Radio Ceylon Music from the 1960s AND Kumar Sangakkara receiving an Award at the Fifth Asian Awards
SEE this link: http://worldtv.com/sunday_choice_tv/ …. From Radio Ceylon of the ’60s, a compilation from Sunday Choice … recomposed as a video production; …. and harking back – a brief history of Radio Ceylon –
Edward Harper, came to Ceylon as Chief Engineer of the Telegraph Office in 1921 and a few months after his arrival, in the first-ever radio experiments in Colombo, gramophone music was broadcast from a tiny room in the Central Telegraph Office with the aid of a small transmitter built by the Telegraph Department engineers from the radio equipment of a captured WW1 German submarine. The experiment was a success and three years later, on 16 December 1925, a regular broadcasting service came to be instituted in Ceylon. The station was called “Colombo Radio,” with the call sign “Colombo Calling.” Colombo Radio was the first ever radio station in Asia and the second oldest radio station in the world. Edward Harper is seen as the Father of Broadcasting in Ceylon.
During World War II, the radio station was taken over by the Allied forces who used it to operate Radio SEAC from Colombo. After the war the station was handed over to the Government of Ceylon, and from this Radio Ceylon came into being, and climbed broadcasting heights in South Asia, leading the way in the world of entertainment and news. The very first senior management officers of the station came from the BBC; John Lampson was appointed Director General of broadcasting, and Pascoe Thornton was appointed Director of Programmes of the National Service at the station
Australian Clifford R. Dodd was sent to Radio Ceylon under the Colombo Plan in 1952. Dodd turned the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon into a huge success. Dodd was a charismatic figure and he used his powers of persuasion to rise above politics to make Radio Ceylon into a successful brand name in South Asia. The radio station had no real competition in the region. Clifford Dodd and Livy Wijemanne hand picked some of the brightest talents in Sri Lanka, turning them into popular professional broadcasters.
Clifford Dodd’s leadership, enthusiasm and drive helped motivate the young Ceylonese broadcasters – they were the brightest and the best in terms of creative talent. Dodd helped shape the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon. The station spiralled upwards in terms of popularity and revenue for the country.
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Kumar Sangakkara recognised at Fifth Asian Awards ….. http://www.islandcricket.lk/videos/sri-lanka/cricket/the-5th-asian-awards-outstanding-achievement-in-sport-kumar-sangakkara
