Archive

Category: Melanesia

Radio, someone still loves you

On August 1, 1981, video killed the radio star. Or so new wave band, The Buggles, yelled to the world the day MTV was launched in New York, USA. In Fiji, families gathered around the radio together for at least a decade more. Some still do.

Early Music Recordings from ZJV Suva

Some early recordings of Fijian music made by station ZJV Suva.

Radio Scene on the Outlier Islands of New Caledonia in the South Pacific

The main island is known locally as Grande Terre, and also included in the territory of New Caledonia are nearby island clusters that are identified as the Loyalty Islands, the Isle of Pines, the Belep/Daos Islands, and the Chesterfield Islands, together with a few remote and uninhabited islets. We look at the radio scene in each of these islandic clusters, and we take them in the order of their population figures.

Secret Radio Talks Turn Tide on Santo Rebellion

In the months leading up to Vanuatu gaining its Independence in July 1980, a fierce anti-Independence rebellion, dubbed the ‘Coconut War’, was taking place in the country’s north on the island of Espiritu Santo. The island of Santo was under the control of anti-Independence rebels of the Nagriamel Movement and Independence supporters there were cut off from the Independence leaders based in the south in Port Vila.

Return to the Radio Scene on Bougainville in the South Pacific

Wireless came to Bougainville more than 100 years ago with the installation of Australian made AWA equipment which was taken into service in January 1916 under the Australian callsign VIU. In those days, many of the closer Pacific Islands that had been annexed by the United Kingdom were administered from Australia.

Baseball Commentary on WVTB, 1944

New Guinea Christmas Day Olympics, December 25, 1944, sponsored by the 360th Service Groups Special Services at A.P.O. 713, Unit 1, against the 868th T/5…

Radio Vanuatu Celebrates Golden Jubilee

Port Vila, August 3, 2016 The Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation (VBTC) is celebrating its 50 years of broadcasting in the then New Hebrides, and…

Falling in Love Over the Airwaves

The couple who fell in love over the ABC’s Radio Australia more than 50 years ago Michael Vincent Dec 15 2019 They were from two…

WSSO 670 Voice of Bougainville 1944 QSL

James Stewart has sent us this photo of a QSL flyer from WSSO in 1944 and writes: In going through some of my Dad’s papers,…

RNZI Mailbox Urban Pacific Radio Noumea

Hello, I’m David Ricquish in the Wellington studios of Radio New Zealand International and today we continue our look at the changing Pacific… and in…

RNZI Mailbox Urban Pacific Radio Suva

Hello, I’m David Ricquish in the Wellington studios of Radio New Zealand International and today we’re going to have a look at the changing Pacific… and in particular at how it’s becoming increasingly more urbanized… and how radio today is much less laid back than you might imagine.

CRST 104FM Tanna Island, Vanuatu

Snow White and the Seven DJs Melanie Arnost Once upon a time there was a radio station on Tanna Island, Vanuatu. It was without broadcasters,…

The Mosquito Network Part 3 – AFRS Mosquito Bites

American Military Radio in the Solomon Islands During WWII By Martin Hadlow © 2006 Expansion And Contraction As AES-Guadalcanal continued to develop, it was joined…

The Mosquito Network Part 1 – AFRS Guadalcanal

American Military Radio in the Solomon Islands During WWII By Martin Hadlow © 2006 Baghdad To Bougainville “The American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS)…

The Mosquito Network Part 2 – AFRS Radio City

American Military Radio in the Solomon Islands During WWII By Martin Hadlow © 2006 “RADIO CITY” In The Tropics Once ashore, Captain Spencer Allen was…

Early Radio in Fiji

This article was originally material for a broadcast of “Wavescan” via Adventist World Radio and now forms part of the Radio Heritage Collection ©. All…

Mosquito Network In Fiji

This article was originally material for a broadcast of “Wavescan” via Adventist World Radio and now forms part of the Radio Heritage Collection ©. All…

Fiji on Shortwave

This article was originally material for a broadcast of “Wavescan” via Adventist World Radio and now forms part of the Radio Heritage Collection ©. All…

Fiji Foundations Part III

This article was originally material for a broadcast of “Wavescan” via Adventist World Radio and now forms part of the Radio Heritage Collection ©. All…

WVUS Noumea & A Dog Called Satchmo

This article forms part of the Radio Heritage Collection ©. All rights reserved to Ragusa Media Group, PO Box 14339, Wellington, New Zealand. This material…