The Bermuda Broadcasting Company is the largest broadcasting company in Bermuda. Sometimes abbreviated locally as "BBC", it is not related to the BBC, the

UK's The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

public broadcasting company. A commercial, for-profit broadcasting company since its beginning in the 1950s, the company was chaired by

Fernance B. Perry Fernance Bento Perry, (November 25, 1922 – November 27, 2014), was a Portuguese-Bermudian entrepreneur and business leader, who had a prominent role in the economy of Bermuda from the mid-20th century to the time of his death in 2014 ...

until his death.

Broadcast stations

The Bermuda Broadcasting Company owns radio stations and TV stations using the call letters "ZFB" and "ZBM". The ZBM callsign in particular is one of the oldest in Bermuda – this callsign has been used since 1953 for an AM radio station, since 1962 for an

FM radio 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 ...

station, and was also used, beginning in 1958, for the first Bermudian television station, which gave Bermudians their own TV station after years of watching a TV channel intended for American servicemen stationed at

Kindley Field Kindley Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base in Bermuda from 1948–1970, having been operated from 1943 to 1948 by the United States Army Air Forces as ''Kindley Field''. History World War II Prior to American entry into th ...

. ZFB was originally the callsign for the radio and TV stations of the Capital Broadcasting Company from 1965 to 1984.

Labour unrest

In 2008, in the wake of labour unrest and amidst a staff shake-up at the broadcasting company, Fernance Perry told the ''Royal Gazette'' that the firm's future outlook is "bright". The following year, a strike by 40 unionised employees in April 2009, halted all programming at the company's radio and television stations for four days. Perry said that changes in work rules and staff pay were needed "to help a financially ailing company". The work stoppage was settled and normal operations resumed on 21 April, after government mediation.

Radio

* Bermuda Spirit, formerly ZFB, on 1230 kHz ( transmitter power: 1 kW), It is a general mix of local, religious, adult contemporary formats. * ZFB-FM (branded as "Power95 Stereo FM") on 94.9 MHz ( ERP: 1 kW) on air since 1971, broadcasting in the urban/reggae format. * ZBM on 1340 kHz (transmitter power: 1 kW). It started broadcasting in 1953, and the station's format is news and talk, with some music programming. * ZBM-FM (branded as "Ocean89") on 89.1 MHz (ERP: 15 kW), broadcasting since 1962. Its specific format is the adult contemporary format.

Television

* ZFB-TV, virtual channel 20.2 (

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

digital channel 20), is the affiliate station for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

; however, when ZFB used to be part of the Capital Broadcasting Company, the TV station broadcast on VHF channel 8. *

ZBM-TV ZBM-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Hamilton, Bermuda, serving the British territory as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by the Bermuda Broadcasting Company alongside ABC affiliate ZFB-TV (channel 7). The two stations share studi ...

, virtual channel 20.1 (UHF digital channel 20), is the affiliate station for CBS; however, when ZBM originally began broadcasting in 1958, it used to be on VHF channel 10. Both channels are currently carried on Bermuda's cable television system.

References

*Hardyman, Nicholas. '' World Radio Television Handbook''. Volume 59, 2005.

External links