Radio Tonga (also known by

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

A3Z) is

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

's main commercial

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

station, founded in 1961 by Queen Salote Tupou III, and operating as a service of the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC). Its slogan is ''"The Call of the Friendly Islands''". Radio Tonga currently broadcasts services on three separate frequencies.

Radio Tonga 1

The most far-reaching of all Radio Tonga's services, this channel broadcasts daily from 6am to midnight, on a frequency of 1017 kHz. This is the only service of TBC that has been in operation since TBC's inception in 1961; its test broadcasts started on 13 March, while the official opening was on July 4. It features local, Pacific & international news, as well as

n music, and overseas

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...

music, mostly from the 1970s & 1980s. Several local church organisations and businesses have weekly programs, and, though it is government-owned and funded, a significant source of its profit relies on in-house commercial advertising. In the event of local emergencies, such as

tropical cyclones A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dependi ...

, Radio Tonga has been known to stay on the air all night with constant cyclone updates from the Tonga Meteorological Service. Radio Tonga 1 can be heard throughout the entire Kingdom of Tonga, including the outer island groups of Ha'apai, Vava'u, Niuafo'ou &

Niuatoputapu Niuatoputapu is a high island in the island nation of Tonga, Pacific Ocean. Its highest point is , and its area is . Its name means ''sacred island''. Older European names for the island are Traitors Island or Keppel Island. Niuatoputapu is ...

, although there have been reports of listeners receiving the signal in other countries, such as

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The station broadcasts with a power output of 10,000 Watts into a non directional antenna.

Radio Tonga 2 - Kool 90FM

Formerly known as FM97, now broadcasting on a frequency of 90.0

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

, this commercial FM station commenced in the early 1990s, and now runs 24 hours a day, playing mostly

chart-topper A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

s from abroad. After the local broadcast ends at midnight, BBC programming is relayed live via satellite until the local broadcast resumes at 6am. This service can only be heard on the main island of

Tongatapu Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga and the site of its capital, Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with 74,611 residents (2016), 70.5% of the nation ...

, and its closely surrounding islands such as 'Eua, Pangaimotu and Atata. The station broadcasts with 500 watts.

103FM

Launched on 21 November 2005, this FM service—broadcast on 103.0

—relays Radio Australia 24 hours a day, and is only available to listeners in

and 'Eua.

References

External links

Official site: Tonga Broadcasting Commission

DXing.info profile on A3Z Tonga

TVRadioWorld - Tonga
Radio stations in Tonga Radio stations established in 1961 1961 establishments in Tonga {{Tonga-stub