Virtual Tours - Stories from Bethany Station
Introduction
Watch short videos describing some of the fascinating history, displays, exhibits and programs at the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting.
WLWO launched the Voice of America
Learn about the first official VOA broadcast from WLWO on July 1, 1942, 2 minutes, April 2022.
The Volksempfanger
Learn how the Voksempfanger led to the creation of the Voice of America.
Under-the-Blanket Radio
During the Cold War, people living in the Soviet Union had to find creative ways to get factual information and news from the west. A couple living in in Ukraine and many of their neighbors had a solution. “Everyone had one!”
Why Here?
Learn why the first transmitters built for the Voice of America were located on a hillside just north of Cincinnati.
Willis Conover
While most of the broadcasts on VOA were news, commentary and documentaries, millions tuned in for Jazz.
The Henry Ford of Radio
The selection of a rural hillside just north of Cincinnati for the Voice of America’s Transmitters was prompted by the accomplishments of a extraordinary 20th Century icon, Powel Crosley, Jr.
When the newly organized Voice of America was searching for an ideal location to build the behemoth transmitters that would be required to reach listeners in Europe, the decision to construct the facility on a rural hillside just north of Cincinnati, may have seemed to some curious. That decision was based less on geographic location and more on a person.