KSBK (880 AM) was a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area i ...

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...

, Japan, operated by the

Ryukyu Broadcasting Corporation is a regional radio and television broadcaster headquartered in Naha, Okinawa, Japan that serves Okinawa Prefecture. It commenced radio broadcast in October 1954 and television in June 1960. History Okinawa under US rule On May 16, ...

(RBC). At its closure, it was the only non-military English-language radio station in Japan; among the disc jockeys who worked at the station were

Robert Colbert Robert Colbert is an American actor most noted for his leading role portraying Dr. Doug Phillips on the ABC television series ''The Time Tunnel'' and his two appearances as Brent Maverick, a third Maverick brother in the ABC/Warner Brothers we ...

and

Art Bell Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program ''Coast to Coast AM'', which is syndicated on hundreds of ...

. KSBK, which became JORO when the Ryukyu Islands reverted to Japan in 1972, operated from September 1, 1955, to October 31, 1973, being closed as a result of government skepticism over the continued need for a commercial English-language station and the application of Japanese broadcasting regulation, which did not permit duopolies.

History

KSBK began broadcasting on September 1, 1955. At the time, it signed on as the first non-military English-language radio station in Japan; the only English-language radio stations were part of the military

Far East Network The Far East Network (FEN) was a network of American military radio and television stations, primarily serving U.S. Forces in Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Guam. Overview Now known as the American Forces Network-Japan (AFN-Japan), w ...

(FEN) of the U.S.

Armed Forces Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which ...

(AFN). It was co-owned with a Japanese-language station, KSAR, which had been established in 1950 as AKAR under the auspices of the

United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands The was the civil administration government in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan (centered on Okinawa Island), replacing the United States Military Government of the Ryukyu Islands (itself created at the conclusion of World War II) in 1950, and funct ...

, relaunched in 1953, and transferred to the University of the Ryukyus Foundation in 1954, being then leased to the RBC. The 500-watt transmitter used to start KSBK was purchased initially for a planned relay of KSAR, which was not needed due to better than anticipated coverage. Programs on KSBK catered to the large United States military and civilian support population on the island. According to anthropologist James E. Roberson, KSBK was the most influential station on Okinawa from the late 1950s and continuing through the 1960s. It was characterized by an independent stance toward the military, strong support from local businesses representing as much as 70 percent of advertising sales, and its employment of young American DJs like

and

playing the latest American pop music. Colbert worked at the station until a woman in the Air Force heard his voice and recommended he try out for a play, starting his acting career. A young

was part of the new station for six years as a disc jockey; while there, he would set a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

at the station for staying on the air continuously for 115 hours and 15 minutes. He left and returned to the U.S. mainland after the Japanese woman he married suffered from increasing mental illness. In 1971, the RBC, which owned KSAR and KSBK, protested the opening of a new talk-formatted AFN radio station on 1420 kHz and unsuccessfully demanded that the existing music station on 650 kHz, which now had more time to air musical programming, avoid any format overlap with its English-language outlet. The call letters of KSAR and KSBK were changed to JORR and JORO in 1972 when the islands were returned to Japanese governance; at that time, the call signs of all of the stations on the island were changed, and new transmitters were added for the

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

networks. However, while Japanese-language JORR would remain on the air, the end of American administration of the Ryukyu Islands and their reversion to Japan prompted the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications to question the continued need for an English-language broadcast station there, resulting in its refusal to renew the license; the decision was also necessitated by Japanese broadcasting law, which did not permit one commercial concern to own multiple AM radio stations in the same area. As a result, JORO closed for the final time on October 31, 1973, a "''de facto'' victim" of reversion. The final day was dominated by many residents calling into the station, "like people calling in condolences at a wake".

References

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External links

KSBK alumni website

History

References

External links

See also