Special thanks to Ray Robinson and Jeff White for sharing a recent edition of Wavescan on AWR.
Radio History from Gibraltar
Jeff: Today Ray Robinson tackles a topic we’ve never covered before here in Wavescan – the history of radio broadcasting in the tiny British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. So, in Los Angeles, here’s Ray.
Ray: Thanks, Jeff. Gibraltar is a small peninsula attached to the south coast of Spain, which juts out into the Mediterranean. It is just 1½ miles long north to south, and ¾ mile wide, much of which is occupied by the famous Rock itself. With its commanding position overlooking the strait between Spain and Morocco through which all shipping between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic must pass, Gibraltar is of great strategic importance, and its sovereignty has been contested by the Spanish for centuries.
Gibraltar was first permanently settled by the Moors in the 6th century, and was renamed Jebel Tariq, meaning Mount of Tariq, which was later corrupted into the name Gibraltar.
Gibraltar was besieged and conquered by Spain in 1462, and it remained part of the unified Kingdom of Spain for 242 years from 1462 until 1704. It was then captured by the Anglo-Dutch Navy during the War of the Spanish Succession, and was formally ceded to Great Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 in exchange for territorial concessions in North America. And for the last 320 years, it has remained under British control.
At the foot of the Rock on the western side there is a densely populated town area with narrow streets, which these days is home to a permanent resident population of about 32,000 people. Gibraltar was formally recognized as a city by Queen Victoria in 1842. Historically, much of the local economy was dependent on the naval port, but these days most of their income is derived from tourism (aided by a new cruise ship terminal), online gambling and offshore financial services.
Before the Second World War, a local private company had set up 'Radio Distribution', which relayed the BBC Overseas Service via cable from 301 Main Street. But as the clouds of war approached, Radio Distribution came under the control of the British Ministry of Information, and was run by the Royal Corps of Signals.
As from 1941, Radio Distribution was based at Wellington Front, an area that was to become the home for broadcasting on The Rock for three decades.
A new 'Radio Gibraltar' was also set up by the Ministry of Information for the civilian population. Initially, its local content was minimal, but it did include announcement of the Gibraltar lottery results! During the war, the transmitter was moved to Morocco, to play its part in Operation Torch - the allied invasion of North Africa. Gibraltar was then served by a smaller 250 watt transmitter based at Wellington Front.
When the war ended, the need for information on The Rock was deemed less important by the Ministry, and by August 1945, the early version of Radio Gibraltar was phased out.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Gibraltar was essentially a garrison town, its society finding its way after the evacuation and return of its civilian community to The Rock. The Spanish language predominated, and local culture strove to make sense of its own identity. Initially, a one-hour daily program was recorded in Gibraltar for the local residents, and this was broadcast by Pan American Radio from 5-6pm through the medium wave transmitter of Radio Tangier in Morocco, just across the strait.
It wasn't until 1957 that the local government in Gibraltar once again felt the need for a full-blown local information and entertainment service of their own. Known also as Radio Gibraltar, it was the brainchild of Sir Howard Davis, and was managed and operated by British civil servants, with technical help from the Royal Corps of Signals. The station launched at 11:50am on Sunday, 16th February 1958 with 1 kW on 1484 kHz (202 metres). Daily programs were in English from 8am to 3pm, and 6pm to 11pm, partially funded by commercials. Top of the hour newscasts were again relayed from the BBC Overseas Service, and other BBC programming was carried also. Afternoon programming in Spanish was added later.
Using some very basic equipment, black and white television transmissions began from Signal Hill (at the southern end of The Rock) on VHF channel 12, in October 1962. A locally controlled broadcasting service became increasingly important, so in December 1963, the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation was established, to take over the operation of both the radio and TV services on behalf of the Gibraltar government.
In June 1969, General Franco of Spain ordered the frontier with Gibraltar to be closed, and it remained closed for 13 years. My family and I were fortunate to be able to live and work in Gibraltar for five months in 1980 & 1981, and it was sad to see the guards on the Gibraltar side of the border ceremoniously opening the gates every morning, and then closing them again every evening, while the gates on the Spanish side remained resolutely closed. After we left, the border was partially reopened to pedestrians only in December 1982, and then finally fully reopened to vehicular traffic as well in February 1985.
Throughout the 70's during the period of the border closure, Radio Gibraltar also relayed BBC programming from London in Spanish, and this was much appreciated during the Franco years by the residents of La Liñea, San Roque, Algeciras, along the Costa del Sol and in other towns in the hinterland close to Gibraltar (known as the 'Campo'). It is said that walking through those towns in the afternoons, one could often hear "This is the BBC from London broadcasting to Spain on shortwave", coming from radios tuned to Radio Gibraltar on 202 metres. In Spain at the time, it was actually forbidden to listen to the BBC from London!
The programs of record requests and dedications then also became an important means of maintaining contact for people with family members on both sides of the border.
In November 1978, Radio Gibraltar's transmitter was given a power increase to 2 kW and moved from 1484 to 1458 kHz (206m), the medium wave frequency it still uses to this day. In 2014 it was given another power boost, this time to 4 kW. Due to reception challenges close in around the Rock, however, two stereo FM frequencies were added in the 1980's - on 100.5 MHz with 1 kW, and on 91.3 MHz with 250 watts. Some years later, a third FM transmitter was added on 92.6 MHz, also with 1 kW.
The 1980's also saw both the GBC radio and television operations move from the rather dilapidated building at Wellington Front to new studios called Broadcasting House on South Barrack Road at the southern end of The Rock.
Until the early 80's, programming was typically in short blocks of 15 or 30 minutes covering many different musical genres including classical and opera as well as contemporary pop. However, a restructuring then took place, and the more familiar two or three hour shows with contemporary music similar to many local independent stations in the UK was adopted. Peter Canessa was the presenter of a lunchtime show called 'A Bit of Alright', and here he is at 1pm on Tuesday 8th June 1982:
I recorded that myself while on vacation on the Costa del Sol. Three days later, I also recorded David Hoare with the station sign-on at 6:45am, on Friday 11th June 1982:
To serve the small military community, the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) opened a station in Gibraltar in the 1960's. This has only ever broadcast on FM, originally on 93.5 MHz with 250 watts. In the late 70's, a second frequency was added on 97.8 MHz, and both of those can still be heard today. Programming is a mixture of locally produced shows and network shows relayed from London.
Here's the start of the 8:30am news headlines on BFBS with presenter Claire Riley, later the same morning as the GBC sign-on we just heard:
Since the mid-2000's, both GBC Radio Gibraltar and BFBS Gibraltar have been streaming their programming online, so if you want to catch up with them through an Internet Radio or web browser, it's pretty easy.
Back to you, Jeff.