This is a list of when the first radio broadcasts to the public occurred in the mentioned countries and territories. Non-public field tests and closed circuit demonstrations are not referred to; neither are license dates or dates of the official opening.
Basis for each entry is the time of introduction. Listed are independent countries, dependent territories and territories within a country only if they became independent later or if it is a large country and there is a vast time difference with the introduction in different parts.
Each entry comprises: the flag linked to the country or territory, the name of the country or territory and, in parentheses, the designation of the radio station (either by call sign or by name, linked to a main article), its city and some additional information.
Year | Countries and territories |
---|---|
1916 | United States (2XG New York City; 8MK Detroit > WWJ & 8XK Pittsburgh > KDKA 1920) |
1919 | Netherlands (PCGG The Hague; HDO Hilversum 1923) |
1920 | Argentina (LOR Buenos Aires), Canada (XWA Montreal > 9AM > CFCF) |
1921 | Australia (2CM Sydney), France (R. Tour Eiffel, Paris), Mexico (TND Monterrey) |
1922 | Brazil (SPE Rio de Janeiro), [1] Cuba (2LC Havana, followed by PWX), New Zealand (R. Dunedin > 4AB), Paraguay (CXZ-27 Asunción; ZP1 1926), Philippines (KZKZ Manila), Puerto Rico (WKAQ San Juan), United Kingdom (2MT Writtle; [2] 2LO London), Uruguay (CW90A R. Paradizábal, Montevideo; [3] CWOA 1927) |
1923 | Belgium (R. Bruxelles), Chile (CBC R. Chilena Santiago), Czechoslovakia (Radiojournal, Prague), Germany (Funk-Stunde, Berlin), India (2FV R. Club Bombay > IBC 1927), Shanghai (XRO Shanghai), South Africa (JB Johannesburg), Switzerland (2HB Lausanne) [4] |
1924 | Austria (RAVAG, Vienna), Dominican Republic (HIH Santo Domingo; HIX 1928), [5] Italy (IRO Rome URI), Luxembourg (R. Luxembourg), Newfoundland (8WMC St. John's > VOWR), Singapore (1SE AWSM > ZHI 1933), [6] Soviet Union (Moscow: RA1 Komintern, RA2 MGSPS), Spain (EAJ2 Madrid, EAJ1 Barcelona), YU: Serbia (R. Belgrade; Rakovica 1924) |
1925 | Afghanistan (R. Kabul), Algeria (8DB Algiers), Byelorussian SSR (RA18 Minsk), Ceylon (Colombo R.), Denmark (Statsradiofonien, Copenhagen), Dutch East Indies (BRX, Batavia > NIROM), [7] Hungary (Magyar Telefonhírmondó és Rádió Rt., Budapest; wired Hírmondó 1893), Japan (JOAK Tokyo), Kwantung (JQAK Dairen), Latvia (Radiofon Riga), Norway (Kringkastingsselskapet, Oslo), Peru (OAX Lima), Portugal (P1AA Lisbon), Sweden (Radiotjänst, Stockholm), Ukrainian SSR (RA21 Kharkov) |
1926 | Armenian SSR (RA49 Yerevan), Azerbaijan SSR (RA45 Baku), Burma (2HZ R. Club Rangoon), China (XOH Harbin; XKM Nanjing 1928; XNCR Yan'an 1940); CZ: Slovakia (Radiojournal, Bratislava), Danzig (Landessender Danzig), Egypt (R. Farouk et al., Cairo), [8] El Salvador (AQM San Salvador), Estonia (R. Ringhääling, Tallinn), Finland (Yle, Helsinki; 3NB Tampere 1924), Georgian SSR (RA27 Tbilisi), Iceland (H.f. Útvarp, Reykjavík), Ireland (2RN Dublin), Lithuania (Lietuvos radijas, Kaunas), Poland (Polskie R., Warsaw), Venezuela (AYRE Caracas), Yugoslavia: Croatia (R. Zagreb) |
1927 | Bolivia (CPX La Paz; CP1AA 1922), Costa Rica (TI4NRH Heredia), Kenya (VQ7LO Nairobi), Korea, South (JODK Keijo), Turkey (İstanbul Radyosu), Turkmen SSR (RA6 Ashgabat), Uzbek SSR (RA27 Tashkent) |
1928 | Greece (Thessaloniki; YRE 1938), Honduras (HRB La Voz del Trópico, Tegucigalpa), Hong Kong (GOW), Morocco (R. Maroc), Pakistan (YMCA, Lahore; Karachi 1926), [9] Rumania (R. Bukarest), Taiwan (JFAK Taihoku), Thailand (4PJ Bangkok), Vietnam: Tonkin (R. Sindex, Haiphong), YU: Slovenia (R. Ljubljana) |
1929 | Colombia (HJN Bogotá), [10] Ecuador (El Prado, Riobamba), Réunion (R. Saint-Denis) |
Year | Countries and territories |
---|---|
1930 | Bermuda (TJW Hamilton), [11] Bulgaria (Rodno R., Sofia), Guatemala (TGW La Voz de Guatemala, Guatemala City), Malaysia (KLAWS, Kuala Lumpur), Saint Pierre and Miquelon (R. Club), Tunisia (Tunis Kasbah), Vietnam: Cochinchina (FZS Saigon) |
1931 | Kazakh SSR (RV60 Alma-Ata), Madagascar (R. Tananarive), Samoa (5ZA Apia), Tajik SSR (RV47 Stalinabad), Vatican City (Vatican R.) |
1932 | Southern Rhodesia (ZEA Salisbury) |
1933 | Curaçao (CUROM Willemstad), Macau (CQN/CRY-9), Mozambique (LM Radio, Lourenço Marques), Panama (HPJ5 R. Tembleque, Panama City), Spanish Morocco (EAJ-21 Melilla) |
1934 | French Polynesia (FO8AA R. Club Oceanien, Papeete), Mongolia (R. Ulaanbaatar), Nicaragua (YNLF Managua), Tenerife (EAJ-43 R. Club Tenerife, Santa Cruz) |
1935 | British Guiana (VP3BG Georgetown > ZFY), Dutch Guiana (AVROS, Paramaribo), Ethiopia (R. Addis Ababa), Fiji (ZJV Suva), French Equatorial Africa [AEF]/Congo (R. Club Brazzaville), Haiti (HHK Port-au-Prince), Hyderabad (VUV Deccan R.), Leeward Islands (VP2LO Caribbean Broadcasting Service, Basseterre > ZIZ), Malta (Radju Malta, Valletta), Mysore (VU7MC Ākāśavāṇī), Papua (4PM Port Moresby) [12] |
1936 | Bahamas (ZNS Nassau), Botswana (ZNB Mafeking), Iraq (R. Baghdad), Korea, North (JBBK Heijō), Las Palmas (EAJ-50 R. Las Palmas), Palestine (PBS, Jerusalem/Ramallah), Tyva (R. Kyzyl) [13] |
1937 | Angola (CR6AA Lobito), [14] Belgian Congo (OQ2AA R. Léo, Léopoldville), British Honduras (ZIK-2 Belize), Guadeloupe (R. Guadeloupe), Martinique (R. Martinique), New Caledonia (FK8AA Nouméa) |
1938 | Albania (R. Tirana), Kirghiz SSR (RV6 Frunze; wired earlier), Lebanon (R. Levant), Libya (ITR Tripoli), Liechtenstein (R. Liechtenstein), Italian Somaliland (R. Mogadiscio) |
1939 | Andorra (R. Andorra), Bangladesh (All India Radio, Dhaka), Baroda (Baroda), French West Africa [AOF]/Senegal (R. AOF, Dakar), Jamaica (VP5PZ Kingston) [15] |
Year | Countries and territories |
---|---|
1940 | Bahrain (R. Bahrain > Arabic 1955), Gold Coast (ZOY Accra; wired 1935), Iran (R. Tehran), South Yemen (ZNR Aden R. > 1954), Sudan (R. Omdurman) |
1941 | AEF: French Cameroons (R. Douala), Northern Rhodesia (R. Lusaka), Palau (JRAK Koror), Xinjiang (R. Dihua; wired 1935), [16] YU: Macedonia (R. Skoplje) |
1942 | American Samoa (WVUV Leone), Falkland Islands (Falklands R.), Greenland (Grønlands R., Godthåb), Syria (R. Damas) |
1943 | British Somaliland (R. Hargeisa), French Somaliland (R. Djibouti), Monaco (R. Monte Carlo), Travancore (Thiruvananthapuram) |
1944 | Gilbert and Ellice Islands (WXLF Tarawa), Guam (WXLI Agana), New Hebrides (WVUR Espiritu Santo), Solomon Islands (WVUQ Guadalcanal), Northern Mariana Islands (WXLD Saipan), YU: Montenegro (R. Cetinje) |
1945 | YU: Bosnia and Herzegovina (R. Sarajevo), YU: Kosovo (R. Pristina), YU: Vietnam (Voice of Vietnam) |
1946 | Cambodia (R. Cambodge), Spanish Guinea (R. Atlántica, Fernando Póo), Yemen (Sana'a R. > 1955) |
1947 | Portuguese Guinea (CMQ Bissau), Trinidad and Tobago (R. Trinidad, Port of Spain) |
1948 | Portuguese India (R. Goa), Nigeria (R. Nigeria; wired 1935) [17] |
1949 | AOF: Ivory Coast (R. Abidjan), South West Africa (SABC via sw), Saudi Arabia (R. Mecca, Jeddah) |
Year | Countries and territories |
---|---|
1950 | Liberia (ELBC Monrovia), Tibet (R. Lhasa), [18] U.S. Virgin Islands (WSTA Charlotte Amalie) |
1951 | French Guiana (R. Cayenne), Kuwait (R. Kuwait), Laos (RNL, Vientiane), Nepal (R. Nepal, Kathmandu), Tanganyika (Sauti ya Dar es Salaam), Zanzibar (Sauti ya Unguja) [19] |
1953 | Cyprus (CyBS, Nicosia; BBC 1948), AOF: Dahomey (R. Cotonou), AOF: French Guinea (R. Conakry), AOF: French Togoland (R. Lomé) |
1954 | Sarawak (R. Sarawak, Kuching), Windward Islands (WIBS, St. George's, Grenada) [20] |
1955 | AEF: Chad (R. Tchad, Fort Lamy), North Borneo (R. Sabah, Jesselton), Sierra Leone (SLBS, Freetown; wired 1934) |
1956 | Jordan (Radio Jordan) |
1957 | Brunei (RTB), AOF: French Sudan (R. Soudan, Bamako), AOF: Mauritania (R. Mauritanie, Saint-Louis, Senegal) |
1958 | AEF: Ubangi-Shari (R. Bangui), Gibraltar (R. Gibraltar), AOF: Niger (R. Niger, Niamey), Uganda (UBS, Kampala) |
1959 | AOF: Upper Volta (R. Haute Volta, Ouagadougou), AEF: Gabon (R. Gabon, Libreville) |
Year | Countries and territories |
---|---|
1960 | New Guinea (VL9BR Rabaul), Ruanda-Urundi (R. Usumbura) |
1961 | Comoros (R. Comores, Moroni), Spanish Sahara (EAJ-202/203 R. Sahara, El Aaiún), [21] Tonga (ZCO Nukuʻalofa) |
1962 | Gambia (R. Gambia, Bakau), Maldives (Malé R.) |
1963 | Barbados (R. Barbados; wired 1935) |
1964 | Lesotho (R. Lesotho, Maseru), Malawi (MBC, Blantyre) |
1965 | Swaziland (SBS, Mbabane), Trucial States (Voice of the Coast, Sharjah) |
1967 | Saint Helena (Radio Saint Helena) |
1968 | Nauru (NBS) |
1969 | Anguilla (R. Anguilla, The Valley) |
1970 | Oman (R. Sultanate of Oman, Muscat) |
1973 | Bhutan (Radio NYAB, Thimphu) |
1975 | Tuvalu (Radio Tuvalu) [22] |
1993 | San Marino (R. San Marino) |
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A timeline of notable events relating to the BBC World Service, the world's largest international broadcaster, which began broadcasting in 1932.