The Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas (ZNS) released the following statement on Thursday, October 24th, 2019, after learning about the passing away, early on Thursday morning, of 82 year-old Broadcast pioneer, former Senator and High Commissioner, Calsey Johnson. Dr. Johnson, has been noted as being especially proud to be a son of Eleuthera, from the settlement of Hatchet Bay.
“Today is a very sad day for the Broadcasting fraternity and the family of The Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (aka ZNS), as we learned early this morning of the passing of a Broadcast pioneer, Former Senator and High Commissioner, Dr. Calsey Johnson.
Dr. Johnson’s tenure at ZNS was long, varied and one for the promotion of excellence in broadcasting. He along with several others were instrumental in the development of Radio and the introduction of Television Broadcasting in The Bahamas.
His first career break came in 1966, when he traveled to Kingston, Jamaica to cover the 8th British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
In 1969, Calsey was awarded a two-year in-service scholarship to study Broadcast Journalism and Radio/Television Production at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Toronto, Canada. On his return in 1971, he was appointed News Director.
In 1972, he conceived and hosted the Radio programme “Contract.” In that year, he also inaugurated “Tell It Like It Is” a one-hour programme with Cabinet Ministers as guests. He also hosted the programme, “Action Line.”
In 1972, he was chosen by the Broadcasting Corporation to launch ZNS’ Northern Service located in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Dr. Johnson worked in Freeport for two years as Station Manager and he maintained the same title when he returned to Nassau in 1974. Shortly afterwards, he was promoted to General Manager of the Corporation.
For Dr. Johnson, the introduction of Television in The Bahamas on July 10th, 1977 was considered one of the highlights of his career. Later that year, on October 20th, 1977 ZNS-TV was officially opened by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
After his fourteen-year stint as General Manager, from 2002-2007, Dr. Johnson became the Executive Chairman of The Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas.
Upon his retirement from the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas, Dr. Johnson spent time in business and then in politics, where he served as Senator and Bahamas High Commissioner in Ottawa, Canada.
On behalf of the Executive Chairman, Board of Directors, Management and Staff of The Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (past and present), we send our sincerest condolences to Mrs. Johnson and the entire Johnson family on the passing of a Bahamian broadcast giant.”
Source:
Executive Management
The Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas (ZNS)
October 24th, 2019
