Radio Turks and Caicos is the official Government radio station. The sole frequency on which it can be heard across the Turks and Caicos Islands is 89.1 FM. Formerly, there were three frequencies broadcasting across the Turks and Caicos Islands: 107.7 FM in Providenciales, 103.9 FM in North and Middle Caicos, and 101.9 FM in Grand Turk, Salt Cay, and South Caicos.
Located in the capital, Grand Turk, the station was originally heard on frequency 1460 AM and was known as “The Voice of the Nation.” Today, we are “The Entertainment Capital of the TCI.”
At RTC, we offer our listeners a unique blend of talk radio, easy listening, up-to-date news, daily shows, and entertainment. Our staff consists of talented artists and musicians who are well known within our listening community. RTC is the only radio station broadcasting across the entire Turks and Caicos Islands, giving us the advantage of reaching a monumental number of listeners throughout the nation. Our listeners are loyal and consistently tune in to RTC for their daily information.
This website was launched on October 12, 2009, “Christopher Columbus Day,” and stunned the nation with over 200,000 hits by the end of that same year. As an evolving station, RTC can now be accessed on smartphones, allowing listeners to take us anywhere in the world by logging on to rtc89fm.com. Through this platform, users can follow our news, entertainment, and sports coverage and, most importantly, listen to us on their mobile phones from anywhere in the world.
RTC is the first radio station in the Turks and Caicos Islands to offer these features and will continue to introduce many more in the future. Our social networks are limitless as we connect with the world through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms available in the TCI.
Through this website, our station affords people the opportunity to vote in polls, express their views through our blog, send greeting cards, purchase items through our E-Store, and watch our television programs through RTC TV, among many other features offered on the site. Our children can also learn about culture and history through the website, providing another avenue for expanding their minds with the help of the greatest station in the nation.
Speaking of history, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Cable & Wireless established and maintained an AM radio station, VSI8, in Grand Turk. At the time, many Turks and Caicos Islanders were living and working in the Bahamas, and they often used the radio station to broadcast messages to friends and relatives back home. These messages were sent in the form of telegrams through telegraph links to Grand Turk, where operators prepared them in time for the lunchtime news. Announcements were made at the beginning of the local news segment. In the case of urgent messages, the entire contents were often read aloud. The radio station also provided up-to-the-minute information on the only international air service to the Turks and Caicos Islands at the time: BAL’s direct flight from Nassau, Bahamas, to South Caicos.
The transmitters and studio for VSI8 were housed in the Cable & Wireless building on Front Street, Grand Turk. In those days, the radio station was the primary medium through which Turks and Caicos Islanders communicated throughout the Islands, as there were no other means of communication besides the mail services provided by the General Post Office.
At that time, the radio station was solely owned and operated by Cable & Wireless. Today, it is owned by the Broadcasting Commission under the Turks and Caicos Islands Government (TCIG). As far back as the 1960s, announcers included Harry Francis, Alden Astwood, Earle Malcolm, Earle Glinton, and Herbie Ingham. During the 1970s, new announcers included Vernon Malcolm, Edison Brooks, Newton Glinton, and Chester Smith, who were also members of Cable & Wireless.
In the 1970s, the Turks and Caicos Islands Government decided to assume responsibility for the station while maintaining its location. It was during this period that William Grant (Garvey) began the 1:30 p.m. Government News, while Cable & Wireless continued its paid news and announcement services.
When TCIG took over VSI8, the station’s name was changed, and Radio Turks and Caicos was officially formed.
In the late 1980s, when the station relocated to Waterloo, the first appointed Director was Sam Tate of CBC Radio Barbados. Other Directors included Richard Williams, Vernon Allick, Lynnette Thomas, and Stanley Astwood, among others. The first Chairman of the Commission was Rev. Reuben Hall.
When RTC became a Government department, the outgoing Board of Directors included Director Christopher Jarrett and Assistant Director Lynnette Thomas, who is now retired. At that time, the Chairman of the Commission was Pedro Ariza.
As the station is a department of the Turks and Caicos Islands Government, the Director reports to the Permanent Secretary, Tamera Robinson, PS of the Ministry of MITE.
The Director can be contacted at cjarrett@gov.tc, or his Deputy, Mr. Damian Wilson, can be contacted via email at ddwilson@gov.tc.
Please continue to explore the site and listen to RTC as we continue to serve and entertain you.