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| (RCI QSL via Gayle Van Horn Collection) |
The Cook Islands are located in the
central Pacific a little south of the equator and the radio station was a 100
watt Post & Telegraph transmitter located at Black Rock, a little west of
the main town of Avarua on Rarotonga Island.
The electronic equipment was used equipment gifted by the government of
New Zealand and it was in use in the Cook Islands for occasional shortwave communication.
The original programming from this
diverted facility was intended for reception only at nearby island schools and
it was on the air on Wednesdays and Fridays for one hour beginning at 11:00 am
local time. The initial frequency for
these schools broadcasts was 3390 kHz, though during the next month, May
(1954), the channel was changed to 5050 kHz which provided good reception
during local daylight hours.
This
new programming on shortwave in the Cook Islands was the beginning of official
radio broadcasting in their island nation. Previously the local citizens had to rely on
night time mediumwave propagation from other Pacific island entities, or from
New Zealand and the United States. Very
few of the local citizens owned shortwave receivers back during that era.
Three months after the introduction
of the schools broadcasts on shortwave, a weekly half hour program was
broadcast from the same station and this was on the air every Thursday
beginning at 2:30 pm. It was the same
100 watt transmitter, though at times another unit rated at 500 watts was
employed for this general coverage broadcast, and the operating channel was
6180 kHz.
By this time, the broadcasting
station was under the auspices of the Cook Islands Administration. An internationally recognized callsign was
allocated to the station, ZL1ZA, though this radio broadcasting callsign gave
the semblance of an amateur radio facility in New Zealand itself.
Beginning on May 1, 1957, the
channel in the 60 metre shortwave broadcast band was changed from 5050 kHz to
4954 kHz; and by this time programming was pre-recorded on tape by the Social
Development Department in Avarua. At
this stage, the callsign of the radio broadcasting service was amended and
ZL1ZA became ZK1ZA, thus reflecting the individuality of the Cook Islands as a
separate geographic entity, though the callsign still gave the semblance of an
amateur facility.
In June 1960, listeners in Australia
and New Zealand noted that Radio Cook Islands was on the air on 4965 kHz with a
two hour program each week on Thursdays, in which a bulletin of news was read
in alternating languages, English and Cook Islands Maori.
Exactly one year later (June 1961),
the broadcast transmitters were removed from the Cable & Wireless station
at Black Rock and re-installed at a new site 3½ miles distant, in Avarua itself. A new higher frequency shortwave channel 9695
kHz was deployed in an endeavor to overcome the obstruction of the signal by
the nearby mountains.
Then, exactly one more year later
again (June 1962), the first mediumwave transmitter was installed, apparently
co-sited with the already existing shortwave transmitters in Avarua. At this stage, the callsign ZK1ZA was
transferred to the new mediumwave unit with 150 watts on 820 kHz.
In addition, new callsigns were
allotted to the shortwave transmitters, and 5050 kHz was redesignated as ZK5,
and 9695 kHz became ZK3. The power of
the two shortwave transmitters was rated at 500 watts each.
Soon afterwards, a new 10 kW
mediumwave transmitter with a 350 ft mast was installed in the grounds of the Takitumu Primary School at Matavera, 5
miles clockwise from the studios in Avarua. The original mediumwave unit on 820
kHz was closed in favor of the new larger unit on 600 kHz.
At this stage, states the Te Ara
Encyclopedia in New Zealand, the government communication station ZKS in Avarua
maintained contact with New Zealand, and with 12 sub-stations throughout the
Cook Islands.
In 1967, three transmitters at 5 kW
were ordered for installation in the Cook Islands; and in 1974, the legendary
George Jacobs at the Voice of America arranged for the VOA transmitters on
11760 kHz to go silent on one occasion so that listeners in the United States
could log the distant shortwave station in the South Pacific. However, another station on the same 25 metre
band channel, Radio Havana Cuba, remained alive, thus blocking in North America
the signal from the Cook Islands.
Two years later, Radio Cook Islands
was noted in Australia, New Zealand and the United States with test broadcasts
on shortwave, using a new antenna system.
A broadcast in the French language was noted in California on 5045 kHz,
apparently for the benefit of listeners on French islands over the Pacific
waves and somewhat nearby to the Cook Islands.
Over the years, several
international radio monitors living in the United States, New Zealand and
Australia have visited the Cook Islands, and one visitor, Bill Whitacre
reported in 1980 that the shortwave transmitters were located at the Telecom
Training Center a little west of Avarua, with a golf course under the
towers. However, the technical equipment
was in disarray with 5045 kHz the only shortwave unit still on the air, using
parts cannibalized from the other units.
A secondary mediumwave transmitter in Avarua was activated on 864 kHz
for local programming when the National Assembly was in session which was heard
on the main mediumwave channel 630 kHz.
In May 1992, a disastrous fire
destroyed the C&W transmitter building, and that was the abrupt end of shortwave
broadcasting from the Cook Islands. The
land remained vacant for a while and subsequently a Courthouse was constructed
on the site.
(AWR Wavescan/NWS 381)