16/08/2024
The National Report - August 16th, 2024
"Only the sun covers The Bahamas better" The official Facebook of The ZNS Network
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The Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (BCB) originated as a state-owned radio service in 1937, some 15 years after radio broadcasting began in Northern America and Britain. One of the main motivations for the service was to provide hurricane warnings to the far-flung out island of The Bahamas. The colonial government launched ZNS (call letters stand for Zephyr Nassau Sunshine) as part of the Telegraph Department, just in time for the coronation of Britain’s King George V, on May 12, 1937. By the end of May, ZNS was broadcasting two hours a day using a 500-watt transmitter. Programming consisted of BBC news, local news pulled from Nassau newspapers and musical recordings from BBC.
From 1937 to 1950 ZNS was entirely funded by the government as a non-commercial service. But since then, the BCB has been partly funded by advertising revenues, in addition to the government subsidy allocated annually. Responsibility for broadcasting was transferred to a new government commission in 1955. The BCB replaced the Broadcasting Commission in 1972, and television service was introduced five years later.
The Bahamian Broadcasting industry changed very little over the 16 years from 1977, when television was introduced, to 1993, when the BCB’s broadcasting monopoly was broke. Private radio stations came on stream that year, and Canadian investors were licensed to develop cable television in 1994.
Over the years, the BCB has played a significant role in unifying the Bahamian archipelago and keeping a widely dispersed population informed about national developments. ZNS remains the only radio station today with broadcast coverage of the entire country. The BCB was established by Parliament to operate radio and television services throughout The Bahamas. It is governed by a five-member board of directors appointed by the governor-general on the advice of the Prime Minister. Currently, the board reports to a cabinet minister responsible for broadcasting.
