Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : The Kosovo conflict 1999
Psychological Warfare from Radio Netherlands 
Allied Voice Radio & Television On 8th April NATO started its own radio and TV transmissions to Serbia and Kosovo from a fleet of Lockheed EC130E aircraft. Each is manned by a crew of 11 from the 193rd Special Operations Wing of the USAF. The 193rd SOW is normally based at Harrisburg International Airport in Middletown, Pennsylvania. These aircraft have been deployed in previous conflicts in Grenada, Haiti, The Gulf, Somalia and most recently in Bosnia. For more background on the 193rd SOW, read this article. Each EC130E is equipped with a pair of 10kW mediumwave transmitters. It was from these aircraft that Spice Island Radio was broadcast on 990kHz during the 1983 invasion of Grenada. Also on board are Collins 851 receivers, a dedicated jamming transmitter, plus shortwave, FM and TV transmitters/receivers. The current radio operation is using mediumwave 1003kHz and NATO TV as received in Belgrade several FM frequencies - so far 92.5, 102.5 and 106.4MHz have been reported. NATO programmes identify in Serbian as Allied Voice Radio and Television . On 106.4MHz, the South Slavic Service of Radio Free Europe is being relayed 24 hours a day. Reports from Serbia say that NATO TV signals can be received in Belgrade and northern Serbia on Channel 21. Listener Ivan Biuklija in Croatia told Radio Netherlands that the target area of the broadcasts varies from day to day. In late April, radio monitor Karel Honzik in the Czech Republic took a trip into a quiet location in the countryside, about 1000km from Belgrade, where he was able to monitor the broadcasts on mediumwave. He reported: "Allied Voice (Zayednichki Glas) is on the air daily for 3-4 hours (April 25: 1000-1320; April 26: 1030-1400 UTC). The program consists of Anglo-American pop and rock with short comments (2-4 minutes) every 15 minutes approx. The station ID is (in Serbian) "Allied Voice", "Allied Voice of NATO", "Radiostation of NATO forces" and similar modifications. Anti-Milosevic comments and propaganda are read by men and women with a strong American accent. It seems they are Serbs living in the US already for many years. The signal is technically quite OK, propagation from airplane flying so high above the ground is excellent, the signal has no fading at all (early afternoon local time!). Although it has only 10 kW, its level was practically the same as the one of Hrvatski Radio (Croatia) on 1134 kHz (600 kW). The signal of Belgrade on 684 kHz (2000 kW, now maybe less) was poor with long and deep fading". Update June 9th: Karel Honzik says that the NATO broadcasts are now being heard on 1270kHz, the Novi Sad station on 1269kHz having been silenced. Belgrade 684kHz is also off the air. See this page for more. Other Allied Broadcasts On April 8th, Marc Nathanson, Chairman of the US Broadcasting Board of Governors announced that a network of FM transmitters is being hastily constructed in surrounding countries close to the Yugoslav border. It will beam 24 programming in Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian, Albanian and English into Serbia 24 hours a day. Mr. Nathanson disclosed that Bosnia, Bulgaria and Romania have agreed to allow transmitters on their territory. The U.S. Agency for International Development is coordinating this project. Programming is provided by the Serbian services of Radio Free Europe and Voice of America, and in the near future may also include material from broadcasters in other NATO member states. One FM transmitter, believed to be located on a mountain top in Bosnia, is already operating and can be heard in Belgrade on 106.5MHz. On 89.7MHz there is review of RFE/RL news in Serbian, at 0900-1200 UTC daily. |