Radio Broadcasting on the Island of Cyprus-The International Scene

In times past here in Wavescan, we have presented the story of several radio broadcasting organizations that have been involved in international broadcasting on mediumwave and shortwave from the island of Cyprus, including:-

                        Sharq al Adna & the BBC at                           Zygi  & Lady’s Mile

                        Cyprus Broadcasting Service via the BBC     Zygi

                        BFBS                                                              Lakatamia

                        Radio Bayrak                                                  Lefkose

                        Radio ITU & Lincolnshire Poacher                 Akrotiri

            In this edition of Wavescan, we examine the interesting story of the remaining international broadcasting stations on the island of Cyprus; and in particular, the story of the Voice of America and the two powerful mediumwave stations located at the tip of the Cape Greco peninsula.  Let’s go first, to the Voice of America.

            It was back in the year 1949, that Reuters Newsagency carried a news item stating that the United States government had received approval from the Cyprus government to erect a relay station on their island.  At this time, details regarding the projected new station were not given.

            However, two years later, the Voice of America announced details for this huge new international broadcasting station that was identified under the name, Project East.  It was intended that VOA Cyprus would contain three transmitters; one mediumwave unit with a power of 1 megawatt, and two shortwave transmitters at 35 - 50 kW.

            However, on November 7, 1952, the entire project for VOA Cyprus was deleted, due to confused political issues and the anticipated cost at $6.1 million.

            Interestingly though, during the following year, VOA was noted with a brief program relay from the already established shortwave station, Sharq al Adna.  This ¼ hour daily program segment in the Greek language was noted in the United States on 6790 kHz.  During that era, Sharq al Adna was on the air shortwave with four transmitters at 7½ kW each.  

            Let’s now look at the two huge mediumwave stations located at Cape Greco in Cyprus.  Actually, Cape Greco is a small peninsula located about half way along the coast on the underside of the island.  This peninsula could be described as a narrow causeway connecting the mainland to a flat “island”.   

            In the eras of prehistory, there was an ancient settlement on the peninsula known as Tigani; and nearby was a temple in honor of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.  It is stated that Aphrodite was the Greek version of the Egyptian Hathor, and the Roman version of Venus.  An old Cypriot story tells that Aphrodite was born on the island of Cyprus.

            In the year 1812, a lighthouse was constructed right at the tip of the Cape Greco peninsula.  When the light was active, it emitted a dash every fifteen seconds, like the letter T in Morse Code.   

            These days, the Cape Greco area is a tourist destination, designated as a protected National Forest Park.  The “island” area upon which the two radio stations are located is held by the Somera Radio Station, Radio France International/Radio Monte Carlo.

            In March 1971, an agreement was signed by Radio Monte Carlo and the Cyprus government giving approval to establish a high powered mediumwave relay station on the Cape Greco peninsula, though the British government lodged an objection due to possible interference with a nearby British radar station.  The radio broadcasting station facility is owned by Radio France International.

            The initial test broadcasts from Radio Monte Carlo Cyprus began in June 1971, with 20 kW on 1232 kHz.  These preliminary broadcasts consisted of music and announcements in Arabic and French, and they were heard in far off New Zealand.  QSL cards were issued from Radio Monte Carlo in Monaco, mainland Europe.

            Three years later, that is in 1974, test broadcasts from an additional new transmitter rated at 600 kW were noted far and wide on the same channel 1232 kHz.  It was at this stage, that Radio Monte Carlo Cyprus began the broadcast of programming as a relay from Trans World Radio TWR Monte Carlo (May 1, 1974). 

            The slight adjustment of frequency from 1232 kHz to 1233 kHz is noted in the 1979 edition of the WRTVHB.  This channel change was due to an almost worldwide change so that mediumwave stations could operate at 9 kHz separation and thus reduce mutual interference.

            This mighty radio broadcasting station has also included the relay of other international broadcasting stations in its scheduling, including Radio France International RFI itself (1988), and Radio Canada International RCI (1992).

These days, Radio Monte Carlo Cyprus is still on the air, with two solid state transmitters model S7HP, rated at 600 kW each.  This station can be seen on Cape Greco, with its four tall towers in a row.

            We go back now to the Voice of America story.  A preliminary analysis for VOA Cyprus was completed in June 2001, and on June 15 of the following year, this new station began test broadcasts on 981 kHz.  The radio frequency signal from the 600 kW Thales transmitter, carrying the same model number as nearby RMC/RFI (S7HP) is fed into three tall towers which are located near the lighthouse at the very tip of the peninsula.  In fact all seven towers for both stations stand at the same height, 340 ft tall.

            On February 28, 2003, VOA Cyprus changed channel from 981 kHz to the nearby 990 kHz channel.  This station is still on the air to this day, carrying the programming from VOA/Radio Sawa.

            We should also mention that a shortwave relay of the programming parallel to Radio Monte Carlo Cyprus was noted on 9795 kHz in March 1986.  This program relay was at first thought to be from Cyprus itself, though subsequent information identified the location as Nador in Morocco. 

            Then, during the brief Gulf War in 2003, it was speculated that broadcasts on shortwave of the programming from the British Forces Broadcasting Service, BFBS in London, was on relay via a shortwave station in Cyprus.  However, again subsequent information ruled out the possibility of Cyprus as being one of the BFBS relay locations.

            That brings us to the end of our series of topic regarding the history of radio broadcasting on the island of Cyprus.  As a follow on series some time soon, we plan to present the story of radio broadcasting on the island of Malta.  Quite a story!

(AWR Wavescan/NWS240 via Adrian Peterson)

Focus on Cyprus Relay Station-Part 2

Focus on Africa: BBC East Mediterranean Relay Station Cyprus - Part 2

In this our second topic in the mini-series on the BBC East Mediterranean Relay Station, we pick up the story at the time of the transfer of the station, the shadowy Sharq al Adna, from the Royal Air Force Base near Jaffa in Palestine to a new location near Limassol on the island of Cyprus.  This transfer took place during the era when events were heating up in the Middle East just before the British mandate over Palestine ended on May 14, 1948.

            Initially, just two sites on Cyprus were chosen as the locations for the transferred Sharq al Adna radio station.  The head office and studios were located at Polimia, or Polemydia, a suburban location in the northwest of Limassol the island capital.  The transmitter base was located at Zygi some twenty miles to the east of Limassol on land beside a British navy base overlooking the Bay of Limassol. 

            The four shortwave transmitters at 7½ kW from Sharq al Adna in coastal Jaffa Palestine were re-installed at the Zygi transmitter base on Cyprus and test broadcasts from the new location began at low power in October 1948.  A schedule of regular program broadcasting was introduced right at the beginning of the following month, November 1. 

            This re-introduced shortwave broadcasting service was on the air, still under the original slogan, Sharq al Adna, the Near East Arab Broadcasting Station.  Programming at this stage was produced locally in both Arabic and English, though it was under the auspices of the Allied Command, Psychological Unit in England.

            Strange as it may seem, not only were the equipment and the personnel transferred from one country to another, Palestine to Cyprus, but so also were the callsigns.  In Palestine, so in Cyprus; the basic callsign for the entire station was ZJM, which was usually the identifier for the mediumwave outlet.  On shortwave, the callsigns ranged from ZJM2 up to ZJM8, with the final numeric designator indicating the specific shortwave channel.   

            Quite soon afterwards a mediumwave transmitter was installed at Zygi with 7½ kW on 635 kHz.  Then in the 1950s, a series of developmental projects was implemented on Cyprus to increase the broadcast coverage and reliability of programming from the Sharq al Adna radio station.

            In 1953, a new 20 kW shortwave Marconi BD262 was installed at Zygi, with another similar model during the following year.  In 1955, two additional Marconi shortwave transmitters BD260 at 7½ kW were installed, followed by two more at 20 kW just two years later.

            At another location some distance away, an additional new transmitter station was under development.  This new location was at Lady’s Mile on the other side of Limassol, some five miles distant from the capital city, on the south west coast of Cyprus.  This tourist beach stretches some three or four miles and it was named Lady’s Mile, in honor of a horse, Lad.  This horse was owned by an officer in the Royal Air Force who used to exercise it along the beachway.

            Between the beach and a shallow salt lake inland, a new broadcasting station was constructed for Sharq al Adna with a 100 kW mediumwave transmitter.  This facility was inaugurated on May 12, 1955 on 638 kHz.

            Around this era, the political situation in Middle Eastern areas was changing and Egypt was moving towards taking over the Suez Canal.  Active conflict broke out on October 29, 1956, though a cease fire was implemented a week later, on November 6.

            To counter these aggressive moves, sudden changes were introduced at the Sharq al Adna radio station.  On October 22, a British army officer arrived from England to take over the management of the station.

            At 11:30 am, the British Foreign Office in London informed the BBC that it was taking over the station at 3:00 pm the same day.  The name was changed from Sharq al Adna to the Voice of Britain, and announcers from the BBC Arabic Service were arriving in Cyprus to take over program production.  This station was now relaying BBC programming for 4¾ hours daily.

            After the Suez crisis was over, an attempt was made to turn the station into a commercial operation with on air advertising.  This endeavor was only partly successful.  Then, early in the following year, the station was offered to commercial interests in England but none were interested in investing funding in this project.

            Thus it was that the British government announced surreptitiously in the House of Lords that they had “bought” the station, even though in reality the government already owned the station.  On March 31, 1957, the Voice of Britain on Cyprus was turned over to the BBC, and the station then became the BBC East Mediterranean Relay Station, the name that it still carries to this day.  

            Next time, we plan to present the interesting story of the development of this large relay station on the island of Cyprus into a giant facility of electronic outreach on behalf of the BBC London.

(AWR Wavescan/NWS 214 via Adrian Peterson)