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The
current BBC Far Eastern Relay Station in Singapore traces its earliest origins
back to the year 1937. It was on March 1
of that year, that a new studio and transmitter facility was
officially opened at Caldecott Hill on Thomson Road, on the edge of suburban
Singapore city.
This new international radio
broadcasting station contained five transmitters; four low power shortwave
transmitters each rated at just 500 watts, and a 2 kW mediumwave transmitter
that had previously been on the air on 1333 kHz at a downtown location, a government
building in Empress Place, Singapore.
These five transmitters now on the air at Caldecott Hill were as
follows:-
4
Transmitters ½ kW SW Callsigns
ZHO
ZHP ZHN
1 2 MW 1333 kHz ZHL
Most of the programming for this new
radio station was produced locally in the adjoining new studio building on
Caldecott Hill. However, live off air
programming on shortwave from the BBC London via the two 80 kW transmitters at
Daventry (Senders 4 & 5) was also inserted into the daily scheduling of
Radio Malaya Singapore. It was intended that the Caldecott
location was only temporary as far as the transmitters were concerned, and work
began at Jurong on the south coast towards the western edge of Singapore island
for a more permanent transmitter facility.
At this same time (1937) as the
British colonial authorities in Singapore were developing their new radio
broadcasting station on Caldecott Hill, the BBC in London was making plans to
establish a relay station in Singapore, their very first overseas relay station. Then, as warlike conditions were emerging in
Europe, the BBC attempted to actually purchase the new radio station in
Singapore.
Soon after war broke out on
continental Europe, a new 100 kW Marconi transmitter was despatched by ship for
Singapore. However, this ship was
torpedoed and sunk, and its electronic cargo was lost.
As a replacement, the BBC obtained a
50 kW RCA shortwave transmitter from the United States and this was despatched
to Singapore by ship for installation at the new station already under
construction at Jurong. A simple antenna
system had already been installed.
However, before work was completed on the
entire facility, the transmitter was hurriedly removed due to the outbreak of
war in the Pacific. It was then shipped
to Barbados in the Caribbean where it was installed at the C&W Cable and
Wireless communication station at Bearded Hall, under the callsign VPO.
The entire facility at Caldecott
Hill was taken over by the Japanese administration and it was reactivated as
Shonan Radio; their first broadcast was on March 27, 1942. In addition, the Japanese constructed a new
transmitter station on an adjoining property at Jurong, and they installed four
shortwave transmitters at 7½ kW each.
Three of these transmitters were new
units, and a fourth was taken from Penang Island where it had been on the air
previously under the British as ZHJ. The
final broadcast as Shonan Radio took place three years later on February 3,
1945.
Soon afterwards, the studio suite on
Caldecott Hill and the two side by side transmitter stations at Jurong were
taken over by the returned British administration. The original Radio Malaya transmitter site
was developed for use by the Royal Air Force, and the new former Japanese
transmitter site was taken over for use by four different radio organizations:-
C&W Cable & Wireless
BMA British Military Administration
SEAC South East Asia Command Singapore
BFEBS British Far East Broadcasting
Service
Even though all four organizations
were each using the same facilities, the three broadcasting organizations, BMA,
SEAC & BFEBS, each issued their own separate QSL cards. Initially though, left over stock of the
pre-war Radio Malaya card with its Malayan sunset scene was in use.
On June 30, 1946, the SEAC services
ended; BMA became Radio Malaya, and BFEBS became a BBC relay station with off
air programming from the BBC London. The
identification announcement for the BBC relays was given as the Voice of
Britain.
In January 1946, work began on the
installation of four Marconi shortwave
transmitters, 10 kW units Model No. SWB11. These transmitters came from India, and it is
presumed that they were left over units no longer needed for the Forces Service
in Delhi.
The first unit was activated on
January 19, (1946) and the second on February 4. All four were in use by November in the
following year (1947). The BBC
officially took over the Jurong station on August 8, 1948. At this stage, three of the recently
installed transmitters were now listed at just 7½ kW, and one at 5½ kW.
In order to increase the coverage
from the Jurong transmitter station, the BBC announced that they planned to
install a Marconi 100 kW transmitter at this location. However, due to the development of an international
airport nearby, this projected facility had to be cancelled; the tall antenna
towers would become an obstruction to aircraft.
At this stage, the BBC began to look
for another suitable location, which they ultimately found on the nearby Malay
peninsula, and thus work began on a huge new station in the rubber plantation
areas near the bottom tip of the peninsula.
In April 1949, the BBC closed out
its usage of the Jurong transmitter base on Singapore Island, and their Far
Eastern Service was transferred temporarily to the SEAC shortwave station at
Ekala north of Colombo in Sri Lanka.
The QSL cards verifying the
shortwave transmissions from the BBC Far Eastern Relay Station reflect the
changes that took place in that era.
Initially, BFEBS QSL cards quite clearly verified the reception of the
station. After the BBC takeover,
appreciation was expressed to the listener for the report, though, as was
stated on the card, they could no longer officially QSL reception reports from
listeners.
Thus in summary, the story of the
BBC Singapore in this early period of radio history is as follows:-
* 1937-1942 Radio
Malaya Caldecott Hill 4 @ ½ kW Program relays
* 1937-1939 BBC Jurong 1 @ 100 Projected shortwave station
* 1945- 1947 BFEBS Jurong 4 @ 7½ Ex Japanese
station
* 1945-1949 BBC Jurong 1 @ 100 Projected shortwave station
* 1948-1949 BBC Jurong 4 @ 7½ Official BBC relay station
When we take up the continuing story
of the BBC Far Eastern Relay Station next time here again in Wavescan, we plan
to present the information regarding their temporary usage of the SEAC
shortwave station in Ceylon.
(AWR-Wavescan/NWS314)
