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Dodd created a positive business environment in Radio Ceylon. Dodd was a charismatic figure who had firm leadership skills. His arrival in Torrington Square created a real buzz in broadcasting circles in Ceylon. Clifford R.Dodd changed the face of broadcasting in the island. He upgraded the Hindi Service of Radio Ceylon. Millions of listeners in the Indian sub-continent wrote in and tuned into the radio station, the oldest in South Asia. Dodd was a prime mover in attracting advertisers who were aiming at the vast Indian market via the medium of radio.
Eighty Years of Broadcasting in Sri LankaEnglish Presenters over the then Radio Ceylon – Daily News, Colombo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Clifford Australian radio personalities Year of birth missing Year of death missing Australian radio executives Sri Lankan people of Australian descent
Clifford R. Dodd was an administrator and radio expert, with twenty years experience in broadcasting in Australia, before he arrived in Sri Lanka. He was sent by the Australian Government under the
in 1978. It was under Dodd's tenure that the Indian announcer ''Colombo Plan
The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri L ...
to work in Radio Ceylon. He was appointed Director of the newly formed Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon.
The Colombo Plan was established in July 1951 to provide economic aid to areas of south and southeast Asia. The Headquarters are in Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
, the former capital city of Sri Lanka.
Founder of the Commercial Service
Dodd, arriving in Colombo in the early 1950s, soon created the infrastructure of the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon and made it into a successful brand. Dodd hand picked some of the bestCeylonese
Sri Lankan or Ceylonese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Sri Lanka
* A person from Sri Lanka, see Demographics of Sri Lanka
** Sinhalese people, the ethnic majority
** Sri Lankan Tamils, an ethnic minority
** Sri L ...
talents around and trained them as broadcasters. The announcers trained in the 1950s by Clifford Dodd and Livy Wijemanne
Livy Wijemanne (1917-2002) as a pioneer of Radio Ceylon. He was one of Sri Lanka's greatest broadcasters. On 31 October 1948, the Post Master General (who was also the Director of Broadcasting) appointed the young announcer as an Assistant Contro ...
went on to become legendary announcers of the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon, among them: Vernon Corea
Vernon Corea (11 September 1927 – 23 September 2002) was a pioneer radio broadcaster with 45 years of public service broadcasting both in Sri Lanka and the UK. He joined Radio Ceylon, South Asia's oldest radio station, in 1956 and later the Sr ...
, Tim Horshington
Timothy Navaratnam Horshington was a pioneering broadcaster of Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia. Horshington was one of the earliest Tamil announcers to be appointed to the panel of announcers in the 1950s by Livy Wijemann ...
, Greg Roskowski
Greg Roskowski was an announcer of Radio Ceylon during the height of the station's popularity in the 1950s in the Indian Subcontinent. Roskowski, born of a Japanese mother and a Polish father, was the booming voice of Radio Ceylon's morning rad ...
, Jimmy Bharucha
Jimmy Bharucha, was a Sri-Lankan Parsi broadcaster called a 'colossus in Sri Lanka's broadcasting world'. Bharucha died in Colombo in June 2005.
Bharucha who was educated at St. Peter's College, Colombo, had a career in broadcasting spanning 4 ...
, Christopher Greet
Christopher Arthur Greet (12 June 1932 – 28 December 2020) was an actor and radio presenter. He is best known for his work alongside Victoria Wood in the 1998 BBC comedy series '' dinnerladies''.
Early life
Greet was born in Ceylon in 1932. ...
and others. One of Dodd's protégés, ''Vernon Corea'' was appointed as the BBC's Ethnic Minorities Adviser – the first Asian to be appointed to senior management at the 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 exam. ...
...Ameen Sayani
Ameen Sayani is a popular former radio announcer from India. He achieved fame and popularity all across the Indian Subcontinent when he presented his '' Binaca Geetmala'' program of hits over the airwaves of Radio Ceylon. He is one of the most im ...
'' was brought into launch Binaca Geetmala
''Binaca Geetmala'' was a weekly countdown show of top filmi songs from Hindi cinema. It was popular and had millions of listeners. ''Binaca Geetmala'' was broadcast on Radio Ceylon from 1952 to 1988 and then shifted to the Vividh Bharati Servic ...
, a countdown of Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
filmi music
Filmi ("of films") music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Indian cinema. In cinema, music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playba ...
on the'' All Asia Service''. It enjoyed iconic status across India.
The training at Radio Ceylon was rigorous, Dodd wanted the highest standards in broadcasting. He has the rare honour of being immortalised in a cartoon by the famous Sri Lankan cartoonist Aubrey Collette who published a cartoon titled ' Odd Man Dodd.'
Radio Ceylon – King of the Airwaves
Dodd created a positive business environment in Radio Ceylon. Dodd was a charismatic figure who had firm leadership skills. His arrival in Torrington Square created a real buzz in broadcasting circles in Ceylon. Clifford R.Dodd changed the face of broadcasting in the island. He upgraded the Hindi Service of Radio Ceylon. Millions of listeners in the Indian sub-continent wrote in and tuned into the radio station, the oldest in South Asia. Dodd was a prime mover in attracting advertisers who were aiming at the vast Indian market via the medium of radio.
The Introduction of tough measures
Dodd brought in tough new measures, some were not popular. He maintained that some Radio Ceylon staff, including the announcers who were on the payroll, were not entitled to permanency, or to retire on a pension. Radio Ceylon announcer, Mervyn Jayasuriya, observed: 'His credo as I have said before, was Hire and Fire.' Dodd claimed at a meeting with Radio Ceylon Director General John Lampson, and a senior civil servant Mr. M. Rajendra, who was Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Broadcasting, that an officer was entitled to a pension if that officer had served the government for one or two decades. If however an announcer lost his voice during that period, he would be unable to work, and Radio Ceylon should have the ability to get rid of him, argued the Director of the Commercial Service. Mervyn Jayasuriya who presented the case for the announcers said: "Gentlemen, just as an announcer might lose his voice and so become a liability, so can a surgeon lose his eyesight, and a Director or Administrator lose his sanity and become useless to the service of the State. Is there a little bias here, or am I just being silly?" The announcers won the day.The Father of Commercial Broadcasting in Ceylon
Clifford R. Dodd is widely regarded as the ''Father of Commercial Broadcasting'' in Sri Lanka. Under his stewardship, Radio Ceylon reached the pinnacle of fame, fortune and popularity – millions of rupees poured into the station as a result of the success of the Commercial Service. Dodd returned to Australia after his Colombo Plan assignment. He was succeeded by the first Ceylonese Director of the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon,Livy Wijemanne
Livy Wijemanne (1917-2002) as a pioneer of Radio Ceylon. He was one of Sri Lanka's greatest broadcasters. On 31 October 1948, the Post Master General (who was also the Director of Broadcasting) appointed the young announcer as an Assistant Contro ...
.
See also
*Vernon Corea
Vernon Corea (11 September 1927 – 23 September 2002) was a pioneer radio broadcaster with 45 years of public service broadcasting both in Sri Lanka and the UK. He joined Radio Ceylon, South Asia's oldest radio station, in 1956 and later the Sr ...
*Colombo Plan
The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri L ...
* Radio Ceylon
*Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation
The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි සංස්ථාව, ''Shrī Lankā Guvan Viduli Sansthāva'', ta, இலங்கை ஒலிபரப்புக் க ...
Bibliography
* Ceylon, Radio. – ''Standards of Broadcasting Practice'' – Commercial Broadcasting Division. – Radio Ceylon, 1950.References
External links
Eighty Years of Broadcasting in Sri Lanka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Clifford Australian radio personalities Year of birth missing Year of death missing Australian radio executives Sri Lankan people of Australian descent