Text and pictures by Sriyantha Walpola
Radio SEAC (South East Asia Command) which was started on 16th December 1952 celebrated its 80th birthday last week. It was called Radio Ceylon in 1949 and its present name the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) was given in 1972.
The SLBC has the biggest collection of over Two Hundred Thousand original materials including old Gramophone records from the 1920s and 1930’s which the BBC and the AIR (All India Radio) do not have. This most valuable archive will be reformatted and archived digitally with the help of the National Archives of Sri Lanka.
The SLBC lost its monopoly due to the many private broadcasters presently operating in the Island. It did not loose the dignity and the value of providing Quality unbiased knowledge and entertainment to listeners.
Creating more quality educational programmes, bridging the gap between the common listener and the economy is a good sign of progress and the economic development of the Island. The Share market programme is one such programme of that nature which has gained popularity.
The SLBC should capture the young teenage group with much more interesting educational programmes, specially those awaiting examination results. Radio Ceylon, the pioneer broadcaster in South East Asia which started broadcasting on Short Wave (SW) is now venturing its public services in to the digital Era with Digital Broadcasting via the Internet around the world.
http://community.sinhalajukebox.org/article.php?story=20051226171314657