ZNS (Zephyr Nassau Sunshine) is a national television broadcaster operated by the state-owned Broadcasting Corporation of

The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

(BCB). ZNS-TV's two transmitters, serving

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

and Freeport, are the only over-the-air TV stations in the country. The rest of the country receives these channels (and a privately owned station) via Cable Bahamas, a privately held company that maintained an exclusive licence to operate cable TV services until 2009. BCB also owns

ZNS-1 ZNS-1 (branded as ''Radio Bahamas'') is the oldest broadcast station in the Bahamas. It has a News/ Talk format, and broadcasts on 1540 kHz and 104.5 MHz in Nassau, with a repeater in Freeport on 107.7 MHz. It is under ownership of the Bro ...

AM Radio 1540 (a

clear-channel station A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...

), its repeater, ZNS-1 on 104.5,

ZNS-2 ZNS-2 (branded as ''Inspiration 107.9'') is the second-oldest radio station in the Bahamas, having begun broadcasting in 1962 on the AM band at 1240 kHz with a power of 1 kW. At some unknown point in the 1990s, the station migrated to ...

AM 1240, 107.9 "Inspiration 107.9 FM" in Nassau, and

ZNS-3 ZNS-3 (branded as ''The Light'') is the third-oldest radio station in the Bahamas, having begun broadcasting in 1973 as the "Northern Service", before adopting its current . It is under ownership of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas. ...

AM 810 / FM 104.5 "Power 104.5" in Freeport.

History

ZNS radio was founded in 1937 to broadcast

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

warnings to the islands throughout the archipelago. At its inception, the station broadcast for two hours a day, featuring news and musical recordings from the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and Nassau sources. The radio station eventually established another transmitter in Freeport on the island of

Grand Bahama Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, with the town of West End located east of Palm Beach, Florida. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is ...

. ZNS-TV launched in

New Providence Island New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...

in 1977. The station aired programming to entertain, educate and inform. It aired

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

dramas Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been c ...

, and even

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. In 1992, the stations started to air only

public affairs programming In broadcasting, public affairs radio or television programs focus on matters of politics and public policy. Among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to satisfy Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory expectations ...

. In October 2010, the BCB implemented a major restructuring exercise in which approximately 80 employees were made redundant. This event sparked much public debate. The government offered a severance package to employees who separated from the company. One reason for restructuring was that the previous governments had declared the BCB to be a major strain on the public purse, bringing in little revenue. The further reason for the downsizing was to enable the corporation's transition to a public broadcasting service. The people behind the changes were then Minister of National Security with Responsibilities for Broadcasting, Hon.

Tommy Turnquest Orville Alton Thompson "Tommy" Turnquest, CBE (born 16 November 1959) is a Bahamian politician. Education and career Turnquest was born in 1959 in Nassau. He is the son of Sir Orville Turnquest, a former Governor-General, and Lady Edith Turnqu ...

, and the chairman of BCB, Michael Moss, along with his board and managers. Payouts were reported to cost the government around $4 million. Many of those who received separation packages and termination letters generally were unhappy, because it did not reflect their years of service. However, the government maintained that the separation package was generous, considering the economic climate in the country and that they were greater than required by law. In addition to the monetary payouts, those affected were provided with health insurance for 12 months. On 14 December 2011, ZNS-TV announced that it was planning on converting to

ATSC Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standards are an American set of standards for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable and satellite networks. It is largely a replacement for the analog NTSC standard and, like that ...

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

, with the additional capability of adding a

mobile DTV Mobile television is television watched on a small handheld or mobile device. It includes service delivered via mobile phone networks, received free-to-air via terrestrial television stations, or via satellite broadcast. Regular broadcast stand ...

feed. In 2017, ZNS-TV shut down its on-channel repeater in Freeport, ZNS-TV-1 (also using VHF 13), and substantially reduced power at its remaining transmitter in Nassau.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zns-Tv Television stations in the Bahamas Publicly funded broadcasters State media Television channels and stations established in 1977 1977 establishments in the Bahamas

History

See also

References

External links