Marshall Islands government radio neglected and broken

12:30 pm on 22 February 2016
A tropical beach in the Marshall Islands

A tropical beach in the Marshall Islands Photo: Supplied

Most of the Marshall Islands can't hear the government radio station and people are getting fed up.

The AM station, which used to have the power to be heard on atolls 600 miles distant from the capital Majuro, has been slowly deteriorating over the years.

Our correspondent Giff Johnson says there are even parts of Majuro now that can't pick up either the AM of FM signals.

Giff Johnson says through a lack of maintenance and prioritising, the equipment has become unreliable.

Last week the AM signal went off completely for about seven days and Giff Johnson says it's brought things to a head.

"But it's just come to a point where's it gotten so bad that now there seems to be quite a bit of focus on it from the new government that's come into office in the last few weeks to try to see if they can get some improvements to it."

Giff Johnson says radio is the traditional communications link to the outer islands and it's important for getting emergency messages out.