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| VO Nigeria QSL - Gayle Van Horn Collection |
A little over a year earlier, on
October 1, 1960, Nigeria, sometimes referred to as the “Giant of Africa” due to its huge
population and economy, had gained its independence from Great Britain. Nigeria is the most populous country in
Africa, and the seventh most populous in the world.
Thus it was that the first Prime
Minister of independent Nigeria, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, officially
commissioned the new Voice of Nigeria, exactly 54 years ago, on New Years Day,
January 1,
1962. At that time, there was a total of eight low
powered regional shortwave stations on the air throughout Nigeria, and
collectively they provided virtually nationwide coverage of their country.
It should also be mentioned that
there was a preliminary Foreign Service on the air shortwave from Nigeria a
decade earlier. At that time, three
daily sessions in English and three African languages were broadcast from the
studios in Lagos via a 7½ kW
at nearby Sogunle on 6100 kHz.
In order to provide wide area
coverage for the re-introduction of the international broadcast service as the
Voice of Nigeria, two new shortwave transmitters were installed at a
transmitter base near the coastal city of Lagos, which is listed as the largest
city in all of Africa. At the time, it
was declared that these two new shortwave transmitters were rated at a power
output of 100 kW each, though historic research indicates that in actual
reality, these two units were rated at a much lower power level, just 10 kW
each.
However, during the following year
(1963), plans were developing for the installation of five additional shortwave
transmitters, each at 50 kW. As time
went by, this number was ultimately increased to eleven, and they were
installed at five different locations for both national and international
coverage. These transmitters were
manufactured by Harris (Model SW50) in the United States, and by NEC the
National Electric Company (Model HFB215) in Japan. All of these units were installed during a 16
year period running from 1963 to 1979.
Overlapping the installation of the
eleven American and Japanese transmitters at 50 kW each, was the installation
of sixteen more high powered transmitters at 100 kW, 250 kW, 300 kW and 500 kW
installed at three major locations, over a period of three decades running from
1977 - 1996. These huge transmitter
units with a massive combined power of nearly 5 megawatts were as
follows:-
Ikorodu Marconi 1 300 B6124 1977
BBC 5 500 SK55F3 1977 - 1982
Thomcast 5 250 SK53C3 & SK53P5 1995 - 1996
Kaduna Marconi 1 250 B6122 1973
Harris 2 100 SW100 1980
Katabu-Jaji Thomson 2 100 TRE2311 1981
With the looming power increase from
the bevy of transmitters during the early 1980s, the Voice of Nigeria
introduced three separate foreign services in three African languages, as well
as in English, French and German. This
huge programming outreach was beamed to all areas of Africa, and beyond.
However, with the turn of political
events in Nigeria and the accompanying turmoil, the Voice of Nigeria reduced
its External Services in 1985 to just West and Central Africa. But, give five more years (1990), and the
Voice of Nigeria was resuscitated with the broadcast of increased programming
in four African languages, as well as in English and French to a much wider
area within Africa.
So what happened to all those high
powered shortwave transmitters with its gigantic outreach on an almost
worldwide basis? These days, a total of
six shortwave transmitters at 250 kW at two locations is listed in the current
WRTVHB.
However, recent monitoring reports
would indicate that only three shortwave channels are currently on the air,
7255 kHz, 9690 kHz and 15120 kHz, and all three are listed at just the one
shortwave site, Abuja, the newly planned city as the national capital in the
center of Nigeria.
Over
the years, the Voice of Nigeria has issued two different types of QSL cards;
one with a change of colors in wide bands on the text side, and the other with
various color photos showing life as it is lived throughout their country.
(AWR Wavescan/NWS 410 via Adrian Peterson)