Our late participant Ilona Eustatia told us a remarkable story about this turntable and the legendary Horatio Hoyer who started his own record label in 1948.

“My family bought a lottery ticket and they won this turntable. It was the first one in the neighborhood. Everybody would come to our family’s house on the weekend to dance and have a good time.” In 1948 shop owner Horatio Hoyer became the first person to press local music records on the island: his Hoyco label issued more than 150 individual records, pressed in numbers of about 500 to 1000 each.

Most were sung in Papiamentu: Cuban-influenced bands playing tumbas and merengues, but also tambú and instrumental waltzes. In 1955 Hoyer started radio station Radio Hoyer and no longer had time for the label. Radio Hoyer is still in existence today and was the first radio station to broadcast in Papiamentu.”