Radio Belize was the government monopoly radio station until 1989. During the 1950?s, the station was known as the British Honduras Broadcasting Service (BHBS). The broadcast studio was somewhere behind, or inside of, the old Paslow Building, I?m not sure. I remember when I was about 8 or 9, playing a piano selection on BHBS (the late Helen Craig was my teacher then), and then when I was about 10 or 11, four of us represented Holy Redeemer Boys School in the annual radio quiz contest for primary schools.

I have to tell you more about those quiz contest days. It was big news in the old capital of the little colony. Remember now, there was no television, no free radio, and we primary school kids only had Sunday matinee at the Palace or Majestic. We did have a primary school football competition at the old Edwards Park (now Rogers Stadium).

But the quiz was big. Sister Mary Francine trained four of us from Standard VI ? Neil Garbutt, Errol Cattouse, Carlson Gough and myself. We went all the way to the finals, where we met, can you dig it, Holy Redeemer Girls School! At that age in life, you figure no girl should beat you in anything. Such a fate would be worse than death.

The only girl I can remember from the HRGS team was Barbara Alamilla, who became Mrs. Winston Miller later in life. Barbara lived at the corner of Water Lane and East Canal Street, where her parents ran a restaurant. I lived on West Canal Street, across the canal from the Alamillas and a few houses north towards the Haulover Creek. We just couldn?t afford to lose to those girls!

All the way through the competition, the radio station would give the schools a list of the questions to study. Maybe it was the Education Department that did this, I can?t say. All I know is that the questions were not material out of the blue. It was stuff Francine had run us through.

For the championship, though, it was cold turkey! The questions were absolutely new. There was a live audience in the Paslow studio, including children from both Holy Redeemer Boys and Holy Redeemer Girls. Each correct answer was worth four points, but the judges could give you two for a partially correct answer.

The championship contest was very close. At one point one of the girls couldn?t answer, and while she sat there befuddled, a Holy Redeemer boy in the audience blurted out the answer, loud enough in the silence for all of us to hear. Give the girl credit. She immediately repeated what she had heard. Correct! Four points, and Holy Redeemer Girls ended up beating Holy Redeemer Boys, 64 to 62!

I remember that when I graduated from St. John?s College in December of 1963, my valedictory speech at the Majestic Theater made headline news on the radio station, which may have still been BHBS. I would imagine it was self-government in 1964 that brought the change to Radio Belize. But maybe it was earlier than that. Rene will know, or he will have to find out. By 1963, Radio Belize must have moved to the Albert Cattouse Building.

Anyway, PUP nationalist politics was hot in 1963 (PUP had won 18 out of 18 seats nationwide in March of 1961), and their NIP opponents were playing the Guatemala card. My valedictory speech had no party politics in it, but it was S.J.C., after all. The PUP and Landivar were considered very chummy. Nothing was allowed on the radio station in 1963 unless it was favourable to the PUP, or ?safe?. In 1963, I was ?safe?.

My next appearance on Radio Belize took place in December of 1971, as a candidate for the NIP-UBAD coalition contesting the Belize City Council election. Each of the nine Opposition candidates was allowed three minutes to make a campaign speech! The speeches were recorded, to ensure than none of us would say anything ?forbidden.? Radio Belize was like a prison in 1971. The climate was oppressive. It was all PUP, PUP all the way.

Between 1975 and 1977, I announced football and basketball games on Radio Belize. Most of my work was done along with the late Manfred Atkins, who had been the sports reporter at Radio Belize for a long time before me. When I got there they used to give us $15 each to announce a game. But by the time they threw me off Radio Belize in early 1978, my agitation had raised the stipend to $75 apiece. Still, when Michael Hulse, the Permanent Secretary in Deputy Premier C.L.B. Rogers? Ministry of Home Affairs, ?wasted? me, Manfred gave me no solidarity. He and Hulse had been partners a long time before me.

I got on Radio Belize in 1975 because Lindy Rogers and I had cut a deal, made a truce. Rogers was the Minister of Broadcasting, inside his Home Affairs? portfolio. Everal Waight was chief broadcasting officer. Eustace Usher was a big fish. These guys were BBC trained. Chief engineer was Lester Young, with Guy Sandiford next in line. The broadcasting superstar was Seferino Coleman. Announcers were Tom Greenwood and Rene. The chief broadcast technician was Gerald Garbutt. Clifton Hall was a Radio Belize employee.

The place was a government monopoly, a national radio monopoly. Because of the monopoly situation, there were ways enterprising employees could make money. Rene and Norris Hall owned an advertising agency. I know because their biggest clients were probably Matus Brothers, the brewers of Charger beer. Charger advertised heavily on Radio Belize. Between the years 1975 to 1977, I ran the Charger football team, so I saw how the Radio Belize game was played, from the perspective of the advertisers.

Radio Belize was the most hated institution in Belize, because it was a one-sided political monopoly which sat in a building which was a fortress in the center of the city. Every big non-PUP political march had to make a statement at the Albert Cattouse Building. Sometimes the statements were violent. Radio Belize was arrogant and disrespectful. Let the story be told.