The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), formerly Radio Ceylon, is the oldest radio station in South Asia, and was founded as Colombo Radio in 1925. Edward Harper who was then the "Chief Engineer" at the Telegraph Department in 1921, was the first person who initiated experimental broadcasts in Ceylon. The first ever broadcast on an experimental basis took place in 1923. Gramophone music was played from the Ceylon Telegraph Office with the aid of a transmitter built by engineers of the Telegraph Department. The transmitter was built using radio equipment from a captured German submarine. Ceylon began a broadcasting service three years after the launching of broadcasting services in Europe.