The station was started in 1968 by Suyoso Karsono, also known as Mas Yos, a retired Air Commodore of the Indonesian Air Force. He began his career in entertainment by starting Irama Records, a recording studio specializing in
Long Play (LP) records. It closed in 1967, and Karsono turned to radio. Elshinta started as an
amateur radio station on an
AM channel and was named after his youngest daughter, Elshinta Suyoso. At that time, Elshinta played all kinds of music from Jazz, Classical, Pop, Rock, and Reggae to Hawaiian music. The station's name influenced Suyoso's other group names for off-air programmes, such as the Elshinta Band, played by his sons, the Elshinta's Friendships Association (EFA), which produced merchandise and the Elshinta Newsletter, the popular Elshinta Football team, composed of friends and fans, and the Elshinta Hawaiian Seniors band (later shortened to The Hawaiian Seniors). Radio Elshinta was later acquired by the
Salim Group. Under their management, Elshinta moved to
FM as a music entertainment station with a few news programs, including
BBC World Service and
Voice Of America. They steadily added more news segments, and Elshinta completely abandoned its music programming on 14 February 2000. Today, Elshinta only broadcasts news and talk programming, in addition to sponsored content and affiliations like
NHK World Service. == Programming ==