Radio Jamaica, also known as RJR 94 FM, and formerly Real Jamaican Radio, is a broadcast company in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

with headquarters in Kingston.

History

On 9 July 1950, a commercial license to operate as a subsidiary of the British Rediffusion Group was issued to the Radio Jamaica and Rediffusion Network. Initially only four medium-wave, signal transmission sites broadcast throughout the island. In 1951 wire radio service was established from a central broadcasting station. Transmissions were sent to rediffusion speaker boxes for which subscribers paid three-pence per day. To increase the listener base RJR distributed around 200 rediffusion speakers to police stations, retail stores and schools. In 1953, Jamaica became the first of the

British colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...

in the Caribbean to offer

FM broadcasting FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

when RJR began using the technology. By 1954, there were over 57,000 rediffusion boxes distributed throughout the country. In 1959

Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation The Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) was a public broadcasting company in Jamaica founded in 1959 by premier Norman Manley with the aim of emulating the success of other national broadcasting companies such as the BBC and CBC.Thomas, Pradip ...

was founded as a public broadcasting corporation operated by the government. At that time, RJR's operating company was renamed Radio Jamaica Ltd. and the company began offering non-stop music service three years later. In 1962, RJR also introduced "Musipage" which presented live musical performances at its studios. In 1968, rediffusion became obsolete when

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch e ...

radio transmission Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

was developed and the speaker service was discontinued. The Jamaican government acquired the station from the British Rediffusion Group in the 1970s and divested its interest through stock sales to organizations and individuals to facilitate RJR becoming a fully Jamaican-owned company. A second station playing music only was founded in 1972 and RJR expanded again in 1984, adding a third station FAME FM. In 1990, simulcast broadcasting was developed to broaden programming to include live programming on national events.

Programme

The station broadcasts several programmes featuring Jamaican and international music, news, talk shows, listener questions and professional answers.

Ralston McKenzie Ralston McKenzie is a Jamaican broadcaster and journalist, producer/presenter of the award-winning community service programme '' Sunday Contact.'' The show, on for decades, aired weekly on RJR 94 FM (Radio Jamaica) and the Internet, linking pe ...

's Sunday Contact, a show that reaches out islandwide by radio for missing persons is another programme.

Infrastructure

The company maintains the RJR radio channel as their flagship, plus a number of other radio channels.

Radio personalities

(''Sunday Contact'' show) * Francois St Juste (''Sunnyside Up'' show) * Paula-Ann Porter Jones (''Sunnyside Up'' show) * Doraine Samuels (''Coffee Break'' Show, TVJ Evening ''News'') * Emily Sheilds (''Hotline'' Talk Show) * Dr Orville Taylor (''Hotline'' Talk Show) * Clive Mullings (''Hotline'' Talk Show) * Markland "Action" Edwards (''Two Live Crew'' Show) * Wesley "Burgerman" Burger (''Two Live Crew'' Show) * DJ Delly (''Two Live Crew'' Show) * Dadrian Gordon (''Beyond The Headlines: News'' Show) * Dionne Jackson Miller (''Beyond The Headlines: Talk'' Show)

References

External links

RJR FM website
{{coord missing, Jamaica Radio stations in Jamaica Radio stations established in 1950 News and talk radio stations