(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The Kuwaitis, since early times of the past century, have been attracted to news sources and means namely the radio which turned particularly necessary with outbreak of the World War II.
At these old times, a countable number of people possessed these devices, thus citizens used to gather at "diwaniahs" to tune in radio stations, namely London radio, Cairo and Baghdad radios.
It was the Kuwaiti, Izzat Jaafar, who operated the first radio transmitter in the country. It was located at Dasman and used to broadcast songs, however it did not last for a long period of time. Soon, the citizens' living standards improved, particularly with oil discoveries, and number of those possessing radios increased.
The Kuwaiti Mubarak Al-Mayal, who served in the military wireless sector, succeeded in setting up a new station, with half megawatt power, aided by a Pakistani technician, Mohammad Khan Tufail. After obtaining permission from Sheikh Abdullah Al-Mubarak, who was in charge of public security at the time, they began broadcasting throughout country.
"This is Kuwait;" it was Al-Mayal's first words, broadcast at 7 p.m. on May 12, 1951, signaling birth of Kuwaiti Radio. In the beginning, broadcasting was restricted to two hours only, but soon he succeeded in extending the transmission hours gradually and employed more people to aid him.
In 1958, two experts were employed, and the pair tangibly helped in developing the station. A year later, the transmitted programs diversified with, "what the listeners want," "the night story teller" and the "week story." Listeners used to be entertained between 7 p.m. and 10.30 p.m.
In 1960, the radio station was developed further and two 5-kw transmitters were installed - power of which to be doubled very soon. In June the same year, the radio transmitted the first news broadcast, and broadcasting hours increased to six per day and later to 10. In October, the broadcasting was extended to more than 16 hours. On Fridays, the station worked throughout the day till midnight, with four news casts.
A year later, when the country proclaimed independence, the station markedly developed, with larger staff, more studios and installment of 100 kw transmitters. It highlighted the eventful independence and cables of congratulations Kuwait received on the national occasion.
Also in 1961, the radio station proved to be instrumental and vital for enhancing patriotic feelings among the natives, when the then Iraqi premier, Abdulkareem Kassem, threatened the country.
The radio continued to develop markedly in 1964, with more programs, but in the 80s, it was shifted to the information complex, where state-of-art equipment were installed, while the management worked out programs to train the staff.
The station broadcast to remote countries and regions, namely Australia, New Zealand, the far east and southern Asia.
In August 1990, the country witnessed the blatant Iraqi aggression, thus posing a major challenge to the national radio, however the occupiers failed to silence it, and it shifted to Al-Khafji, neighboring Saudi Arabia, where the staff urged the people under occupation to steadfast, and called on the country's friends and brothers to side along Kuwait in face of the aggressors. Soon, during the occupation times, the radio was relocated to Al-Dammam.
"This Liberated State of Kuwait Radio," that was the opening term for restoring broadcasting locally on February 28th, 1991. It was Hussein Al-Mulla who announced that "Kuwait is free and will remain free forever." Al-Mulla made this announcement from a tiny device he operated from the Kuwaiti region, Kabad, on February 28th, 1991, when the country was liberated. At these times, the radio station headquarters was in ruins, being ransacked and demolished by the occupiers.
In 1993, Kuwait Radio was re-established and re-organized, restoring its role as the mouth of the nation. Nowadays, it ranks among the most acclaimed radio stations in the Arab world and the globe, with diverse programs.
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