National Broadcasting Service

The National Broadcasting Service was a state owned broadcasting station in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Early days

The precursor to the National Broadcasting Service (NBS Radio) was Radio Guardian established in 1957 by the Thompson Group, the British owners of the Trinidad Guardian newspaper. In 1968 the Government under Dr. Eric Williams acquired Radio Guardian, renaming it "610 Action Radio" which then joined Trinidad & Tobago Television (TTT) as the state-controlled media company. Broadcast and production studios were located at 15 Abercromby Street in down-town Port-of-Spain, the capital city.

In October 1972, the National Broadcasting Service became the first media company in Trinidad & Tobago to operate an FM station, Radio 100 FM which remained the sole FM signal available until the privately-owned Trinidad Broadcasting Company opened Radio 95 FM in 1975. Over the days of the attempted coup d'état in July 1990, led by the Jamaat al-Musulmeen, NBS Radio remained on the air around the clock as the only source of information for listeners in the country, up the eastern Caribbean and indeed, overseas via short-wave signal.

Relocation

In 1995, with the addition of Radio 98.9 FM, catering largely to the urban youth, the National Broadcasting Service (i.e. the radio frequencies) were relocated to the TTT compound at 11A Maraval Road in POS. Yet a further frequency came on board shortly thereafter - 91.1 FM. This frequency was for a while also used to rebroadcast NBS Radio 610 AM as an FM signal. Under the rebranded International Communications Network (ICN), 91.1 FM eventually changed its format entirely to East Indian programming in 1998. Radio 610 continued to broadcast on the AM dial, but progressively lost its traditional listening audience due to a weakening of the quality of its broadcast signal and a reduction in allocated financial resources to upgrade its equipment and programming.

National Broadcasting Network

The state media house would undergo yet another name change in 2001 to become the National Broadcasting Network (NBN). Both radio and TV broadcast entities of NBN ceased operations at midnight on January 15, 2005. An era in radio broadcasting had come to an end.

Many well-known radio personalities began or established their careers behind the microphones of Radio Guardian/Radio 610/NBS Radio. Among the many can be listed: Canadian-born Larry Harewood, Bobby Thomas, Dik Henderson, Barbara Salandy, Dave Elcock, Phil Simmons, Brenda & Kenny da Silva, Anthony Harford, Tony Dennison, Anna Seeratan, Lucy Arthur, Sharon Pitt, Dennis McComie, Ian Eligon and Peter de la Bastide.

Caribbean New Media Group

In early 2007, a newly created State-owned media company began operations under the name of the Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG), aka simply as "C". CNMG operates three radio frequencies: Sweet 100 FM, Talk City 91.1 FM and Next Radio 99.1 FM together with CTV, channel 6.

See also

• Radio in Trinidad and Tobago