Imperial foundations of 20th-century media systems in the Caribbean

Abstract

The arrival in the Caribbean region of the electronic telegraph in the second half the 19th century and the rise of the competing wireless radio technology half a century later, provide a backdrop against which the article analyses the emergence of Caribbean media networks, ranging from telegrammes via Morse Code to digital telecommunications providers, and from an amateur radio channel to a public broadcasting network within the 20th century. Specifically, the arc of analysis in this article encompasses how the West India and Panama Telegraph Company (WIPTC), founded in 1869, eventually became Cable and Wireless, the modern transnational telecommunications corporation. It also explores the growth of ZQI, a wartime amateur shortwave radio service initially established in Jamaica in 1939. Acquired by the British Rediffusion Group, ZQI was later nationalised by the Jamaican government and has now become one of the Caribbean's leading media conglomerates, called the Radio Jamaica Rediffusion (RJR) Group. The article is based on historical research into the foundations of Caribbean media, conducted over several decades. It includes hitherto unpublished research data compiled by the author from archival records in the UK's Public Records Office (PRO) and from within Jamaica's national archives.