In the 1950s, millions of Indians tuned in to Radio Ceylon, now known as the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, for bubblegum rock music or academic political commentary. For the dialect market in India, SLBC split the day’s programming into Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu.
I got goose bumps down my spine as my car pulled into the SLBC’s front parking lot. Nostalgia flooded me as I strode through its entry hall, decorated with a dramatic frescoed ceiling, framed portraits on the left wall, wooden furniture and a hexagonal floor supporting a hexagonal table. Radio Ceylon (now Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation) will turn 97 on 16 December this year.
The orange terracotta tile roof heralds its age, and the long aisles are piled high with the fabled picture frames that once made SLBC the famous radio channel that made me shudder. Important milestones in the station’s history are illustrated in the many pictures that adorn its walls.
Wall of Fame
Each portrait on the wall recalls the SLBC’s glorious past, beginning with Edward Harper, chief engineer of the telegraph, who came to Ceylon on June 27, 1924, to inaugurate the oldest radio station in South Asia. Another photo is of Ananda Samarakoon, who studied music at Shanti Niketan in 1936 and founded the Society of Radio Artists upon his return to the island. Country life inspired Samarakoon’s musical compositions. There is also a photo of Prime Minister Hirimavo Bandaranayake launching the evening service of Radio Ceylon. Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra is another local theatre pioneer who has risen to this renown whose extensive research has greatly aided the development of the theatre industry. His masterpieces are “Manam” and “Singha Bahu”.
The portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who visited Sri Lanka in 1954, addressed the audience in the studio of Radio Ceylon and was most intriguing. Although in keeping with other monochrome frames, her aura makes this photo stand out and makes you want to linger on it for a few minutes. One of the reasons I wanted to stare at this photo was also the Queen’s recent passing; while she is no longer alive, her legacy will live on forever. As I moved from corridor to corridor, more portraits appeared.
For example, there is a picture of Vijaya Corea, who started as an announcer for Radio Ceylon in 1964 and was later promoted to Director General of SLBC. Then there was Pandis Amaradewa, who in October 1959 succeeded Edwin Samaradiwakara as the orchestra leader of Radio Ceylon. Mahagama Sekera’s photos transport you back to 1960, when famous poets, lyricists and writers joined WD Amaradewa’s Maduwanthi radio show. This is followed by a photograph of the Radio Ceylon building in the 1960s. More portraits appeared before I got to one of the studios.
These are; P. Welikala, who trained at the BBC and produced over 2500 radio plays. Neville D. Jayaweera, joined Radio Ceylon as Director General in 1966 and became its first Chairman in January 1967. Rukmani Devi – one of the early phonograph artists. Kokila Devi Weerathunga, one of the most versatile singers. Karunarathne Abeysekera, who appeared in Lama Pitiya and later became a permanent announcer for Radio Ceylon. John N. Lampson, the first director of Radio Ceylon. Sugathapala De Silva joined Radio Ceylon in 1969 and revolutionized radio drama.
Famous musician, singer, lyricist and author Sunil Santha and Sinhala commercial radio pioneer Dr. Ariyadasa Peiris produced 21 shows including the most popular “Pibidena Gayaka Parapura”, “Geethayen Geethaya” and “One Minute Only” . There is also a picture of the legendary Professor Gunapala Malalasekara, who coined the term “Guwan Viduliya” for Sinhala broadcasting. Guglielmo Marconi – known as the “Father of Radio”. Vernon Corea, known as Radio Ceylon’s “The Voice of Gold”. Palitha Perera, Mr. AW Dharmapala and Mohammed Rafi, one of the most famous singers in the Hindi film industry.
On Air – with love from India
The experience of immersing in the nostalgia of Radio Ceylon took to a whole new level when I was invited to play a Hindi movie song live for the Indian and Southeast Asian audiences listening at the time. I never thought I’d be broadcasting from the studios where icons like Mohammad Rafi and Sunil Dutt used to speak, or from where the Queen’s voice spread throughout Asia. I burst into tears as I accepted the opportunity and the kindness of the current SLBC staff.
97 radio
In 2022, I roam the second oldest radio station in the world and the number one radio station in Asia. Some of the many old radios and transmitters that light up the hallway include Model 1049 MK Cossor oscilloscopes, HVC valve characteristic meters, old demodulators, 1960’s Technics quartz record players, Denon transmitters, Dtari Reel to Reel and Barco EMT. However, many of them were strangled by a thick layer of dust. The clock on the wall has gone back to the days when the legendary show aired.
These antiques make you think about how old Ceylon Radio might be and how it must have been established on December 16, 1925, just three years after the BBC, when its first predecessor aired from Welikada, Colombousing a medium wave radio transmitter with an output power of one kilowatt. Due to the rapid nationalization of this new mass medium, the government of Ceylon established the broadcasting service as a separate agency in 1949. The organization changed its name to Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation in 1967, after which the country changed its status to become the Republic of Sri Lanka on May 22, 1972.
Ninety-seven years later, the smart powerhouse in Southeast Asia continues to pass on its legacy as the oldest radio channel on the African continent. During my visit, I spoke with Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) Chairman Hudson Samarasinghe, who told me: “We still have Marconi transmitters and Marconi microphones. But today we are broadcasting FM (as he is counting on ) – frequency modulation, shortwave and mediumwave, and other frequencies. We have extended our transmitter to broadcast DRI. We play Sinhala and Hindi songs every day at 10am”
“SLBC is not just a radio station; it is also a cultural expression of a country. It promotes Sri Lankan culture, education, information and wisdom throughout South East Asia. I remember that in the 1970s many Indian tourists came to visit Radio Ceylon Popular hosts who work. Even today, people take soil from our land because they think our station is a respected site because we play early morning devotional songs,” Hudson Samarasinghe concluded.
Air India (AIR) vs Ceylon Radio
The radio show was launched on December 16, 1925, when the British Empire was still in power. During World War II, Radio Ceylon was a news source for the Allied forces. By the time the Ceylon government took over Radio Ceylon, the island-based broadcaster had already made a significant impact in the region and beyond. In addition to the inspiring performances of the legendary radio announcer, Radio Ceylon’s rich song library, which contains a wide variety of Hindi music, has won the hearts of music lovers in Nepal and Pakistan, especially India.
“In Tamil Nadu, we boys will gather at our friends’ houses to listen to the latest Tamil movie songs on Radio Ceylon. Some of the announcers are very popular and their Tamil pronunciation will be very interesting because they say It’s pure Tami Japanese — just like we wrote it,” said Ramaswamy Sundaram, one of the listeners from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Radio Ceylon competed fiercely with All India Radio to give Indian listeners the best experience they really wanted. AIR stopped playing film music for many years, starting in 1952, as the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, BV Keskar, believed that film songs had been Westernized.
The ban may have been the driving force behind the unusual growth of Radio Ceylon. Listeners listening to the radio felt comfortable because many countries had only recently gained independence from Britain. The radio station poses a huge challenge to All India Radio in terms of popularity as it is a mainstay of daily entertainment in many South Asian countries. However, the political upheaval of the late 1960s, along with the emergence of Dravidian parties and Sri Lankan Tamil separatism, led to a cessation of broadcasting in Tennessee and, later, a language dispute that led to a protracted civil war in Sri Lanka.
On August 14, 1970, the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation announced that it would gradually reduce and eventually stop broadcasting South Indian film music.
Hindi record collection
At the time, Sri Lankan Radio had a huge collection of recordings and some great broadcasters who brought their shows to life, with broadcast music, news and well-known speakers attracting millions of people. During my visit to Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Subhashini De Silva, a recording librarian, welcomed me to the Hindi library and acted as an excellent tour guide detailing the history of the radio station. She speaks Hindi easily. “Within SLBC, there are five libraries, one of which is for archives. Sinhala, Hindi, English and Tamil have their own libraries. Hindi language library also offers other Indian languages Music, including Bengali and Sindhi.
Thanks to our collection of Hindi broadcasts, the Hindi service operates more efficiently,” said Subhashini De Silva. “Bahut sare Indian announcer login yahan thai,” she said in Hindi, reciting the names of Gopal Sharma, Daber Singh Parmar, Manohar Mahajan, Vijay Kishore Dubey, Shiela Tiwari, Indira Hirnand and Ameet Sayani. Radio Ceylon is still broadcasting today after 97 years, thanks to shared memories. At the end of my visit at SLBC, I received two CDs of old records from Hudson Samarasinghe, who smiled and waved goodbye to me. Tourists visiting Sri Lanka must visit many heritage sites, one of which is SLBC.
SLBC now intends to charge $10 per guest. Their main goal was to prove that Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation is a heritage landmark and one of the most visited attractions on the island. In addition to their headquarters in Colombo, they also hope to expand access to regional service stations in the north, east and south. When visiting Radio Ceylon, be sure to walk down the long corridors and admire all the images displayed on the walls depicting a major event that not only made history, but led to the birth of the radio’s golden age.
