Zealand football, Pine has called bizarre on-field bust-ups, shock losses and historic wins...

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Jeypore AIR Worldwide

Jeypore AIR

Jeypore: It is not a very popular method of entertainment anymore since the advent of TV and more importantly laptops and mobile phones. But even then the instrument called the 'radio' has survived all storms...

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Shortwave Penpals

Penpals John Watson and Rainer Bradtke have met face to face for the second time after more than 50 years of written correspondence between Germany and Timaru.

Bradtke lived behind the Iron Curtain in Buckow, about 50 kilometres east of Berlin, when he got hold of a Radio Canada contact booklet in 1967.

John Watson and Rainer Bradtke

John Watson, left, and Rainer Bradtke have been penpals since 1967. Photo: JOHN BISSET/STUFF

The booklet was contraband in East Germany at the time and in it was Watson's name and home address in Timaru...

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Celebrating 30 Years of Broadcasting in the Pacific

The 24th of January 2020 marked the 30-year anniversary of RNZ Pacific, formerly called RNZ International.

RNZ staff

(L-R) Linden Clark, Elma MaUa and Ian Johnstone preparing for the launch of RNZ International now RNZ Pacific in 1990. Photo: RNZ Pacific

On 24 January 1990, Radio New Zealand International beamed into the Pacific, on a new 100 kilowatt transmitter...

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KOA Building Tour - 1959

A tour of the KOA-TV and radio studios soon after their construction in 1959. Hosted by Pete Smythe with an introduction by Today Show Host Dave Garroway and narrated by Ed "Weatherman" Bowman

 > view

Shortwave Campaigns During World War II

On the morning of 7 December 1941, the day the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war, The New York Times published one of its regular shortwave reports from W.T. Arms. A Japanese radio station based in Shanghai, he told the paper's readers, ended its daily English-language broadcast with the words 'V stands for victory, a German victory over the enemies of Europe'. The shortwave broadcast was aimed at listeners in North America.

image of Tokyo Rose

"Tokyo Rose" broadcasting from studios of Radio Tokyo.
[Radio Heritage Foundation collection, source and copyright unknown]

Tokyo Rose and Lord Haw-Haw have become part of the folklore of radio during the Second World War, but there are many other stories that have been largely forgotten. And, as in so many aspects of the conflict, the Allies were often caught napping on the radio wars because they had not been paying attention to the growing potential of the medium...

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New Zealand Broadcasting
Press Clippings Scrapbook "A"
1990 - 1991

The late Mark Nicholls kept a series of scrapbooks containing newspaper and magazine clippings relating to the broadcasting scene in New Zealand. These books provide an interesting look back at NZ broadcasting at the time.

You can browse an interactive PDF-based version of the first of these scrapbooks (you can click on the articles to view in more detail), or use the direct links to each scanned article...

 > read more

Historic WHO Radio Recordings Now Online

Archivist Amy Moorman

Archivist Amy Moorman holds original recording.

A large collection of WHO radio recordings in the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting (AIB) has been digitized and is now available online to the public. There are more than 500 recordings, from 1938 to 1961, that are accessible at the AIB website.

Archivist Amy Moorman says the recordings are primarily Iowa shows including farm shows, news reports, entertainment shows, and some sports broadcasts by former President Ronald Reagan who worked there for a time as sports director.

 > listen & read more

Falling in Love Over the Airwaves

The couple who fell in love over the ABC's Radio Australia more than 50 years ago

Anita and Humphrey together

Anita and Humphrey Chang married after falling in love with each others' letters, read out on Radio Australia.

They were from two different countries and had never met or heard the other's voice.

But over a number of years Anita and Humphrey Chang fell in love through the radio as their words, written in letters and read out over the airwaves, reached each other across the ocean.

 >  read more

Tribute to a Century of Broadcasting
YouTube Audiovisual

On the 100th anniversary of broadcast radio it's still possible to hear an AM radio station on all 118 AM North American Medium Wave channels from 530 kHz to 1700 kHz. Listen to stations on all frequencies as recorded off the air with a simple wire antenna in Eastern Massachusetts and see information on every station heard...

 > listen here

Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 11: Lake Waikaremoana
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

1930s Lake Waikaremoana Travel Poster
(New Zealand. Tourism Department. [New Zealand Government Tourist Department] :Lake Waikaremoana, New Zealand. "The sea of rippling waters". [ca 1930].. Ref: Eph-A-TOURISM-Waikaremoana-ca1930-02. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23196122)

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas...

 > listen & read more

Australian A.M. Radio History
Free eBook Edition

Australian Radio History

The latest edition of Bruce Carty's book Australian Radio History is now available as a free download...

 > read more

CJCD Yellowknife Turns 40

CJCD AM 1240 logo CJCD FM MIX logo CJCD FM Moose logo

On November 13, 1979, CJCD first broadcast on 1240 AM in Yellowknife. Now on FM and under different ownership, the station - which retains the same callsign - celebrates its 40th anniversary...

 > read more

RIAS Berlin
YouTube Documentary

RIAS QSL

QSL card from RIAS for reception in New Zealand of their 6005 kHz shortwave signal in 1976.
© Radio Heritage Foundation, Chris Mackerell Collection

Enjoy this 1994 short two-part film, produced by Deutsche Welle TV, about the West Berlin radio station, RIAS (Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor)

 > view here

Self Help are Cheaper! Cheaper! Cheaper!
Classic NZ Supermarket Commercials from the 1960s

Opening Self Help store, Lambton Quay

Unidentified man, with celebrities Sir Edmund Hillary and Selwyn Toogood, with give away products of Rinso at the opening week of the Self Help store, Lambton Quay, Wellington. Evening post (Newspaper. 1865-2002) :Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref: EP/1956/2503-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.

If you were growing up in New Zealand in the 1960s, and listened to any commercial radio at all, chances are you will remember the classic slogan "Self Help are Cheaper, Cheaper, Cheaper" for the Self Help chain of grocery stores...

 > listen & read more

American Forces Network Radio (1950-2012)
YouTube Presentation


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KNX Los Angeles Turns 99

Modern KNX logo

The well known powerful mediumwave station KNX in Los Angeles California is heard regularly in season at night throughout the western areas of the United States and Canada, as well as across the Pacific in Hawaii, Japan, the exotic South Pacific Islands, New Zealand and Australia. Station KNX radiates 50 kW on 1070 kHz from a single tower, and it celebrated 99 years back in September (2019). This is their story...

 > read more

MAF's Metric Moments
14 Tales for Radio by Bill White

The lighter side of farm metrics with MAF's Bill White.

Metric Moments

In 1972 New Zealand was changing to using the metric system of measurements...

 > Listen & read more

Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 10: Auckland
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Posters for early air services to Auckland. Images from pinterest.com

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas....

 > Listen & read more

Tuning in Radio Sarawak
Historic Film from 1961

Tuning in Radio Sarawak

The website of the Imperial War Museums contains this rare 1961 film about Radio Sarawak in Malaya.

 > read more

KAOS 88.2 Blenheim
Rocker blasts music for whole town to hear

Carwyn Henigan

Ex-radio engineer, musician and vineyard machinery operator Carwyn Henigan's passion is the community radio station, KAOS FM 88.2, he runs out of a spare bedroom in suburban Blenheim.
Photo: SCOTT HAMMOND/STUFF

From a spare bedroom in small-town New Zealand, a tiny independent rock radio station has made waves nationally.

 > read more

AFRS Pacific Overview

Meet the Mosquito Network

Inside the U.S. effort in a battle of the airwaves during the Pacific campaign of World War II

Mark Durenberger
RadioWorld
September 2019

PCAN

Possibly the earliest military station in World War II - this one located in the Panama Canal Zone.

We can't fully appreciate the importance of news from home to those who served in World War II. In the Pacific campaigns, G.I.s, sailors and Marines fought bloody island-hopping battles; as each island was cleared, garrison troops and hospitals moved in and carried on their own war against mosquitoes, isolation and boredom. The island fighters were fortunate if dated mail caught up with them before they moved on to the next target. Timely personal-level communications were pretty much absent.

 > read more

RNZI Mailbox
Radio Heritage Foundation Documentaries

During 2004-2014 the Radio Heritage Foundation produced a series of audio documentaries that aired on Radio New Zealand International's (now rebranded as RNZ Pacific) "Mailbox" programme.

Some of these features subsequently aired on other international broadcasters...

 > listen to the features

Rugby Radio Station
Booklet from 1964

Rugby VLF Building

Read a 1960s profile of the UK GPO's Rugby Radio Station...

 > read more

Who's Got the Biggest, Meanest AM Flamethrower?

More broadcasters than you might realize are helping keep the ionosphere warm (and the power companies happy)

James E. O'Neal
RadioWorld
September 2018

In the May 9 issue of Radio World, I reported on a recent power upgrade at TWR's Bonaire AM facility that brought that station close to the half-megawatt level (440 kW), allowing the station to make the claim that it is the most powerful medium-wave (MW) operation in the Western Hemisphere. After the dust settled, I thought it might be interesting to poke around a bit in the data available to see if they have a close (or even not-so-close) contender for second place for this title...

 > read more

Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 9: Coromandel
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Captain Cook display

Vintage map of the Coromandel Peninsular. Image from pinterest.com

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas....

 > read more

CKLW and other Jingles from the Past

CKLW and other Jingles from the Past
Published by fansofjingles on YouTube.


The Internet’s Impact on International Radio

Many broadcasters saved money by moving from high-power shortwave transmissions to the web. But at what cost?

OTTAWA — During the height of the Cold War (1947–1991), the shortwave radio bands were alive with international state-run broadcasters; transmitting their respective views in multiple languages to listeners around the globe.

Two Bobs QSL

A QSL card sent to SW listeners confirming their reception of “The Two Bobs” on Swiss Radio International. Credit: Bob Zanotti.

The western bloc’s advocates were led by the BBC World Service, and included Voice of America, Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, Radio Canada International and a host of influential European broadcasters. The eastern bloc’s de facto team captain was the USSR’s Radio Moscow (with its unique hollow, echoing sound), supplemented by broadcasters in Soviet satellite countries (like East Germany’s Radio Berlin International) and allies like Fidel Castro’s Radio Havana Cuba...

 > read more

The Development of the Directional AM Broadcast Antenna

WOR antenna sketch

The advent of the directional antenna made it possible for co-channel stations to operate in close proximity

In the early years of AM radio broadcasting, all stations utilized non-directional antennas. Most all of these were wire antennas suspended between towers or buildings. Interference, especially at night, was severe. An interfering signal of 5% or less in signal strength was enough to disrupt reception of the desired station, and if the frequencies of the two stations were slightly separated, there would be a heterodyne beat note. As a result, only a few widely-spaced stations could operate on each of the AM broadcast channels in the entire country at night. This limited the number of stations that could coexist to about 500 nationwide, with many of them sharing time on a single frequency...

 > read more

Voice of America
The Long Reach of Shortwave

VOA sticker

‘Voice of America’ exhibition is a fascinating look at early shortwave radio

Long before cell towers started sprouting up everywhere, the federal government commissioned telecommunication companies to build five massive fields of shortwave radio antennae. The structures, which reached up to 450 feet, were located in out-of-the-way places in California, Ohio and North Carolina. Each was designed to bounce radio waves off the ionosphere, allowing federally produced programming to be transmitted all over the globe....

 > read more

Sentech Shuts Meyerton Shortwave Site

Sentech logo

Planned closure of the South African station comes after years of financial losses

The switch house building at Meyerton

The switch house building at Meyerton.

MEYERTON, South Africa — South Africa-based public broadcast signal distributor, Sentech, shutdown its shortwave station in Meyerton at the end of March. The closure was planned and follows years of financial losses...

 > read more

4GG Gold Coast
The Showbiz Radio Station of Australia

Radio station 4GG's thrilling ride to success

4GG sticker

It has been more than 46 years since the Gold Coast tuned in to its first radio station but strong memories of 4GG remain...

 > read more

Sunshine Coast Memories

On the Near North Coast during the late 1950s and early 1960s, a shift in population towards the beachside towns becomes apparent as tourism began to take off.

Many families from the farming communities, mostly in the hinterland region, also enjoyed the coastal beaches of the region and became surf lifesavers.

As the sport of surfing became popular, many took up surf board riding as well.

Moffateers Nose Riding surfing competition

Evening entertainment included picture theatres and drive-in theatres, but the teenagers and younger generations at that time wanted to dance and listen to the music of their generation...

 > read more

Community Radio Station KBFG-LP in Seattle

KBFG sign

Tucked away in a shed in a northwest Seattle neighborhood was perhaps the tiniest radio station that I’d ever seen: community radio station KBFG-LP. Part of the most recent wave of low power FM stations, it launched in December, 2017 and broadcasts for a 2.5 mile radio to a potential FM audience of around 250,000 people in the Ballard, Fremont and Greenwood neighborhoods (thus the B-F-G call letters)...

 > read more

WTMA Celebrates 80 Years in Charleston

“We’ve come a long way from being that crazy ‘Tiger Radio’ back in the 1960s and ’70s playing top 40, to being a more responsible station that talks about today’s news,” says Program Director John Quincy. “WTMA(AM) is still here and thriving.”

WTMA van

A station vehicle is parked in front of WTMA’s offices and studios on Church Street in downtown Charleston in a photo from a 1950s promotional postcard. The building also housed the historic Dock Street Theatre, so the station jocks reportedly had to minimize the volume on their control room monitors when a play was being performed. The small sign above the door reads “Radio Station WTMA, N.B.C.”

Our story begins 80 years earlier...

 > read more

Happy Days Radio, Palmerston

Veteran broadcaster Lawrence McCraw is about to launch his fifth private radio station.

Lawrence McCraw

Lawrence McCraw in the studio he is developing for his Happy Days 88.3 FM Radio station in Palmerston. Photo: Bill Campbell.

The Palmerston-based station, to be called Happy Days 88.3 FM, will have low-power FM repeaters at Oamaru, Waimate and Waikouaiti and will begin broadcasting in June.

In his time Mr McCraw (64), of Palmerston, has been involved in running five radio stations as well as several short-term stations....

 > read more

Love Radio Finds Niche in Shanghai

SHANGHAI — Located on China’s Pacific coast, Shanghai is the country’s biggest city with a population exceeding 26 million people; three times that of New York City (8.55 million). It is also a city that loves its music, and no radio station captures that idea more than Love Radio 103.7 FM.

Ming Zheng

Ming Zhang recording a show at the Love Radio studio.

Launched by the Chinese government’s Shanghai Media Group (SMG) on Aug. 8, 2005, this 24-hour advertiser-supported station plays “local Hong Kong/Taiwan/Mainland music, as well as some international favorites from the ’80s and ’90s and a bit of the 2000s,” explained Love Radio DJ Ming Zhang, who broadcasts on the station under the name ‘David.’ Love Radio’s listeners are males and females 30 to 55 years old, who are “mainly intellectuals” with “above average income,” he said. “Their preference is for more ballads and love songs.”

 > read more

BFM - The Pirates

Record

Radio Bosom QSL Card for 950 kHz in the 1970s.
© Radio Heritage Foundation, Chris Mackerell Collection

The story of Radio B’s pirate broadcasts in the 1970s has been all but lost until now – in part because the pirate adventures were officially nothing to do with B at the time – but they played a remarkable role in the culture of New Zealand radio...

 > read more

Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 8: Morere Hot Springs
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Morere Hot Springs

Early photo of the Morere Hot Springs
www.morerehotsprings.co.nz

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas.

This episode visits the Morere Hot Springs thermal resort on the East Coast of the North Island...

 > read & listen more

Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 6: The Glaciers
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas.

Franz Josef Glacier poster Franz Josef Airfield 1938

In this episode our intrepid traveller spurns the mountains of the Austrian Tyrol to take the motor highway from Hokitika and travel south to the Franz Josef & Fox glaciers...

 > read & listen more

AFRTS Archive
Roger Carroll - 1979

Roger CarrollRoger Carroll and Los Angeles radio were the same thing. From 1948-58 at KABC and 1959-79 at Gene Autry's KMPC. Roger brought his sound to McCadden Av. and AFTRS. Part of the reason he related so well was that he was one of the few network personalities that were a veteran...

 > read & listen more

AFRTS Archive
Polka Party - 1961

AFRTS logo

Enjoy our first story to be published in collaboration with the AFRTS Archive Blog.

The American Forces Radio and Television Service touched a lot of people. Whether talent, support or listeners it touched many in ways that stateside media could only dream of.

 > read & listen more

Song of the South Seas
The Life and Music of Bill Sevesi

Enjoy this short film on the NZ On Screen website.

Bill mentions American Forces Radio via shortwave as the driving force behind his success and how Hawaiian music via radio was so important to him when he listened in NZ as there was no radio in Tonga, and from these inspirations his Pacific dreams music developed.

Music for dreamers of the Pacific.

Song of the South Seas - The Life and Music of Bill Sevesi

Music for dreamers of the Pacific.
© NZ On Screen


Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 5: Eglinton Valley
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Early Te Anau poster Early Te Anau poster

Early Te Anau excursion posters © Pinterest

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas....

 > read more

Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 4: Westland
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Early Westland poster Early Westland poster

Early Westland tourism posters © Pinterest

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas....

 > read more

WSSO 670 Voice of Bougainville 1944 QSL

James Stewart has sent us this photo of a QSL flyer from WSSO in 1944 and writes:

In going through some of my Dad's papers, I was reminded of his wartime service. About all I know about it was that he reached the rank of Tech Sergeant by the end of the war.

WSSO QSL flyer 1944

WSSO QSL flyer from 1944
Image from James Stewart

3WKA - 92.1 FM - Chatham Islands
11 December 1991

3WKA - 92.1 FM - Chatham Islands - 11 December 1991
Broadcast as Radio Weka in Waitangi on The Chatham Islands, now off air.
Published by gb per on YouTube.


Australian Antarctic Broadcasting Stations

The Australian Antarctic Division operates broadcasting stations, originally with 20 watt A.M. transmitters, (now F.M.), at each Antarctic base, to entertain staff. All operators are volunteers. The A.C.M.A. denies that these stations exist. Interestingly, the Australian Antarctic Division doesn’t deny they exist, but refuses to acknowledge the presence of these stations at their bases.

 > read more

4IP Ipswich
Promotional Postcards from the 1960s

4IP Colour Radio 1960s logo © http://www.radio4ip.com.au

Ron Williams has kindly sent us these promotional postcards that were given out by radio station 4IP (located in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia) in the 1960s...

 > read more

Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 3: Milford Sound
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Early Milford Sound poster Early Milford Sound poster

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas.

 > read more & listen to rare audio

Shortwave Radio
Radio Australia, 1969

Shortwave Radio - Radio Australia, 1969
Before the internet we listened to shortwave radio stations from all over the world.
Published by dfirth224 on YouTube.


Glory Days of Shortwave
Interval Signals and QSLs

Glory Days of Shortwave - Interval Signals and QSLs
Here's a collection of signature tunes / interval signal set to QSLs and other pictures by SWLDXBulgaria. Great stuff!
Published by Ilya B on YouTube.


Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 2: Hanmer Springs
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Record

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas.

 > read more & listen to rare audio

2UW Sydney Australia
A Video Tribute to the 1960s NEW-UW
The Swingin' Sound of Sydney

A tribute to Sydney radio station 2UW and its dee-jays during the late 60's.
Published by old45s on YouTube.


 > Read more about the history of 2UW in our feature The Station All Australia Knows

KOST 103.5 FM
The "Inside" Story
A Video Tour from 1989

It's back to the 80's for this Mark and Kim hosted video written and produced by then KOST Program Director Jhani Kaye. This video gives listeners an inside look at how radio works. Originally distributed for free by Warehouse Music. KOST 103.5 has won all the major radio awards for programming and personalities in it's 30 year history.
Published by Mark Wallengren on YouTube.


Rare Audio From The 1980s
Lee Baby Simms: Last Day of Top 40 on KORL 65, Honolulu

In 1980, Honolulu radio station KORL 65 switched from a long period of colorful personalities playing Top 40 hits, staging outrageous stunts, and giving away cash and prizes in complex contests -- to a computerized (disc jockey-less) system playing Big Band music of the 1940s and '50s. On the last day of Top 40 programming, each of the disc jockeys on "KORL, the Station That Makes You Feel Good" said goodbye in distinctive fashion -- none more distinctively than afternoon host Lee Baby Simms. He had recorded his final bit, on a small cassette tape recorder, at home earlier that day. Just before 7 p.m., he held the speaker of the cassette player up to the main studio microphone and hit "play." While it's possible that he was not smoking pakalolo as he recorded these stream of consciousness ramblings, it is highly unlikely.
Published by Chas Henry on YouTube.


 > Read more about the history of radio in Hawaii in our features Art of Radio Hawaii © and Blue Hawaii, Elvis and Hawaiian Radio in 1961

Rare Film From The 1930s
3BA Ballarat - The Voice of the Garden City

A glimpse into early Australian broadcasting, with a tour through Ballarat station 3BA, "The Voice of the Garden City", then broadcasting on 1320 kc/s with 500W of power.
Published by Conniptions886 on YouTube.


 > Read more about the history of 3BA in our feature 3BA Ballarat

4CA History
1950s Inspection Reports

4CA logos

4CA logos © radioinfo.com.au

Read historical reports of Broadcasting Station Inspections carried out by the Australian Broadcasting Control Board on 4CA's 1950s locations in Cairns, Northern Queensland, Australia.

 > read more...

Rare Film Featuring AFRS Station VU2ZN, Ledo, 1944

Silent U.S. War Department Bureau of Public Relations film no. 1205.
A sign on a building in this film indicates that this is station VU2ZN, an AFRS station in Ledo. National Archives description: "A soldier-broadcaster selects records from a phonograph library. A band and a vocalist perform in a broadcasting room. Several song-and-dance teams perform before U.S. troops at an overseas base during a U.S.O. show."


 > Read more about VU2ZN and other AFRS stations in our feature AFRS Along the Ledo Road

What's in the Air?
A Radio Hunt
Westbury Enthusiast's Catch
America, Sydney, New Zealand

"What's in the air?" This question by one Westbury wireless enthusiast to another provoked a radio hunt on Saturday night. It showed to what lengths amateurs may now go, and that even the remotest part of the world is no longer isolated, but, on the other hand, one may "be in several other places at the same time."

Early Westbury

Before the Days of Radio.
Postcard, c1900, showing the villgae green and St Andrew's Church, Westbury (Tasmaniana Library, SLT)
© Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies

The fascination of wireless lies, not only in the excellent programmes broadcasted regularly every night by the broadcasting companies. Equally, if not more interesting, is the reception of numerous amateurs, who transmit all varieties of music from gramophones, player pianos, etc...

 > read more

Long Lost Radio History Images:
XWRA On The Air

XWRA On The Air

© Collection of William Casson
Radio Heritage Foundation

William Casson writes:

The above picture, from the Army Signal Corp, shows my dad, we believe, sitting at the table. He served in Merrill's Mauraders on the Burma Road Campaign. He was later sent to Shanghai to set up a radio station. He claimed that he was the first American to enter resulting in the Japanese general in charge surrendering to him. He became part of organizing the triumphant entry of Chiang Kai Shek. His name was Harry G. Casson, Jr.

Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 1: National Park
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Record

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas.

 > read more & listen to rare audio

Australian Radio Calls 1926

We have been sent a publication listing Australian Radio Calls from 1926...

 > read more

Long Lost Radio History Images:
WKLI Fukuoka 1946

Jeff Klepper writes:

My late father, Larry Klepper, served in the US Army Air Corps, 1945-46, and he worked at WKLI in Fukuoka toward the end of 1946. That's him, standing, in this photo. (Don't know the identity of the other fellow.)

Larry Klepper WKLI

© Collection of Jeff Klepper
Radio Heritage Foundation

Wally Coxon and the First Broadcast Station in the West

In common with other early broadcasters, the engineering staff at 6WF were concerned about unreliable night-time reception - with broadcast signals subject, at times, to fading and/or distortion every few minutes beyond 50-100 miles (80-180km) from the transmitter. Depending on the season, prevailing conditions and transmission wavelength, such effects could limit the dependable night-time range of medium wave stations, in particular, to less than their daytime coverage.

image of Listener confirmation card from 6WF Wanneroo in 1934. 5kW, 690kc, © Eric Shackle Collection, Radio Heritage 
Foundation.

Listener confirmation card from 6WF Wanneroo in 1934. 5kW, 690kc.
© Eric Shackle Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation.

Keen to collect and correlate data in their own environment, Wally says that 6WF staff organised two transportable listening centres which could be set up, typically 300 yards apart, in any available level field. By way of communication, both teams were equipped with a hurricane lamp which could be turned up or down in brightness as the signal strength varied.

 > read more

World Record!
Bruce Carty on 2CCC FM

2CCC logo

2CCC logo © Radio Heritage Foundation, Bruce Carty collection

In September 1993 DJ Bruce Carty on 2CCC-FM made an attempt on the world record for continous broadcasting by one DJ.

 > read more

Nautel Memorable Radio
WFMT

Nautel logo

WFMT Chicago Commences HD Radio™ Broadcasting with Nautel NV40

A fine-arts station since its debut, WFMT-FM Chicago has always had a reputation for classical music and utmost audio quality. Station engineers once designed their own audio processors because nothing on the commercial market was acceptable to them, nor did they air commercials on tape cartridges.

 > read more

Nautel Memorable Radio
WMTB-LP

Nautel logo

Timely and Meticulous Tech Support gets VS300LP On-Air after Hurricane Irma

Hurricane Irma knocked out a ton of radio stations in Florida, some with serious issues keeping them off the air for going on a week after the storm. My little FM survived quite well by comparison, but did go off the air for what was initially an audio loss. It was accompanied by the internet connection at the transmitter site shutting down, and remaining down until five days after mother nature spent her fury in Florida.

 > read more

Lure of the Trail
Programme No. 7: Christchurch
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Record

In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas.

 > read more & listen to rare audio

The Pacific Ramblers
Live on KTOH, Kauai, Hawaii
March/April 1945

In 1945 the band the Pacific Ramblers were entertaining listeners on radio station KTOH, located in Kauai, Hawaii.

Pacific Ramblers on KTOH

The Pacific Ramblers performing on KTOH
© Collection of Dale Halleron
Radio Heritage Foundation



 > read more & listen to rare audio

KTOH Kauai Under Musical Attack

image of Hawaii Radio Station KIPA letterhead

Kauai, Hawaii, 1945

Local newspapers report that local radio station KTOH is under attack! No, the attack is not coming from the Japanese, but from local musicians...

 > read more

Nautel Memorable Radio
A Tight Squeeze of an Install at K-LOVE

Nautel logo

A Tight Squeeze of an Install at K-LOVE

Jack Roland, EMF K-LOVE/Air1 Engineer, shared with us some great photos from the delivery of his Nautel GV40 HD transmitter to the K-LOVE Mt. Chief, CO, facility. It was a tight installation; he only had 31" to work with!

 > read more

RNZI
Our International Voice on Shortwave Radio

WIRELESS WAVES TO THE WORLD

Our International Voice
by Bob Edlin

JANUARY 24, 1990. In Auckland, the Commonwealth Games would open and Kiwis would be preparing to run, jump, swim, peddle... whatever.., in competition against athletes from around the globe. In Wellington, a small team of broadcasters would be making their own preparations. They would be setting out in pursuit of international competitors who had left them far behind in the race to spread influence and foster goodwill in the South Pacific.

That was the day Radio New Zealand International – with a new, much more powerful transmitter and $1.1 million a year from the Ministry of External Relations and Trade – began broadcasting an expanded programme.

 > read more

Australian Radio Advertising Bureau
Instant Ideas No. 4

Travel back in time to the Australian mediumwave band in the early 1970s with the commercials from this 7" sampler record produced by the Australian Radio Advertising Bureau.

QSL card from 2AY
© Radio Heritage Foundation, Chris Mackerell collection

Listen to 1970s commercials from 5RM, 2AY, 2DU, 4RO, 6PR, 2NX, 4AK, 2GO, 2QN, and 2AY, then read more about the history of some of these stations on our website, or see details of the modern stations in our Australian Radio Guide.

 > read more

Update

Our Chairman, David Ricquish, is currently recovering from major health issues.

During his recovery our website may not be updated as frequently as normal, but rest assured, the Radio Heritage Foundation is still here and intends to remain so.

To reduce David's workload while he recovers we have arranged a temporary alternative postal address for large, heavy donations, such as collections of QSL cards, books, LP records etc.

Please send such donations to:

Radio Heritage Foundation
c/o Chris Mackerell
PO Box 2213
Stoke
Nelson 7041
New Zealand

Chris, our webmaster, will process these donations while David recovers.

Normal postal items such as letters, cheque donations etc, can continue to be sent to our current Newtown, Wellington, address.

Please note that it may be some time before we can respond to our normal email address as usual.

We thank you for your understanding and look forward to your on-going support.

Clippings From The Archives

From our New Zealand radio archives we present a selection of items, mainly LPFM-related, that have appeared in the New Zealand press in years gone by.

Open Air Cinema logo

This feature is brought to you by
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American Ambassadors of the Airwaves
Midwest East North Central

Great Seal of the USA

Great Seal of the USA

USA greetings stamps © www.theus50.com

USA map

© www15.uta.fi

The most powerful and influential AM broadcasters of this region are essentially represented by the cities of Chicago, Cincinnati and Cleveland with a slight touch of Detroit.

 > read more

Editorial: Final Days 2015/2016

NZDXRA TuneIn logo

We are a small non-profit organization doing what we can to protect, preserve and promote what we call 'radio heritage' or things, memories and places associated with radio broadcasting. This website is a very small window into our global project.

Sometimes we fail. Like when the original studios of 3ZB Christchurch NZ recently burned down in an arson attack. We tried to get people interested to do something to make future use of the building from the 1930s, but ran into the brick walls of no interest and no money, made worse by damage in the earthquake of 2011.

Old 3ZB building burning

© Hamish Evans via Facebook

In these final days before the current financial year ends on March 31, we have raised over 90% of the budgeted costs we pay others. We get no funding from any government or broadcasting networks anywhere in the world. Unpaid volunteers do all the work as time permits. A small group of people in New Zealand, Australia, USA, and Europe make irregular donations to our costs...... without them we would have closed down years ago and much memorabilia destroyed, lost or forgotten.

If you're using one of our radio guides today or enjoying one of the hundreds of features prepared by our volunteers, would you make a donation towards the 10% of funding still needed by March 31:

We'll be pleased to add you to our Roll of Honor this month, and you'll be pleased to see more radio heritage protected, preserved and promoted by our project. You'll be helping us keep the memories alive, even after the studios of stations like 3ZB are long gone.

And there are thousands of stations and many thousands more people who worked in them for almost a century now remaining to be remembered.

On behalf of many long forgotten voices, thank you.

Iceland State Broadcast Service

Broadcast building

BROADCAST IN ICELAND

CONSTITUTION:

The Iceland State Broadcast Service was established in the year 1930. Its offices and studios are in Reykjavik, occupying the fourth and fifth floors of the Telephone and Broadcast Building. It is conducted entirely by the State as an independent establishment, under the control of the Ministry of Education. It is directed by a General Director. The programs are supervised by a Program Council, consisting of five members chosen by the Althing (The Icelandic Legislative Assembly), promptly after each general election The Minister of Education appoints one of them Chairman.

 > read more

An Aussie DJ on Iceland Radio

Icelandic flag © Wiki

By Bruce Carty

After spending Christmas and New Year in London at 23 years of age, I visited Heathrow airport in 1973, purely for something to do. Two hours after arriving at Heathrow, I was on a plane to Iceland.
I first visited a local family on Vestmannaeyjar Island off the South coast of Iceland (I had earlier met them in Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia, where they were holidaying). Two days later I was hurriedly evacuated back to the mainland due to the Heimsey volcano eruption, which destroyed half the town.

 > read more

7SD's Sunpolisher Club gave cousins a chance to star

By Mike Vanderkelen

Like one of more than 100 listener clubs which mushroomed during Australian radio’s golden era, the Sunpolishers Club was a “must listen to” program on Radio 7SD Scottsdale says former ABC Tasmania radio journalist Brad Saunders who, like several of his cousins, was not only a Club member but sang on air.

7SD QSL 1954

7SD Scottsdale Tasmania issued this card to a New Zealand listener for reception in 1954, the year the station officially opened. © Keith Robinson Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation

“I recall my first time on radio doing a slightly squiffy version of “This Old Man he played One” in the 1950s before I was introduced to a Nagra tape recorder and the business of interviewing people for a living on radio.”

 > read more

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Radio Heritage Foundation projects and activities connect radio, popular culture, history and heritage.

The charitable trust has been giving a voice to those involved in radio via our website since 2004 and will continue to do so.

We are inclusive of all visitors, regardless of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or disability and aim to connect people of all ages and cultures who love radio

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