National Communications Network (NCN) is a national,

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

television and radio broadcasting corporation in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

. It was formed in 2004 through the merger of the government radio service, Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), and the government-run television service, GTV. NCN's studios are situated on Homestretch Avenue in Georgetown.

History

NCN is the descendant of two of Guyana's first radio services: Radio Demerara, which was founded in 1951, and British Guiana Broadcasting Service (BGBS), which was founded in December 1958. The former was a British-owned company, and its licence required the station to broadcast

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

material for 21 hours a week, and programmes provided by the UK's

Central Office of Information The Central Office of Information (COI) was the UK government's marketing and communications agency. Its chief executive reported to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. It was a non-ministerial department, and became an executive agency and a ...

(in London) for 10 hours a week. The latter focused primarily on sports programmes and the coverage of special events. In 1968, two years after Independence, the Government of Guyana took over BGBS's broadcasting facilities, which were located at the Broadcasting House on High Street in Georgetown, and the company was renamed the Guyana Broadcasting Service (GBS). In 1979, the Government of Guyana acquired Radio Demerara as well, and the merger of these two radio services resulted in the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). Both companies were operating at a loss in October 2003, when a decision was taken to cut about 200 employees from both GBC and GTV, with the merger taking place effective 2 January 2004. The aim of merging the companies was to make it financially viable. On 1 March 2004, GBC and the Guyana Television Broadcasting Company (GTV) combined to form NCN.

Radio Demerara

In 1935, the demand for cricket commentary motivated the development of early radio broadcasting. Two stations came about at this time, VP3BG and VPSMR, and they were eventually amalgamed into Station ZFY. Station ZFY operated from the Post Office until the building was consumed by the Great Fire of Georgetown in February 1945. After the fire it was relocated to North Road and New Garden Street. ZFY secured the first medium wave transmitter in 1945. After being purchased by Overseas Rediffusion Ltd. in 1950, the station was renamed Radio Demerara. The station was moved to a professional studio in 1955, and in 1957 a new transmitting and receiving station was erected at Sparendaam on the East Coast Demerara. Licensing requirements included broadcasting of BBC material for 21 hours a week, and programmes provided by the Central Office of Information in London for 10 1/2 hours a week. In 1958, a second radio station by Demerara's parent company, British Guiana Broadcasting Service (BGBS), was made with a focus on broadcasting special events and sports coverage. Radio Demerara had regular broadcasting of Indian music since the 1950s, starting with programing by Ayub Hamid and in 1959, Eshri Singh, whose show featured local performers of Indian musical genre. When the government of Guyana took over BGBS in 1968, additional facilities at Hadfield street Lodge were created and opened the station to technical aid from BBC's Bush House in London. After the official inauguration of the GBC in 1979, the Guyana government acquired all assets of Radio Demerara from Rediffusion organization, Broadcasting Relay (Overseas) Limited.

Radio Service

NCN runs three radio services: Fresh 100.1 FM, re-branded in 2012, formerly Radio Roraima (formerly Channel 1), which uses the radio frequency 760 AM (760 kilohertz on the

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytim ...

band; no longer broadcasting); Voice of Guyana (formerly Channel 2), which uses the radio frequency 560 AM (560 kilohertz on the medium wave band); and an 102.1FM service — Hot FM — which uses the radio frequency 98.1 FM. All three services are controlled by the government.

Television Service

NCN's television service (

NCN Television WUJA (channel 58), branded as Pura Palabra Television, is a Spanish-language religious independent television station licensed to Caguas, Puerto Rico. Founded July 25, 1983, the station is owned by Pura Palabra Media Group, which is a subsidia ...

) is broadcast on Channel 11 available with an analog antenna, with various regional channels in

Berbice Berbice () is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 and 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

, Essequibo, Linden and

Demerara Demerara (; , ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state from 1792 unti ...

References

External links