Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) , in association with the Japanese government and their Grant Aid Programme, has upgraded its AM signal.

The new medium wave radio transmission took $15 million and over one and a half years to complete.

Under the project, a 60 metre antenna system was successfully installed with two AM transmitters and related buildings.

With this launch, listeners in every community in Fiji will now be able to tune into clear and dependable AM signals that will broadcast programmes on the country’s two main stations – Radio Fiji One and English language Gold station.

The current medium wave radio broadcast is provided by FBC through a transmitter it acquired in 2000. However, the transmitter faced continuous breakdowns due to aging infrastructure leading to deterioration which resulted in broadcast interruption in 2013.

The Exchange of Notes for the grant aid project was signed by Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and the then Ambassador of Japan Takuji Hanatani in August, 2015.

FBC has also made a documentary on the AM transmitter project:

At the launch function, Prime Minister Bainimarama said that through this upgrade Fiji had now achieved a 100 per cent coverage for all outer islands.

Ambassador of Japan Masahiro Omura, who was also present at the launch, said the threat of natural disasters has been and will be increasing due to climate change and in order to respond swiftly, appropriate transmission of relevant information is crucial.