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A Blast from the Past: The Biggest
Aspidistra in the World
The Biggest Aspidistra in the
World! This song title is reminiscent of
Gracie Fields and her popular rendition back during the era of World War
2. This title was also applied to a
magnificent American made medium wave transmitter that was on duty in England
during those same wartime years.
The Aspidistra is a popular house plant
in western countries. It has numerous
long glossy leaves often striped with white, and plumed with pretty purple or
brown flowers. The Aspidistra is a member
of the lily family and it was originally native to Oriental Asia.
Back during the 1970s, the
scientists had documented only ten different species of Aspidistra
though these days 93 are documented; and it is probable that two or three
hundred varieties exist in tropical and semi-tropical Asia, mainly southeast
Asia and China.
The song, The Biggest
Aspidistra in the World, was written in 1938 by three Englishmen as a humor
song, it was adopted by Gracie Fields in the same year, and it became one of
her most popular theme songs. Gracie
Fields was English born, at one stage she was married to an Italian citizen on
the island of Capri, and she lived much of her time during World War 2 in the
United States. She is remembered most
however for her entertainment programs for forces personnel in combat areas.
The Aspidistra radio transmitter was
a concept that was presented to Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great
Britain, during the year 1941. The
project called for a superpower medium wave transmitter that could change
frequency rapidly and radiate on any frequency in the standard international
medium wave band. Its purpose would be to
cover continental Europe with black propaganda programming.
An international search was made for
a suitable transmitter, already available if possible. It was discovered that
the assembly of a 500 kW medium wave transmitter was nearing completion at the
RCA factory in Camden New Jersey in the United States. This transmitter was under contract to
medium wave WJZ for installation at Bound Brook New Jersey but they no longer
wanted it due to the fact that the FCC in the United States had mandated a
maximum power of 50 kW on medium
wave.
At the time, China had already
placed an option on the purchase of this superpower transmitter, but it was
taken over by the British for installation in the south of England. This transmitter was inspected on behalf of
the British government by Bob Hornby and it was purchased with modifications at
a price of £165,000.
The English engineering executive,
Harold Robbin, was sent across the Atlantic in the Summer of 1941 to supervise
the completion of this superpower transmitter and its associated
equipment. For two months he lived in
New York city and he travelled each day to the RCA factory at Camden, across in
New Jersey.
Two major segments of the
transmitter system were already completed and work had begun on the third. The entire system was modified for a total
power increase of 600 kW, with the three amplifiers in parallel. For a change of frequency, each amplifier in
turn was closed, the frequency was changed, and then switched back into
service.
The completed assembly was
dismembered, packed separately for shipping to England, and loaded onto
different Royal Navy vessels. All arrived
at port in England, except for the antenna towers and antenna systems which
were on a ship that was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic. A duplicate set of antenna systems was
hurriedly manufactured and subsequently shipped to England.
Several sites were considered for
this powerful new medium wave radio station, including one near Woburn in
Bedfordshire where initial work preparation had begun. However, the final choice fell on a location
at King’s Standing in
Ashdown Forest near Crowborough. This location
was 620 feet above sea level.
Some 70 acres of land were fenced
off, a road construction unit of the Canadian Army that was stationed nearby
dug a 50 feet deep hole, and a labor force of some 600 personnel worked 24
hours a day to construct a two storied building underground. A four foot thick bomb proof reinforced
concrete slab protected the top of the building, and a covering of grass and
trees provided adequate camouflage.
Programming was produced and controlled in a set of new studios at nearby
Milton Bryan.
The new Aspidistra medium wave
facility was ready for usage by April 1942, but it was not taken into regular
usage until November 8 on the occasion of Operation Torch, the American
landings in North Africa. On this occasion,
Aspidistra carried a mix of programming that included a speech in French by
President Franklin Roosevelt, a live relay of VOA news and programming from
shortwave WRUL in Scituate Massachusetts, BBC program relays, and local program
inserts that were coordinated in their nearby studio.
Over the years, the Aspidistra
transmitter was in use for the broadcast of a variety of program relays,
including the BBC European Service in French and German on 804 kHz which began
on January 30 of the next year, 1943.
Soon afterwards, a new black clandestine service began from Aspidistra
in the German language under the station name, Atlantiksender. Then on October 24, another “station” was launched in
the same language via Aspidistra, Soldatensender.
There were several notable occasions
also when Aspidistra made intrusion broadcasts.
When a major German station was switched off because of air raids from
England, Aspidistra was tuned to the same channel, and it relayed the national
German network from another station still on the air. Then at coordinated times, spurious
announcements and information in the German language were inserted into this
program relay. The first intruder
broadcast took place on March 24, 1945.
The broadcasts of the black clandestine
stations Atlantiksender and Soldatensender were terminated at the end of
April. At 4:50 am on June 6, 1944 the BBC
announced to Europe via Aspidistra that the expected invasion of Europe had
begun. This station was used
subsequently to carry the BBC External Service.
The station was closed with due
ceremony on September 28, 1982, and later the powerful and historic Aspidistra
was unceremoniously sold for scrap. That
was the end of this blast from the past, a 600 kW American medium wave transmitter
that was installed in England during the middle of last century.
We should mention that there were
also several other transmitters installed at the Crowborough station, all
shortwave, but that is the story for another occasion.
(AWR/Wavescan-NWS 292 via Adrian Peterson)
(photo/open.spotify.com)