Tag Archives: VOA Bethany

VOA Bethany: Remembering the day the transmitters were shut down

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.

Spread the radio love

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

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

1 Reply

(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 [email protected] or call (513) 777-0027.

Spread the radio love

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

1 Reply

(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.

Spread the radio love

VOA Museum 75th Anniversary Events & Activities

1 Reply

(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.

Spread the radio love

VOA Museum ‘Rock the Radio’ fundraiser gala September 22

1 Reply

(Source: Southgate ARC via Richard Langley)

Event to be held on 74th anniversary of VOA-Bethany Station dedication

Whether you engaged in dance parties in the 50s, sock-hopped through the 60s, or grooved to music of the 70s, chances are that radio provided the music of the moment.

It also meant a lifeline of accurate Voice of America news, features and music for people living in war-torn or oppressed countries.

The National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester will host its second annual fundraiser, “Rock the Radio” dinner-and-dance party on Saturday, Sept. 22 from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the VOA museum in West Chester. Blue Stone Ivory, Cincinnati’s premier horn-driven classic rock band, will provide music from the Cold War era to help celebrate the 74 th anniversary of the VOA-Bethany Station.

“We’ll have a cocktail reception in the museum, a fabulous dinner and irresistible dance music that will keep people tapping their toes or entice them out onto the dance floor,” said Jack Dominic, museum executive director. “Funds go toward museum renovation to make the first floor accessible to people of all abilities.”

The National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting gala committee. From left, back row: Greg Stevens, Chris Wunnenberg; Jack Dominic; Karl Ulrich. Front row: Patti Alderson and Melinda Zemper

The evening also includes the official opening of the museum’s new main exhibit hall and a private viewing of a Cold War exhibit supported by the U.S. Coast Guard’s alumni association for the USS Courier. The Courier was a floating Voice of America radio station stationed off the coast of Greece near the Panama Canal Zone from 1952-1964. It was tasked to defeat Soviet jamming near VOA target areas and contained a barrage balloon that held its medium-wave antenna aloft.

“Here in the U.S., we remember radio as entertainment, but it was a crucial way the Voice of America communicated throughout World War II and the Cold War to our troops and allies overseas and to people who lived in countries without a free press,” said Ken Rieser, president of the VOA museum board. “We want to recognize our nation’s commitment to tell the truth in media and educate people in countries where media is censored about what was going on in the world.”

Cost is $150 per person or $300 per couple, with various levels of sponsorship available for individuals, businesses and organizations. Sponsors so far include: Patti and Dick Alderson; Barbara and Larry Kellar; Mr. Mechanic; Oak Tree Communications; Sebaly, Shillito and Dyer; and Greg and Diane Stevens; Gary and Dee West; and Chris and Sandie Wunnenberg.

Sponsorship levels are: Platinum, $10,000; Gold, $8,000; Silver, $5000; and Bronze, $1,000. Sponsor recognition ranges run from free gala tickets, inclusion in the printed program, billing in all public relations and signage, recognition from the podium, logo inclusion on the museum website, and tables for 10 guests.

For 50 years, the VOA-Bethany Station transmitted Voice of America broadcasts to countries worldwide that lacked a free press, first in Europe during World War II and to South America during the Cold War. It was decommissioned by the federal government in 1994.

The iconic art deco building has been developed into the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting with the help of the entire community, mostly with volunteer labor. The Smith Family Foundation recently awarded the museum a $5,000 grant for education, event programming and exhibit development.

The museum is open Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. at 8070 Tylersville Road. Museum general admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children. The museum recently added three new docents, but is still accepting more docent volunteers.

For more information about gala sponsorships, tickets, or to volunteer, email [email protected] , call Dominic at (513) 777-0027, or go to www.voamuseum.org.