A fascinating look back 60 years ago to 1953 and the radio stations that could be heard from Africa has just been released by the Radio Heritage Foundation at www.radioheritage.com.

You’ll find a complete list of stations along the dial from the African continent from Algeria and the Tangier International Zone in the north to the Union of Africa and Mozambique in the south, and other places in between.

Most of these pre-independence radio stations and even countries no longer exist. This was a period less than 10 years after the end of WWII when broadcasting was in its early days in the region.

The dominance of South Africa on medium wave [AM] is pronounced, along with the major use of shortwave. But, most countries simply did not have a local radio station of any kind.

Former Portuguese territories such as Angola and Mozambique had growing numbers of stations, Nigeria had just two, Southern Rhodesia had a well developed network on mediumwave, and British forces and American AFRS stations could be found in places like Libya, Eritrea and Kenya. North Africa had emerging networks, but French Equatorial Africa and French West Africa were largely lacking in stations, relying on Radio Brazzaville from the Congo for service.

Retro Radio Dial Africa 1953 is the latest of a new series exploring the global radio dials at important times during the last century. This is the first of a new series looking at radio broadcasting in 1953; others to come include the Philippines and the Middle East.

You’ll also find popular movies of 1953, the top 20 songs of the year, and recommended reading about the Africa of this era as well as useful facts which all help contribute to understanding the context of the 1953 radio dial in Africa.