Radio Swan was a
pirate radio station owned by the CIA, and based in the
Swan Islands, a group of islands in the western
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
, near the coastline of
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
. Under the "Radio Swan" and "Radio Americas" names, the station was in operation from 1960 to 1968.
History
In 1960, a
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
cover,
the Gibraltar Steamship Company owned and established Radio Swan on
Swan Island, a covert black operation
to win supporters for U.S. policies and discredit
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
. The Gibraltar Steamship Company did not own any steamships at the time while under the presidential rule of
Thomas Dudley Cabot.
The radio station began acting as a regular commercial broadcaster with sponsors such as
Kleenex
Kleenex is a brand name for a variety of paper-based products such as facial tissue, bathroom tissue, paper towels, tampons, and diapers. Often used informally as a genericized trademark for facial tissue in the United States and Canada, the nam ...
,
Phillip Morris Co., and others lined up,
[ operating with a 50,000-]watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
transmitter[ on AM 1165 (early 1960s) and 1160 and on ]shortwave
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
with a power of 7,500 watts on 6 MHz. The importance of this island was in its location and proximity to the island of Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. On March 17, 1960, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
had approved covert action to topple the regime of Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
in Cuba. As early as October 30, 1960, the Castro government sent reconnaissance flights over Swan Island and the Caribbean Coast of Guatemala (CIA 11-3-1960).
Swan Island was claimed by the governments of both the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
, although the island was in the ''de facto'' hands of personnel acting on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA). A Mr. Sumner Smith of Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
also claimed ownership while Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) claimed that it had no jurisdiction over the station.
The AM transmitter in use by Radio Swan had been used by Radio Free Europe and was taken to Swan Island by US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
Seabees
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...
of Mobile Construction Battalion 6 on two LSTs. Along with erecting two radio transmission towers, the Seabees built a small facility with an airstrip, dock and quonset hut
A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel having a semi cylindrical cross-section. The design was developed in the United States, based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War I ...
. At first all broadcasts of this pseudo-commercial radio station were in the Spanish language
Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
and it was announced on air as ''Radio Swan, la Voz Internacional del Caribe'', with its initial commercial programming coming on tape recordings from anti-Castro
The Cuban dissident movement is a political movement in Cuba whose aim is to replace the current government with a liberal democracy. According to Human Rights Watch, the Cuban government represses nearly all forms of political dissent.
Backgrou ...
political groups in exile.
Cuba responded to the broadcasts by setting up a jamming station to block the transmissions of Radio Swan and initiated La Voz de INRA, or ''The Voice of INRA,'' which represented the National Institute of Agrarian Reform with an anti-American message. This action was followed on January 3, 1961, by a break in diplomatic relations between both countries that had been initiated by the US. Following this action, Cuba commenced broadcasting to the US and to the world, with a new international service called Radio Havana Cuba.
In March 1961 Radio Swan announced that it would no longer sell its airtime for political programming and the station changed to an all-news format while infusing its broadcasts with coded messages. The station described itself as "''assisting those who are fighting Castro within Cuba"'' and it began transmitting on fourteen frequencies. The CIA issued a press release claiming its anti-Castro broadcasts were now being beamed by seven radio stations as well as Radio Swan.
A station identifying itself as Radio Swan briefly resumed broadcasts in 1975–1976 on 6.185 MHz. The station used a mailing address in San Pedro Sula
San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 671,460 ...
, Honduras, and referred to itself as "La Primera Voz Democratica de Latinoamerica" ("The First Voice of Democracy in Latin America"). Since San Pedro Sula is located on the Honduran mainland, it is possible that these broadcasts originated there rather than on Swan Island, though no positive verification has been determined.
Bay of Pigs invasion broadcasts
During the Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fina ...
of Cuba, which took place between April 15–19, 1961, it became obvious to all concerned that the purpose of the station was to assist in the landings. But following the abortive invasion, Radio Swan suddenly changed format again. While its tone remained anti-Castro, its programming did not promote an uprising against the Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
n government. The station changed its format and name and Vanguard Service Corporation became new owners of the station. Radio Swan became Radio Americas and it remained on the air until May 1968 when the station closed down and its AM transmitter was transported to South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
to assist in the wars of South-East Asia.
''The World Tomorrow'' radio program
One of the loyal sponsors who advertised on both Radio Swan and Radio Americas was Herbert W. Armstrong
Herbert W. Armstrong (July 31, 1892 – January 16, 1986) was an American evangelism, evangelist who founded the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). An early pioneer of radio evangelism, radio and television evangelism, Armstrong preached what he c ...
with '' The World Tomorrow'' radio program. In the January edition of his magazine '' The Plain Truth'', a letter to the editor praised Armstrong by claiming that "''... you could not have chosen a better station than Radio SWAN for reaching the Caribbean area. ... It is becoming popular with all those who share in the dislike of Fidel Castro and his communistic dictatorship." -'' Lady, Costa Rica''.''
In the same edition, his Radio Log listed his 'The World Tomorrow' program as being broadcast by Radio Swan in the English language at 6 p.m. on Sundays and at 9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. This listing remained unchanged through the edition of January 1962. The February 1962 edition of his Radio Log listed the English-language broadcast at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays over Radio Americas, but on the same frequency as Radio Swan, while the Spanish-language broadcast was listed at the same times as before, but over Radio Swan. In the March edition, the Spanish-language broadcast was also listed as being heard over Radio Americas.
''The World Tomorrow'' broadcast was also carried on several other radio stations around the world which also appeared to have a proprietary connection to the CIA.
References
*Anonymous CIA operative. 1991 (released 4-18-05, accessed 2-18-07) Working the Cuban beat. Case number EO-2005-0009
*CIA 11-3-1960 (released 6-6-1998. accessed 2-18-06) Cuban Developments. Current intelligence weekly review November 3, 1960. Bay of Pigs, Cuba, Castro Fidel. Case number CSI-1998-0000
p. 5 "reconnaissance flights were made on 27 and 28 of October(1960) over the Swan Islands and the Guatemalan Caribbean coast—areas where the "invasion" forces are allegedly being assembled."
*CIA Inspector General (1962, sanitized release 2-18-1998, accessed 2-18-07) Inspector General's survey of the Cuban operation and associated documents Part 1 of 2 Case number F-1996-00233 pp. 9-10, 15, 27-28, 93
*King, J.C. 1961 (accessed 2-18-07) 1. Brief History of Radio Swan. Memorandum for: General Maxwell D. Taylor May 18, 1961 in: Proposed operations against Cuba 3-11-1961 released 2-13-2001 Dulles Papers, Dulles Allen, Dulles Collection, case number F-1985-00856. https://web.archive.org/web/20080501184323/http://www.foia.cia.gov/search.asp
*Montaner, Carlos Alberto 1999 (last accessed 2-18-07) Viaje al corazón de Cuba, Plaza & Janés, Barcelona {{ISBN, 978-8401376597 p. 102
*CIA, Radio Swan and "The World Tomorrow" broadcasts to the United Kingdom: 1965-196
Pirate radio stations
Propaganda in the United States
Central Intelligence Agency front organizations
Radio stations in Honduras
Radio stations in the Caribbean
Radio stations established in 1960
Radio stations disestablished in 1968
Defunct mass media in Honduras