A.W. Dharmapala was a pioneering broadcaster and Outside Broadcast Engineer of
Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon ( ''Lanka Guwan Viduli Sevaya'', , ''ilankai vanoli'') is a radio station based in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and the first radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis by the colonial Telegraph Departme ...
, the oldest radio station in South Asia, for 42 years (1922-1964). With the help of the engineers from Radio Ceylon, he was able to convert the radio equipment from a German submarine, captured during World War I, into a 0.5 kw
radio transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna with the purpose of signal transmissio ...
. Using this, the first experimental broadcasts, playing gramophone music, were conducted in 1923 from the Central Telegraph Department. On December 16, 1925, barely three years after the BBC was inaugurated in England, Ceylon became the first British colony in Southeast Asia to begin regular, official radio broadcasts. In 1929 Dharmapala's was the first
Sinhala voice heard over the airwaves of Radio Ceylon, broadcasting the words ''Colombin katha karami'' (This is Colombo calling). In 1954, he was appointed as assistant engineer for Radio Ceylon.
Dharmapala pioneered the way with outside broadcasts and was fully involved in the Buddha Jayanti activities all over the island. Dharmapala's technical expertise was invaluable to Radio Ceylon.
See also
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Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon ( ''Lanka Guwan Viduli Sevaya'', , ''ilankai vanoli'') is a radio station based in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and the first radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis by the colonial Telegraph Departme ...
References
External links
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation
Sri Lankan radio personalities
{{Radio-bio-stub