Malaysia
- 1786 - 1795 British claim Penang and Malacca falls to Britain
- 1909 Unfederated Malay States in the Malay Peninsula organized, joining the Federated Malay States and Straits Settlements as components of Malaya
- 1926 Malayan Wireless Committee submits recommendations for permanent government radio service.
- 1930 Reports of reception of shortwave frequencies from the BBC in London but peak listening hours in South East Asia did not synch .
- 1932 Empire Service transmissions to South and South East Asia began
- 1935 Authorization of the British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation (BMBC) granted.
- 1937 BMBC's first transmission
- 1940 Government-owned Malayan Broadcasting Corporation takes over assets of BMBC.
- 1953 The BBC establishes a relay station in Tebrau.
- 31 August 1957 Official Declaration of Independence from the British
In January 1930, an editiorial from the Straits Times expressed views of what might have been widely held among British expatriates of the day. At that point, the BBC was broadcasting on short wave for distant listeners from 1927 on an experimental basis from Chelmsford, but the poor reception of BBC broadcasts through relays was frustrating for those eager to use the medium.
The B.B.C. is an institution of which we may well be proud. It gives by far the best wireless service to the world. Our only quarrel with it at the present time is that it has done little or nothing for those of us who live in Malaya. (A Threat to the BBC,1930).
Complaints persisted through various articles and letters to the editor in newspapers published in British Malaya from 1930 onwards. In an article titled "Radio in Malaya" in the Malaya Tribune, the writer invites readers to listen to the King's Speech, noting that the BBC will broadcast it. However, the writer adds, "it will probably be very difficult to hear it in Malaya, for Chelmsford has been little more than a faint whistle for many days" (Malaya Tribune, 17 January 1930, Page 8). The article suggests there is a possibility that one or more Dutch stations might relay the program, in which case "Malayan listeners might hear the King quite well."
The article also sarcastically critiques a review of the shortwave station in Chelmsford, where a Mr. Chattan assures his English readers that reception from the station compares favorably with other stations and that "reports from the Far East are equally favourable." The writer counters with, "where do these people get their information from? Batches of letters have gone to the BBC complaining about the disgracefully poor service of 5SW" (Malaya Tribune, 17 January 1930, Page 8).
When the BBC finally launched its Empire Service in 1932 using dedicated short-wave technology transmitting from Daventry, the response was enthusiastic. It was considered a turning point for radio in British Malaya. By mid-June 1933, Malayan listeners could tune into Empire programmes for seven and-a-half hours each day.
The programming included news bulletins, music (both live and from gramophone recordings), religious services, talks, and sports reports and the ubiquitous tolling of the BIg Ben. Additionally, a reliable radio schedule titled “Empire Radio To Night” was published in the daily press, marking a significant improvement over the earlier days when the Malaya Tribune relied on its readers to submit reception reports and schedules of “likely transmissions.”
A letter from a listener on a Malayan estate recalls their experience of the first Christmas broadcast, describing how "as we sat down to dinner that night, Big Ben boomed through the house – and to an exile, that experience alone is far from being unmoving" (World Radio, 1933 c).
Other listeners in Malaya, describing themselves as "five quite typical English people, rather less, than more, emotional than most." wrote in to express the significance of the King's inaugural speech:
"Nothing we could say would adequately express what it meant to us .. to hear the King speak, as if he were actually standing beside us here in our tropic garden.. We have little to hold on to these days .. and we lose the sense of belonging anywhere .. in the space of a few minutes all that is altered - faith in the King and a sense of belonging to him, loyalty and pride of race, as well as a feeling of unity, restored what we were losing." (World Radio 1933c E4/6)
The relay of radio signals from Daventry to parts of what is now Malaysia, continued through the 30's to the early 40's.
World War II
The outbreak of World War II in Europe and the impending threat of Japanese aggression in Asia introduced new challenges. The British Ministry of Information established the Far Eastern Bureau in Singapore to combat enemy propaganda in Asia. The proximity of Singapore
In 1947, the Straits Times announced Britain's plans to increase the "range, volume and variety of radio broadcasts to the people of South East Asia" by building in Malaya 5 or 6 transmitters of equivalent power to the BBC's shortwave overseas transmitters in South Johore. The article also says that most of the British broadcast material to be transmitted from Malaya will be pre-recorded or relayed from London. The total cost to Britain to broadcast from Malaya would be from 15 to 20 Million dollars.(The Straits Times, 9 September 1947, Page 7)
A BBC relay station, was built in Tebrau and was constructed on a huge rolling estate of several hundred acres in the year 1953. The original transmitters were six in number; four new units at 7.5 kW and two 100 kW units transferred from the old BFBS base at Jurong on Singapore island.
In the early 50's, broadcasting activities in Malaya were operated from its temporary studio in Jalan Young (now know as Jalan Cenderasari) in Kuala Lumpur and later in 1956, were moved to the Federal House, Kuala Lumpur. It was here that broadcasting in Malaysia grew with the establishment of several stations throughout the country including Sabah and Sarawak. Commercial advertisements were first aired on radio in 1960. This became a new source of revenue for the Government. An interesting point to note is that 'deejays' began to use the introduction "INILAH RADIO MALAYSIA" (This is Radio Malaysia) to greet listeners.
Broadcasting further carved another milestone when Television services were introduced on 28 December 1963 from its studio, Dewan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Ampang. Broadcast operations then moved office to Angkasapuri Complex which began its telecast on 6th October 1969, Radio and Television were merged under the Ministry of Information. The growth of the first channel, Rangkaian Satu encouraged the second channel to be established on 17th November 1969.
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787 items
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Edward Ward reports on the war against communist 'bandits' in Malaya, featuring interviews with individuals affected by the conflict. The narrative provides insights into the challenges faced by residents and industries in the region. More »Spoken voice |Topic: Military Conflict |Audio
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The inauguration of the British Empire Broadcasting Service features speeches from Mr. J.H. Whitley, the chairman, and Sir John Reith, the director-general of the BBC. The text outlines the significance of the occasion, the history of British broadcasting, and the goals of the Empire Broadcasting Service. Sir John Reith discusses the technical aspects, including transmission zones, wavelengths, and transmission times for different regions of the British Empire. The message emphasizes collaboration with listeners for feedback, program suggestions, and the importance of shortwave technology. Additionally, Mr. Ashbridge and Cpt Graves express gratitude for the assistance received during preliminary testing. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/inauguration-of-bbc-empire-service British Library public link More »Spoken voice |Topic: Culture |Audio
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In Malaya, Malays engage in fish fights as a form of entertainment and betting. Participants bring their own specially salted fish in jam jars, and two male fishes are placed together to display their dominance. Betting on the fish fights is a common practice, and the event is described as being almost as exciting as any other type of fight. The details were shared in a broadcast on BBC Home Service in 1961. More »Spoken voice |Topic: Sport |Audio
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Lloyd Williams writes to Ivor Thomas, enclosing three copies of the broadcast schedule for English schools in Malaya. More »Message
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Charles Frank Byers, Baron Byers, OBE, PC, DL (24 July 1915 – 6 February 1984) was a British Liberal Party politician who later became a life peer and Privy Councillor. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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A speaker who experienced the harsh conditions of building the Burma-Siam Railway during World War II More »Person
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Frederick William Mulley, Baron Mulley, PC (3 July 1918 – 15 March 1995) was a British Labour Party politician, barrister-at-law and economist. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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G Ivan Smith recommends the recipient (Pacific Service Director), go over the Pacific Service Schedule with John Martin, along with other background information Martin might need for his new position in Malaya. More »Message
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Lord Medway, also known as Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, was an assistant at the Sarawak Museum in the British colony of Borneo from 1956-1958. He conducted studies on the swiftlets of southeast Asia and their use of echo-location, which he presented in an illustrated talk on the topic. The talk also featured his own recordings made in the nesting caves of Borneo. This information was detailed in a Radio Times entry from December 29, 1960. More »Spoken voice |Topic: Culture |Audio
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Lord Medway was an assistant at the Sarawak Museum, Sarawak, a British colony on the north-west coast of Borneo, 1956-8. Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook, (born 20 June 1933), styled Lord Medway until 1978, is a British zoologist, biologist, naturalist, and peer. Since 1956, he has been active in the fields of ornithology, mammalogy, and zooarchaeology, and has influenced research and education in Southeast Asia. His career focus was on swiftlets and other small Southeast Asian birds, as well as on mammals, including orangutans.He is the author of Wild Mammals of South-East Asia (1986), Wonders of nature in South-East Asia (1997) and Swiftlets of Borneo: Builders of Edible Nests (2002) and Key Environments: Malaysia (2013), which had a foreword from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Extract from General Sir Gerald Templer's address. More »Spoken voice |Topic: Military Conflict |Audio
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Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. The aircraft company he founded produced the Mosquito, which has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built, and his Comet was the first jet airliner to go into production. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly histories of the relations between the USSR and the United States. He was also one of the group of foreign policy elders known as "The Wise Men". During the late 1940s, his writings inspired the Truman Doctrine and the U.S. foreign policy of containing the USSR. His "Long Telegram" from Moscow in 1946 and the subsequent 1947 article "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" argued that the Soviet regime was inherently expansionist and that its influence had to be "contained" in areas of vital strategic importance to the United States. These texts provided justification for the Truman administration's new anti-Soviet policy. Kennan played a major role in the development of definitive Cold War programs and institutions, notably the Marshall Plan. Soon after his concepts had become U.S. policy, Kennan began to criticize the foreign policies that he had helped articulate. By late 1948, Kennan became confident that the US could commence positive dialogue with the Soviet government. His proposals were dismissed by the Truman administration, and Kennan's influence waned, particularly after Dean Acheson was appointed Secretary of State in 1949. Soon thereafter, U.S. Cold War strategy assumed a more assertive and militaristic quality, causing Kennan to lament what he believed was an abrogation of his previous assessments. In 1950, Kennan left the State Department—except for a brief ambassadorial stint in Moscow and a longer one in Yugoslavia—and became a realist critic of U.S. foreign policy. He continued to analyze international affairs as a faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Study from 1956 until his death in 2005 at age 101. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American historian and South Dakota politician who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 presidential election. McGovern grew up in Mitchell, South Dakota, where he became a renowned debater. He volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Forces upon the country's entry into World War II. As a B-24 Liberator pilot, he flew 35 missions over German-occupied Europe from a base in Italy. Among the medals he received was a Distinguished Flying Cross for making a hazardous emergency landing of his damaged plane and saving his crew. After the war he earned degrees from Dakota Wesleyan University and Northwestern University, culminating in a PhD, and served as a history professor. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1956 and re-elected in 1958. After a failed bid for the U.S. Senate in 1960, he was a successful candidate in 1962. As a senator, McGovern was an example of modern American liberalism. He became most known for his outspoken opposition to the growing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He staged a brief nomination run in the 1968 presidential election as a stand-in for the assassinated Robert F. Kennedy. The subsequent McGovern–Fraser Commission fundamentally altered the presidential nominating process, by increasing the number of caucuses and primaries and reducing the influence of party insiders. The McGovern–Hatfield Amendment sought to end the Vietnam War by legislative means but was defeated in 1970 and 1971. McGovern's long-shot, grassroots-based 1972 presidential campaign found triumph in gaining the Democratic nomination but left the party split ideologically, and the failed vice-presidential pick of Thomas Eagleton undermined McGovern's credibility. In the general election McGovern lost to incumbent Richard Nixon in one of the biggest landslides in U.S. electoral history. Though re-elected to the Senate in 1968 and 1974, McGovern was defeated in his bid for a fourth term in 1980. Beginning with his experiences in war-torn Italy and continuing throughout his career, McGovern was involved in issues related to agriculture, food, nutrition, and hunger. As the first director of the Food for Peace program in 1961, McGovern oversaw the distribution of U.S. surpluses to the needy abroad and was instrumental in the creation of the United Nations-run World Food Programme. As sole chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs from 1968 to 1977, McGovern publicized the problem of hunger within the United States and issued the "McGovern Report", which led to a new set of nutritional guidelines for Americans. McGovern later served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture from 1998 to 2001 and was appointed the first UN global ambassador on world hunger by the World Food Programme in 2001. The McGovern–Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program has provided school meals for millions of children in dozens of countries since 2000 and resulted in McGovern's being named World Food Prize co‑laureate in 2008. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell.[2] His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism.[3] More »Person
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Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans CBE (16 February 1922 – 19 September 1992) was a Welsh bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title role in Wozzeck. Evans was especially acclaimed for his performances in the title role of Verdi's Falstaff. He sang more than 70 different roles in a career that lasted from his first appearance at Covent Garden in 1948 to his farewell there in 1984. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Templer is best known for implementing strategies that heavily contributed to the defeat of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) during the Malayan Emergency. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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William Glyn Hughes Simon (14 April 1903 – 14 June 1972) was a Welsh prelate who served as the Anglican Archbishop of Wales from 1968 to 1971. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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Gwynfor Richard Evans (1 September 1912 – 21 April 2005) was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. He was President of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru for thirty-six years and was the first member of Parliament to represent it at Westminster, which he did twice, from 1966 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1979. On entering the House of Commons, he famously failed in his attempt to obtain permission to take the oath in the Welsh language. He was the first MP to attempt to do so, but the right to take the oath in any of the UK's native languages was not granted until 1974. His most notable achievement was his successful campaign for the creation of a Welsh-language television channel. (Wikipedia) More »Person
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HC Fenton writes to WM Goatman informing him that the frequency changes in his area will cease. More »Message
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HC Fenton writes to WM Goatman informing him of schedule changes on October 15. More »Message
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The letter states that the sender has enclosed the scriped used for the broadcast programmes for schools. It is also stated that the scripts are private information only. More »Message
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Sālote Tupou III (born Sālote Mafile‘o Pilolevu; 13 March 1900 – 16 December 1965) was Queen of Tonga from 1918 to her death in 1965. She reigned for nearly 48 years, longer than any other Tongan monarch. She was well known for her height, standing 6 ft 3 in (1.91 metres) tall in her prime. (Wikipedia) More »Person
