Sri Lanka celebrates 80 years in Broadcasting

Wednesday, January 11 2006 @ 11:21 PM EST

The island of Sri Lanka celebrated 80 years in broadcasting - a historic landmark where international broadcasting is concerned.

The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation formerly known as Radio Ceylon and before that as Colombo Radio is the oldest radio station in South Asia.

Edward Harper who was appointed Chief Engineer to the Ceylon Telegraph Department in 1921 carried out the first ever radio experiments on the island. Broadcasting was started in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department in 1923 on an experimental footing, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.

Gramophone music was broadcast from a tiny room in the Central Telegraph Office, with the aid of a small transmitter built by the Telegraph Department engineers from the radio equipment of a captured German submarine.

This broadcasting experiment was a real success and barely three years later, on December 16, 1925, a regular broadcasting service came to be instituted. The station was called Colombo Radio.

Edward Harper also founded the Ceylon Wireless Club together with British and Ceylonese radio enthusiasts. He has been dubbed ' the Father of Broadcasting in Ceylon.'

Radio Ceylon ruled the airwaves in South Asia in the 1950s and 1960s. Millions tuned in to hear the popular announcers and music program presenters who enjoyed iconic status in South Asia, among them - Livy Wijemanne, Vernon Corea, Pearl Ondaatje, Jimmy Bharucha, Tim Horshington, Greg Roskowski, Claude Selveratnam, Prosper Fernando, Karunaratne Abeysekera, S.P.Mylvaganam, Gnanam Ratinam, Thevis Guruge, H.M.Gunasekera, Christopher Greet, Eric Fernando, Vijaya Corea, Nihal Bhareti and others.

The Hindi Service of helped to clinch the station's number one spot in South Asia by broadcasting the latest Hindi film music through a variety of entertainment programs presented by Indian announcers - Gopal Sharma, Ameen Sayani, Hamid Sayani, Sunil Dutt,Vijay Kishore Dubey, Shiv Kumar Saroj, and Manohar Mahajan. Millions of listeners in India tuned into Radio Ceylon to hear the latest Bollywood hits of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Radio Ceylon was a part of youth culture to many South Asian teenagers growing up in the 1950 and 1960s in the Indian sub-continent. Young and old alike enjoyed the steady stream of English, Sinhala, Tamil and Hindi music.

The Australian administrator, Clifford R.Dodd (who was sent to Radio Ceylon in the 1950s under the Colombo Plan) galvanised the Commercial Service of the station into action. It was a powerhouse of musical entertainment.

Radio Ceylon helped make Ceylonese musicians Nimal Mendis, Des Kelly, Bill Forbes, Cliff Foenander, Adrian Ferdinands, Douglas Meerwald, Clarence Wijewardene, Annesley Malewana, H.R.Jothipala, Nanda Malini, Mignonne Fernando and The Jetliners, Desmond De Silva, A.E.Manoharan, household names.

The station was made a public corporation in January 1967 and changed its name to the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation headed by the brilliant Director-General, Neville Jayaweera. In 1972 after Sri Lanka became a republic the station was known as the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.

In January 2007 the SLBC will celebrate 40 years as a public corporation. The SLBC has truly been a 'starmaker,' many Sri Lankan musicians owe their careers to the radio station.

World Music Central
http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/2006011112411332