Broadcasting in Jamaica to The 1940s

Jamaica, that is located in the Caribbean Sea is 4,244 square miles and has an estimated population of three million.  Its capital is Kingston and the metro area St. Andrew have a population of 650,000.  Other cities are Spanish Town (132,000) and Montego Bay (96,000).  Jamaica has 14 parishes and 60 electoral constituencies.  African Jamaicans are estimated at about 91%, others, including East Indians, Chinese, whites, and mixed 9%.

The country boasts many religious affiliations including, Protestant groups, Baptists, Anglicans, Roman Catholic Muslim, Jewish, and Rastafarian. According to the U.S. Department of State’s website, April 6, 2011, Jamaica’s GDP was $13 billion in 2010. Some of its major resources are bauxite, sugarcane, bananas, and coffee.  Its industries include tourism, alumina, and processed foods.  Jamaica is best described as a parliamentary democracy with a Governor General representing Queen Elizabeth 11, as chief of state, with a prime minister.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Early Broadcasting

In 1919, a  wireless operator, Enos Jones, of the S.S. Relief in Kingston Harbor, sent the first wireless signal over the air in Jamaica that he planned as a joke.  His broadcast was received by Morse stations in Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, and the United States. Nothing much more is known of the occasion, but it took another 15 years for VP2MK, later known as VP5MK, to become operational by Stephen Jones, as an amateur, as it promoted charitable causes, and serving as rescue missions.  No records were found as to whether that experimental wireless station had a government permit. 

There were early  glimmerings of broadcast legislation in 1929 that said that “no person shall use radio or any telegraphic apparatus without license under the hand of the governor.”  In 1937, there was further legislation in the Telegraph Control Law that covered telegraphy and telephone apparatus.  This was replaced in 1949, by the Broadcasting and Rediffusion Law that made it possible for establishing the terms under which broadcasting was to operate.  But before broadcasting was to start seeing its potential, there were other developments.

Accounts showed that initially, there was a great deal of amateur chatter between ships by Jamaican operators from neighboring countries like Panama, Costa Rico, Mexico, and Haiti.  By 1936, wireless receiving sets numbered a little over 3,000, and by 1938, around 4,000.  Listeners listened to two-way conversations between amateurs from Jamaica and neighboring countries, later snippets of local programs, and a predominance of foreign broadcasts during the war years.  

In 1938, VP5MK was instrumental in aiding a local constabulary in quelling racial riots.  By this time, this station had become government owned and controlled.  By 1939, radio’s potential was seen as a “life saving” device that was seen by the Jamaican Amateur Radio Club (JARC), and JARC began operating another amateur wireless radio station, WV5AD.  It was unknown if this station had a government amateur permit.

Another station, NJ2PZ later changed to VP5PZ, was donated as a gift to the Jamaican government by John Grinan, a former American resident of Jamaican descent, that was known as one of the country’s early pioneers.  It was governor Arthur Richards that made the first inaugural address to the nation on November 17, 1939.  Later, the station became known as ZQI.  Its first manager was Dennis Glick, an Englishman.  By 1947 -1948, Jamaica Broadcasting Company (JBC), an affiliate of Broadcast Relay (Overseas) Services Limited, and the U.S. owned WRCA applied for the broadcasting franchise in Jamaica.  JBC was granted the franchise.  So, in 1949, JBC began operations with a government license as a wireless commercial.