Voice of America Bethany Relay Station

The Voice of America's Bethany Relay Station was located in Butler County, Ohio's Union Township about 25 miles (40 km) north of Cincinnati, adjacent to the transmitter site of WLW. Starting in 1944 during World War II it transmitted American radio programming abroad on shortwave frequencies, using 200,000-watt transmitters built by Crosley engineers under the direction of R.J. Rockwell. The site was developed to provide 'fallback' transmission facilities inland and away from the East Coast, where transmitters were located in Massachusetts, on Long Island in New York, and in New Jersey, all close to the ocean, subject to attack from German submarines or other invading forces.

Voice of America Bethany Relay Station
VOA Bethany Relay Station
Voice of America Bethany Relay Station is located in Ohio
Voice of America Bethany Relay Station
Voice of America Bethany Relay Station is located in the United States
Voice of America Bethany Relay Station
Location8070 Tylersville Road
West Chester, Ohio
Coordinates39°21′18″N 84°21′24″W
Built1944
Architectural styleArt Deco
NRHP reference No.06001081 [1]
Added to NRHPNovember 28, 2006
The National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting is the main building and campus of the original VOA, Bethany Relay Station.

Programming originated from studios in New York until 1954, when VOA headquarters moved to Washington.

The station operated until 1994. The facility took its name from the Liberty Township community of Bethany, which was about two miles north of the facility.

History

In 1943, the United States government bought nearly all of Section 12 of Township 3, Range 2 of the Symmes Purchase, the northeasternmost section of Union Township. From Hazel Beckley, 170 acres (688,000 m2) were purchased; from Philip Condon, 143 acres (579,000 m2); from Lola Gray Coy, 100 acres (405,000 m2); from John Miller, 69 acres (279,000 m2); and from Suzie Steinman, 142 acres (575,000 m2). The site was chosen for its elevation and its shallow bedrock and is today bounded by Tylersville Road on the south, Cox Road to the west, Liberty Way to the north, and Butler-Warren Road.

The transmitters were built by Powel Crosley Jr.'s Crosley Broadcasting Corporation about one mile west of the company's tower for WLW-AM in Mason.

World War II

The Office of War Information began broadcasting in July 1944 and Adolf Hitler is said to have denounced the "Ohio Liars". At its peak the facility had six transmitters broadcasting on a Clear Channel with 250 kW and two transmitting with 50 kW.

The Bethany Relay Station specialized in bouncing its shortwave signal off the ionosphere to target regions of Europe and would channel hop, which would have forced Nazi Germany to essentially blanket all short wave frequencies to stop it. Called ‘skipping’ by the radio teams, it had been perfected by radio pioneers in several nations but could be unreliable to use.

The time Bethany could broadcast changed based on weather, so summers saw sunset shows and winters produced local noon shows. While some Germans picked up BBC and AFN on radio sets during the war, the Ohio Liars were able to broadcast from Ohio right into the heart of Germany.

Churchill's speech announcing the end of the war was rebroadcast by Bethany Relay Station on 8, 9, 10, and 11 May and was heard by millions of people across Germany. Memories of hearing this speech are often thought of as hokum because AFN and BBC, when they broadcast it, did not feel they had enough power to send radio signals to Germany. Bethany did have the power by using a rare technique and broadcasting at set times of day across a range of frequencies which were changed often to avoid being blocked.[2]

Post War

Following the war, with the OWI abolished, the facility was taken over by the State Department in 1945. It became part of the newly created United States Information Agency in 1953. The Crosley Broadcasting Corporation operated the facility for the government until November 1963, when the Voice of America assumed direct control.

The facility was closed on November 14, 1994; because of changing technologies, the transmissions shifted to satellites. The towers were brought down from December 1997 to February 1998.

Post-closure use

Most of the land was turned over to the county and township for use as a park.

Part in the southwest corner was sold to developers who have erected a shopping center called the Voice of America Centre.

The Miami University Voice of America Learning Center opened on the site in January 2009.

National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting

The 30,000 sq. ft. former Bethany Station building at 8070 Tylersville Road has been transformed into the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting, a historical center about the history of The Voice of America, Powel Crosley Jr. and radio and television.

Using a blueprint developed by Jack Rouse Associates, the facility features displays and interactive experiences that relate the story of the Voice of America and incorporate other related collections from Media Heritage and the Gray History of Wireless Museum in Cincinnati.

Displays include the radio station control room, re-creations of radio and television studios from the 1920s through the present, Old-time radio memorabilia and from the early days of television, and displays about area pioneers in the development of radio technology.[3]

An amateur radio club, West Chester Amateur Radio Association, operates a ham station using the callsign WC8VOA.[4]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. Quora answer by author ‘Siegfried Sassoon’ Quora (Accessed September 30, 2023)
  3. "Tour Local Broadcast History: The Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting". Media Heritage. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  4. "WC8VOA: West Chester Amateur Radio Association". Retrieved November 6, 2022.

Further reading
  • Jim Blount. The 1900s: 100 Years In the History of Butler County, Ohio. Hamilton, Ohio: Past Present Press, 2000.
  • Virginia I. Shewalter. A History of Union Township, Butler County, Ohio. [West Chester, Ohio?]: The Author, 1979.
  • Stern, David & Banks, Michael, CROSLEY: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation Cincinnati, Ohio: Clerisy Press, 2006.
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