[1] Jamaica had commercial radio stations since the 1930s, but these were controlled by foreign companies (RJR was owned by the British Rediffusion Group) and programming consisted of imported shows and music.
In the early days of the JBC, the corporation had a resident big band featuring musicians such as Ernest Ranglin and Sonny Bradshaw and a drama department producing original programmes.
[3] Like the radio station, the aim was to concentrate on Jamaican programming, but financial concerns saw the schedules increasingly filled with programmes imported from the US and the UK.
Government funding for original Jamaican programming was increased, with news and documentary programmes such as Public Eye, and Jamaica's first soap opera, Lime Tree Lane.
The entire newsroom staff were also dismissed for being too critical of conservative positions, and replaced with journalists considered sympathetic to Seaga's government.