Radio Ceylon
 
|
|
| Type | radio, and online |
|---|---|
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Availability | National International |
| Owner | Government of Sri Lanka |
|
Launch date
|
1925 (radio) 1967 (incorporation) |
|
Former names
|
Colombo Radio, Radio SEAC (1925-1948) |
|
Official website
|
http://www.slbc.lk |
Radio Ceylon (Sinhalese: ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි සේවය Lanka Guwan Viduli Sevaya Tamil: இலங்கை வானொலி ilankai vanoli) is the oldest radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.
The history of Radio Ceylon dates back to year 1925, when its first precursor, Colombo Radio, was launched on 16 December 1925 using a Medium Wave radio transmitter of one kilowatt of output power from Welikada, Colombo. Commenced just 3 years after the launch of BBC, Colombo radio was the first ever radio station in Asia and the second oldest radio station in the world. Home of Ceylon Gramophones.
This new medium of mass communication not only became increasingly popular in the years that followed, but also quickly evolved into a medium of national character, which led to the “Radio Service” being organized as a separate department of the government of Ceylon (as the country now Sri Lanka was then called) by the ‘call sign’ ‘Radio Ceylon’ in 1949. Subsequently, in 1967, the Department of Broadcasting was transformed into its present statutory form of a state corporation by the Ceylon broadcasting corporation Act. No 37 of 1966 of the parliament of Ceylon, thereby assuring increased autonomy and flexibility in the operations of the new organization. The organization acquired its present name, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, with the transition of the state into the status of Republic of Sri Lanka on 22 May 1972. SLBC ( Stand for Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation) has since continued in the same legal status as a state corporation, and is currently listed under the scope of the ministry of Information and Media of the Government of Sri Lanka.
As was the case with many national radio stations with the same standing several decades ago, SLBC was relying on medium wave as the primary mode of domestic broadcasting until the dawn of ‘90s. Some sporadic FM broadcasts had nevertheless been already introduced at several transmitting stations more as a means of ‘relaying’ the broadcasts to medium wave transmitting stations. However, by late ‘80s SLBC was acting in recognition of the strategic importance of switching from MW to FM as the primary mode of domestic broadcasting. Accordingly, in 1993, ‘the FM Stereo Broadcasting Facility at Colombo’ was commissioned with the technical assistance of the government of Japan.
This was followed by the ‘Island FM Development Project’ that was launched in year 1995. The objectives of the project were to develop an Islandwide multi-channel FM stereo broadcast transmission network and to divest the costly domestic medium wave transmitting stations, which were typically broadcasting only one or two programme channels per transmitting station. By 1999, more than 95% country’s total population was being covered by SLBC’s FM transmissions with nearly 90% of them receiving all six nationwide channels.
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Wikipedia