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)