A closer look at Radio Earth and the path to WRMI

Jeff:    In our historical feature on April 7^th about shortwave broadcasting in the U.S. state of Texas, we mentioned at the end that KCBI broadcast a delayed relay of the early DX program from Adventist World Radio in Poona, India.  The program title at the time was “Radio Monitors International”, the AWR studios were located in suburban Poona, and the broadcast from station KCBI was on the air under the auspices of Radio Earth for a few weeks in October 1985.

Radio Earth QSL

 It occurred to us that we have never done a feature on Radio Earth, and that it's a very interesting story that really deserves to be told because in part, it’s the story of how I first became involved in shortwave radio as anything more than a listener.  In a way, it also charts the path of how I got to where I am today with WRMI.  Ray Robinson in Los Angeles has the background.

 Ray:   Thanks, Jeff.

 The idea for Radio Earth began in 1978 with a conversation between Jeff White and John Beebe, who at the time were both college students in DeKalb, Illinois.  They also both worked part-time as radio news reporters for WNIU-FM in DeKalb.  One day when they were sitting around the newsroom chatting, they discovered they were both shortwave listeners, and John was intrigued by Jeff’s idea of creating a commercial shortwave station.

 They began seriously researching what it would take to start such a station, and enlisted the help of two friends:

·        Michael Poulos, who was a lawyer in Evanston, Illinois, and

·        John Freberg, who was chief engineer at WNIU-FM.

 Over the course of the next five years, they spent thousands of hours researching in public libraries, writing and re-writing reports and proposals, and meeting with many people about advertising, engineering, legal and programming matters that would need to be worked out.

 Their goal was to put a commercial SW station in the Caribbean to broadcast worldwide.  They got verbal permission from Montserrat to put in seven 100 kW transmitters and seven TCI log periodic antennas beamed in different directions.  Then of course they needed to find investors, which proved very difficult.

 

Rudy Espinal, director of the shortwave service of Radio Clarin in the Dominican Republic, joined the Radio Earth team, and he was very helpful in securing an agreement to carry the Radio Earth programming via Radio Clarin’s 50 kW shortwave transmitter in Santo Domingo, to avoid them having to build out their own station in Montserrat before they could even start broadcasting.

 Then in May 1983, Radio Earth was successful in securing advertising contracts from the Curaçao Tourist Bureau and also Holding Company Curaçao, which owns several hotels.  So, they decided to set up a studio on that Dutch-owned island in the southern Caribbean, where they could record their flagship program entitled “The World”, and then ship tapes up to Santo Domingo for broadcast each day (Monday-Saturday) over Radio Clarin’s shortwave transmitter on 11700 kHz.

 Jeff White agreed to go to Curaçao to present the program, but since it would take more than one person to produce a top-quality one-hour show every day, they also persuaded Matt Bell, another former WNIU newsman turned radio producer, to go along.  They sent studio equipment from Chicago to Curaçao, and set it up in the Curaçao Hilton hotel.

 Matt and Jeff ended up co-presenting the show, which consisted of:

·        a variety of feature reports and interviews,

·        segments contributed by David Monson in Europe,

·        a mailbag show on Fridays, and

·        a Saturday communications-oriented segment called “Dialogue”.

 Once the tapes arrived in Santo Domingo, Rudy Espinal inserted up-to-the-minute newscasts and also added a locally-produced regional music program called “This is the Caribbean.”

 At the beginning of each edition of “The World”, they mentioned that Radio Earth was not affiliated with any political or religious organization, and that their funding came entirely from the sale of commercial advertising.

It was a jam-packed hour, and very eclectic, with Jeff and Matt talking informally with the listeners and with each other.  They didn’t read scripts.  They described their philosophy as being simple “people-to-people communication”, to promote understanding, friendship and goodwill.  They tried each day to “present the world to the world”, in a unique, interesting, entertaining and unbiased manner.  The response from shortwave listeners was incredible, but in spite of that, they still had trouble getting and keeping sponsors.

 

At the end of 1983, Radio Earth moved from Radio Clarin to WRNO, “The Rock of New Orleans”, where it was heard on 6185 kHz at 0400 UTC Winter/0300 UTC Summer.  The studios were moved back to the United States, and set up in Miami, with an address of Box 69, Miami, Florida, 33243.

 Unfortunately, during the summer of 1984 they had some disagreements with Joe Costello at WRNO, and ended up moving back to Radio Clarin from Monday 24^th September 1984.  Here’s an off-air audio clip of a very young-sounding Jeff White presenting the start of the mailbag program the previous Friday night, 21^st September 1984, via WRNO.

 So Jeff White relocated for awhile to Santo Domingo to present Radio Earth programs live from that location.  Radio Earth was later carried by KCBI in Texas, WHRI in Indiana, and by a couple of European shortwave stations.

KCBI QSL

 They still wanted to put their own station on the air, and Curaçao was willing to give them both a license and a place to put the station.  But, they were never able to raise enough money to do that.

 To cut a long story short, Jeff left Radio Earth in 1985 to focus on some other shortwave ventures, including Radio Discovery in Santo Domingo.  After that, he moved back to Miami and started freelancing as a news reporter for several other shortwave stations.  He also began brokering airtime on Radio Clarin, KCBI, WHRI and WWCR, which is the back story to the comment referenced in the introduction to this piece today, where it was stated that the AWR RMI program (the forerunner to Wavescan) was heard over station KCBI under the auspices of Radio Earth for a few weeks in October 1985.  Jeff had helped place that program on KCBI.

 Through his program brokering side-line, Jeff was contacted by some Cuban exile organizations who wanted to broadcast on shortwave to Cuba.  Eventually, he connected with an engineer affiliated with the Cuban American National Foundation, which wanted to start its own shortwave station.  But, they had problems getting a license, so they asked the engineer and Jeff to try making a joint application to the FCC, which was successful, and that became the original WRMI in Hialeah, about 5 miles northwest of downtown Miami.  And we all know what that’s grown into.  The rest, as they say, is history.

 So, way to go, Jeff, on eventually achieving your vision of owning and operating a very successful commercial shortwave radio station!

(QSLs via Teak Publishing QSL Archives)

 

Shortwave Radio in Texas - KAIJ, KCBI, WTWW

 

KAIJ QSL

Special thanks to Ray Robinson and Jeff White for sharing a recent edition of Wavescan on AWR.

Jeff: Whatever happened to the American shortwave station KAIJ in Dallas Texas?  You may well wonder, as indeed did Peter Grenfell in New Zealand some years ago in an entry to a DX contest.  Not many people remember that there was once a shortwave station in Texas, but Ray Robinson has the story.

Ray: Thanks, Jeff.  The state of Texas is the largest of the 48 contiguous mainland states of the USA.  At the time of European exploration, it is estimated that 30,000 Indians lived in the area that subsequently became known as Texas, many of whom lived in permanent settlements.  The first Europeans to visit the area were Spanish explorers who mapped the southern coastline in 1519.  

The French established a small, temporary colony inland at Fort St Louis; the Spanish sent many Catholic missionaries into the area; and when Mexico asserted its independence from Spain in 1821, Texas became part of the Mexican Empire.  In 1836, after several skirmishes with Mexican forces, Texas declared its independence as the Republic of Texas.

Nine years later, Texas joined the United States.  However, during the Civil War, Texas seceded and joined the Southern Union of Confederate States; but in 1870, Texas once again rejoined the United States.  

The twin cities of Dallas and Fort Worth are located in the north central area of the state.  The twin city Metroplex, or conurbation, had a population of 7.6 million in 2020 covering 11 counties, making it the 2nd largest by area in the United States.  One of the world-shaking events that occurred in Dallas was the tragic death of President John F.  Kennedy back in November 1964.

It so happens that there were two attempts over the years at establishing a shortwave station in Texas; one was unsuccessful and the other was successful.  The first attempt was made over 60 years ago, and the other more than 40 years ago.  Here are the details.

Back around the beginning of the year 1960, a request was lodged with the FCC in Washington, DC, for approval to establish a shortwave station in Dallas, Texas for coverage into Latin America.  In May, the details of this new shortwave station were published in a radio magazine in Australia, Radio & Hobbies.  

This news item stated that this new American shortwave station would operate at 50 kW on 15180 kHz and that it would broadcast into Latin America during the daytime, in English & Spanish.  As further details became available, it was stated that the owner of this new station was Albert L. Cain, who was also an amateur radio operator with the callsign W5SXT.  The intended callsign for this new shortwave station was KFRN, and a news report published in August 1960 stated that the station was under construction.

The 1961 edition of World Radio TV Handbook actually listed this new station, under the company ownership of Global Broadcasting, not in Dallas, Texas, but instead in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but without listing any callsign.  That is the last reference to the new shortwave station KFRN that we can find.  It was planned but never completed.

KCBI QSL

The second attempt concerned the well-known shortwave station KCBI (which became KAIJ) which was located near Denton, just north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.  The application for this new station was lodged with the FCC on March 18, 1983.  The requested callsign was KCBI, which was also the callsign of the applicant’s FM station that had been inaugurated seven years earlier.  That station, KCBI, honored the Criswell Bible Institute, which was established in Dallas by the First Baptist Church.

The transmitter and antennas for shortwave station KCBI were installed in an isolated area of corn country 16 miles east of Denton, a little north of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.  The transmitter was a re-engineered medium wave unit manufactured by General Electric, and there were two antennas, both described as corner reflectors, similar to the one used by the old WRMI in Miami.  

The first test broadcasts from station KCBI were noted on 11790 kHz around Christmas 1984, and the station was inaugurated in the middle of the following year, on July 28, with studios in the First Baptist Church in Dallas.  Initially the station was on the air with a regular daily schedule, but during the following year, this scheduling was reduced to just the weekends, due to a shortage in funding.  Shortly afterwards, the station was closed and placed up for sale.  

Four years later, the station was reactivated, and then sold for $1,000 to the University Network for the programming of Dr. Gene Scott.  An additional shortwave transmitter, a Continental unit rated at 100 kW, was installed in 1994 and the callsign was changed to KAIJ, although the significance of those call letters was never divulged.

During the height of its operation, station KAIJ was on the air with a full 24 hour daily schedule on both transmitters, 100 kW & 50 kW, operating on 5755 and 9480 kHz.  However, as time went by, this scheduling was reduced until just one transmitter was in use part time.  Gene Scott then moved his programming to station WWCR in Nashville, Tennessee, finding it more cost effective to buy airtime than to maintain and operate the high-power transmitters.

The station was then sold again, this time to Peoria Broadcasting Services, although they used it on air for little more than occasional test broadcasts.

Then in 2009, this shortwave station was procured by an organization called Leap of Faith, Inc., whose chairman was George McClintock. The equipment was removed from Denton, Texas and re-installed at an isolated rural area near Lebanon in Tennessee.  The 100 kW transmitter was refurbished for use at its new location, and two rhombic antennas were installed.

Test broadcasts from this shortwave station now located in Tennessee began in January 2010 under the callsign WTWW which you probably know stood for We Transmit World Wide.  Tests were heard on both frequencies previously used by KAIJ – 5755 and 9480 kHz.  Program broadcasting began officially at 1500 UTC on February 19, 2010 on 9480 kHz, though at reduced power.  Full power broadcasting began on March 1.

The two transmitters from Denton were supplemented by a third, a Harris 100 kW unit, donated by KNLS, Alaska, after that station had upgraded to a new transmitter.  And then in 2014, a further 100 kW Harris unit was obtained by George McClintock from KTWR in Guam, bringing the complement of transmitters to four.

To cover the operating costs, a long-term lease for airtime was agreed with an organization called ‘Scriptures for America’.  This is an outlet for the pre-recorded sermons of Pete Peters, founder of the LaPorte Church of Christ in LaPorte, Colorado.  Peters died in 2011 shortly after the station went on the air, but his back catalog of mainly Anglo-Israelism oriented teaching kept the station afloat financially for many years.  A second program stream from LaPorte called ‘The Bible Worldwide’ offered audiobook broadcasts of the Holy Bible in various languages.

The station’s lead engineer and chief operator was Ted Randall, who I met once at an NASB meeting in Nashville.  He demonstrated how he could control all the shortwave transmitters through his mobile phone – powering them up or down, changing frequencies and routing programming to the correct transmitter as needed.  He donated his services to the station in exchange for the right to use the transmitters for music and ham radio programming when they were not being used for ‘Scriptures for America’.  Together with his wife Holly, Ted produced a number of secular music programs on the station, with a very professional jingle package.

From August 2018 until November 2022, the station put out a nightly oldies and classic rock music format on 5085 kHz, hosted by several veteran DJ’s who volunteered for the service, broadcasting remotely from their homes.  The service was branded as ‘The Big One on 5085.’

On November 9, 2022, after a dispute with George McClintock, Ted Randall left WTWW, but reappeared with his oldies programming on WRMI five days later.  WTWW shut down briefly, but returned the following month, December 2022, with Scriptures or America programming on 5085 kHz, and eventually on 9475 kHz also.

 

Since October last year, 2023, WTWW has begun accepting programming from other religious broadcasters, including Bob Biermann’s talk show Truth 2 Ponder, as a supplement to its main outlet on WRMI.

So, that’s the story of the two shortwave endeavors in Texas, both in Dallas.  Station KFRN back in 1960 was never erected, neither in Dallas nor in Tulsa.  Station KCBI was inaugurated in Dallas in 1985, it was re-designated as KAIJ nearly ten years later and was subsequently transferred to Lebanon, Tennessee where it has since been on the air as WTWW.

There are a few QSL cards from the original KCBI in the collections of international radio monitors, and three different styles are known; a 1973 calendar, a two-sided On the Air Card, and an On the Air card with a plain back.  After the University Network procured the station, two cards were used, both with the title, Two If By Sea Broadcasting.  The first card shows the old callsign KCBI, and the second card shows the new callsign KAIJ.  QSL’s were issued both by email and by post for the transferred station WTWW at its location in Lebanon, Tennessee.

As an interesting side note, when this shortwave station was on the air under the callsign KCBI, it broadcast a delayed relay of the early DX program from Adventist World Radio in Poona, India.  The program title at the time was “Radio Monitors International”, the AWR studios were located in suburban Poona, and the broadcast from station KCBI was on the air under the auspices of Radio Earth.  The broadcast of “Radio Monitors International” via KCBI was on the air for a few weeks beginning on October 13, 1985.

Back to you, Jeff.

(QSLs via Gayle Van Horn QSL Collection/Teak Publishing)