See Pictures from Radio's Past.

1/08/06

11/30/05

5/10/05
Hi Everyone,

I too just stumbled on this page by chance.  I am doing a Masters in Radio in UK but have lived and was mainly educated in Guyana.  As a child I used to wander about the GBS studios (my Mum worked there) getting into the way of people like Uleta Anthony, Joan Greene (Sunshine Corner) and Christopher Dean.

I am currently putting together a documentary using audio clips from my last visit in Guyana (March 2005) and wanted to use some music from some old tapes.  However, for copyright reasons, I need to provide the following information:

Album Title (whether LP, cassette or CD)
Artist (Performer(s)
Album Label (Which company published it)
Any Reference numbers (usually on the side of CDs and begin with Letters followed by numbers) - if a cassette or record - not sure where they would be.

You just know I am not going to find that information in the UK.

1) Beautiful Guyana - Hilton Hemerding.  Anyone know the title of the LP/CD, its label and any reference codes or numbers ?

2) Not sure of the name of the folk group (the XXXX Singers), might be the Police Male Voice Choir, but there are women in the recordings I am thinking of.  They performed songs like Bamboo fire, Me Na dead yet, Small Days, Hear Auntie Bess, See-Tira etc.  Well know recordings with male lead singers and women doing the high notes. Just to jog your memories, they also sang that
tune that goes ...

"One mornin de captain wake,
captain wakey wakey boatman,
boatman wakey wakey bowman,
bowman wake wid de paddle in he han',
all ah want is meh long and strong,
long and strong is too much for me,
long and strong is Etanami ...
AwwwwwwwwAwwwwwwwww ... Captain Captain put me ashore ... etc etc

Help !!!

Ruth-Anne Lynch
rutheybabes@hotmail.com

3/26/05

12/15/04
(A reader looks for recordings of the Guyana Police Male Voice Choir. Can any of us help?)

Dear sir/madam,
I have no additions for your website nor complaints and as a last resort I hope you can help.
I am a Guyanese living abroad and for years now I have been trying to obtain a record with little success. It was played constantly on Radio Demerara in the early 60's hence my reason for contacting you. the record was Guyana folk songs sung by the Guyana Police male voice choir. I have tried the police association but have not gotten a reply.
Could you please help and direct me to where I can obtain a copy either in tape /cd/ 33/dvd or whatever.I would be forever grateful.

Thanking you in anticipation
Yours sincerely
Dallas Williams
Click here if you can help

12/15/04
(Following the death of Bertie Chancellor)

I have known Bertie Chancellor since I was a kid because I frequented Radio Demerara on Shows and Request programs.

Bertie was very reserved but friendly.  I recall being on a Show with him as the Host.  The Show was named 'Shopper's Choice.'  There was another teenager on the Show along with me, and she was so nervous that she was actually trembling because she had never spoken to a microphone.  Bertie just calmly told her to look at him like they were just talking and pretend that the microphone did not exist.  Those words did great justice to her.  It also made an indelible print in my mind.  That is one of my fond memories with him.

May God bless his precious soul.  See you in heaven, Bertie.

Evadne A. Duff nee VanSluytman

12/14/04

Bertie Chancellor, one of the most well-known persons in broadcasting in Guyana died December 9, 2004. He devoted his life to his work.

Hardly anyone knew that his real last name was Jones (Full name: Albert Walter Chancellor Jones) and that the last name Chancellor was  adopted for radio.

Torchbearer
(See above also)

11/13/04

What a fun page. I also have fun memories of Radio in
Guyana.  I remember one program I really loved.  I
think it was called "House of Pressure".  Does anyone
remember this.
(No name)

7/14/04
Thousands Cheer Remembered
Here is a reminder of radio as it used to be in Guyana. Do you remember the major contribution of Lloyd Rohlehr, author of Thousands Cheer (title later changed to We Are Free!), a historical drama specially written for radio in three acts with 16 characters and awarded the First Prize and Special Prize in the Theatre Guild's national competition, Guyana, 1960?

The radio drama was based on the famous Slave Rebellion in Demerara, 1823, and featured the Demerara Martyr, Congregational Minister the Rev. John Smith, who was court-martialled, found guilty and condemned to death but died before such sentence could be carried out.

It was produced by Carlotta Croal for the Theatre Guild and broadcast on June 9, 1961.  There were subsequent broadcasts in May 1966, December 1968 and February 1970 (this time in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago to mark Guyana's Republic Celebrations. Guyana-born Lloyd Rohlehr lived in Trinidad and later in America, currently located in Miami, Florida.

6/24/04

Hi Guys.

 Thanks for this site. I can recall a few shows my mom and dad always listened to, Dr. Paul, which used to be on at eight every weeknight, also Panorama and Action Line. I used to love listening to the theme music of the latter two shows. I have tried but have been unsuccessful in getting the names of these tunes. Can anyone help. Those were wonderful times and memories of Guyana and radio in Guyana.  Thanks again.

ramjit.persaud@sympatico.ca

12/17/03

Just reading some of these stories and looking back over time at some of the 'GREAT VOICE OF RADIO' emanating from Radio Dem. brings back a flood of memories...I can still hear A Khan in the 5am morning show playing "Sahani-raat"...as the cane cutters are leaving for the fields, smoke rising up from the 'cow mouth' and Mom clapping the roti...Yes I'm a black country boy...but what wonderful memories of our beautiful Guyana...thanks guys, thanks for this forum.

Clive Solomon NY

11/01/03

To Readers
From Silvertorch

I thought I would share this with you. It came out some investigation I did following communication with someone with whom I seem to have lost contact.
Ayube Hamid (full name: Ayube Hamid Khan) is, and has been for some time, the major presenter of Indian music on radio. He took over from Akbar Khan. And before Akbar Khan was Azeem Khan, the father of Rafiq Khan.
Incidentally, Rafiq Khan, who went on to occupy the pinnacle of radio broadcasting in Guyana, got his start in radio while working along with his father.

SilverTorch Editor

8/26/03

I’m late but I just heard that Pancho Carew died in 1999. I liked Pancho and thinking about him brings back a lot of memories.  I first knew him as MC/DJ  of Combo Seven (Des Glasford’s band).  Names like Butch Parmanand,  Byron Lee of Jamaica, Dave Martins from Barbados come up when I think about Pancho. He went everywhere in Guyana and the islands promoting emceeing and dejaying. And he had great West Indian connections in the music world. For me, he was an important part of the GBS. Those were the days. He did some funny things. I always remember a picture of Pancho in a dhoti when Lata Mangeshkar went to Guyana.

Pancho was my boy.

Ellie Evans (formerly Chance)

7/28/03

Hi,

I stumbled on your informative page by accident and while reading the names it brought back memories of a by gone era. The history is very interesting and it brought out many facts that I did not know. The internet is wonderful for communication and this is a fine example.

There is one insertion that I would like to make. I remember Allan Martindale's contribution to Radio. 'Cook up' was in the (9am to 1pm) slot and was the brain child of Pat Cameron. She specifically tailored this program for Allan. Towards the Dawn was the Joint services Military Radio program that was the first broadcast of a regularly scheduled show after midnight. This was 12.00 am to 2.00am Monday to Friday. In addition to Best by Request when Pancho was unavailable. Others include Man in the Street, and News Documentaries incuding the Year in Review.  Allan was also a continuity announcer/producer.

Keep up the Good work.  Warmest regards

7/8/2003
Radio Broadcasting in Guyana--from Brenda Chester DoHarris
 
   I think that radio was an important element in firing the Guyanese imagination and bringing us closer together.  I remember the fifties' radio soap opera, "A Second Spring" which I have not seen recorded on this website and which I mentioned in my book, The Coloured Girl in the Ring.  This soap was always introduced with the words (which I still remember well after forty-five years): "Can a woman who has once loved completely ever find... true love again?  Can she find... A Second Spring?"   In the background, a male group, sounding like a trio, softly sang "Beautiful Dreamer."
      A Second Spring followed the long drawn out trials and fortunes of two star-crossed lovers named Christine Harding and Wade Morgan.  Often, they came within a hair's breath of living happily ever after, but always some event would occur which at the last moment would appear to doom their love. I remember that Christine Harding had an aunt called Aunt Bess to whom she would cry long and plaintively whenever she felt sad about some setback.  My father, who thought that A Second Spring was rubbish, was often very irritated by her crying, and when Christine wept, he would "steupse" his teeth and say, "Dis damn woman always cryin' on di blasted radio every night!"
     Yet every week night at seven, my mother and I would creep close and "watch" the Phillips radio to follow the events that clouded Christine's life.  By way of radio, my father had Ramadin and Valentine--and we had Christine and Wade.
     Occasionally, some woman whom we did not know would be passing our house and, hearing the "Beautiful Dreamer" theme song, she would come into the yard, carefully avoiding our "rice-eater" which was barking fiercely, run up the front steps, and ask if she could listen to "her story" since she would not be able to make it home on time.  My mother would invite her in and offer her a Morris chair.  (Try doing that for a stranger today and people would think you were crazy). Then we all would huddle around the set and later comment at length on the story's events and their possible outcome.  All along our street at seven, women (and some men)  would pause to hear the next installment.  After all, in the fifties, we had no television and if you did not count the cost of the radio licence, A Second Spring was free.
      I was between ten and twelve when I listened to A Second Spring, and I'm convinced that such stories (Portia Faces Life, A Man Called Shepherd, Aunt Mary-- billed as "a human story about real people") as trifling as they now appear, stimulated my creative imagination and later serious interest in writing and teaching fiction.
     Thank you for the opportunity to travel back through the years to a better time and place.

Brenda Chester DoHarris

Editor's note: Brenda Chester DoHarris made insightful contributions to the radio program "Analysis" during the period 1977-1979.
She is also the author of "The Coloured Girl in the Ring."

5/30/03

About Keith Barnwell

When I was a young beginning broadcaster in the UK in 1971, I had the chance to work with a Guyanese broadcaster at BBC Radio Humberside named KEITH BARNWELL. He had worked with GBS before coming to England, and evidently
returned to GBS after we parted that summer of 1971, when I came to the USA. Is Keith Barnwell still in Radio in Guyana?

Still curious after all these years. I've been involved in radio Programming in Florida for many years now, but always wondered about Keith!

Thank you
Arthur Crofton
www.wejz.com

From Silvertorch ed.:
To all readers: If you can help, please click here.

And Keith turns up on 7/14/03

From Keith Barnwell

By the merest brush of luck I happened to be on the net looking for friend from Guyana, Malcolm Sonaram. The system I was using amazed me and led me to wonder if such obscure people like malcolm could be found by mention what would the system throw up about me. You now know the result. I have been back in Hull for many years , although sadly not in radio. I have reached that time in like when nostalgia is a serious hobby and would love to hear at length from you and all my friends from the past.

Keith Barnwell
keith@sx-glo.com

11/29/2002

Growing up my name was actually one of the most popular ones.  As a kid I used to write lots of letters to the Program 'Children's Choice' which was hosted by Uncle James on Saturday mornings.  At a period this program held the 'Ovaltine Bicycle Contest.'  Every week one letter would be randomly selected and that lucky child received a bicycle.  I wrote lots of letters because I wanted to win a bicycle very much.  Regretfully it was never picked for that prize.  But it would always be the letter afterwards which was always awarded another prize.  This hurt my feelings very much because my parents could not afford to buy me a bicycle. I was also hurt because I was always over protective of the Radio Announcers - everytime my mother increased the volume, I kept going quietly and lowering it.  This was due to the fact, that I thought that she had the announcers speaking loudly, thus straining their voices. Then after the competition was over, I started to save to buy my own bicycle.  Then one day, one of my friends asked me how much had I saved, when I told her she laughed so much that I was hurt once again and stopped saving.  The amount I had saved to that point was .11 cents. 
I then ventured out to 'On Show Young Guyana' with Aunty Pat, then 'Teens Ville' with Roland Phillips, and all the other request Programs with Pancho Carew and Robin Deodat.

Evadne VanSluytman-Duff

9/20/02
Hi,

I left Guyana in 1975 and remembered the good oldies playing on the radio. I was lucky to visit and tour the stations and meet a lot of the announcers and we became friends. I used to help Bernice Mansell with the needy children's fund everytime around Christmas. I would like to know if she is still around and how I could contact her. Also is Bertie Chancellor around? We used to correspond when I was living in Guyana. In 1994 I went to Guyana for a vacation and saw him at the Radio Station.Also is Rovin Deodat, Ray and Ron Robinson still around? Please let me know how I can contact them.

Thanks,
Mary Pimento-Das. (In Florida)

Hi Mary:

I can see you have great memories. Bertie is still at the GBC on High Street in Georgetown and may be contacted there. Ron Robinson works in televison, I believe. Of course, he still produces "The Link Show" and comes to New York at least once a year to stage it. I'm going to try to get as much contact information as possible and let you know by e-mail.

James

8/5/02

To Silvertorch:

Missing from your list of radio voices is Nigel Martin. He is my husband and was on air from 1989 - 1992. He was very popular on the VOG's "Happy Birthday To You", and he served as host of "Good Morning Guyana" for about one year (during Matthew Allen's illness and after Matthew died). He also partnered with Margot Pieters on the 7:30p.m. News Beat. Also, he was the only male that I know of that hosted "Woman, Home, and Family" for almost one month in 1991 doing an informative piece on pregnancy.Coincidentially, I was pregnant at that time with our first
child. Now that impressed me! Women loved him for that program and to this day he thanks Margaret Lawrence for giving him that opportunity.

Barbara

7/15/02

Hi James:

I just remembered John Fernandes, the old man. He had a broadcast every Sunday. It was not a lively broadcast. You had to love him to tune in every Sunday. But do you know what? Many people who knew him personally loved him. He was a great man with a big heart. That's how I remember him.

Nelly Jones
Briarwood, New York.

7/5/02

Hi Silvertorch:

Among my memories of radio in Guyana, I remember B. L. Crombie on Radio Demerara. B.L. lived for sport. There was nobody like him at that time. He alone covered everything. He was on the air early in the morning and late at night. I wonder how he did it.
Another thing I remember is Music From McKenzie with Rafiq Khan on Sundays. This was a great classical music program. He was up there with the best in the world. Where is he now? I know B.L. died.
Keep up the good work.

Terry Shields
Los Angeles, CA

Editor's note:  Rafiq Khan now resides in Jamaica, West Indies.

6/19/02

Enough recognition cannot be given to our pioneer radio broadcasters who provided the public with wholesome entertainment, news and educational topics. In some rural parts of Guyana, radios were the only links people had with the outside world.
I fondly recall an outstanding program that was aired in the early 1970s. It kept listeners glued to their Murphy, Bush, Grundig and Phillips radios just like how the miniseries "Roots" did to TV viewers. "Super Sleuth" produced by James Sydney transformed the populace into contemporary Hercule Poirots and Sherlock Holmeses. This innovative program prompted national participation. Responses came from far and wide; everyone tried to provide information that could solve mysteries like (1) The location of the oldest tombstone (2) Identifying the couple with the most amount of children (3) Finding the oldest living person.
Perhaps we should revive and support a program like this one. If it does not succeed in proving that public entertainment can be fun without pushing sex, violence and immoral behavior it may motivate some couch potatoes to become growing plants. What is your opinion?

Maurice Pahalan
Brooklyn, New York

6/16/02

Dear Silvertorch:

I remember so many things about radio in my youth, I could write a book. But nobody else seems to remember this one. It was a thriller about firemen on radio, and I think it was on at midday on Radio Demerara. I can hear in my head how one of the men received a call then started the siren at the fire station. The other men would slide down a long pole to get to the fire truck, and then I can hear them taking off for the fire. At the fire station, somebody would shout "Let's go firefighters." But I don't remember the name of the series. Help! Does anybody know?

Sammy Beckles
Brooklyn, New York

6/12/02

     Radio Broadcasting in Guyana

Hi!
Nice effort on the web! I particularly enjoyed the history section.
My memory is hazy but here is some information:

My father the late Mr Sugrim Singh of Georgetown was an announcer on the old ZFY in Brickdam hosting an East Indian musical program called "Bose's Indian Hour"
(Subhas Chandra Bose was an Indian hero in India). He remembered another announcer pouring Coca Cola down the front of his shirt while he was broadcasting! He was a secondary school teacher then and later became a lawyer
and legislator in the Interim Govt of 1953-54.

Sometime in the late 50's he resurrected Bose's Indian Hour on a Monday night at Radio Demerara with the opening theme consisting of the song "Sohani Raat"..I think it was a shortlived effort of no more than 2 years.

This may be of interest

Ranjit
_________________
Dr Ranjit Singh MD
Neurologist
Guelph,Ontario