RADIO BROADCASTING - 63 YEARS AND COUNTING

December 13, 2016

Old VQO QSL card sent to the late Ernie Moore, an Australian SWL and ARDXC member. This card was scanned by Sam Dellit for The SWL QSL Card Museum (http://www.antique-corner.com/SWLQSL/1britsil.htm)

RADIO BROADCASTING -

63 YEARS ON AND COUNTING!

I came across a recent article on the early history of the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation. Here is an extract below. The full article can be read on the SIBC website at http://www.sibconline.com.sb/sibssibc-63rd-anniversary/

At 6 pm on Tuesday 23rd September, 1952, listeners in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (BSIP) tuning to 1030 kilocycles in the mediumwave band heard these words through their radio sets: “This is station VQO Honiara commencing the initial programme of the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service”.

The SIBS had been established by the British colonial Government to develop radio broadcasting within the Protectorate and to take-over from the weekly information transmissions previously being carried out on Sunday mornings on the inter-island Teleradio (shortwave) network.

The new SIBS station, VQO, transmitted with a power of 400 watts and used a transmitter built by the Chief Wireless Officer, Ron Calvert, from parts of an old aircraft radio beacon left behind by the US military near Henderson Airport at the end of the war. The first staff members were all volunteers and, apart from Ron Calvert, included William ‘Billy’ Bennett, Kay Poole and, as Programme Director, Colin Allan, at that time the Assistant Secretary to Government.

The first SIBS broadcast was on the air from 6pm to 8pm and started with an address by the High Commissioner for the British colonial Western Pacific, His Excellency Mr. R.C.S. Stanley. He provided a suitably formal and uplifting speech, which included the news that the Headquarters of the High Commission would be moved from Fiji to Solomon Islands and established in Honiara from January, 1953.

After Mr. Stanley’s opening presentation, the Chief Wireless Officer, Ron Calvert, gave a talk on the SIBS and what it hoped to achieve. This was followed at 6.45pm by music from Bill Bennett’s group, known as the Honiara String Band. The opening SIBS programme then included half an hour of music from the popular Hollywood film and stage show, South Pacific, presented by Colin Allan, and concluded at 8pm after more recordings of popular Western dance music and a classical concert.

In the following months, the SIBS broadcast programmes for one hour, 6pm to 7pm, daily except Sundays, before gradually increasing its services to a more regular and longer schedule. The SIBS continued until the 1st January, 1977 when new legislation (passed by Government in 1976) brought into being the independent Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC).

You can continue reading the full article at http://www.sibconline.com.sb/sibssibc-63rd-anniversary/

Rob VK3BVW