Minaminihon Broadcasting

On December 12, 1952, the then president of Minaminihon Shimbun, Yoshitaka Hatakata, proposed the idea of setting up a private broadcast in Kagoshima Prefecture. The original plan for its station was to have a transmission power of 3,000 watts, with which it could cover the whole of mainland Kagoshima Prefecture, the southern part of Kumamoto and Miyazaki Prefectures, and the south-western Kagoshima Islands.[7]^: 15As plans for the new broadcaster were known to the public, there were initial opposition from the then governor of Kagoshima Prefecture, Shigenari Tadasu, and local investors, as they believed there's no need to establish a private broadcaster in the prefecture. After Yoshitaka Hatakata convinced the prefectural government and local investors to establish a private broadcaster, that decision was reversed.[7]^: 15On January 31, 1953, Radio Minaminihon held its first general meeting, in which local investors from the prefecture participated.[7]^: 15To allow the Amami Islands (which were under US rule at the time) to receive broadcast signals from mainland Japan, Radio Minaminihon was permitted to transmit at 3,000 watts, the only broadcaster at that time in Japan to transmit at that rate.[7]^: 16