Sri Lanka’s Gold FM is celebrating its 15th birthday on Thursday.

Gold FM, which launched in September 1998, is one of five stations owned by Asia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

But the station nearly didn’t reach the milestone after ABC’s licences were suspended in 2007.

The decision followed an inaccurate news broadcast on ABC stations related to the civil war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north of the country.

The erroneous report suggested that so-called Tamil Tiger rebels had arrived in a village in the south of Sri Lanka, far away from rebel territory.

Despite ABC’s apologies, licences for Sun FM (English), Gold FM (English), Hiru FM (Sinhala), Shaa FM (Sinhala) and Sooriyan FM (Tamil) were withdrawn.

While the error was serious, the government was condemned for what media rights groups described as “punitive” and “draconian” measures.

The decision was overturned and three of ABC’s stations returned to the air within six months.

But it took until last year for the last – Shaa FM- to relaunch.

Gold FM quickly made up for lost time and has become the number one English station in Sri Lanka, according to Lanka Market Research Bureau figures.

The Tamil Tigers were eventually defeated by the government in 2009.

ABC broadcasts from studios on the 35th floor of Colombo’s World Trade Centre (East Tower).