 Apart from Governor Smallman the St
Helena Government was represented by the Chief Secretary and  Chief Treasurer. Among the 60 guests
you would find the entire staff of Radio St Helena, including all the dedicated volountary
producers. Cable & Wireless was represented by its General Manager George Stevens, its
chief engineer and technical manager. Among the guests were also the long-time St Helena
expert Manfred Rippich from Germany, now on his second visit to St Helena.
 A
speech was held by Radio St Helena Station Manager Tony Leo, explaining the birth and
history of the annual shortwave transmission and the impact this event has had on
worldwide promotion of St Helena.  He
emphasized the constant development of the initial idea, taking the recent addition of an
interactive web-page as an example of the constant flow of new ideas.
Governor Smallman confirmed the importance of the transmission, stating
that this was a very cost-effective way of promoting the  island. In fact, Governor Smallman had made a speech over the air at the
beginning of the transmission and had then indeed stayed in the studio for the rest of the
transmission. He assured he would be there next year again for the mere pleasure of it. It
had been a particular pleasure having a young girl from the UK phoning in, telling about
her very pleasant stay on the island and sending a greeting to the Governor. It did not
take the Governor very long to return the greeting, he was in fact just a few inches from
the microphone! Mr Smallman then presented two handmade wooden plate ingravings to John
and Jan in appreciation of their efforts to promote St Helena. The inscription reads:
-This is being prepared to (John Ekwall/Jan Tunér) in appreciation of your outstanding
work in promoting Radio St Helena and the island in general. To commemorate your visit in
the 30th anniversary of Radio St Helena - 1967-1997.-
 In his speech Jan Tunér
thanked the Governor and Radio St Helena for their kind gift and appreciation, stating
that the annual transmission was unique in many ways. Not only that it is an annual
shortwave transmission from a small and isolated community. It is also a most unique
combination of the old and the modern.  Sending out a flea-powered shortwave programme in
an old-fashioned manner, the broadcast is also connected to the most modern fashion of
communications - the Internet. And even more so: it is a truely interactive communication,
with listeners given the opportuinty of an international phone-in, ability to follow the
broadcast on the screen and indeed to send e-mails. He also declared that the St Helena
web-page has a life of its own. Initially the majority of callers were dx-ers and hams.
These are soon outnumbered by bothanists, geneaologists, adventure travellers and so
forth. The once-intended radio web page has become The St Helena info centre.
 John Ekwall went on to
explain how the Internet works and how it is progressing, the net not being available on
the island yet. He also stated that being on vacation he could not present a weather
forecast for the forthcoming holiday season but he did promise that the island would be free from snow on
December 25th.
The celebration was continued at The Exile´s Club in the Briars, hosted by George
Stevens of Cable & Wireless.
John Ekwall & Jan Tunér
Click on the pictures for a larger view.. |
