Bethany Relay Station, Ohio

The Bethany Relay Station was the first of five dedicated Voice of America shortwave transmission stations to be constructed in the USA, going online in 1944. The Voice of America broadcast federally produced radio programs to targeted nations around the world during World War Two. After the war, the programming continued, and expanded through the Cold War, ultimately using five powerful shortwave transmitting plants in the USA, boosted by relay stations overseas. Bethany was located in Ohio, further inland from existing transmission facilities on the east coast that were vulnerable to ship and submarine attack. Bethany was initially powered by six 200,000-watt transmitters built and operated for the government by the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation, the Cincinnati-based company that operated a powerful AM radio station nearby. Using 24 rhombic antennas and two large curtain antennas, the plant broadcast several simultaneous transmissions to targeted regions overseas, including to relays in the Mediterranean that boosted the signal into the Soviet Union. The facility closed in 1994, and most of its transmitters were shipped to other facilities abroad. The antennas were removed, and the square mile of land was converted into a park and a shopping center. The building has become a museum, focusing on the early days of the VOA, the Crosley Corporation, and local radio and television entertainment history.