Special thanks to Ray Robinson and Jeff White for sharing a recent edition of Wavescan on AWR.
Jeff: A couple of times recently, broadcasting from Tangier in Morocco has been mentioned in other topics. A few weeks back in his item on radio broadcasting from Gibraltar, Ray Robinson noted that before Radio Gibraltar was set up in 1957, a one-hour daily program for Gibraltar had been broadcast by Pan American Radio via Radio Tangier, just across the strait. Also, in one of the items on Sweden, it was noted that IBRA radio began by buying time on a station in Tangier. So, Ray’s been digging into just what exactly was the broadcasting situation in Tangier during the 1940’s and 50’s, and it has turned out to be quite a fascinating story. Here he is now, to tell us all about it.
Ray: Thanks, Jeff. The history of Morocco on the northwest coast of the continent of Africa is long and eventful going back thousands of years. For our purposes, we can note that during the 1800’s it had been ruled from Istanbul as part of the Ottoman Empire, although after the Napoleonic wars it became increasingly difficult to govern. The French and the Spanish were both strongly interested in the territory which was nominally ruled by a Sultan. But by 1900, it had become the scene of multiple local wars started by pretenders to the sultanate, by bankruptcy of the treasury, and by multiple tribal revolts. The French had conquered neighboring Algeria in the 1840’s, and sensed an opportunity to expand their influence in the region. They used both diplomacy and military force, and effectively took full control of Morocco in 1906.
Tensions rose between France and Spain, however, and in 1912, a treaty was signed by both the French and Spanish heads of state, which granted Spain a zone of influence in northern Morocco, which became known as the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco. The remainder of the country, including the important cities of Fez, Casablanca, Marakesh and Rabat, became the French Protectorate of Morocco.
Both France and Spain wanted to control Tangier, a port city on the most northerly point of Morocco, which has the best harbor on the western end of the North African coast. But the United Kingdom wanted to neutralize the city, to maintain its dominance of the Strait of Gibraltar. Tangier looks out across the Strait to Tarifa, Spain, just 20 miles away, and has long been viewed as both the Gateway to the Mediterranean, and indeed to Africa as well. So, it was agreed that Tangier would be granted special status, but the details of that status were not fully worked out until after World War I had started in 1914. Then, while the attentions of the leaders of Britain and France were focused elsewhere, Spain used the opportunity to delay implementation.
Negotiations restarted after the war, and a new treaty was eventually signed by France, Spain and the UK in 1923 making Tangier a neutral zone under joint administration. The Zone went into effect on 1st June 1925. It had an area of 155 square miles, centered on the city of Tangier, and it was to be entirely free of any military presence. It was also made into a tax haven , with no tariffs on imported or exported goods or gold, no exchange controls, no income or revenue taxes, and unlimited freedom of establishment (meaning no restrictions on the ability to set up businesses). And for our purposes, we should note that there were no controls on radio broadcasting – no licensing was required. The Zone had its own flag, defence force, police, and legislature. Several currencies were accepted, but the official one was the Pound Sterling. And Britain, France and Spain each provided their own postal services in the Zone.
The first edition of the World Radio Handbook was published in 1947, and that lists just two radio stations in the French Protectorate, in Rabat and Casablanca. They both provided programming in French and Arabic, and operated transmitters on medium wave for coverage of the local city areas, and on shortwave for the north African region.
In the Spanish Protectorate, there is just one station listed, in Tetuan, with 20 kW on 6070 kHz shortwave. All programming was in Spanish.
It is likely that these stations were first implemented in the 1930’s, and continued during and after World War II.
In the Tangier International Zone, however, there is no known radio broadcasting activity prior to the war.
On 14th June 1940, the same day that Paris fell to the Nazis, Spanish troops occupied Tangier, using the pretext that they were protecting the city from the risk of an Italian or German invasion. From then until 1945, Tangier effectively became part of the Spanish Protectorate, but after the war, Spain was forced to withdraw, and the International Zone was reinstated, with the United States joining the joint administration.
After the war, two main radio stations were set up in Tangier with the goal of broadcasting unregulated programming into Spain. One was pro-Franco, and the other was anti-Franco. The anti-Franco one came first.
In the mid-1930's, Herbert Rutledge Southworth was a left-wing socialist journalist working at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, he began to review books on the conflict for the Washington Post. He was emotionally affected by the struggle between fascism and anti-fascism, and wrote press articles and pamphlets with passion. He was devastated by the defeat of the Spanish Republic although, after the Civil War ended, he continued to work for the exiled former premier Juan Negrín. Then, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Herbert was recruited by the U.S. Office of War Information. In 1943, he was sent to Algeria to work for the Office of Psychological Warfare. Because of his knowledge of the Spanish situation, he was posted to Rabat in the French Protectorate of Morocco to direct Spanish-language broadcasts to Franco's Spain.
At the end of the war, he decided not to use his demobilization air passage home but to stay in Rabat. Knowing that there were no controls on broadcasting from Tangier, he bought a quantity of U.S. Army surplus radio equipment with which he founded Radio Tanger Internationale (Radio Tangier International). He broadcast with 10 kW on 244 metres (1230 kHz), and with 1 kW on 6200 kHz shortwave, with programming in French, Spanish, Arabic and English. His primary purpose was to expose what he saw as some of the lies perpetuated by the Franco administration in Spain. This was taking quite a risk, because Tangier was surrounded by the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco, where General Franco had a strong base of support. Indeed, it was from there that he had launched his military coup against the Republican government in Madrid in 1936. To cover the operating expenses of the station, Southworth accepted commercials and sponsored religious programs, with one of the first being ‘Bringing Christ to the Nations’ in French, Spanish and English on Sunday mornings.
The other station was founded by Jacques Trémoulet, a figure well-known in European radio circles before the war. As early as 1925 he had established Radio Toulouse, which became one of the strongest private stations in France up until the Second World War. In 1939 he had also set up Radio Andorra. Toulouse, being in southern France, was in the area controlled by the Vichy government, and he was forced to carry official information and propaganda on behalf of the Vichy government over his radio station. When the Vichy government fell, Jacques Trémoulet was accused of collaboration, and his property was confiscated. He fled, first to Andorra, and then on to Spain. He was tried in absentia and sentenced to death, although he was later acquitted on appeal.
In Spain he set up Radio Intercontinental Madrid, and then moved on to Tangier in 1947, where another of his stations appeared, Radio Africa, which broadcast in Spanish, French and Arabic with 1 kW on 7080 and 14280 kHz shortwave. Their programming was mainly music, supported by commercials. So whereas Radio Tangier International was anti-Franco, Radio Africa was very much pro-Franco.
Well, that’s all I have time for this week – we’ll continue the Tangier International Zone story in two weeks’ time. Back to you, Jeff.
