Tag Archives: VOA Bethany

“VOA Museum exhibit honors Dusty Rhodes, Jim LaBarbara, TV Kiese – WVXU”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor David, who shares a link to a piece from WVXU about a new exhibit at the Voice of America Museum in West Chester, Ohio.

The exhibit highlights the legacy of Dusty Rhodes, Jim LaBarbara, and TV Kiese—three local broadcasting legends whose voices helped shape the airwaves in Cincinnati and beyond. As the VOA Museum continues to preserve and celebrate the power of radio, this exhibit offers a unique glimpse into regional broadcast history and the personalities who made it memorable.

Read the full article here: VOA Museum exhibit honors Dusty Rhodes, Jim LaBarbara, TV Kiese – WVXU

First Look Inside the Updated and Upgraded VOA Museum

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor David, who shares the following news items via WVXU and Spectrum News:

A first look inside the renovated VOA Broadcasting Museum (WVXU)

Visitors to the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester Township will notice the first improvement immediately after turning into the driveway off Tylersville Road.

New pavement covers the old potholes.

That’s just one of many enhancements at the 1942 VOA building thanks to $500,000 from the state of Ohio. The museum reopens this weekend (Jan. 25-26) after a seven-month renovation with a reconfigured exhibition space, more TV monitors, a revamped Cincinnati broadcasting area, and new lighting, carpeting, drop ceilings, and heating and air conditioning systems.

“It’s now beginning to look like a real museum. This is a major, major, major, major infrastructure improvement,” says Jack Dominic, museum executive director.

“This changes everything. We’ve got heat and air conditioning, and carpeting everywhere. We now have a building that is up to code and able to be a welcoming place for all visitors. We don’t have to apologize any more.” [Continue reading…]

New sounds, exhibits shine at the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting (Spectrum News)

CINCINNATI — These days, it’s easy to take communication technology for granted.

We open our phones and there’s the daily news. We get in our car and we’re connected to any type of programming imaginable, and our devices can bring us just about any livestream from across the world at a moment’s notice.

However, it wasn’t all that long ago that communication was a lot different.

After a six-month closure for renovations, the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting is back open.

“We kind of call it the ‘Cincinnati Wing’ and it’s kind of a history of broadcasting in Cincinnati going all the way back to Powel Crosley,” said the museum’s Executive Director Jack Dominic as he gave a tour. [Continue reading…]

VOA Bethany: Remembering the day the transmitters were shut down

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who shares the following article:

Historic radio station in West Chester remembers final broadcast anniversary (Fox 19)

“Everything got shut off. This place had never been shut off in 50 years.”

WEST CHESTER, Ohio (WXIX) – The Bethany Relay Station at the Voice of America Park is remembering the day its mission of transmitting broadcasts ended.

The historic station was built in West Chester by radio pioneer and Cincinnati native Powel Crosley Jr.

The station and its shortwave broadcasts served as countermeasures to propaganda spreading across Europe during World War II, allowing people from all over the world to receive crucial information about wartime happenings.

On Nov. 14, 1994, the mission of transmitting broadcasts worldwide from the Bethany Relay Station came to an end. […]

Click here to read the full article and watch the video.

VOA Museum to host 75th anniversary commemoration of D-Day on June 6

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(Source: Southgate ARC)

The National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester will host a 75th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day landing on Thursday, June 6 at 9 a.m. on the museum’s front lawn.

The event sponsored by Kehoe Financial Advisors of Cincinnati will honor the memory of WW II soldiers who participated in D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, as well as veterans of all wars.

After a color guard presentation by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7696 and a brief ceremony, veterans and other attendees will be invited inside the museum for free coffee, donuts and museum tours until noon.
The public is invited.

Coffee will be donated by CAVU of West Chester, with donuts provided by Kroger stores in Sharonville and on Tylervsille Road in West Chester.

“D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in the history of the world and put Allied troops on the trajectory to win World War II,” said Ken Rieser, VOA Museum board president. “The sacrifice in human life that day alone is sobering—about 4,500 Allied soldiers and from 3,000 to 9,000 Nazi troops.”

During Operation Overlord, which occurred from the June 6, 1944 D-Day landing through August 30, 1944, when German troops retreated east across the Seine River, more than 425,000 Allied and German troops died, according to Barrett Tillman’s D-Day Encyclopedia (2014, Regnery Publishing), on www.HistoryontheNet.com. About 209,000 were estimated to be Allied troops.

“Although many of the soldiers who participated in D-Day are no longer with us, we want to commemorate their sacrifice—as well as the sacrifices of all veterans in all wars since then,” said Tom Keller of Kehoe Financial Advisors. “D-Day is a solemn day, but also an uplifting reminder of what our country can accomplish when we band together for a just cause.”

RSVPs are requested by noon on Wednesday, June 5 for the D-Day commemoration at admin@voamuseum.org to ensure adequate food and beverages.

VOA Museum presentation April 9, 2019: “Theatre of the Mind: Sound Effects During Radio’s Golden Age”

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(Source: Southgate ARC)

A National VOA Museum of Broadcasting Media Heritage presentation

A horse clip-clops down a cobblestoned street. Muffled shouts of street vendors calling out their wares rise up, then fade out.

A long time ago, before the age of the internet—and even before the age of television– radio comedies and dramas entertained the masses by creating stories and situations that relied on the listener’s imagination.

The tools used to help paint those audio landscapes were called sound effects.

The public is invited to join Cincinnati radio historian, WMKV producer and sound effects artist Mike Martini, president of the National Voice of America’s Museum of Broadcasting’s Media Heritage Collection, at “Theater of the Mind: Sound Effects During Radio’s Golden Age” on Tuesday, April 9 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the VOA museum in West Chester.

Martini will talk about the history of radio sound effects and demonstrate how some of the more popular effects were made.

Audience members will have a chance to try their hands at creating the effects, too. The event is free, but seating is limited. Donations are requested.

The VOA museum is open Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at 8070 Tylersville Road in West Chester. General admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children. Museum docents are needed. They are trained on the history of the Voice of America, its technology at the VOA Bethany station, and the history of wireless radio and Cincinnati’s radio and TV broadcast history.

The VOA museum will host its fourth annual fundraiser, “75 Years of Rockin’ the Radio,” on Saturday, Sept. 21. Sponsorships are now available.

For more information on becoming a docent, a fundraiser sponsor or to reserve event seats, email admin@voamuseum.org or call (513) 777-0027.

Voice of America Museum director to present history of Bethany transmitting station

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(Source: Cincinnati.com)

If you’ve ever wondered why the VOA-Bethany Station needed a secured, square mile of land surrounding its 1944 art deco building in West Chester, Jack Dominic has the answer.

Dominic, the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting director, will speak on the “History of the VOA-Bethany Station and the VOA Museum Today” Wednesday, April 3, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the MidPointe Library in West Chester’s community room.

The free event is the second of a four-part series, “The Voice of Truth in America: Celebrating 75 Years of the VOA Bethany Station,” with the MidPointe Library System.

The VOA museum hosts other free events this year to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the VOA-Bethany Station, which now houses the Cold War-era history and broadcasting museum.

“From World War II through the Cold War, the VOA-Bethany Station played a vastly important role in transmitting real news via shortwave radio to people living in countries that lacked a free press,” said Ken Rieser, VOA museum board president. “And it all started here in Cincinnati, with two brothers who developed the technology that evolved into the commercial radio industry.”[…]

The VOA museum will host its fourth annual “75 Years of Rockin’ the Radio” fundraiser Saturday, Sept. 21, with dinner and dancing. Sponsorships are now available.

Museum hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at 8070 Tylersville Road. Admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children.

For a complete schedule of 2019 VOA museum events, “The Voice of Truth in America,” series and WCARA events, visit www.voamuseum.org, www.midpointelibrary.org and www.wc8VOA.org.

Read the full new release at Cincinnati.com.

VOA Museum 75th Anniversary Events & Activities

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(Source: WVXU via Michael Bird)

Voice Of America Museum Sets 75th Anniversary Events

The National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting will celebrate the 75th anniversary of West Chester Township’s Bethany Station with yearlong programs highlighted by a presentation by VOA White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman on March 6.

Events include a talk by Rod Serling biographer Nicholas Parisi; a program on sound effects from the golden age of radio; a “Hamvention” by the West Chester Amateur Radio Association; and a free four-part series of programs called “The Voice of Truth in America: Celebrating 75 Years of the VOA Bethany Station” with the MidPointe Library System.[…]

The anniversary events include:

Feb. 17: “The Imagination of Rod Serling: A Conversation with Nick Parisi,” by the author of Rod Serling: His Life, Work, and Imagination published last year.

March 6: “Covering the White House and the World” by Steve Herman, VOA White House Bureau Chief.

April 6: “History of the VOA-Bethany Station and the VOA Museum Today” presentation by museum director Jack Dominic at MidPointe Library West Chester Township.

April 9: “Theater of the Mind: Sound Effects During Radio’s Golden Age” with Mike Martini, president of the museum’s Media Heritage Collection.

May 16-19: “Hamvention Nights at the VOA Museum” with the West Chester Amateur Radio Association.

June 5: “There’s a Radio in My Cell Phone!,” a children’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) event at MidPointe Library Liberty Township.

July 11: “Stealth Antennas for Amateurs Living in HOAs.”

Aug. 25: Big Band music at MidPointe Library West Chester Township.

Sept. 21: The fourth annual VOA Museum “75 Years of Rockin’ the Radio” fundraiser.

Oct. 18-20: “Jamboree on the Air” with West Chester Amateur Radio Association and area scouting organizations at the museum.

[…]The museum is open Saturdays and Sundays 1-4 p.m. at 8070 Tylersville Road. General admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children.  Museum events are listed at the VOA Museum website.

Click here to read the full article at WVXU.