The Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (BCB) originated as a state-owned radio service in 1937, some 15 years after radio broadcasting began in Northern America and Britain. One of the main motivations for the service was to provide hurricane warnings to the far-flung out island of The Bahamas. The colonial government launched ZNS (call letters stand for Zephyr Nassau Sunshine) as part of the Telegraph Department, just in time for the coronation of Britain’s King George V, on May 12, 2937. By the end of May, ZNS was broadcasting two hours a day using a 500-watt transmitter. Programming consisted of BBC news, local news culled from Nassau newspapers and musical recordings from BBC.