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The first
radio station in Lourenco Marques began broadcasting on 18th
March 1933 but suspended transmissions for a while in 1934 due
to shortage of money. A South African, G J McHarry became
involved, and in 1935 Radio Clube de Moçambique was launched,
broadcasting mostly in English. In 1947, Colonel Richard L Meyer
who prior to World War II was General Manager of the
International Broadcasting Company of London, together with John
Davenport formed Davenport and Meyer and took over the
management of Lourenco Marques Radio. The station recruited
David Davies to run the station and he together with another
announcer David Gordon, were the first two announcers on the new
commercial station. In 1948 LM Radio moved into a new purpose
built 4-storey building which became known as the "Radio
Palace". The station started producing variety shows in front of
live audiences. "Anything Goes" hosted by Peter Merrill and
recorded in 1948 at the 20th Century Theatre in Johannesburg was
one of the first South African radio variety shows. In the late
1950s the station underwent a major format change to cater for
the younger generation who were not being catered for in South
Africa by the state owned SABC. LM Radio as it was popularly
known, was world renowned for its Top Twenty chart show and
played a major role in promoting South African Artists and their
music. LM Radio lost much of its sparkle when it was taken over
by the SABC in 1972. On 7th September 1974 the station was
occupied during a bloody uprising in Lourenco Marques and the
administration of the station was taken over by the Frelimo
army. On 12th October 1975, following Moçambican independance in
June of that year, LM Radio facilities were nationalised and the
station closed down bringing an era to an end. It was replaced
in South Africa by Radio 5.
Click here to see the press release
announcing the close of LM Radio and the start of Radio 5.
>>
The next page
contains some history for the technical buffs and is full of
interesting information on the studios, transmitters and
operating frequencies.
Click here for technical stuff >> |
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