{"id":40151,"date":"2019-10-12T07:51:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-12T11:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=40151"},"modified":"2019-10-12T07:51:16","modified_gmt":"2019-10-12T11:51:16","slug":"platja-de-pals-once-a-cold-war-front-line-for-radio-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/platja-de-pals-once-a-cold-war-front-line-for-radio-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"Platja de Pals: Once a Cold War “front line” for Radio Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(Source: CNN<\/a> via Tracy Wood)<\/p>\n

(CNN) \u2014 It’s March 23, 1959. The radio waves crackle and broadcast begins: “Govorit Radio Svoboda” (??????? ????? ??????? – “This is Radio Liberty speaking…”)
\nFrom the other side of the Iron Curtain, the radio broadcasts of US-funded Radio Liberty reached deep inside the Soviet Union. This was an opening line destined to enter Cold War folklore.<\/p>\n

What most of those clandestinely tuning in could not possible imagine is the unlikely location those broadcasts were coming from.<\/p>\n

This quiet beach resort of Platja de Pals, Spain, tucked between the Mediterranean Sea and the greenery of pine groves and rice paddies, makes for an unlikely Cold War front line, but this is exactly the role it played for nearly half a century.<\/p>\n

At this spot, some 150 kilometers north of Barcelona, Catalonia’s rugged Costa Brava opens up into a large bay lined by a long sandy beach, the perfect location for what was to be one of the most powerful broadcasting stations in the world.<\/p>\n

Strategic location<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the mid-1950s, and after nearly two decades of international isolation for Francisco Franco’s Spanish dictatorship, the increasing tensions of the Cold War provided the background for a rapprochement between Spain and the United States.<\/p>\n

In this new Cold War context, Washington took an interest in Spain’s strategic location. General Franco, himself a staunch anti-communist, was happy to oblige. In a landmark deal, the United States was provided with a string of bases on Spanish soil, while Franco’s dictatorship would see its relations with the West restored.<\/p>\n

The setup of Radio Liberty’s broadcast station in Pals was a side effect of this new geostrategic reality.<\/p>\n

From 1959 to 2006, this beach was home to 13 massive antennas (the largest of them 168 meters high, or more than half the size of the Eiffel Tower). This spot was favored not only because of the availability of space — the antennas were laid out in a mile-long line parallel to the shore — but also because it provided direct, unimpeded access to the sea. A physical phenomenon called tropospheric propagation makes it possible for radio waves to travel further over water.[…]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here to continue reading at CNN.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: CNN via Tracy Wood) (CNN) \u2014 It’s March 23, 1959. The radio waves crackle and broadcast begins: “Govorit Radio Svoboda” (??????? ????? ??????? – “This is Radio Liberty speaking…”) From the other side of the Iron Curtain, the radio broadcasts of US-funded Radio Liberty reached deep inside the Soviet Union. This was an opening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[869,3,288,43],"tags":[441,752,8064,1528,7394],"class_list":["post-40151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clandestine","category-news","category-radio-history","category-shortwave-radio","tag-cnn","tag-cold-war","tag-platja-de-pals","tag-radio-liberty","tag-tracy-wood-k7uo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-arB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55220,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/60-minutes-features-radio-free-europe-and-radio-liberty\/","url_meta":{"origin":40151,"position":0},"title":"60 Minutes Features Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty","author":"Thomas","date":"January 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tracy Wood, who shares a link to the latest episode of CBS' 60 Minutes which highlights both the mission and work of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. This episode can be watched on the CBS website by clicking here. Thank you for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RFE-Radio-Liberty-Logo.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RFE-Radio-Liberty-Logo.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RFE-Radio-Liberty-Logo.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RFE-Radio-Liberty-Logo.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26629,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/cold-war-broadcasting-two-articles-feature-rfe-radio-liberty\/","url_meta":{"origin":40151,"position":1},"title":"Cold War Broadcasting: Two articles feature RFE & Radio Liberty","author":"Thomas","date":"June 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andrea Borgnino, who shares the following article from the website Journalism Is Not A Crime: From Propaganda to Journalism: How Radio Free Europe Pierced the Iron Curtain The end of the Second World War signaled the beginning of an information war in Europe. As\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Radio-Free-Europe-Radio-Liberty-RFE.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Radio-Free-Europe-Radio-Liberty-RFE.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Radio-Free-Europe-Radio-Liberty-RFE.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19815,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/searchable-archive-of-rferadio-liberty-broadcasts-to-ussr-1953-1995\/","url_meta":{"origin":40151,"position":2},"title":"Searchable archive of RFE\/Radio Liberty broadcasts to USSR 1953-1995","author":"Thomas","date":"July 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,\u00a0Martin Kraft, who shares the following: Here's something for the history buffs, an online searchable archive of Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty broadcasts to the USSR from 1953-1995: http:\/\/www.radioworld.com\/article\/radio-liberty-munich-period-russian-broadcasts-available\/278953 This is brilliant, Martin! I just started searching through the recordings at the Open Society Archives--an impressive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"RFE-RadioLiberty","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/RFE-RadioLiberty.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10710,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/playa-de-pals-transmitter-site-history-and-documentary\/","url_meta":{"origin":40151,"position":3},"title":"Playa de Pals transmitter site history and documentary","author":"Thomas","date":"September 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to Listening to WWV at the source, SWLing Post reader, David (EA4998URE SWL) comments: What a \u201ccoincidence\u201d. Hopefully, before the summer holidays officially end, I will be off to another shortwave transmitter site. Well, to the remains of it. I will be visiting the former RFE\/RL (and VOA\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo courtesy: http:\/\/www.radioliberty.org","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/recinta05-1024x320.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/recinta05-1024x320.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/recinta05-1024x320.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19302,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/radio-liberty-to-close-shortwave-broadcasting-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":40151,"position":4},"title":"Radio Liberty to close shortwave broadcasting service","author":"Thomas","date":"June 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andrea Borgnino, who shares the following news via Twitter: Radio Liberty to stop Russian broadcasts on shortwave https:\/\/t.co\/vFQB67erNo @SWLingDotCom @aborgnino @UlisK3LU \u2014 London Shortwave (@LondonShortwave) May 31, 2016 Click here to view via Twitter.","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Radio-Liberty","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Radio-Liberty.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":39533,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/radio-free-europe-set-to-restart-in-hungary\/","url_meta":{"origin":40151,"position":5},"title":"Radio Free Europe “set to restart in Hungary”","author":"Thomas","date":"September 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Budapest Business Journal) Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, the U.S. government-funded organization that broadcasts news and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East \u201cwhere a free press is banned or not fully established,\u201d is set to restart in Hungary, following recent relaunches in Bulgaria and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/RFE-RadioLiberty.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}