For a few hours on December 30, it was like old times at what used to be Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC). Former workers filed into Studio B at the South Odeon Avenue complex that now houses Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica for a reunion that recalled happy times at the Government-run radio and television stations.

JBC went off the air in 1997, purchased by Radio Jamaica Limited, its former rival. Besieged by political interference for most of its 38-year existence, JBC was the training ground for many Jamaican journalists, and considered the standard for modern Caribbean broadcasting.

Broadcasters such as Hugh Crosskill, Tony Patel, and Leonie Forbes started their careers on JBC Television. It was the early stomping ground for disc jockeys Errol “ET” Thompson, Winston Williams, Barrington “Barry G” Gordon and Michael “Mikey Dread” Campbell.

Most of who gathered at the reunion chose to remember the camaraderie they say made JBC a special place to work in the 1970s and 1980s, when the People’s National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) jostled to control its airwaves.

Among them was Patel, who anchored the television news from 1970 to 1992. During a speech, he got emotional about his years at JBC which actually began in 1965 on the complex as an assistant floor manager at the Jamaica Information Service, shortly after leaving Wolmer’s Boys’ School.

“JBC was the university; we trained people and like any university they went out into the world and made a name for themselves. That’s part of the legacy of the JBC,” he said.

Newton James, who returned to Jamaica from Britain in 1972 to work as a senior engineer at JBC, also addressed the packed hall. He hailed the station as “one of the few media houses with facts and it annoyed some political people”.

James, who also served as assistant general manager at JBC, said the company also championed Jamaican culture through locally produced shows.

“What the JBC did was to expose Jamaicans to our culture and made us proud. Look at what’s happening now. When you watch TVJ (Television Jamaica), Jamaicans are minstrels,” he said.

The politics that boiled throughout the 1970s when JLP leader Edward Seaga and his supporters accused JBC of being an arm of the governing PNP exploded shortly after the JLP came to power in a landslide in the October 1980 General Election. The JBC newsroom, which included future government minister Colin Campbell, and academics Hopeton Dunn and Brian Meeks, was purged.

Popular television programmes such as Ring Ding, hosted by Louise “Miss Lou” Bennett-Coverley; and the Here Comes Charlie radio show, hosted by Charles Hyatt, were cancelled. Throughout the 1980s, JBC went through numerous politically appointed changes from which it never recovered.

Dunn attended last week’s function, as did Dr Dennis Howard, who joined JBC in 1980 as a technical operator in radio. He did three stints there, the last being from 1992 to 1996 when he was a television producer and radio announcer.

According to Howard, “JBC is my foundation; it was the best training ground for media and had the most creative and innovative Jamaicans who made sure to pass on all they knew to you. It was a very nurturing environment where you were family. Its contribution to Jamaican culture is immeasurable.”

Some familiar faces who chatted about the old times and danced to the performance of singer Althea Hewitt were Alma Mock Yen, Radcliffe Butler, Keith Campbell, Errol Lee, Gladstone Wilson, Fae Ellington, Ed Wallace, Tomlin Ellis, Jose Walton, Clyde McKenzie, Dianne Ashton-Smith, Wyvolin Gager, Tony Robinson, Ann-Marie Mittoo, and Herman Vernon.