Schedule update, Voice of the Week Radio International

 USA   Voice of The Report of The Week International  

Effective: 01 June 2017

All times UTC

2200-2300 on  9955 WYFR 100 kW / 160 deg to SoAm En Thu tx#10, new

0000-0100 on  7490 WBCQ 050 kW / 245 deg to ENAm En Fri, unchanged

0000-0100 on  9395 WYFR 100 kW / 355 deg to ENAm En Fri tx#06, new

0000-0100 on  9455 WYFR 100 kW / 285 deg to WNAm En Fri tx#05, new

0000-0100 on  7730 WYFR 100 kW / 285 deg to MEXI En Fri tx#13, new

2200-2300 on  7490 WBCQ 050 kW / 245 deg to ENAm En Sun WBCQ1, new

1200-1300 on  9875 TAC 100 kW / 068 deg to EaAs En Thu, cancelled

2000-2100 on 11580 WYFR 100 kW / 044 deg to WeEu En Thu, cancelled

The transmission on 9875 kHz to Eastern Asia has been discontinued due to the low modulation of the signal and the transmission on 11580 kHz to western Europe is being discontinued due to poor signal in the target area.

 tx/transmitter

(DX Re Mix 1010)

Through the Years With Shortwave WYFR

On a recent occasion here in Wavescan, we presented an episode about the illustrious shortwave station WYFR up to the time when all 14 shortwave transmitters were installed in their new facility at Okeechobee in Florida.  This bevy of transmitters included one new unit that had been in storage for some time at the Continental factory in Dallas Texas; 5 that were transferred from the WRUL-WNYW-WYFR shortwave station at Hatherly Beach, Scituate in Massachusetts; and 8 that were constructed by the station staff at Okeechobee.

            In the onward flow of information about this huge shortwave station, we pick up the story again in the year 1988 at the time when the full complement of transmitters at Okeechobee was on the air in active service.

            As the transferred and new transmitters were installed progressively at Okeechobee, they were initially designated with the numbers from 1 - 14 in the order in which they were installed.  However, as time went by, the designation of each unit was modified and each transmitter was then identified in the progressive order of the actual location within the transmitter building.

            At this stage (1988), shortwave WYFR contained the following compliment of transmitters:-

                        2 Continental     418D     100 kW        New, though one was previously on air at Scituate

                        1 Continental     417B        50              Previously on air at Scituate

                        2 Harris Gates  HF100   100               Previously on air at Scituate

                        1 Gates             HF50C     50             Previously on air at Scituate

                        8 WYFR                           100             All new, design based on Continental 418D

 

            All 14 shortwave transmitters at WYFR were on the air in daily usage with programming in some 20 languages beamed at varying times throughout the day to all continents.  And, beginning each day at  2200 UTC in 1988 for example, all 14 transmitters were on the air at the same time, with a total output power into the antenna systems of a massive 1.3 MW (megawatts).

            In addition to the full complement of 14 shortwave transmitters, 2 at 50 kW and 12 at 100 kW, WYFR programming  was beamed almost worldwide with a bevy of 23 antennas; 12 log periodics, 5 nested double rhomboids (10), and a TCI curtain with a passive reflector.  The feeder transmission lines running from the transmitter building to the various antenna systems as shown on an engineering map are described as appearing like the spokes of a huge wagon wheel.

     Audio Insert

            WYFR: Theme music & identification announcement

 

            Over the years, there have been a few occasions when WYFR has sustained significant  damage under the impact of tropical storms and hurricanes.  For example, during the year 2004, WYFR was damaged by Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, and then again during the following year by Hurricane Wilma. 

            In advance of the coming storms, the WYFR staff made adequate preparation to safeguard their station against wind, rain and lightning.  Outdoor items that might blow around were secured, the transmitters and other electronic equipment inside the transmitter building were covered with plastic sheeting to safeguard against rain, and the transmitters were shut down when the open wire transmission lines began to slap around in the wind.

            On these stormy occasions, some of the outdoor facilities were damaged, including antennas, feeder lines and switches.  After the systems were repaired following Hurricane Wilma, the 100 kW transmitters were on the air for a while at half power.

            During its nearly 36 years of active service, shortwave WYFR was on the air daily with the continuous broadcast of its massive program output that was heard in almost every country of the world.  During this long era, they celebrated four major anniversaries, their 10^th, 20^th, 25^th and 30^th.

One of the unique broadcasting arrangements that was implemented by Family Radio was a long series of relay transmissions via major shortwave stations operated by other international radio broadcasting organizations.  The first of these international program relays began without prior announcement on January 1, 1982, under a reciprocal agreement with Radio Taiwan International.  WYFR programming was relayed via RTI, and RTI programming was relayed by WYFR.   

            Over a period of more than 30 years, the international programming of Family Radio was noted on the air via shortwave transmitters owned and operated by a multitude of other shortwave broadcasting organizations at more then 30 different locations on all continents except Australia.  During a special series of test transmissions in 2003 that was arranged by NASB, the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters, two half hour programs compiled by WYFR were broadcast over the original WRMI at Hialeah with 50 kW on 7385 kHz.

            The most unusual relay of WYFR programming had to be over station WTTZ “somewhere in Europe”.  A listener in Kristiansand Norway reported in 2008 that he was listening to the programing from station WTTZ on 6925 kHz several nights in a row.  The noted American specialist in pirate radio activity, George Zeller, states that he knows nothing about the unauthorized European shortwave station with a fake American callsign, and we can only presume that the WYFR relay via WTTZ was an unauthorized operation by a hobby broadcaster.

            Shortwave station WYFR was always a prolific verifier of reception reports and their QSL cards were issued from their head office in Oakland California.  More than a dozen different QSL cards are known, and if any international radio monitor in some part of the world out there was able to collect at least one card from each design, the tally would be much higher.

            Their  20^th anniversary QSL card was quite unique, in that it was in reality a pair of cards.  The photo on the left hand side card featured the studio staff in Oakland California, and the photo on the right hand side card featured the staff at the transmitter station in Okeechobee Florida.  When the two cards are placed side by side, the reading of the text, and the map of the world, are shown as complete.

            The end came mid year 2013, on June 30, to be exact; and the illustrious WYFR was no more.  It was silenced forever, at least under the original callsign.  As we know, the station itself was taken over by Radio Miami International and rejuvenated, and the callsign WRMI was transferred from the 50 kW station in Hialeah to the Okeechobee station with its 14 transmitters.  This station is still the largest privately operated shortwave station in the Western Hemisphere.

            We express appreciation to Dan Elyea, Engineering Manager at WYFR, for information he has provided for this lengthy series of topics on this illustrious shortwave station in Florida.  In addition, he kindly vetted each of the scripts in the series on WYFR to ensure that the information was accurate, and that it presented the story appropriately.  We wish him well for a well-deserved and happy retirement.

            On the next occasion when we take a look at the story of an international shortwave station in the United States, we plan to go back to the beginning, and present the long and interesting history of the shortwave station associated with the famous mediumwave station KDKA in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

(AWR Wavescan/NWS 326)

Tribute to Shortwave WYFR

The Okeechobee Story

As we continue in our long and interesting series of topics on the illustrious history of shortwave station WYFR, we come now to the story of the current transmitter site which is located in Okeechobee Florida.  Okeechobee itself is a quite small regional city located above the northern edge of the rather large Lake Okeechobee, in the bottom part of the Florida peninsula.

          

  Lake Okeechobee is itself a large freshwater lake, 35 miles long and 29 miles wide, with several small rivers and streams running into it.  The name Okeechobee means “big water” in an old local American Indian language.  The small town called Okeechobee, which caters for lake tourism, is situated near the northern edge of the lake itself.

         

The huge new mega-shortwave station for Family Radio was constructed on a leased property of 664 acres, some 20 miles north of Lake Okeechobee.  The flat land in this area is utilized locally for animal grazing, and nearby are large citrus groves and areas for sod grass crops.

            A single one-storey building was constructed in the center of this property for use as the transmitter building, and the surrounding area was set aside for the installation of a massive series of antenna systems; rhomboid, curtain and log periodic.  The pattern of the multitude of feeder lines, running from the transmitter building to the antenna systems, is described as resembling the spokes on a huge wheel.  Construction work on this new shortwave station began nearly forty years ago, in late 1976.

During the following year (1977), the first shortwave transmitter was installed.  This unit was a 100 kW Continental model 418D that Family Radio had purchased a few years earlier and it was taken out of storage in Dallas Texas for installation in Okeechobee Florida. 

This new transmitter, now identified as WYFR1, was taken into scheduled service on November 23, 1977 with programming in two progressive segments which were beamed to Europe followed by the Spanish service to Latin America.  At this stage, WYFR was now on the air from two widely separated locations; four transmitters, 50 kW and 100 kW at Scituate in Massachusetts and the new 100 kW in Florida, all under the collective callsign WYFR. 

The second transmitter for installation at the new Florida site was also a 100 kW Continental  model 418D and this unit had been on the air earlier with Family Radio at Hatherly Beach Scituate for just three years.  This Scituate transmitter, WYFR(6), was shut down in late 1977 and made ready for the more than 1200 mile journey to Okeechobee Florida where it was re-activated early in the following year and identified consecutively as WYFR2.

            

The 50 kW Continental 417B at Scituate, where it had been on the air under the previous owners as WNYW4, was shut down in the early part of the year 1978, and after installation at Okeechobee it was re-activated at the end of the same year as WYFR3.  During the two years, 1978 & 1979, two more of the transmitters at Scituate, the 100 kW Harris Gates units, model HF100, WNYW2 & WNYW3, were shut down and re-activated at Okeechobee under the consecutive designations WYFR4 & WYFR5.

The last transmitter at Scituate, the 50 kW Harris Gates model HF50C, was closed down without ceremony at the end of its broadcast day on Friday November 16, 1979.  A report in an Australian radio magazine atests the closing time as 2052 UTC; that is, 4:52 pm Eastern Daylight Savings time, at the end of the English Service to Africa on 21525 kHz.  However, Dan Elyea, WYFRThe last transmitter at Scituate, the 50 kW Harris Gates model HF50C, was closed down without ceremony at the end of its broadcast day on Friday November 16, 1979.  A report in an Australian radio magazine atests the closing time as 2052 UTC; that is, 4:52 pm Eastern Daylight Savings time, at the end of the English Service to Africa on 21525 kHz.  However, Dan Elyea, WYFR

The last transmitter at Scituate, the 50 kW Harris Gates model HF50C, was closed down without ceremony at the end of its broadcast day on Friday November 16, 1979.  A report in an Australian radio magazine atests the closing time as 2052 UTC; that is, 4:52 pm Eastern Daylight Savings time, at the end of the English Service to Africa on 21525 kHz.  However, Dan Elyea, WYFR

Engineering Manager, who was at the transmitter site at Hatherly Beach at the time, remembers that the final broadcast over WNYW ended sometime in the evening.                 

        

At the end of its 60 year era of illustrious service, Scituate now lay silent.  Gone were the uncounted, innumerable broadcasts in a multitude of languages that were heard virtually in every country of the world, and gone were the life stories of the experienced radio personnel who kept the station alive over the life time of its active on air service. 

       

After Family Radio, under Dan Elyea and his crew, had removed all usable equipment, the 40 acre property reverted to its owners and it lay idle for a score of years.  Occasional radio visitors to the location described the property as abandoned and covered with so much undergrowth that it would be better described as overgrowth.

       

 There were just a few identifiable objects that remained on the property as reminders of its previous glory.  The transmitter building, which had been in use by the American army during World War 1 for an electric power generator was still there, and so was the old chimney, though minus either of the callsigns WRUL or WNYW.  In addition, a few odds and ends of debris lay scattered around on the ground.   However, some 20 years ago, the property was taken over for the construction of an upscale housing area, and it remains that way to this day.

Meanwhile, down there in Florida, WNYW5 from Scituate was installed as WYFR6, where it was reactivated on its previous frequency, 21525 kHz in the English Service to Africa. In addition, work continued on the construction of eight more transmitters at 100 kW, and the erection of the remaining antenna systems.  Each of the new transmitters was constructed by WYFR staff on site at Okeechobee using the same design as the Continentals that were already on the air at WYFR.  The first of their new locally made units, WYFR7, was activated on December 7, 1981, in the Family Radio English Service to Western Canada.

        

    During the next four years, seven more locally made transmitters were installed at the shortwave site and the final unit, WYFR14, was activated on September 25, 1988.  Thus they were now fully complemented with 14 shortwave transmitters, 2 at 50 kW and 12 at 100 kW, together with a bevy of 23 antennas; 12 log periodics, 5 nested double rhomboids (10), and a TCI curtain with a passive reflector.

(AWR/Wavescan-NWS 311) 

Tribute to WYFR-WRMI - A Multitude of QSL Cards

We continue in our series of topics on the fascinating backgrounds of the large American shortwave station, WYFR-WRMI, and on this occasion, we present the interesting information regarding the enormous amount of QSL cards issued from this station at its various locations in the state of Massachusetts.  But first though, we examine the QSL cards that were issued from New York and Mattappoisett by the forerunners of the big Boston station.
On May 10, 1924, the noted amateur radio entrepreneur, Irving Vermilya at Mattappoisett some 50 miles south of Boston, broadcast a music program from his mediumwave station WBBG under the experimental callsign 1XAL.  He received many reception reports from listeners in surrounding states, written onto the popular Applause Cards of the day.
In his first radio history book, On the Shortwaves 1923 - 1945, Jerome Berg in suburban Boston refers to the fact that shortwave station 2XAL, with studios in New York and transmitter at Coytesville New Jersey, received a reception report from a listener in Australia in the year 1928, at a time when the station was running at less than 500 watts.  Station W2XAL from New Jersey was transferred to Boston and it took over the experimental callsign from WBBG at Mattappoisett and began broadcasting in Boston under the now abandoned call W1XAL in mid 1931.
The earliest known QSL cards from Walter Lemmon’s experimental shortwave station W1XAL in Boston were issued a few months later, in January 1932.  This first QSL card acknowledged reception reports addressed to the shortwave station, as well as to the experimental TV and Apex high fidelity stations operated by the television pioneer Hollis Baird.
Since that time, this Boston shortwave station under its different owners and locations has issued untallied thousands of QSL cards in a multitude of different card designs and styles during its more than 40 years of on air activity.  Recent research has uncovered at least 50 different QSL card designs and styles, and it is likely that many more, perhaps even four times that number, were issued.  
One particular card showing the callsign WRUL diagonally in large red letters was issued in 1954 and it was numbered 14,424, though it is not known when this particular numbered sequence began.
The design on many of the earlier QSL cards featured a stylized microphone, and this motif was emblazoned on several different QSL cards, both in size and in position.  These cards usually listed the callsigns and frequencies in use at the time.
One of the very rare QSL cards issued for the reception of experimental station W1XAR verified test transmissions on 11730 kHz on March 19, 1939.  According to an analysis of the historical events associated with this specific transmitter, this particular QSL card is the only known verification of transmitter W1XAR at its temporary location at suburban Norwood in Boston.  A picture of this card can be seen in the Canadian DX magazine, DX Ontario dated July 2006, page 13.
There are no known QSL cards verifying the usage of the two regularized callsigns, WSLA & WSLR, which were in temporary use for just 13 days at Hatherley Beach, Scituate from August 25, 1939 until September 6.  Both transmitters at 20 kW each had been removed from the Boston location and re-installed at the recently acquired facility at Hatherly Beach.  The two temporary callsigns were replaced by the now better known calls WRUL & WRUW.
A QSL card printed in the Spanish language and posted in Nicaragua shows the two newly installed transmitters in the renovated transmitter building at Hatherley Beach Scituate, with a diagrammatic representation showing the scheduling for the two transmitters on five different shortwave channels.
There are no known QSL cards verifying the reception of the callsign WRUR which was in use on the air from 1941 - 1947 approximately.  The call WRUR was apparently a subsidiary call for the 20 kW WRUW on 9700 kHz.
On July 1, 1953, all five transmitters at Scituate, WRUA WRUL WRUS WRUW & WRUX, were redesignated as WRUL 1- 5 and the owners of the station, WWBF World Wide Broadcasting Foundation, introduced a new QSL card.  This new card shows the single call letters diagonally in large red print, WRUL.  At least four different versions of this card are known, though all are very similar.
In 1959, a listener in Sweden received one of the new red letter QSL cards, and instead of the small stylized microphone in the top right hand corner, there is a small version of the globe, planet Earth.  This is the only known copy of this particular card, though obviously many more would have been printed.
There is also only one known copy of the QSL card verifying the 5 kW WIOD transmitter from Miami which was re-activated at Scituate under the WWBF callsign WRUS.  This same transmitter was later re-designated as WRUX, and another QSL card was printed for the occasion with the callsign again printed diagonally in large red print.
During the era when the Scituate station was in service with the  Voice of America, United Nations Radio and AFRS the Armed Forces Radio Service, these parent organizations issued their own QSL cards for their relays via the WRUL transmitters.
Metro Media in New York purchased the shortwave station at Hatherley Beach in 1960 and they owned the station for just three years.  Their QSL card showed the code letters QSL in large black print on a plain card.  At least two versions of this card are known, one in off white and the other in dark green.
Then it was in mid 1962 that Bonneville International bought the station and they owned it for a period of eleven years.  Their QSL cards showed the letter W surrounding planet Earth, and most designs were very similar, though printed on different colored card.
On June 1, 1966, Bonneville changed the callsign from WRUL to WYNW and they produced a commemorative QSL card to honor the occasion.  This card shows their production studios at 485 Madison Ave, New York.
Then, early on Sunday morning April 9, 1967, a disastrous fire of suspicious origin completely destroyed the Hatherley Beach shortwave station.  As Jerome Berg tells us in his first radio book, the WNYW programming was carried by the shortwave communication stations at Brentwood and Rocky Point for a period of some four months.  There are no known QSL cards verifying this temporary fill in relay service.  
In 1973, Bonneville sold shortwave station WNYW to Family Radio in Oakland California and they changed the callsign to WYFR and this change brought in a whole new series of new QSL cards.  We plan to present this story here in Wavescan on a coming occasion.
(AWR/Wavescan-NWS 282)

Tribute to Family Radio Shortwave: The Final Years with Walter Lemmon

In the continuing saga about the long and illustrious history of the shortwave station that finally  became WYFR and then WRMI, we pick up the chain of events in the middle of the year 1953.  At this stage, station WRUL, as it was at the time, was on the air at Hatherly Beach with five transmitters:-

                        3 @ 50 kW, 1 @ 20 kW and 1 @ 7 or 80 kW (with or without a huge power amplifier).

            On June 30, 1953, the 5 WRUL transmitters were officially released from service with the Voice of America and the station was reverted back to regular programming under its ownership with Walter Lemmon.  The usage of the Boston studios had ended two years earlier and WRUL had established a New York office at 1 East 57^th Street, which according to the city address list, is the location for the voluminous fashion icon Louis Vuitton store.  A few blocks away was the location for the original production and on-air studios of the Voice of America.                    

            At the same time as WRUL was released from VOA service in mid 1953, so also was the Westinghouse shortwave station WBOS at Hull, located at the end of the Nantasket Peninsula out from Boston.  Westinghouse then closed this station and sold the equipment to WRUL at Hatherly Beach.          The leftover equipment from the two transmitters WBOS & WPIT at Hull was incorporated into the WRUL facility, though never as a separate transmitter unit.  At this stage, WRUL was no longer an official relay station for the Voice of America with programming from VOA and the Armed Forces Radio Service.

            Then, in 1960, the 65 year old Walter Lemmon relinquished control of the station, selling it off to Metro Media in New York.  At this stage, the same five transmitters were still in use:-

                        3 @ 50 kW, 1 @ 20 kW and 1 @ 80 kW.

            MetroMedia, that is the Metropolitan Broadcasters of New York, also owned mediumwave WNEW, as well as a small network of radio and television stations across the country.  They transferred the studios for their new shortwave acquisition into 4 West 58^th Street, the location of the famed Paris Theatre, quite near to Central Park.  This new suite of radio studios was titled the Worldwide Communication Center.

            However, MetroMedia retained the usage of the Hatherly Beach shortwave station for just three years only after which they sold it off to the International Educational Broadcasting Corporation IEBC in Salt Lake City Utah for $1¾ million.  This change of ownership was effective on October 10, 1962, and a new on air slogan was introduced, Radio New York World Wide, though the old and familiar callsign WRUL was still retained.  At this stage, the same five transmitters were on the air, though they were now listed as 4 @ 50 kW and 1 @ 80 kW.  A total of eleven antenna systems were in use.

            Soon after IEBC obtained WRUL at Hatherly Beach, this organization morphed into Bonneville International both of which had close ties with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, the Mormons. 

            Interestingly, there was a previous attempt on the part of the Mormon Church to go shortwave and this was back in the year 1939.  At that time, the experimental shortwave broadcasting station W9XAA was on the air in Chicago with a 500 watt transmitter located at suburban Downer’s Grove.              This shortwave station was owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor, who also operated the well known mediumwave station WCFL.  The Chicago Federation of Labor in Chicago wanted to sell its co-owned shortwave station W9XAA to mediumwave KSL in Salt Lake City Utah. 

            They lodged a request with the FCC to sell the station, increase its power, and move it to Saltair, near Salt Lake City.  However, in September 1939, the FCC denied this request; and so this first attempt on the part of the Mormon Church to establish a shortwave station came to nothing.

            Returning to the story of the Boston shortwave station, we might add, that in the year 1964, the long standing Adventist radio program, Voice of Prophecy with the illustrious Dr. H. M. S. Richards was on the air from the shortwave station WRUL twice each Sunday.  At both 1200 & 1900 GMT, as it was in those days or UTC as it is today, this half hour program was noted on all four active transmitters in parallel, on 11950 15385 15440 & 17760 kHz.

     

            The vigorous radio entrepreneur Walter Lemmon was born in New York City on February 3, 1896, and on March 1, 1967, he passed to his rest at Old Greenwich Connecticut, age 71. 

            He gained a B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering at Columbia University in New York City.  As 

Lieutenant Walter Lemmon with the Coast Guard he was appointed as a wireless operator onboard the navy vessel USS “George Washington”, and he also served as Wireless Operator for President Woodrow Wilson at the Versailles Peace Conference in France in 1919.  While the ship was anchored in port at Brest Harbor in coastal France, he made a series of experimental radio broadcasts containing news about the Peace Conference. 

            On the return journey across the Atlantic, Walter Lemmon aboard the “George Washington” presented several broadcasts of recorded music for the benefit of nearby ships and for listeners along the eastern seaboard of the United States.  When the ship was still 300 miles from port, he persuaded President Wilson to make a special July 4 radio broadcast to the United States.

            Wilson did indeed make the brief speech in between music items during the Independence Day broadcast, though he stood so far away from the microphone that his words were not heard clearly in the broadcast.  A news reporter subsequently re-read the speech which this time was transmitted quite clearly.

            Ten years later, Walter Lemmon became the general manager for shortwave station W2XAL in Coytesville New Jersey, a station that he bought two years later and ultimately transferred to Boston in association with TV experimenter Hollis Baird.  Lemmon manager the Boston shortwave station WRUL for a period of nearly 30 years, running from 1931 right up to the year 1960, developing it into one of the world’s largest and most powerful shortwave stations in the middle of last century.

            Walter Lemmon invented the 3-gang tuning condenser which he sold to RCA for $1 million; and he also invented the radiotypewriter which enabled typed messages to be transmitted by radio and instantly received on a similar typewriter anywhere in the world.  He was also an executive with the IBM Corporation; and in addition to his management of shortwave WRUL, Lemmon was the manager for an early FM station, WGCH 95.9 MHz in Greenwich Connecticut.

            Walter Lemmon sold his shortwave station WRUL in 1960, he went into retirement at the age of  64, and died seven years later.  By this time, his shortwave station was now on the air under the new callsign WNYW.  

            But that’s a story for next time.

 (AWR Wavescan/NWS260)

Tribute to WYFR: The Wartime Years and Beyond

On the previous occasion when we presented an episode in the historic backgrounds of shortwave station WYFR, we came to the year 1942.  At this stage, there were just three transmitters on the air at the newly developed shortwave station located at Hatherly Beach, near Scituate in coastal Massachusetts.  These transmitters were on the air with 20 kW as WRUL & WRUW, and WRUS at 5 kW.  Under construction and not yet fully completed at this time were two 50 kW transmitters that could be combined for a total output power of 100 kW.
Our story today covers the events that took place in the unfolding history of this large radio station and its service with the Voice of America during the wartime years, and into the first years of the new peace time back in the middle of last century.
Actually, even before the entry of the United States into World War II and the formation of the Voice of America, station WRUL was on the air with special programming on behalf of the United States government.  Back in September 1939, WRUL began transmitting programming beamed towards Europe in co-operation with the British Security Commission which had established an office in New York City.
Then, in April 1940, WRUL made a series of shortwave broadcasts on behalf of the western powers, urging all Norwegian ships still at sea to head towards neutral or allied ports.  Later in the same year, WRUL began programming in the Norwegian language on behalf of the Royal Norwegian Information Services in New York City.
Special programming in the Arabic language began on February 9, 1942.  Several of the regular programs produced and broadcast by WRUL, together with the other two transmitters WRUW & WRUS, were relayed by the BBC in London and by the Free French station in the Congo, Radio FZI in Brazzaville.  
When the United States government, under the newly formed OWI, Office of War Information, negotiated with the active shortwave stations on the air at the time for a takeover, Walter Lemmon at WRUL fiercely resisted.  It is stated that Walter Lemmon’s loyalty was not questioned; he just wished to retain his station as an independent unit.  During those years, station WRUL was on the air in 24 languages, beamed to Europe, Africa and Latin America.
All of the other shortwave stations in America were taken over on November 1, 1942, and under this agreement, they were still operated by their owners on behalf of the American government. Programming was still produced by many of these stations, though now under the purview of OWI.  
Three days later, at 3:30 pm on November 4, the FCC and the Board of War Communication signed an Order in Washington DC requiring the closure of WRUL and a takeover by the government.  At the same time next day, Thursday November 5, federal agents moved in, entered the station, and officially closed it down.  The program line from their new studios in New York City was cut, and the station went silent.
Next day, OWI programming was fed to WRUL, and the station became an effective part of the newly developing Voice of America network.  That was Friday November 6, 1942.
Then two days later, Sunday November 8, the United States navy carried out its initial invasion of North Africa.  The battle ship USS “Texas” was already off the Atlantic coast of Morocco near Rabat with a 5 kW mediumwave transmitter tuned to 601 kHz.
At 4:30 am local time, the untested ship board transmitter was activated and fed with live programming from its own studio, as well as with off air relays from the BBC London and OWI from the United States.  Shortwave WRUL at Hatherly Beach was now on the air with a co-operative relay of this concerted OWI programming.
That same evening, WRUL was on the air to Latin America with the news of the day, and the list of transmitters shows that the old 5 kW WRUS was now relicensed as WRUX.  The new 50 kW WRUS, still under installation, was now on the air for this broadcast to Latin America, though apparently only on a temporary basis.
In April of the next year, 1943, the FCC cancelled the license for the 5 kW callsign WRUS; and
on May 1, the new 50 kW WRUS was ready for programming.  The additional 50 kW WRUA was ready for programming in the middle of the month, May 15.  Both WRUS & WRUA were combined at times into a single 100 kW unit, usually under the single callsign WRUA.
The old 5 kW WRUS when reactivated as WRUX, was in use for the relay of news bulletins in Morse Code; and later, when a new power amplifier at 80 kW was added, it was noted with regular programming on behalf of the Voice of America.  During this era, the WRUL transmitters were on the air radiating from five rhombic antennas beamed towards Europe, Africa and Latin America.
  During the year 1947, Walter Lemmon gained the right to program his stations at 25% of the time, with VOA-AFRS programming at 75%.  In anticipation of the return of WRUL to its own programming, Walter Lemmon held a celebration at the Boston studios at 133 Commonwealth Avenue on February 7.  However, this matter was not fully settled until mid year as part of the Smith-Mundt Act before Congress.
A new set of callsigns appeared for the shortwave transmitters at Scituate in August 1950, and these were finally formalized by the FCC on January 1, 1951.  Instead of a different callsign for each transmitter, they were all bundled together under the one callsign WRUL, with a suffix number indicating each specific unit.  These are the details of the new consolidated callsigns:-  

NYC Coytesville Boston     Hatherly Beach       1950 kW Consolidated Call

2XAL W2XAL W1XAL WSLA WRUL 50 WRUL1
W1XAR WSLR WRUW 20 WRUL4
WRUS WRUX  7/80 WRUL5
WRUA 50 WRUL2
WRUS 50 WRUL3

The date for the end of official service with the Voice of America and the Armed Forces Radio Service, VOA & AFRS, was set for June 30, 1953.  Beginning next day, WRUL was now back into full private ownership with only its own programming.  However, in spite of this declaration, station WRUL continued to relay some of the VOA and AFRS programming, for the next six years.
That’s where we pick up the story again next time.
(AWR Wavescan/NWS 256)

Additional story- Scituate's radio station helped save the world at:
http://www.patriotledger.com/features/x1799252659/Scituate-s-radio-station-helped-save-the-world

Big Florida Shortwave Station to Reopen

By Paul McLane

A “mighty” Florida-based shortwave facility, formerly owned by Family Radio, will be back on the air soon following a sales agreement with another U.S.-based international broadcaster that will close its own smaller Florida shortwave site. 

At least one interested observer hopes the move will provide encouragement to other shortwave broadcasters that might be considering scaling back operations.

WYFR in Okeechobee, Fla., used to broadcast Christian content to an international audience — the call letters reportedly stood for “We’re Your Family Radio” — but it turned off its signals in June. Come December, though, the big facility will go back on the air under a new owner. 

Family Stations Inc., founded by evangelist Harold Camping, will sell WYFR to Radio Miami International, which currently operates a separate station, WRMI, in Miami.  “Family Radio programming for the Caribbean and South America will return to shortwave via the Okeechobee site, and Radio Miami’s programming currently aired on WRMI in Miami will switch over to the Okeechobee facility,” WRMI stated in the announcement. “The station will also carry programs for other international broadcasters, including Pan American Broadcasting’s Radio Africa network.”

WRMI’s 50 kW transmission site in Miami will close, its call letters transferring to Okeechobee. No price for the transaction was stated.

Family Radio was co-founded by Harold Camping, known for his headline-making predictions of Judgment Day. The organization was in the news earlier this year for reportedly selling various assets.

Additional story at: http://www.radioworld.com/article/big-florida-shortwave-station-to-reopen/222211

WYFR Facility to Return to Shortwave as WRMI

News Release
Nov. 6, 2013


WYFR Facility to Return to Shortwave as WRMI

Legendary shortwave station WYFR in Okeechobee, Florida, which ceased transmissions on June 30, 2013, will resume broadcasting in December as a result of an agreement between Family Stations, Inc, and Radio Miami International, Inc.

According to the agreement, Family Radio will sell the WYFR facility to Radio Miami International.  Family Radio programming for the Caribbean and South America will return to shortwave via the Okeechobee site, and Radio Miami's programming currently aired on WRMI in Miami will switch over to the Okeechobee facility.  The station will also carry programs for other international broadcasters, including Pan American Broadcasting's Radio Africa network.  A target date of December 1, 2013 has been set for the resumption of broadcasts.  The current WRMI transmission site in Miami will be closed, and the WRMI call letters will be transferred to Okeechobee.

"We are very grateful to Family Radio for entrusting us with this magnificent station," said Jeff White, WRMI General Manager. "WYFR is an important part of the heritage of shortwave broadcasting, and we are very happy that it will continue to serve shortwave listeners around the world."  The station first went on the air from Okeechobee in 1977, although the origins of the station and its predecessors go back to 1927. WYFR/WRMI is the largest shortwave station in the United States in number of transmitters and antennas.  The facility is comprised of 13 transmitters -- twelve 100-kilowatt and one 50-kilowatt -- and 23 antennas beamed to all of the Americas, Europe and Africa.

White, who is also Secretary-Treasurer of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB), said that "many people made this transition a reality, not the least of whom was our former Secretary-Treasurer and current board member, Dan Elyea, who had been the WYFR Station Manager from the time it was built in the late 1970's until his recent retirement.  Dan presented us to Family Radio Vice President Tom Evans.  Tom and the Family Radio Board have given us their confidence, and we will do our best to keep this station going for many years to come."
(Adrian Peterson 05 Nov)

A Tribute to WYFR - The Parade of New Callsigns

Back in the mid 1920s when shortwave broadcasting began to emerge in the United States, the Department of Commerce issued callsigns that looked like what we would call today amateur callsigns, though with a mandatory X included, meaning experimental.  Thus, the early forerunner to shortwave WYFR in New York City was issued the callsign 2XAL on June 1, 1925.

            Then, on October 1, 1928, the subsequent Federal Radio Commission FRC required that all amateur and experimental stations should insert the letter W into these callsigns, and thus 2XAL now at Coytesville New Jersey became W2XAL.  Three years later, when the station was moved into an existing radio TV building in Boston, this call was adjusted to W1XAL.   

            Interestingly, in mid 1936, magazine columnist Charles Morrison in the United States issued a call, stating that the time had come for all American experimental callsigns in use on shortwave to be regularized.  However, another two or three years went by before any significant move in this direction began to take place.

            In many other countries, similar procedures were taking place.  For example, the callsign for the experimental government shortwave station in Australia, VK3LR at Lyndhurst in Victoria, was modified to the more familiar VLR on December 1, 1937.

            We come now to the pivotal year 1939.  Angry political clouds were forming over continental Europe and the shortwave broadcasting scene in many countries around the world was changing to accommodate these events.

            On May 23, 1939, the radio broadcasting scene in the United States was now supervised by the Federal Communications Commission FCC and they issued a mandate requiring that the usage of all experimental shortwave callsigns in the United States should be terminated, and that new four letter callsigns should be adopted.  The mandatory date for the adoption of the new callsigns was September 1 of that same year, 1939.

            Now at this stage, the Boston shortwave station was on the air with two shortwave transmitters, both rated at 20 kW.  These two units were licensed as W1XAL and W1XAR.  The callsign W1XAL identified the original transmitter that was upgraded and moved into Boston some eight years earlier, and the new call W1XAR identified a new transmitter still under installation.  The final letter R would seem to indicate, shall we say, the W1XAL call modified to W1XAR with the letter R standing for Radio. 

            The owner of this international radio broadcasting station in Boston was Walter S. Lemmon, and he decided that the callsigns for his two transmitters should honor his name.  Hence, W1XAL became WSLA, standing for Walter S Lemmon, the 1^st transmitter as transmitter A; and W1XAR became WSLR, standing for Walter S. Lemmon, the 2^nd transmitter with R for Radio.  The official date for the introduction of these two new callsigns was August 1, 1939.

            However, the Board Members associated with this shortwave radio station considered that the adoption of the two callsigns that identified the owner of the station would be detrimental to its future operation, and they recommended that new callsigns should be adopted that identified its university connection rather than the personal connection.

            Hence it was that two new callsigns were chosen, and these were the more familiar WRUL and WRUW, indicating World Radio University Listeners and World Radio University Worldwide.  Thus:-

                        W1XAL            WSLA              became           WRUL

                        W1XAR           WSLR                                     WRUW

            The date for the change from WSLA/WSLR to WRUL/WRUW was set as September 7, 1939, though one radio listener in the United States heard the new WRUW callsign over transmitter WSLR at Hatherly Beach during the evening of the previous day, September 6.  Thus the temporary interim callsigns WSLA & WSLR were in use officially for a period of 37 days, stretching from August 1 to September 6, 1939. 

            However, it should be remembered that the two transmitters were off the air during the transfer from Boston to Hatherly Beach, Scituate from July 21 to August 25.  Thus the temporary interim callsigns WSLA & WSLR were in use on air for a period of only 13 days, stretching from August 25 to September 6.    

            It can be remembered that all of the other experimental shortwave callsigns in use in the United States were modified around the same era.  For example, the General Electric shortwave station W6XBE in San Francisco California became KGEI; the Westinghouse shortwave station W8XK in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania became WPIT; and the Crosley shortwave station W8XAL in Cincinnati Ohio became WLWO.

            And so the story continues.  When we take the next look at the early fore-runners of the mighty shortwave station WYFR, it will be under the title, “Tribute to Shortwave WYFR: The Early Years at Hatherly Beach”.

 (AWR/Wavescan/NWS242 via Adrian Peterson)

photo/QRZ)

Tribute to WYFR-The Early Years in Boston

The early shortwave station, 2XAL was on the air first from the Hotel McAlpin in New York City as a portable unit back in the year 1925.  Then two years later, a fixed shortwave transmitter rated at ½ kW was co-sited with the mediumwave unit WRNY close to the waterside on Hudson Terrace at Coytesville in New Jersey.  This area these days is taken up by a busy highway running along the edge of the Hudson River. The wireless experimenter & entrepreneur William S. Lemmon formed his own Shortwave Broadcasting Corporation with offices in the County Trust Building in New York City.  On June 26, 1931, the Federal Radio Commission granted Lemmon a Construction Permit to transfer shortwave station W2XAL to Boston with a power of 15 kW.  The station was moved from Coytesville New Jersey to its new location in Boston three weeks later on July 18.
The new location for the shortwave facility was on the 2nd floor of the two storey building operated by the Shortwave & TV Laboratory at 70 Brookline Ave in Boston.  The FRC sanctioned a combination of the two organizations, Lemmon’s Short Wave Broadcasting Corp with the Shortwave & TV Labs operated by the young TV experimenter Hollis Baird.  Baird was appointed as the Chief Engineer for the Walter Lemmon shortwave stations.
Actually, the power of the re-engineered shortwave transmitter was reduced to 5 kW, the four shortwave towers for the curtain antennas were interspersed among the already standing TV towers, and the station was on the air with an amended callsign.  Lemmon requested a similar callsign for the new location, and thus W2XAL became W1XAL.  The main operating frequency during this era was 6040 kHz. The on-air date at the new Boston location was October 26, 1931 and live experimental programming was produced in the Harvard University Club at 374 Commonwealth Avenue.  The offices and studios for experimental relay station W1XAL were housed in seven bedrooms on the fifth floor of the University Club and these were converted to radio usage.  A year later, shortwave W1XAL & mediumwave WEEI signed an agreement, approving a tandem relay of the mediumwave programming for a total of five hours daily on that same shortwave channel 6040 kHz.
Interestingly, Walter Lemmon filed a stay order with the FRC back at this time, requesting that mediumwave WIOD in Miami Florida be denied a license to install their own shortwave relay transmitter.  However, the FRC denied the Lemmon request, and WIOD did go ahead and establish their own shortwave relay station W4XB.  Give another half a dozen years, and WIOD closed its shortwave station W4XB in Florida and they delivered the equipment for incorporation into the Lemmon shortwave station up along coastal Massachusetts.
In 1933, the company name for the Boston shortwave station was changed to the more familiar World Wide Broadcasting Corporation, and the station began to develop its own schedule of programming and this included many educational programs prepared by university personnel.
In 1935, the 5 kW transmitter was rebuilt to 10 kW, and an additional 3 kW auxiliary transmitter was licensed and installed.
Interestingly in December 1936, an international radio monitor living in the United States heard their multi-renovated main transmitter that had been upgraded over the years (from ½ kW up to 5 kW and then up to 10 kW) on the air with a new callsign W1XAM, though it was in use for just the one evening only.  Apparently the FCC considered that all of these renovations to the main W1XAL transmitter required the issuance of a new callsign, a sequential listing from W1XAL to W1XAM.  This additional callsign was never taken into regular usage.
During the next year or two, the main transmitter was upgraded again, this time to an output power of 20 kW, and four main channels were in use: 6040, 11790, 15250 & 21460 kHz.  An additional antenna system was installed to give coverage to Latin America.  At this stage, according to researcher Michael Kent Sidel, it was estimated that the regular audience tuned in to station W1XAL was ½ million listeners.
On February 1, 1937, station W1XAL introduced a series of short programs in Special English for the benefit of listeners who were not fluent with English as their second language.  These special programs are understood to be the first usage on shortwave of programming in a specialized simple form of English.
In 1938, studios & offices were transferred from the Harvard University Club at 374 Commonwealth Avenue to the nearby Brownstone Building at 133 Commonwealth Avenue, a location that was provided by a benefactor.  The shortwave station retained the usage of this new location right up to 1951, a period of some 13 years.
Radio station W1XAL was closed on July 21, 1939 for the installation of new equipment and a new antenna system at a new location.  Then, when it was reactivated at its new location at Hatherly Beach Scituate a little over month later on August 25, it signed on with a new callsign; W1XAL became WSLA, and a series of test transmissions commenced.
That is the story on another occasion when we take another look at the lengthy series of events associated with this historic shortwave station in Boston.
(AWR/Wavescan/NWS232)
photo/QRZ.com