View source for ZIZ

{{Short description|National broadcaster of St. Kitts & Nevis}}
{{other uses|Ziz (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox broadcasting network|
| name = ZIZ
| image = File:ZIZ-TV.jpg
| image_size = 150px
| caption = TV service logo
| type = National broadcaster
| airdate = {{ubl|1935 (shortwave){{sfn|Inniss|1979|p=63}}|5 March 1961 (relaunch; radio)<ref name=hmso>{{PD notice|{{cite book |author1=Great Britain [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]] |title=St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla: Report for the Years 1959–1962 |date=1966 |publisher=[[His Majesty's Stationery Office]] (HMSO) |page=63 |url=https://google.com/books/edition/St_Kitts_Nevis_Anguilla_Report/1w8qAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=ZIZ+St.+Kitts&pg=RA2-PA63&printsec=frontcover |access-date=2024-10-04 |chapter=Broadcasting |via=[[Google Books]] |url-status=live }}}}</ref><!-- Expired Crown Copyright (50+ years old) -->|3 December 1972 (television)<ref name=lent-1977>{{cite book |last1=Lent |first1=John A. |title=Third World Mass Media and Their Search for Modernity: The Case of Commonwealth Caribbean, 1717–1976 |date=1977 |publisher=[[Bucknell University Press]] |location=[[Lewisburg, Pennsylvania]] |isbn=0-8387-1896-5 |page=82 |url=https://google.com/books/edition/Third_World_Mass_Media_and_Their_Search/Hv25dy0K1DAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA82&printsec=frontcover |access-date=2024-10-05 |chapter=The Awakening (1938–44) and After: Radio, Television, Film |url-access=limited |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>}}
| dissolved = ca. 1940 (shortwave)<ref name=press-democrat>{{cite news |last1=Pardee |first1=Mike |title=On the Air Waves: Short-Wave Shorts — May 8 |url=https://newspapers.com/article/the-press-democrat-short-wave-shorts-th/156807348/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=[[The Press Democrat]] |date=1940-05-08 |location=[[Santa Rosa, California]] |page=11 |url-access=limited |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
| tvstations = Channel 5<ref name=labour-spokesman>{{cite news |title=Prime Minister Dr. Drew to Address the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, September 27, 2024 |url=https://thelabourspokesman.com/prime-minister-dr-drew-to-address-the-united-nations-general-assembly-on-friday-september-27-2024/ |access-date=2024-10-05 |work=The Labour Spokesman |date=2024-09-27 |archive-date=27 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240927212810/https://thelabourspokesman.com/prime-minister-dr-drew-to-address-the-united-nations-general-assembly-on-friday-september-27-2024/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| radiostations = 95.9, 96.1, 96.3, and 96.9 FM<ref name=labour-spokesman/> 
| former_callsigns = VP2LO (shortwave, 1935–1939){{sfn|Inniss|1979|p=63}}
| headquarters = [[Basseterre]]
| country = [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]]
| owner = [[Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis]]
| website = {{URL|https://zizonline.com}}
}}
'''ZIZ Broadcasting Corporation''' (ZBC), commonly referred to as '''ZIZ''',{{sfn|Daniel|2001|p=4}} is the national broadcasting service of [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]] in the [[West Indies]]. Originating in 1935 as the shortwave station VP2LO, it adopted its present-day callsign in 1939 but went off the air shortly after; it relaunched on the AM format in 1961, and expanded to television in 1972. A [[Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis|government-owned]] service and a member of the [[Caribbean Media Corporation]] (CMC), ZIZ carries its programming across four FM frequencies and one TV channel; the AM outlet remained in operation as late as the 2010s.

== History ==
ZIZ is a [[Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis|government-owned]] national commercial broadcaster,{{sfn|Daniel|2001|p=4}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/country_profiles/1202982.stm#media|title=St Kitts and Nevis country profile|date=14 September 2012|access-date=2024-10-05|work=[[BBC News]]|archive-date=15 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015220221/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/country_profiles/1202982.stm#media|url-status=live}}</ref> and is also a member of the [[Caribbean Media Corporation]] (CMC).{{sfn|Daniel|2001|p=134}}

Broadcasting in [[Saint Kitts]] was introduced with VP2KM, an [[amateur radio]] outlet owned by Kenneth Mallalieu, in 1934. VP2KM was succeeded in 1935 by VP2LO, a [[shortwave radio|shortwave station]] which was also the first commercial radio service in the territory.{{sfn|Inniss|1979|p=63}} Airing on 6380 [[Kilocycle|kc.]]<ref name=berg>{{cite book |last1=Berg |first1=Jerome S. |title=The Early Shortwave Stations: A Broadcasting History Through 1945 |date=2013-10-04 |publisher=[[McFarland (publisher)|McFarland]] |isbn=978-0-7864-7411-0 |page=176 |url=https://google.com/books/edition/The_Early_Shortwave_Stations/XSWXAAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Caribbean+broadcasting+call+signs&pg=PA176&printsec=frontcover |access-date=2024-10-04 |chapter=Chapter 3: 1938 |url-access=limited |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{efn|"Kc." stands for [[kilocycle]], whose modern-day equivalent is the [[kilohertz]] (kHz).}} from the town of [[Basseterre]],{{sfn|Inniss|1979|p=63}} VP2LO began with 150 [[watt]]s of transmission power,{{sfn|Inniss|1979|p=63}} which was later increased to 500.<ref name=berg/> It was headed by Administrator D.R. Stewart and launched by two sons of his,{{sfn|Inniss|1979|p=63}} and was "operated by the ICA Radio Sales & Service Laboratories in conjunction with the Caribbean Broadcasting Service".<ref name=berg/> It adopted the new call sign of ZIZ on 21 January 1939,<ref name=bm-gazette>{{cite news |last1=Clarke |first1=H. Thursten |title=The DX Column: Where VP2LO Went |url=https://bnl.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/BermudaNP02/id/103063/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |work=[[The Royal Gazette (Bermuda)|The Royal Gazette and Colonist Daily]] |date=1939-01-21 |page=6 |via=[[Bermuda National Library]] Digital Collection}}</ref>{{efn|Sources differ as to the programming allotment; {{harvnb|Clarke|1939}} gives a 35-minute runtime starting at 5:00 p.m. [[Atlantic Standard Time|AST]], while {{harvnb|Berg|2013}} states its 30-minute schedule ran on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 [[Eastern Standard Time|EST]].}}{{efn|The original VP2LO callsign was reused by a [[Saint Lucia]] outfit in the late 1950s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=L. H. |title=DX Commentary: Calls Heard, Worked and QSL'd: DX Gossip |work=The Short Wave Magazine |date=September 1958 |volume=XVI |page=365 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Short-Wave-UK/50s/SWM-1958-09.pdf#page=31 |access-date=2024-10-04 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=5 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241005060001/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Short-Wave-UK/50s/SWM-1958-09.pdf#page=31 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} but sometime after Stewart's death the following month, the original station went off the air.{{sfn|Inniss|1979|p=63}}{{efn|ZIZ was still cited in foreign publications as late as May 1940.<ref name=press-democrat/>}} 

The service returned to the airwaves as an AM outlet{{sfn|Daniel|2001|pp=71-72}} on 5 March 1961,<ref name=hmso/> serving what was then [[Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla]].<ref name=hmso/> Headquartered in the Springfield neighbourhood of Basseterre,{{sfn|Inniss|1979|p=63}} it was relaunched with £23,000 in [[Colonial Development and Welfare]] funds from 1959,<ref name=hmso/> plus an EC$1.25 million loan from [[Cable & Wireless plc|Cable & Wireless]],{{sfn|Daniel|2001|p=99}} under the presence of [[West Indies Federation]] Governor-General [[Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, 1st Baron Hailes|Lord Hailes]].{{sfn|Inniss|1979|pp=63-64}} Initially carrying a three-hour evening schedule,<ref name=wic-64>{{cite journal |title=From Our Mailbag: St Kitts: Government broadcasting station |journal=Chronicle of the West India Committee |date=March 1964 |page=153 |publisher=[[West India Committee]] |issn=0043-3152}}</ref><!-- From GBooks snippets, continued via WP:RX-provided scan: "Established as a public service only three years ago with a three-hour transmission every evening, 'Z.I.Z.' now broadcasts twice each morning and continues in the evening until 10 pm." --> the revived ZIZ transitioned to airing across two separate sessions (6:45–10:00 [[Eastern Caribbean Time|ECT]] in the morning, and 6:00–10:00 ECT at night)<ref name=hmso/> some three years later.<ref name=wic-64/> The lineup consisted of local shows and imported [[BBC]] material; with special programming, a broadcast day could run up to 15 hours.<ref name=hmso/> An eponymous 1962 song by The Mighty Saint, a local calypsonian, commemorated the relaunch.{{sfn|Daniel|2001|pp=71-72}} Its overnight success was noted by the [[West India Committee]] over the next two years:

{{blockquote|
"Z.I.Z., the St Kitts Government Broadcasting Station, has so rapidly become part of the life of the community that it is hard to imagine public life without it." (1963)<ref name=wic-63>{{cite journal |title=From Our Mailbag: Radio St Kitts |journal=Chronicle of the West India Committee |date=February 1963 |page=92 |publisher=[[West India Committee]] |issn=0043-3152}}</ref>}}
{{blockquote|
"The programme selection is imaginative and varied...[and the] government service is universally praised." (1964)<ref name=wic-64/>}}

Although the revived ZIZ started out as a public service, it would soon switch to a revenue-based commercial format to keep itself on air, a move that "was received with very great regret by many people" in early 1963 according to the Committee.<ref name=wic-63/> By 1979, its power and daily schedule had respectively expanded to 20 kilowatts (up from 660 watts in earlier years) and 17 hours of programming.{{sfn|Inniss|1979|p=64}} In 1984, 60% of ZIZ's schedule was music-oriented; 35% of that amount came from the Caribbean, and the remainder from the U.S. and Europe.<ref name=lent-1990>{{cite book |last1=Lent |first1=John A. |title=Mass Communications in the Caribbean |date=1990 |publisher=[[Iowa State University]] Press |isbn=0-8138-1182-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/masscommunicatio00lent/page/46/mode/2up?q=ZIZ |access-date=2024-10-06 |chapter=U.S. Broadcast Programming Use in the Small Islands |url-access=registration |via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref>{{rp|49}}

ZIZ launched a television division on 3 December 1972; during that decade, it operated one transmitter and four translators across the territory.<ref name=lent-1977/> Throughout the mid-1980s, the station aired 5½ hours of programming every weeknight,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1984-TV-Factbook/TV-Factbook-1984-Other.pdf#page=372 |title=TV & Cable Factbook |chapter=International TV Directory: St. Kitts |page=1386 |number=52 |issn=0732-8648 |date=1984 |accessdate=1 May 2024 |publisher=Television Digest, Inc. |via=World Radio History}}</ref> and ran a separate [[telex]]-based information channel on the island country's newly established cable system.<ref name=lent-1990/>{{rp|47}} In 2001, its lineup aired from 4:00 till 11:00 p.m., switching to [[Freeform (TV channel)|Fox Family]] programming during off hours; in [[Nevis]], the 7:00–11:00 portion carried material from that island's Information Service.{{sfn|Daniel|2001|p=96}} As of 2006, ZIZ was Saint Kitts and Nevis' sole national television channel.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bailey |first1=Chauncey |title=St. Kitts Music Festival Brings Talent to Thousands |url=https://proquest.com/docview/367076169 |access-date=2024-10-05 |work=[[Oakland Post (California)]] |date=2006-07-12 |page=2, 7 |url-access=registration |via=[[ProQuest]]}}</ref>

Foreign programming accounted for 90% of ZIZ Television's offerings in 1975;{{sfn|Daniel|2001|p=99}} with regards to U.S. content, this figure became 60–65% in the 1980s.{{sfn|Daniel|2001|pp=99-100}} Around the turn of the 21st century, the local political opposition saw the station as a government {{linktext|mouthpiece}}, and accused it of denying them airtime.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Veenendaal |first1=Wouter |title=Politics and Democracy in Microstates |date=2015 |orig-date=17 October 2014 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-317-64657-0 |page=pos. 148 |url=https://google.com/books/edition/Politics_and_Democracy_in_Microstates/cIbZBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=ZIZ+St.+Kitts&pg=PT148&printsec=frontcover |access-date=2024-10-05 |chapter=The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis: politics or politricks? |url-access=limited |via=[[Google Books]] |archive-date=5 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241005060005/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Politics_and_Democracy_in_Microstates/cIbZBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=ZIZ+St.+Kitts&pg=PT148&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Availability ==
ZIZ's radio programming is broadcast across four FM frequencies: 95.9, 96.1, 96.3, and 96.9.<ref name=labour-spokesman/> The AM feed began transmission on 570 [[kHz]] in the 1960s,{{sfn|Daniel|2001|p=72}} and was also heard during that period across the British Leeward Islands as well as the neighbouring French and Dutch territories.<ref name=hmso/> It later moved to 555 kHz, and remained there as late as the 2010s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jordan |first1=Brandon |title=DX Worldwide — East: Pan-American DX |work=DX Monitor |date=2010-10-23 |volume=48 |issue=7 |page=9 |edition=1514 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-DX/IRCA-DXM/DXM-Vol-48/DXM_Vol_48_No_07.pdf#page=5 |publisher=International Radio Club of America (IRCA) |location=[[Ocala, Florida]] |issn=0899-9732 |via=World Radio History |access-date=5 October 2024 |archive-date=5 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241005060003/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-DX/IRCA-DXM/DXM-Vol-48/DXM_Vol_48_No_07.pdf#page=5 |url-status=live }}</ref> The television service, which airs on channel 5,<ref name=labour-spokesman/> served the entire [[Leeward Antilles|Leeward archipelago]] in the 1970s<ref name=lent-1977/> and was included in the mid-1984 launch of the national cable system.<ref name=lent-1990/>{{rp|46}} In 1989, it was received on channel 9 in northern St. Kitts Island and channel 13 in Nevis.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Meditz |editor-first1=Sandra W. |editor-last2=Hanratty |editor-first2=Dennis M. |title=Islands of the Commonwealth Caribbean: A Regional Study |date=1989 |series=Area Handbook Series |publisher=Federal Research Division, [[Library of Congress]] |page=472 |url=https://archive.org/details/islandsofcommonw00medi/page/472/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=ZIZ |access-date=2024-10-06 |lccn=88-600483 |chapter=St. Christopher and Nevis: Economy: Role of Government |via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Voice of Nevis]], a radio station serving the eponymous island
*[[Telecommunications in Saint Kitts and Nevis]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
=== General ===
* {{cite book |last1=Inniss |first1=Sir Probyn |title=Historic Basseterre: The Story of Its Growth |date=1979 |publisher=Self-published |location=[[Basseterre]], [[Saint Kitts]] |oclc=10695770}}
* {{cite thesis |url=https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=MQ61320&op=pdf&app=Library&is_thesis=1&oclc_number=1006677678 |last=Daniel |first=Morven I. Alecia |title=American Neocolonialism? The Impact of United States Cable Television on the Culture of St. Kitts |date=2001-04-12 |access-date=2024-10-06 |isbn=0-612-61320-8 |publisher=[[Carleton University]]/[[National Library of Canada]] |via=[[Library and Archives Canada]]}}

=== Specific ===
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://zizonline.com/about-us/ |website=ZIZ Online |access-date=2024-10-05}}
*{{cite web |title=About ZIZ TV |url=https://zizonline.com/tv/about-ziz-tv/ |website=ZIZ Online |access-date=2024-10-05}}

== External links ==
*[http://zizonline.com/ Official site of ZIZ]
*[https://zizonline.com/tv/channel-5/ Official site of ZIZ TV]
{{coord missing|Saint Kitts and Nevis}}

[[Category:Radio stations in the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Television stations in the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Communications in Saint Kitts and Nevis]]
[[Category:Television in Saint Kitts and Nevis]]
[[Category:1930s establishments in Saint Kitts and Nevis]]
[[Category:1930s in radio]]
[[Category:1961 establishments in Saint Kitts and Nevis]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1961]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1972]]
[[Category:State media]]