# Where is Gilligan's Island located? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502 "2006-06-28T15:27:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/21 "2006-06-28T22:22:58Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > That is extremely frequency-dependent. If you mean reguar AM, yes, and FM is even more line-of-sight. But shortwave and amateur radio bounces all over the place. Wait a minute, what if it was a clear-channel AM station? (No, I don’t think there were any in Hawaii, but it’s TV) IIRC, at night KMOX in St Louis could be picked up by 9/10 of the continental US. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/22 "2006-06-28T22:32:40Z")
Didn’t the surfer dude ride a wave from what he called a Hawaiian Tsunami? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/23 "2006-06-28T22:42:27Z")
Hmmm. 140 deg. latitude. It’s…in…spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/24 "2006-06-28T22:53:38Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Wait a minute, what if it was a clear-channel AM station? If it was Clear-Channel, wouldn’t they have picked up Rush Limbaugh? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/25 "2006-06-28T22:56:42Z")
> [@](#): > > That max range for a 50,000-watt Radio station is about 450 miles from what I understand. There are exceptional atmospheric conditions that allow for further range, but these are not consistent. Well, they don’t consistently pick up Hawaiian stations on their radio, either. It may be that those episodes when we see it happen are just those times when the conditions happened to be right. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/26 "2006-06-28T23:25:47Z")
> [@Valteron](#): > > That latitude cannot exist. No kidding:rolleyes: I think that’s the entire reason why it was said to be there. If I recall, on one of the “rescue from Gilligans Island” shows from the late 70’s those were the coordinates given as to it’s location. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/27 "2006-06-29T01:15:46Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > That is extremely frequency-dependent. If you mean reguar AM, yes, and FM is even more line-of-sight. But shortwave and amateur radio bounces all over the place. Sorry, I did mean for the little AM radio that they had on the Island. So yes for 50,000 watt AM stations, I believe the max range is around 450 miles. Except under occasional atmospheric conditions. > [@Chronos](#): > > Well, they don’t consistently pick up Hawaiian stations on their radio, either. It may be that those episodes when we see it happen are just those times when the conditions happened to be right. I thought the radio had a fairly consistant if distant signal. However, Chronos seems to remember facts about the show, I do not. I am far from an expert on Gilligan’s Island so I bow to his knowledge. Does anyone recall if in one episode, Gilligan picked up radio with his mouth? I have some dim recollection of this happening. Anyone know what the most powerful AM station on Hawaii was in the mid-sixties? Jim ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/28 "2006-06-29T01:54:15Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Like the moon landing, the entire thing was a hoax. The Skipper and The Professor simply faked the whole shipwreck. The boat never left Hawaii. They holed up on a uninhabited part of one of the islands. > > The whole thing was a ruse to get Howell’s money and into Ginger and MaryAnn’s pants. I’d like to see that episode. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/29 "2006-06-29T02:02:19Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > The Island must be West of Hawaii, because there was a WW2-era Japanese Soldier based on it, as a plane spotter, I believe. > > The Japanese had no land bases on or East of Midway. > > So, it must be West of 177°22′W, & due to climate, probably South of 28°13′N . He had a midget submarine. It might not have been the island on which he was originally stationed. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/30 "2006-06-29T02:14:15Z")
The last time I flew Oceanic Air from Sydney to LA, the pilot made an announcement as we flew over it. Man, that was one of the longest, strangest flights I’ve ever been on. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/31 "2006-06-29T02:45:24Z")
> [@Valteron](#): > > Come to think of it, how do we even know the Minnow left a port in Hawaii? The song says only “a tropic island port”. If anyone has any evidence of that port being in Hawaii, from one of the episodes, please inform me. Hawaii is the likely location, because the opening of the early espisodes showed an American Flag in the background (which was flying at half mast in honor of JFK.) ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/32 "2006-06-29T03:10:19Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > Does anyone recall if in one episode, Gilligan picked up radio with his mouth? > I have some dim recollection of this happening. That was the Partridge Family. Susan’s braces were picking up radio signals. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/33 "2006-06-29T03:15:58Z")
> [@CapnPitt](#): > > If I recall correctly from reading Russell Johnson’s book, \*Gilligan’s Island \* was on the back lot of a studio. The pilot episode was filmed on location in Hawaii. The series was filmed at the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, California. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/34 "2006-06-29T03:20:05Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > That was the Partridge Family. Susan’s braces were picking up radio signals. Actually it was a gilligan’s Episode: Gilligan’s Island: Hi-Fi Gilligan (1965) > [@wiki](#): > > 2.10 “Hi-Fi Gilligan” 1625-07xx Nov 25, 1965 > Gilligan’s mouth becomes a radio when a filling in a tooth is knocked loose. Jim ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/35 "2006-06-29T03:31:20Z")
Actually, it was an episode of _I Love Lucy_. No, wait, it was something Lucy claimed [actually happened to her.](http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/fillings.htm) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/36 "2006-06-29T03:35:32Z")
I hate the way, in the last episode, Gilligan finally escapes from the island _by bus_, and turns up in downtown London. And whe he pulls the mask off #1, there’s a gorilla underneath, and when he pulls _that_ mask off, it’s really himself, Patrick McGoohan. That just made no sense. I understand that Gilligan’s Island was actually filmed at Portmeiron in Wales. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/37 "2006-06-29T12:30:34Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > He had a midget submarine. It might not have been the island on which he was originally stationed. Where would he get fuel for the sub, if not from a hidden fuel dump on the island? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502/38 "2006-06-29T13:33:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I understand that Gilligan’s Island was actually filmed at Portmeiron in Wales. You’re thinking of the episode of _Sapphire and Steel_ when TC and Rick got trapped in the warehouse, and Magnum had to rescue them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-gilligans-island-located/362502.md?page=1)