Geographic Collection – Melanesia
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.
The Radio Spectrum on the South Pacific Island of New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a verdant tropical island with a quarter million population and it lies close to a thousand miles off the east coast of Australia, and a thousand miles north of New Zealand. This French Overseas Territory is made up of more than 140 different islands, some 40 of which are inhabited.
AM Transmitter installed in Goroka, Papua New Guinea
In 2018, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry decided to extend the radio coverage by setting up a series of AM transmitters. The ministry went ahead and allocated sufficient funding for this important decision. This was to ensure that people residing in small population centres in far-flung places could get easy access to radio services. In many places, radio is still the only way to access the outside world, the only mass media reaching these far-flung places.
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…
Communications and IT Minister Reopens NBC Gulf Building
Masiu said it was therefore pleasing for him to officially reopen NBC Gulf after a 20-year hiatus June 10, 2020 Minister for Information & Communication…
NBC Morobe – The Forgotten Kundu
COMMENTARY: By Sylvester Gawi in Lae I grew up in the 90’s listening to NBC Radio – Radio Kundu – which was informative and always…
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,…
Papua New Guinea Radio is so much more
David Ricquish One of the most fascinating countries for international shortwave radio listeners continues to be Papua New Guinea… a large archipelago of islands to…
9PA Port Moresby WWII ABC – AFRS Radio
By Adrian Peterson For a period of around two years during the Pacific War, there was no radio broadcasting station on the air in Port…
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…
The Pioneer Radio Voice of New Guinea, AFRS-2 and WVTB Nadzab
WVTB New Guinea 1944 By John G Dietrich The radio section of Special Services Division of United States Armed Forces in the Far East [USAAFFE]…