| Radio St Helena Day 1999, will be the last !
This
may be the last time I write a piece concerning our World-wide
Transmission for the Radio St. Helena Web Page.
It is rather sad
but true that on 23rd October 1999 Radio St. Helena will broadcast to
the world for the last time. The story behind this is that the company
who owns the Transmitter that is used for our shortwave broadcasts,
Cable & Wireless PLC, stationed at the Briars, St. Helena, has
decided to dispose of this particular piece of equipment because of
its age and the unavailability of spare parts. It is being replaced by
a small transceiver to operate at a short distance and cannot be used
for the same purpose of transmitting to the world.
All of us are deeply sorry that these transmissions have come to an
end so soon, but it just had to happen. We have heard screams from
regular listeners who have testified that they will drum up support to
purchase a new Transmitter and have it placed on St. Helena especially
for the purpose of transmitting once per year. If this is the case
then I wish them the very best of luck.
As Station Manager I can truthfully say that I have thoroughly enjoyed
broadcasting, speaking to you in person on the telephone during the
phone-ins and generally giving a hand where its needed on the busy
nights of past transmissions. Since the start of these broadcasts, we
have always celebrated at the end of the evening with a big party and
this year will not go unmissed.
I know that many of you are still awaiting a confirmation letter and
card from 1998. These have now been posted and I hope that you will
receive it intact. I have learnt that some of the cards we sent last
year did not reach their destination. I can only assume that it they
have been lost somewhere in the post.
I sincerely hope that this year’s final transmission runs smoothly
and will be remembered for many years to come.
The
drawings of the Quiz and CD-lottery
We have built up
quite a Library of compact discs from all over the world since running
a lottery and I thank all of you for your participation in this
respect.
His Excellency Governor Hollamby has only been in office for a very
short period of time. I took the liberty and asked his wife Helena if
she would agree to draw the lucky number for the Competition winners,
as well as the Lottery winners. She made no hesitation and the draw
was made on Thursday 9th September near the fireplace in the drawing
room of Plantation House.
 
There were three questions to be answered.
What is St. Helena’s national bird? Answer: The Wirebird.
What Currency is used on St. Helena?
Answer: The St. Helena Pound.
Who was the name of the presenter of the first world wide transmission
from this station? Answer: Joy Lawrence.
Here is the list of winners of the Competition:
Mickey Delmage of Canada won First Prize.
Michael Enos of the USA won Second Prize.
Joe Pugitt of Florida is the winner of the third
prize. Congratulations to all winners.
Running a Lottery last time was quite exciting and
brought into our library 26 new Compact Discs. Josef
Zimmermann of Germany won the first prize, Rudolf
Krumm from Germany was the second winner and the third prize
has been won by Michael Menx of Germany. Their prizes
are now being posted.
I hope that those of you who are able to tune into
this final
transmission will also enter this year's Lottery.
Please pack any discs between two pieces of card as post protection as
many discs have been damaged as a result of just putting then in an
envelope, many thanks in advance.
By the time you have sight of this document, plans for 23rd October
are well in progress and everyone is hoping for good conditions on the
night or day, which, of course, depends upon which part of the world
you are listening at the time.
The program content for 23rd October will mainly consist of music but
will be dispersed with information, talks, interviews, a competition
and your telephone calls which will be given shorter airtime. This
will be announced on the program and has become necessary so that we
don’t get international calls at the start of the program which will
disrupt the flow of the planned menu. We will accept Fax reports
throughout the duration of the program as well as E-mail. The address
is as follows:
Fax number is +290 4542,
E-mail is
radio.sthelena@helanta.sh
Here below is a photo of the WW-studio.
Finally, I would
like to thank everyone who has commented, assisted, contributed in any
way and supported these past world wide transmissions. None of which
would have taken place if it wasn't for the persistence of John Ekwall
and Jan Tuner who hatched up the idea in the first place in 1990. We
are also very grateful to Lennart Deimert for his services of setting
up a web page on the internet and also administering the same. Thanks
Lennart for selling St.Helena.
Having said that,
if Cable & Wireless hadn't been in the picture, then there would
not have been a transmission at all. They have been instrumental in
assisting us throughout the years with the loan of their shortwave
transmitter for which we are grateful.
If you require any further information before the transmission then
please contact me by email. The very best of luck for a good Radio St.
Helena Day, 23rd October 1999.
TONY LEO
Station Manager,
Radio St. Helena. |
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