In our progressive stories about the development of radio broadcasting in Pakistan, we come to the era immediately following Partition, in which the first new radio stations were established in the Asian territory that is now known as Pakistan. This takes us back to the year 1947.
At the time when Pakistan was separated as its own political entity, there were just two radio stations on the air, mediumwave in both Lahore & Peshawar. Interestingly, the first series of new radio stations installed in the new Pakistan were all shortwave, and not mediumwave. This is what happened.
A few months after Partition, a representative of the new Pakistani government visited England to negotiate the purchase of equipment for several new radio stations. Soon afterwards, it was announced that new radio stations would be installed in five cities in Pakistan, and that the transmitters at these locations would operate on shortwave at 7½ kW. This is an indication that the representative in England must have made contact with the Marconi Company in Chelmsford, which was noted for the manufacture of shortwave transmitters rated at 7½ kW.
The five cities in which these new shortwave transmitters were to be installed were Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and Rawalpindi. However, as the unfolding of events would demonstrate, not one of these transmitters was installed anywhere in the territory we know as Pakistan.
The first new radio station installed in Pakistan after partition was located in Karachi. The equipment was installed in a tent on a vacant block of land, to the northwest of the Adventist Hospital in Karachi. It was a low powered shortwave unit rated at 250 watts input with 100 watts output, radiating from a ¼ wave dipole antenna. This new station, with the callsign APK, was inaugurated on August 14, 1948, exactly one year after Partition, to the very day.
A few weeks later, the new APK was heard in Western Australia on 6060 kHz. Subsequently, a QSL letter was received from the station, as a world first.
The available evidence would indicate that a similar station was also inaugurated in Rawalpindi on the same day, the one year anniversary of Partition. This was another low powered shortwave station, identified as APR3, and rated at 300 watts. Records of the era indicate that this station was indeed inaugurated, but apparently its life span was quite short as there are no known loggings indicating the reception of this station.
The third new shortwave station in Pakistan was located in Lahore and it was inaugurated one year later again, on November 1, 1949. This new shortwave station was located on vacant land near the railway station and it was identified as APL2, with 300 watts. The only known loggings of this transmitter were made by a listener living in India.
A fourth shortwave station was listed for Murree, up in the foothills of the rugged high mountain ranges in the north of Pakistan. The World Radio Handbook for the year 1954 lists the scheduling for this station, morning and evening on 3440 kHz and during the day on 6250 kHz. The American radio magazine, Radio News, also lists the same scheduling. However, it is not known as to whether this station ever took to the air, or whether it was simply advance planning that was never implemented.
The fifth new shortwave station in Pakistan was installed in the frontier city, Peshawar, and it was inaugurated on October 15, 1960. This was a 10 kW AWA transmitter from Australia and it was inaugurated under the callsign APP2.
By this time, Pakistan was also installing higher powered shortwave transmitters, but that is a story for another occasion. Suffice it to say that it was intended in earlier times to install shortwave stations in two other cities, but these plans were never fulfilled.
Multan, it was expected, would one day receive a low powered shortwave transmitter, and Hyderabad, a high powered shortwave transmitter. However, the radio scene in Pakistan in those days was turning towards the usage of mediumwave transmitters for local, regional, and national coverage, and so the implementation of shortwave transmitters for local listeners was coming to an end.
(AWR Wavescan/via Adrian Petersen)