Radio Liberty
The Spanish government has confirmed that this year it will begin to dismantle the huge (and quite monstrous) Radio Liberty radio towers and antennae which for the past 50 years have blotted the otherwise stunningly beautiful Costa Brava landscape.
In the 1950s during the first years of the Franco dictatorship, the US government was given permission to build the radio station which was designed by the CIA to broadcast anti-communist messages to citizens in the Soviet Union and other Eastern European communist states. The site was chosen because of its proximity to the sea and its distance from surrounding mountains.
The CIA first called its radio station American Committee for Liberation from Bolchevism, and the first programmes were broadcast in 1958. Once communism was defeated and the Cold War was over, the radio no longer fulfilled its former purpose, and in 2001 the American government informed the Spanish government of its decision to close down the radio channel because of "the changes in the political climate". Apparantly, although Boris Yeltsin had no objection to the radio programmes during his presidency, Vladimir Putin disapproved of the stance taken by Radio Liberty presenters with regard to Russian handling of the crisis in Chechenia, and he put in a request with the US government for the station to cease broadcasting it's "propeganda".
The Spanish government intends to convert the area presently dominated by the enormous structures into a green belt area. The cost of dismantling the radio antennae is estimated at 3.700.000 Euros. The radio plant is divided into 4 sections. Group A, built in 1958, with three towers measuring 25 metres, 75 metres and 75 metres respectively, Group B with towers measuring 73m, 135m and 136 m respectively, Group C identical to Group A and Group D which has 3 antennae.
In the 1950s during the first years of the Franco dictatorship, the US government was given permission to build the radio station which was designed by the CIA to broadcast anti-communist messages to citizens in the Soviet Union and other Eastern European communist states. The site was chosen because of its proximity to the sea and its distance from surrounding mountains.
The CIA first called its radio station American Committee for Liberation from Bolchevism, and the first programmes were broadcast in 1958. Once communism was defeated and the Cold War was over, the radio no longer fulfilled its former purpose, and in 2001 the American government informed the Spanish government of its decision to close down the radio channel because of "the changes in the political climate". Apparantly, although Boris Yeltsin had no objection to the radio programmes during his presidency, Vladimir Putin disapproved of the stance taken by Radio Liberty presenters with regard to Russian handling of the crisis in Chechenia, and he put in a request with the US government for the station to cease broadcasting it's "propeganda".
The Spanish government intends to convert the area presently dominated by the enormous structures into a green belt area. The cost of dismantling the radio antennae is estimated at 3.700.000 Euros. The radio plant is divided into 4 sections. Group A, built in 1958, with three towers measuring 25 metres, 75 metres and 75 metres respectively, Group B with towers measuring 73m, 135m and 136 m respectively, Group C identical to Group A and Group D which has 3 antennae.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home