The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) is the national

radio 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 transmi ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

broadcaster in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

. It is owned by the government of Sierra Leone and is a branch of the Sierra Leone Ministry of Information and Communications. It is theoretically regulated by the Independent Media Commission (IMC). The SLBC primarily broadcasts the national television and regional radio service from its headquarters in the New England neighborhood of

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...

. Regional stations provide FM radio services in Bo,

Kenema Kenema is the third largest city in Sierra Leone (after Freetown and Bo), and the largest city in the country's Eastern Province. It is the capital of Kenema District and a major economic center of the Eastern Province. At the 2015 national cens ...

Kailahun Kailahun is the capital of Kailahun District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Kailahun is a major business and commercial center of Kailahun District. The population was 13,108 in the 2004 census, a 2006 estimate of 18,41and a current est ...

Makeni Makeni is the largest city in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The city is the capital of Bombali District, and is the economic center of the Northern Province. Makeni is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population. The city of M ...

Magburaka Magburaka is the capital and largest city of Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Its population was 16,313 in the 2004 census. and a current estimate of 40,313. It is located at around , along the Rokel River. Magburaka ...

and

Koidu Koidu Town (or Sefadu) is the capital and largest city of the diamond-rich Kono District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. The population of Koidu Town is 124,6based on the 2015 Sierra Leone national census. Koidu Town is the fifth larg ...

. Currently the Freetown headquarters produces 2 television channels for Freetown, one of which is intermittently distributed by satellite for relays in Bo, Kenema and Makeni. The other is a general entertainment channel (films etc.) A radio service is transmitted from Leicester Peak transmitting station on 100 MHz which covers a large part of the Western Area. The Freetown radio service is relayed by a number of the regional SLBC stations during parts of the day. The regional stations broadcast their own radio services for most of the day. They enjoy a great deal of autonomy from the Freetown headquarters. Radio broadcasting uses FM exclusively. Previously a shortwave and mediumwave station were located at Goderich. A high power shortwave station also existed at Waterloo, but was mostly leased to international broadcasters. It was destroyed during the civil war. Television is broadcast in analogue on the UHF band.

History

In 1934 the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) was formed from the Freetown

Rediffusion Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV ( commer ...

Service making it the earliest

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

radio broadcast service in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

. Television broadcasts started in April 1963 as a cooperation between the SLBS and commercial interests. Coverage was extended to all districts in 1978 when the service was also upgraded to colour. Before the country's civil war, SLBS had FM and shortwave transmissions from Freetown. High power mediumwave had been discontinued some time before that. A high power shortwave station was constructed during the 1970s and used for leased transmission of international broadcasters after SLBS could not afford to operate it. Television was broadcast on UHF, having replaced the earlier VHF system. During the war, the Waterloo shortwave station was completely destroyed and looted. It is not known if it had been broadcasting before this. The rest of the SLBS's facilities fell into disrepair. From 1999 on-wards, the UK's Department For International Development renovated the radio services including the Goderich shortwave station. The Goderich station transmitted for a year before part of the antenna system was destroyed by lightning in June 2002. The SLBC was formed in April 2010, when the government-owned Sierra Leone Broadcasting Services (SLBS) merged with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

peacekeeping radio station Radio UNAMSIL. The SLBC was formally inaugurated on June 15, 2010 by Sierra Leone's president

Ernest Bai Koroma Ernest Bai Koroma (born 2 October 1953) is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018. Born and raised in Makeni in northern Sierra Leone, Koroma spent more than 24 ...

and

United Nations secretary general The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

Ban Ki-Moon. It is under the supervision of the Sierra Leone Ministry of Information and Communications.

References

External links

Bai-Bai Sesay, "Will Sierra Leone's SLBC Fulfill Its Public Mission?"
AudienceScapes, 19 May 2010.
"President Koroma Explains SLBC Transformation, Visits Studios"
State House, Republic of Sierra Leone. {{Authority control Radio stations in Sierra Leone