Twenty Years Of P-NG Broadcasting

P-NG Broadcasting

rPHE largest broadcasting network in the South Pacific Islands was 20 years old in July. The Australian Broadcasting Commission stations in Papua-New Guinea have developed from Australian Army Amenities station 9AA, Port Moresby, which was taken over by the ABC in July, 1946. The early buildings were nothing but shacks, and the staff accommodation little better. Since then, as the ABC has expanded in the territory, there have been many improvements and new buildings and new transmitters have risen. These photographs were taken at headquarters in Port Moresby. Below, rural assistant Horatius Igua presents the countryman’s session from one of the old studios shortly before the fine new building in the lower picture was opened in 1964.

• ABC old hands Fred Warren and Jim Beard, who have been at the station since its early days, take a recent fascinated look at the insulating material between the walls of the old studio building— Army blankets!

• Frank Wood has had longer service with the ABC in Port Moresby than anyone. He was with the old Army amenities station and went over to the ABC when it closed down. He speaks fluent Motu.