We have witnessed this week the untimely closing of a pillar in our community.

Defontes Broadcasting Limited closed after a sterling period of 34 years of radio and television service.

Historically, the emergence of Defontes Broadcasting on to the landscape in 1981 was concurrent with the absorption of ZBM radio and television and ZFB radio and television into the Bermuda Broadcasting Company Limited.

Capital Broadcasting Company Limited owned and operated ZFB radio and television under the prolific leadership of Montague Sheppard.

Mr Sheppard had revolutionised broadcasting in Bermuda when he launched ZFB radio in a small cottage on Berkeley Road, Pembroke. So dynamic was the station that the public demanded the company go into television, which it did with even greater impact.

One should not despair by virtue of these changed circumstances as they are truly reflective of the cosmic changes that have occurred in the field of broadcasting, telecommunications and the print media both locally and internationally over the past two decades.

During my extended tenure as a journalist and broadcaster over the past seven decades, I have seen well-established print and broadcast media, along with longstanding and well-established members of my fraternity, come and go.

We witnessed the demise of the Bermuda Recorder in 1975 after 50 years of pristine service. Then was the demise of Fame Magazine, which was published by the late June Pitt Masters Augustus; the Bermuda Times newspaper from 1987 to 1995; the Mid-Ocean News from 1961 to October 2009; and the Bermuda Sun from 1964 to 2014.

To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose. The advent of the internet over the past two decades has significantly impacted and shifted the paradigm as to how we communicate individually, collectively and globally.

This seismic shift has dwarfed many members of the print and broadcast media worldwide.

For instance we saw the passing of Newsweek magazine and as well as that of the giant New York Herald Tribune.

For varying reasons Bermuda is no exception; its media has steamrollered its way into the social fabric of our lives. We rely upon it so significantly that we cannot now live without it. These demographic changes are both constant and real circumstances over which we have no control.

Yes, it is true that Defontes Broadcasting shall no longer exist. It is also true that we shall no longer be entertained by the dynamic and experienced voices of Bryan Darby, Shirley Dill and other distinguished members of that fraternity, which served this community in many exceptional ways. We will always remember Shirley Dill as an attractive member of the staff at Spurling Hill Drugstore.

When Defontes came on the scene, she went up the hill, two blocks away, launching her successful career as a broadcaster.

Bryan Darby will remember his stint as a part of the ZFB news team. Yours truly was news director. His particular area of responsibility was for ZFB FM radio. He went exclusively to Defontes when it began.