While recently listening to a video clip which recalled a sad page in the history of the press in Haïti, I heard the presenter say this when speaking of Radio Haïti-Inter: “…Radio ki té pi ancien nan péyi a”, meaning “…the oldest radio in Haïti”.This caught my attention. For the sake of truth and history it is necessary to remember the following:
On September 17, 1935, Ricardo Widmaier created the first commercial radio station in Haïti at Bois Vernas, HH3W, which would become, a few years later, Radio Haïti (source: Alterradio Facebook). It is therefore Radio Haïti by Ricardo Widmaier which is the oldest commercial radio station in Haïti, contrary to the information circulating on the Web.
According to ayibopost, “from 1941 to 1945, there were 3 radio stations in Port-au-Prince: HH2S, HH3W and HHBM which would later be called MBC”. In 1949, Radio Caraïbes was founded, with its studios at Ruelle Chavannes.
Subsequently, during the 1950s, other radio stations emerged, such as Antoine Rodolphe Hérard’s Radio Port-au-Prince, whose studios were at one time under the stands of the Stade Sylvio Cator, Radio Tropique which was previously called Radio Fides which Raymond Dambreville bought from the Catholic Church in 1953 and which established its studios in Lalue, Radio Commerce which was created in the early 1950s under the government of General Paul Eugène Magloire whose studios were in Sarthe, Radio Cacique of Jean-Claude Carrié (HH2JC) which had its studios first in Rue Traversière then in Pacot, Radio Lumière of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Haïti, founded in Les Cayes in 1958 etc. According to Alterpresse, there were around twenty radio stations across the country in the 1950s.
According to information collected on the site www.Un.Org, at the end of the 1960s, Jean Dominique worked at Radio Haiti as a reporter. At that time, the station’s studios were located on Grand-Rue upstairs from the Step-Over store and the Pharmacie Bleue, not far from Rue des Miracles. In 1971, Jean Dominique bought Radio Haïti which he renamed Radio Haïti-Inter. Subsequently, he transferred the station’s studios to 105 Rue du Quai, upstairs from Trans World Trading then to the upper part of Delmas.
On March 8, 1970, Herby Widmaier (HH2W), son of Ricardo Widmaier and Roland Dupoux (HH2RX) created Radio Métropole. They were later joined by Bob Lemoine (HH2BV). The Radio Métropole studios were then located at the lower part of Rue Pavée. They were subsequently transferred to Delmas 52.
All these stations broadcast on the mid-band in Amplitude Modulation (AM). Around 1972, 73 Radio Métropole revolutionized radio in Haiti by being the first commercial station to broadcast in Frequency Modulation (FM) and stereo.
Gérard Luc Jean-Baptiste (HH2GB)
https://www.facebook.com/HH2RCH
73
Jean-Robert Gaillard
President
Radio Club D’Haïti
P.O.Box 1484
Port-au-Prince,
Haïti
EMail: hh2rch@yahoo.com
Also available in Español (Spanish).