Voice of America Restoration

These are the 5" by 12" fascia bricks.

Scaffolding is up around the tower

We're guessing the scaffolding is in place so that the experts can add the fascia bricks which are already piled in front of the building. We'll post a picture of those tomorrow.

Reconstruction on the tower

Autumn has fallen on VOA

They're really taking this building apart

They started to put the brickwork back on the tower

Radio Tower

Voice of America from the west-northwest

Voice of America Transmitters

Today we're reading a reprint from the November and December, 1944, issues of Communications magazine. It reveals that the Voice of America transmitters in Ohio were "officially dedicated" on September 23, 1944. The piece was written by R.J. Rockwell, former Director of Broadcast Engineering at The Crosley Corporation, which designed and operated the site.

The copy was sent over by a fellow enthusiast that we happened to bump into at VOA.

At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, according to Communications, America trailed the Germans in its ability to broadcast overseas:

"Six international licensees were operating only 13 short-wave station, several of which were incapable even of 50-kw output. In contrast to this, Germany had at least 68 short-wave transmitters under her control, and it was reported that from 12 to 20 additional units of 200-kw output might be in operation by December, 1942."

Voice of America minus the transmitters, minus the bricks

Voice of America transmitter building as it hasn't been seen since 1944.

Voice of America and the Flag

The goal here was to capture a reflection of the flag but the feature that stands out the most is the cracked brickwork.

When the Voice of America transmitter building was erected, Ohio was facing a cold winter. Everything was freezing including the bricks and the cement but the need to move ahead was overwhelming so they built the thing anyway.

The Voice of America Lookout Tower

Voice of America geese

Another shot of the tower

The experts have started work on the tower

View from the south-southwest

The first wall (west side of building) being stripped

Here's what lies beneath the fascia.

The front door prior to restoration

One final longshot before we post some close-ups

Long shot from the west-north-west

With terrain like this, no wonder they built a watch tower. At night it would have been easy for saboteurs to approach.

Long shot from the south-west

Here's a closer view of that CAD rendition on the sign (see yesterday's picture). Right now it looks as if they've begun to strip the outer layers of brick from the west side of the building and they're about to start on one section of the front fascia.

The building was constructed in 1944 so this is the first time some of the inner brickwork has seen the light of day in 55 years.

Restoration in progress

The sign was put in place a few days ago. Restoration is underway. A storm blew in today and we took some monochrome shots.

The image on the sign appears to be an architect's rendition of the finished building. We'll publish a close-up soon.

A view of the switchgear and rear of the building (taken from the north)

Switchgear on the north side of the building

Front view (taken from the south)

We took this shot a couple of days ago just before a rainstorm struck. There's a giant underground water tank beneath the grass, which provided coolant for the transmitters.

Another view of the switchgear at the rear (north) side of the building

Part of the switchgear at the rear (north) side of the building

Today, a sign went up announcing that renovations have begun on the exterior of the building. It's now a hard-hat area. Fortunately, we own hard hats.

We'll post a photograph of the sign as soon as possible.

The Historical Marker sign

The sign outside the front door. To save you squinting, here's the text:

During the height of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt turned to the innovative engineers of the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation to build powerful short wave radio transmitters capable of delivering broadcasts overseas. On farm fields near Crosley's WLW facility, six 200 kilowatt transmitters and 24 directional reentrant rhombic antennas were built and on September 23, 1944, the Voice of America Bethany Station was dedicated. The first broadcast was directed at Nazi Germany and began with “We shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good or it may be bad, but we will tell you the truth.” For more than fifty years, the Voice of America Bethany Station delivered “truthful news” to the people of Europe, Africa, South America, and parts of Asia, despite some like Adolf Hitler who referred to the VOA as those “Cincinnati Liars.” New technology and budget cuts resulted in the silencing of the Bethany Station in 1994.

Front view from the south-west

Front view of the building taken from the south-west.

The south side of the building

Front view taken from the south-east.

Front view of the observation tower

The front door lies on the south side of the building.