Radio Jamaica is celebrating 70 years of existence and the story of its growth, from the first voice coming over the airways under its brand, Dennis Gick, to the myriad of personalities who carry its flame today, the story makes for fascinating reading.

Published July 4, 2021

The Radio Jamaica Story!

On September 1, 1939, Hitler and his German army invaded neighbouring Poland, causing Britain and France to declare war on Germany. This was the first engagement of what would become World War II.

In Jamaica “ham radio” operator, John Grinan was taking note. He had been listening to the news out of Europe on his radio for some time, and now he sought a licence from the British government to begin broadcasting out of his 2 Seaview Avenue home. His negotiations with the colonial authorities were successful, and on November 17, 1939, the new station, with callsign VP5PZ had its first-ever broadcast with a statement from then Governor Sir Arthur Richards.

At the time, VP5PZ did weekly broadcasts, offering about 30 minutes of wartime news and information. Grinan did not retain control of his station for long. The colonial government, then in wartime mode, wanted firm control of radio, and Grinan acceded to Governor Richards’ request to hand over the station. In 1940, the Government took over ownership of the station, rechristening it ZQI. The new station increased its airtime and frequency of broadcasts, but listenership never exceeded 100,000, given the relatively high cost of radio sets.

As the war ended, the Government lost its imperative to hang on to ZQI and its drain on government resources. As a result, it decided to sell the station. On July 9, 1950, the Jamaica Broadcasting Company took over the station under the new name ‘ Radio Jamaica’. The new entity was owned by the British Rediffusion Group.

The very first voice on Radio Jamaica was that of Dennis Gick, then station manager, who signed off ZQI’s programming and immediately signed on Radio Jamaica. He was followed by a statement by then-Governor John Huggins. The first announcer whose voice was heard was Archie Lindo, who was also noted for his many years as a theatre critic with The Gleaner Company.

The Early Years

In 1951, the Jamaica Broadcasting Company started its rediffusion service (distributing radio by wire to a speaker box that had one switch that turned on the radio and adjusted the volume,) and the new entity became known as RJR (Radio Jamaica and Rediffusion). Rediffusion carried RJR’s programmes to subscribers throughout the 19¼ hours of radio broadcasting and continued throughout the night after radio ‘signed off’ at midnight with uninterrupted recorded music.

The rediffusion service was discontinued in 1968, after 17 years during which it revolutionised radio in Jamaica.

GameChanger

Radio broke the stranglehold of the printed press on news and information dissemination. Now, the quickest and easiest way to get news was via RJR. This enabled a generation of Jamaicans, illiterate or semi-literate, with no funds to buy a daily newspaper to keep abreast of current affairs. It also meant that Jamaicans could follow election analysis and results in real time at a crucial period when the country was heading towards independence.

One of the very first major news stories to be carried by RJR was the August 17, 1951, direct strike on Jamaica of Hurricane Charlie, the first direct hit to the island by a hurricane in many decades. Interestingly, RJR’s hurricane coverage continued uninterrupted throughout the heart of the storm although the story was that because of the ferocity of the storm, all RJR transmitters were down, and in fact, only one Rediffusion subscriber still had service by wire. RJR crews were, in fact, out on the road making repairs during the storm itself to ensure that the station would remain on air. Hurricane Charlie created the biggest death toll of any Jamaican natural disaster in the 20th century. More than 150 people died.

Just as important was the cultural impact of radio. At the beginning of the 1950s, most Jamaicans got their entertainment via live shows and concerts. Music was mainly performed in church, by church groups, or by mento bands at community gatherings, and at house parties. The cost of record players and records was prohibitive, and as a result, such devices were only owned by a few upper-middle class and upper-class Jamaicans. As a rule, recorded music was not available to the general public. The sound system industry was at its very beginning and would not develop into the popular movement until the end of the 1950s. RJR changed all of that, as its overnight music programming and music in its daily shows exposed the average Jamaican to recorded music for the very first time. The music that RJR played covered a wide range of genres from classical through Pop, R&B, Latin, and Country. Coincidentally, the commercial recording industry in Jamaica also began in 1950 at the same time as the start of RJR. This made mento recordings available to be played on radio. The impact of this on Jamaican culture cannot be overstated. Outside of the bands that were resident in hotels and the mento groups that performed throughout the island in bars, restaurants, and for private functions, musicians had no outlet for their music. The new recording industry, which had its outlet on radio, developed swiftly, and by the early 1960s, had transformed Jamaica into a global music power, with the addition of the new music form, ska.

The other major cultural impact of radio was the development of Jamaican drama, with the advent of the Jamaican radio serial and radio series. This allowed Jamaicans to hear themselves and the Jamaican language on radio and gave an outlet to Jamaicans who were actors, writers, producers, and sound effects experts.

RJR also began airing popular variety and talent shows, including Talent Parade, carried live from the Carib Theatre, and Vere John’s Opportunity Hour. Other popular shows included Alma Mock-Yen’s Tea Time and Marie Garth’s Busy Bee Club for children. These programmes introduced Jamaica to a new cadre of performers who would become iconic in the nation’s cultural development. Prime among these were Louise Bennett and Ranny Williams.

Radio Jamaica also became the main recording hub for local commercials. Many early musical recordings and all the early radio plays were recorded at RJR, whose ‘Studio One’ became the industry standard.

Move to Lyndhurst Road

In August 1951, the station moved from 2 Seaview Avenue to its current location, the iconic ‘Broadcasting House’ at 32 Lyndhurst Road. A little-known fact is that in 1953, RJR began FM transmission. Frequency modulated (FM) transmitters were installed at Coleyville and Tinson Pen, making Radio Jamaica the first station in the British Commonwealth to broadcast regularly scheduled programmes on the FM band.

RJR was mandated to cover the entire island with radio broadcasting. Initially, about 200 wireless receiving sets were set up in designated listening posts around the island, at schools, police stations, and village stores, where Jamaican radio became a social phenomenon. Radio Jamaica’s licence was also the first commercial radio licence in Jamaica, allowing, for the first time, for the station to sell advertising time.

Primary Source

RJR had by then become the nation’s primary source of communication through programmed music, regular newscasts, dramas, discussions, concerts, and other forms of entertainment, challenging the entrenched position of the local newspapers. Eventually, when the Government decided to operate its own public broadcasting station that would assume the name Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC), Radio Jamaica’s parent name was formally changed from the Jamaica Broadcasting Company to Radio Jamaica Limited.

RJR became not just a radio station, but THE radio station and was at the forefront of the information sector as the most trusted and reliable source for up-to-date and accurate news.

Its iconic programming, including shows like The Good Morning Man Show, The Midday News, BBC News at 8 a.m., with its super accurate time check, local drama Dulcimina, and foreign soaps Dr Paul and Portia Faces Life, were extremely popular. As too were sportscasts, live outside broadcasts, parliamentary reports, discussion programmes, and hugely popular music programmes. These programmes saw the station remain miles ahead of its competition well into the 21st century. RJR established the tone for Sunday radio and made Saturdays “race day” for the entire island.

The nation woke up to RJR. Housewives and those at home in the morning were glued to the soaps while the afternoon was dedicated to music and youth, featuring deejays such as Charlie Babcock, Winston “The Whip” Williams, and Don Topping, and the ladies of radio including Dottie Dean and Marie Garth.

After years of broadcasting solely on the AM band, in September 1972, RJR began commercial transmissions on a new entity “RJR FM”. This was the first commercial FM station in the British Commonwealth (outside of Britain itself). FM services led to the creation of FAME FM, and the new station attracted a slew of youthful listeners. Its leading lights included Norma Brown-Bell, Paula-Anne Porter Jones and François St Juste, who all became celebrities in their own right.

In the mid 1970s, another change came to RJR as the Government, under Michael Manley, acquired ownership of the station from the British Rediffusion Group and divested RJR to a range of “peoplebased organisations,” including trade unions, credit unions, farmers, professional associations, and staff. RJR became fully Jamaican-owned and began setting the standard for Jamaican-owned broadcast media.

The legally mandated diverse nature of the company’s shareholdings remained intact despite movement in the ownership of the shares and RJR, merging with The Gleaner Company, to become The RJRGLEANER Communications Group in 2016.

Corporate Citizen

RJR’s ownership has been reflected in its corporate policy as RJR has consistently been concerned with being a good corporate citizen, initiating numerous programmes to support charities and needy institutions, and adopting a number of community groups and institutions as special targets for assistance. It is a beloved entity in the Lyndhurst Road area as evidenced by the incredible demand for its annual calendars.

Acquisition of Television

In 1997, RJR acquired most of the assets of the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation in a deal with the P.J. Patterson led government. RJR renamed JBC-TV Television Jamaica (TVJ) and JBC Radio 2 HITZ 92FM and revamped their programming. With all the new media now owned by RJR, including JNN (Jamaica News Network) and Reggae Entertainment Television (RE-TV), it was decided that it would be more efficient to reinvent RJR as a group of companies with its various components.

The RJR Communications Group then comprised eight entities, including Multimedia Jamaica (its multimedia arm) and TVJ SN (TVJ Sports Network).

In 2004, RJR moved all of its operations based at the former South Odeon Avenue home of JBC to Broadcasting House at 32 Lyndhurst Road, where it had established a brand new media centre to house both its television operations as well as its modern news centre. In 2016, RJR and The Gleaner Company Limited merged to become the RJRGLEANER Communications Group, and as a result, two more radio stations were added to its ownership, Power 106FM and Music 99FM. However, as a regulatory condition of the merger, Music 99FM was sold this year. It is no longer available on Over The Air transmission, but is still available online.

In 2020, a decision was made to revert RJR 94FM to its original name, and its lead station was rebranded as Radio Jamaica 94FM, bringing the station full circle to its 1950 genesis 70 years ago. 

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