Bayrak Radio on Cyprus Island, Part 1, 2

 

The history of Bayrak Radio on Cyprus Island is very interesting and sometimes even dramatic. In Dec. of 1963 fighting had broken out between the Turkish and Greek communities and the UN peacekeepers forces were deployed in 1964. Even before the conflict was over, a small group of engineers and technicians were asked to set up the Turkish radio station. 

At that time the Turkish Cypriots were forcibly excluded from the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, where the Greek and Turkish Cypriots had worked together. The station was supposed to announce the Cyprus Turkish People's existence on the island and make their rightful voice heard. From the British Army they got a transmitter and some parts, but the equipment was on the Greek side. 

They secretly organized the arrival of these things, which weighed around 1000 kilos. About 30 people worked night and day on the project. On Dec.23, 1963 the Voice of Turkish Cypriot Freedom Fighters went on the air calling "Bayrak-Bayrak-Bayrak" on 1400 kHz at a very low power. 

The transmission was on the medium wave, because there were not any shortwave radios in Turkish Cypriot homes. The station was in the garage of one of the Turkish leaders. A 40 meter-long wire antenna was in use, and for the power supply 120 car batteries were used. It was a big job in the workshop for building and repairing radios for the Turkish villagers. Later the station was moved into a building of the Post Office in Nicosia. So, times in the beginning for Bayrak Radio were very difficult! 

But quite soon in the next year of 1964 Bayrak Radio was heard internationally in Turkish, Greek, and in English on SW - 6700 and 7275 kHz. Then for over ten years the radio had operated on a makeshift basis, using slightly different frequencies - 6150, 6159 and 6279 kHz.

In 1974 the Turkish military had occupied much of the North-Eastern part of the island and it had created many changes :1. The Turkish Republic of North Cyprus was founded; 2. The Bayrak Radio & Television Corporation (BRTK)

was organized; 3. The Bayrak Radio International station begin to operate. With this new name BRI became an independent association -

The Voice of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, BRTK.

History of Bayrak Radio on Cyprus Island Part 2

The station underwent many technical improvements; its power went up from 7,5 / 10 kW to 25 kW; for some years its air-time was 25 hours in Turkish, Greek, German, French, Arabic, English and even in Russian.

Their programs consisted of information and entertainment aimed at bolstering national pride and reducing the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot communities. Propaganda with news, views, interviews

The station was a prime DX target for decades, especially for the American DXers, but in Europe the power of 10 or 25 kW made its signals audible almost everywhere.

Of course, there were some periods of time when the station was off the air for a long duration. For example, in the BCDX for Jan. 2012 a report appeared about the station being upgraded with a new antenna system and that was why it could work in 2011 with reduced power of 4 kW. Also, it was expected to be on air in March of 2012. But alas, it never happened! In the same BCDX for Jan. 2013, the Head of the Transmission Department of the BRI wrote :

"The Radio Bayrak transmitter is still on the air with reduced power. The damage to the antenna system appeared to be bigger than anticipated. Some repair job was done, but it still needed a lot of renovation. There was, however, a big discussion going on about cutting the expenses in all areas, due to the recent economic crisis. The Government was considering to close down the shortwave services." 

Since then nothing was heard about the station. In the EiBi frequency list for Oct.30, 2011 - Mar.25, 2012 Radio Bayrak International was on 6150 kHz; that was the last time it was seen ! Now here is something about the Tx site location of the station: some sources tell us that Radio Bayrak was listed in 1976 at Yeny Iskele; another one informs that on Oct.25, 1983, the new transmission center was established near Yeni Iskele for broadcasting on medium wave of 1098 kHz and on short wave of 6150 kHz, 7,5/10/25 kW. In the GE image we can see this site : 35 17'40"N - 33 54'58"E.

(shortwave sites/Nordx)

Radio broadcasting from Cyprus - Part 2

The Local Radio Scene

Radio broadcasting came to Cyprus very late compared to so many other countries on all sides of the Mediterranean.  The radio scene in Cyprus began after the tumultuous events of World War 2 were ended, and while other political struggles were taking over in some of the Mediterranean areas.  The first radio broadcasting station to arrive in Cyprus was transferred from another country; and this is what happened.
Radio broadcasting for the benefit of British armed forces personnel began in the year 1932 when several low power transmitters were constructed by Royal Navy technicians in the Mediterranean.  Radio receivers were tuned to the BBC on shortwave for the reception of the first Christmas broadcast by His Majesty King George 5, and the low power transmitters rebroadcast the live programming to other ships and land based locations in the Central Mediterranean.

Eight years later, that is during the year 1944, there were three BFBS British Forces Broadcasting Stations in Palestine; mediumwave JCPA and shortwave JCKW in Jerusalem, and JCLA in coastal Haifa.  During the increasing hostilities in the Middle East three years later, plans were laid to move the three stations from Palestine, establish BFBS Mediterranean headquarters on Malta, and transmit network programming from Malta on shortwave to distant regional relay stations, including the transferred facility on Cyprus.  
The first consignment of personnel and equipment, taken from the Haifa station, voyaged from Palestine on the ship “Empire Lifeguard” and they arrived at Famagusta, the east coast seaport on Cyprus, arriving on May 3, 1948.
Doreen Taylor in her whimsical, yet authoritative volume, A Microphone & A Frequency, tells us that the first BFBS station in Cyprus was installed at what was then a disused Royal Air Force airfield at Lakatamia in central Cyprus.  A German DX magazine informs us that the transferred radio facility was housed in a converted barn.
The first broadcast from this relocated radio station took place on June 3, 1948.  Research in early editions of the World Radio Handbook does confirm the fact that BFBS at Lakatamia was indeed the first radio broadcasting station on the island of Cyprus.  At this stage, BFBS Cyprus was on the air from two transmitters, 1420 kHz with 1 kW mediumwave and 7220 kHz with 100 watts shortwave. Over the years, BFBS Cyprus has been on the air from several different locations, utilizing several different transmitters on mediumwave, FM, and shortwave.  These days, this station is still on the air, from three different locations with two program channels, though all on FM.

Four years after the BFBS station was inaugurated in Cyprus, the local government established a radio broadcasting organization under the name, Cyprus Broadcasting Service, with the intent of erecting local radio stations for complete coverage of the entire island.  The new radio station at Nicosia  with 10 kW on 692 kHz was officially opened at 5:00 pm on Sunday October 4, 1953.
On shortwave, CBC the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, has taken out program relays via two different shortwave stations located on their island.  Somewhere around the year 1969, CBC programming was noted via the BBC shortwave station located at Zygi on their south coast.
A 15 minute program in the Greek language was aired each Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening over three BBC shortwave transmitters and beamed to England for the benefit of Cypriots abroad.  When the BBC shortwave station was closed earlier this year, the program was still on the air, though at thirty minutes duration.

However, in 1970 & 1971, CBC Cyprus took out a regular daily service on shortwave via Cyprus Radio in Nicosia; two hours daily and seven hours on Sunday.  The programming was a relay from the regular mediumwave service intended for Cypriots abroad, particularly in England.  One transmitter only, listed at 30 kW with callsign 5BA, carried this relay service on 11745 15260 or 17875 kHz.
In the northern part of the island of Cyprus, Radio Bayrak is listed and they commenced their radio broadcasting service somewhere around the year 1970.  In 1971 they are listed with six mediumwave stations, and in 1976 they are listed with a service on shortwave also, 7 kW on 6150 kHz.   These days they are shown with a multitude of stations on FM, and just one on mediumwave 1098 kHz with two transmitters at 50 kW each.  On shortwave, their lone 25 kW transmitter is located at Yeni Iskele.  The antenna system was recently upgraded and the newly improved signal was expected to be on air at the beginning of March last year.

Future broadcast from Wavescan, will focus on the other international radio broadcasting stations located on this eastern Mediterranean island.
(AWR/Wavescan/NWS 237)

Wavescan address:-
Box 29235
Indianapolis
Indiana 46229 USA
Wavescan @ AWR.org
Jeff White, shortwave WRMI

Radio Broadcasting on the Island of Cyprus-The Early Years

The island of Cyprus is a scenic, rugged island located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, just 60 miles off the Middle East coastline and 40 miles south of Turkey.  The island itself is just 130 miles across and 75 miles wide.  It is home to a little more than a million people, with Nicosia as the island capital.  The name Cyprus is derived from the old Latin word cuprium, in recognition of their ancient copper mines.
The earliest settlements go way back to the very earliest Middle Eastern times; and the first Greek settlers migrated onto the island around 1200 BC.  According to their ancient legends, Cyprus was the birthplace of Aphrodite, or Venus as she was known by the Latins; and early Christianity was introduced to the island in the year 45 AD by the traveling missionaries, St. Paul & St. Barnabas.  In the year 1489, the Cypriot Queen Catherine Cornaro sold the island to the merchant city of Venice in Italy.
During the era of British colonialism, Cyprus was absorbed into the Empire in 1878, though it was not declared a Crown Colony until the year 1925.  England granted independence to Cyprus in 1960, though by treaty several sovereign bases were retained for the usage of their armed forces.  Turkey took over the northern part of the island in 1974.  Along with several other financially struggling European nations last year, Cyprus requested a financial bailout of E17Bn (17 Billion Euros).  
It was in 1872 that the Eastern Telegraph Company opened an undersea cable service linking the island to Europe, and thus the rest of the world.
On the wireless scene, the famous Marconi announced in 1911 the installation of a massive high powered longwave station on Cyprus as a link in the Imperial Wireless Scheme, connecting England with its colonies all the way from the Motherland to Australia and New Zealand, though this entire project was never implemented.  On the radio scene, the colonial government first issued amateur radio licenses in 1925, though this was for receivers only, not for transmitters.
Then in the early 1930s, the British established a navy communication station on the island, and the probable location was in what became the Episkopi Sovereign Base, some 10 miles west of the regional capital, Limassol.  In more recent time, it is known that the Episkopi Radio Station was located specifically at Akrotiri almost adjacent to, and a little southwest of, the powerful BBC Mediumwave Station at Lady’s Mile.
In 1959, as the WRTVHB states, a broadcast unit was on the air at the British communication station at Episkopi with a daily service in English from 1200 - 1530 UTC on 7130 kHz at ½ kW.  A service in Arabic was also in the planning syage.
It was probable that this new shortwave service in the Middle East, temporary and experimental, was intended to grow into a larger facility akin to the earlier Radio Sharq al Adna.  This new radio service, under the title Radio Independent Transmitting Unit ITU, was on the air apparently for no more than a few months, and the entire project was seemingly transferred to the island of Malta.  
Interestingly, this same shortwave radio station at Akrotiri in Cyprus was on the air with another broadcast service, dubbed as the infamous Lincolnshire Poacher.  This powerful shortwave station was on the air 11 times daily, beginning on the hour from 1200 UTC through 2200 UTC, and there were always three channels in parallel in the USB, Upper Side Band mode.
This clandestine station was titled the Lincolnshire Poacher because its introductory music two bars long was taken from the well known English folk song melody with the same name.  This station transmitted coded messages to distant spies, with the usage of a one time only numbers pad.  The numbers were read by an electronically produced woman’s voice with the presentation of exactly 200 groups of five figure numbers on each occasion.
International radio monitors back at that era tell us that this Lincolnshire Poacher signed on somewhere around the mid 1970s.  The last known broadcast from the Lincolnshire Poacher, operated it is said by the British Intelligence Agency MI6, was on June 29, 2008.  The communication callsign for this station was MKE.    
We go back to the 1930s and we find that another radio communication station was established in Limassol itself.  This was a temporary facility established in 1932 and it was replaced by a permanent station at Larnaca under the callsign ZFE.  Station ZFE was taken into service on February 5, 1934 for ship-to-shore communication and for international communication whenever the cable service was interrupted.
Then 17 years later, an updated communication station was constructed, with the transmitter base at Saranta Spilia and the receiver base at Kolokoshi.  This new Cyprus Radio, with callsigns 5BA, 5BC & 5BG, was officially inaugurated on May 7, 1951.
For occasional special broadcasts, Cyprus Radio was in use for the relay of programming to and from the BBC in London.  For example, on August 19, 1956, Cyprus Radio carried a relay from the BBC London on behalf of BFBS Radio on Cyprus.  
After a couple of weeks, we plan to present the next feature item in the radio scene on the island of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean.
(AWR Wavescan/NWS 235 via Adrian Peterson)