We take great pleasure in focusing on Montague Egbert Sheppard as our Black History Month feature for this week. ‘Monty’ or ‘Shep’ as he became better known and respected at home and abroad, was the man who revolutionised public radio broadcasting in Bermuda. Within months, after finally getting in orbit with his radio concepts, they were so well received there was a public demand that he do similarly for television.

That was back in 1960 when he returned home from the US, having qualified as a radar, radio and television technician working with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) Institute. At RCA he worked on the so-called DEW Line (Direct Early Warning) — a defence system the Americans had put in place.

When Monty made it known he wanted to start his own radio station he was ridiculed as a young black upstart, laughed at by Bermuda Broadcasting Company or ZBM people who pointedly enquired about what he was going to do antenna-wise and studio-wise. It became even more comical when the response was psychologically insinuated about utilising ZBM facilities.

The broadcasting company was then owned jointly by the Bermuda Press, Mid-Ocean News and the white Front Street oligarchs.

However, the disposition of the detractors changed radically when they realised how far advanced and equipped Monty was. He moved to incorporate Capital Broadcasting Company which would have been Bermuda’s first black-owned and operated broadcasting entity. At that stage the detractors engaging their powerful representatives in the House of Assembly set in place a Commission to investigate whether or not Bermuda could support a second radio station.

The Commission was discredited from the outset, when the man appointed as its chairman was forced to step down after Mr Sheppard publicly disclosed the number of shares he owned in ZBM and the potential conflict of interest.

The coast was now clear for ZFB-1 to get underway. Monty had made personal appearances before the Wireless and Telegraph Board. He satisfied them with information they had demanded regarding the frequency needed to operate, ensuring it would not be too loud for Bermuda; also about the studio location and equipment, the power for his transmitter, which he built himself.

Monty’s father Frederick Oliver Sheppard and his wife Isa Ernestine Rabain Sheppard, whose residence was on the crest of Berkeley Hill had made a nearby vacant cottage they owned available for a studio.

The major hurdle was finding a location for the antenna. Many people signed petitions against having it near their residences. Monty stated that every location he thought would be okay was turned down by the Planning Authority. He was finally given a lease for 20 years on a plot Crown Lands Corporation controlled at Spar Yard, located on the south western end of the Dockyard.

At the same time Monty was acquiring and putting in every necessary piece of equipment needed, he was busy recruiting on-air talent and office staff. His concept was to be absolutely different from ZBM. ZFB was to be a bulletin station, reporting news as far as practical, as and where it happened. Gospel music would be featured. There would be telephone interviews ‘speak-your-mind’ telephone talk shows; remote sports reporting directly from the field of play; and other things that had never before done in Bermuda.

The heart of the operation was the sales department and newsroom. Sales was headed by the late Percy Paynter. The news director and later station manager was none other that yours truly, Ira Philip. I was given wide latitude. Every member of the station staff, sales, engineering, etc, was indoctrinated in the belief they were part of the news team ‘in the church of what’s happening now’. The theory was simply — you sell the news, you sell the station.

No two successive newscasts were allowed to go over the air without revision. Foreign news of local interest was recorded from the BBC, Voice of America and the Caribbean, excerpted and inserted into local casts.

The boss was unmistakably Montague. He proved to be a man of tremendous insight and business acumen. He owned, operated or invested in nearly a dozen businesses other than Capital Broadcasting. He was a founder and major shareholder of the Bermuda National Bank. He had directorships in Kirkland Company, and also St George’s Press, Atlantic Broadcasting, Seahorse Trading, Bell Services, Atlantic, Bermuda and Caribbean Co.

Also, he had shareholdings in the Bermuda Sun, Island Press, and Bank of Bermuda. Much of his interest was centred in the Caribbean where he went into the shipping industry, leasing and or owning ships trading to Spain and Porto Rico. He owned ocean-going ships, one of which he named Monique after his beloved daughter. She is pictured above with her father.

In Nassau he bought, sold and rented housing units.

He also purchased property at Well Bottom, Southampton, which he spent considerable time excavating after he had retired from active participation in his local businesses.

Monty was a most popular, sought after man, being embraced socially, culturally and politically. He was nominated and elected a Common Councillor on the Corporation of Hamilton. He was elected a director of the Chamber of Commerce. He was appointed a member of various government boards including the Bermuda Civil Aviation Board, Public Vehicle License Board, and a governor on the Board of Bermuda Technical Institute.

The second day of August 1962 was a red letter day for Bermuda. That’s when the much vaunted radio station of Monty Sheppard signed on the air for the first time. Its call letters were ZFB-1. That day career paths that eventually became truly fantastic were opened for a host of talented black Bermudians and a few whites. A few we risk naming included a fellow whose on-air name was a household word. He was Cy (Cyril) Hall, who was ‘hot’.

Also, there was Al Seymour tagged as Bermuda’s ‘Edward R. Murrow.’ Others included Marlene Butterfield (later Landy), Lee Stovell, Kelly Zuill, Sturgis Griffin, Danny Griffin, Bill Burchall (deceased) (Shorty Junior), Lee Harvey, Florence Webb, later Maxwell, George (Big G) Smith and of course Percy Paynter (deceased).

The foregoing were just a few who were joined by a host of other celebrities-in-the making when ZFB-TV came on line, including Ann Daniels, Lee Tucker, Michael Corbin (deceased); the great Joe L. Brown, Everard Davis, Eugene Rayner, Gene Pearman, Winston J.R. Jones, Glen Blakeney (later the Government Minister), Victoria Prime, Sydney Robertson, Vince Dyer, Brian Large (deceased) and Doreen Buckle (later Lightbourne and deceased). Just naming a few who have readily come to mind.

As we indicated earlier, Monty Sheppard was spread thin. We wondered if he ever slept. But one thing we know for sure, his many detractors in all likelihood had more sleepless nights figuring how to block Monty.

The once extrovert ‘Shep’ is now in his early eighties. He is reticent, and an introvert of the first order, we must respectfully state in passing.