The Ascension Island transmitting station is a shortwave transmitting facility in the English Bay area of Ascension Island. The facility was opened by the BBC in 1966 to broadcast the BBC World Service to Africa and South America. [1] The site is owned and operated by Encompass Digital Media.
The Ascension Island relay station began broadcasting on July 3, 1966, in order to provide BBC World Service broadcasts to West and Central Africa and South America. Ascension Island was chosen because of its location. [2] Historically Ascension Island has been used as a strategic location for shipping and later communications.
In 1989 five new towers of the station were installed, from which the tallest have a height of 126 metres and are the tallest towers of the station.
The main user of the facility is the BBC World Service, it is also used by Voice of America. Around 250 hours of content is broadcast from the Ascension Island transmitting station every week. The majority of content is broadcast in English however content in French, Hausa and Bambara is also broadcast.
The Isle of Man has an extensive communications infrastructure consisting of telephone cables, submarine cables, and an array of television and mobile phone transmitters and towers.
The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcasts radio news, speech and discussions in more than 40 languages to many parts of the world on analogue and digital shortwave platforms, internet streaming, podcasting, satellite, DAB, FM, LW and MW relays. In 2024, the World Service reached an average of 450 million people a week. In November 2016, the BBC announced that it would start broadcasting in additional languages including Amharic and Igbo, in its biggest expansion since the 1940s.
International broadcasting consists of radio and television transmissions that purposefully cross international boundaries, often with then intent of allowing expatriates to remain in touch with their countries of origin as well as educate, inform, and influence residents of foreign countries. Content can range from overt propaganda and counterpropaganda to cultural content to news reports that reflect the point of view and concerns of the originating country or that seek to provide alternative information to that otherwise available as well as promote tourism and trade. In the first half of the twentieth century, international broadcasting was used by colonial empires as a means of connecting colonies with the metropole. When operated by governments or entities close to a government, international broadcasting can be a form of soft power. Less frequently, international broadcasting has been undertaken for commercial purposes by private broadcasters.
Deutsche Welle, commonly shortened to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service consists of channels in English, Spanish, and Arabic. The work of DW is regulated by the Deutsche Welle Act, stating that content is intended to be independent of government influence. DW is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Ríkisútvarpið is Iceland's national public-service broadcasting organization.
The Crystal Palace transmitting station, officially known as Arqiva Crystal Palace, is a broadcasting and telecommunications site in the Crystal Palace area of the London Borough of Bromley, England. It is located on the site of the former television station and transmitter operated by John Logie Baird from 1933.
RAF Ascension Island, also known as Wideawake Airfield or Ascension Island Auxiliary Field, is a military airfield and facility located on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean. The airfield is jointly operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Space Force (USSF). Under the terms of an international agreement between the UK and US governments, only state aircraft are authorised to land at Ascension; however, it is also open to air services between Saint Helena and Ascension.
The Belmont transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility next to the B1225, 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the village of Donington on Bain in the civil parish of South Willingham, near Market Rasen and Louth in Lincolnshire, England. It is owned and operated by Arqiva.
The Mendip transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility on the summit of Pen Hill, part of the Mendip Hills range in Somerset, England, at 305 metres (1,001 ft) above sea level. The station is in St Cuthbert Out civil parish, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Wells. Its mast, 293 m (961 ft) high, was built in 1967 and is the tallest structure in South West England. The mast broadcasts digital television, FM analogue radio and DAB digital radio, and had broadcast analogue colour television from 1967 until 2010.
The Orfordness transmitting station was a major radio broadcasting facility at Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast in the United Kingdom able to broadcast to much of Europe. It closed in May 2012 after more than 30 years of service. In 2017 Radio Caroline started broadcasting from the site, though not with the same intended coverage of an audience in Europe as the original station.
The Croydon transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility on Beaulieu Heights in Upper Norwood, London, England, in the London Borough of Croydon, owned by Arqiva. It was established in 1955 and initially used a small lattice tower. The present tower is 152 metres (499 ft) high and was built in 1962.
The Arfon transmitting station is a facility for FM, DAB digital radio and television transmission near the villages of Nebo and Nasareth in Gwynedd, northwestern Wales. It includes a 308.5 m (1,012 ft) guyed mast with antennas attached at various heights. The mast is surmounted by a television transmitting antenna, which brings the total height of the structure to 317.4 m (1,041 ft), making it the tallest structure in Wales. It is owned and operated by Arqiva.
A broadcast transmitter is an electronic device which radiates radio waves modulated with information content intended to be received by the general public. Examples are a radio broadcasting transmitter which transmits audio (sound) to broadcast radio receivers (radios) owned by the public, or a television transmitter, which transmits moving images (video) to television receivers (televisions). The term often includes the antenna which radiates the radio waves, and the building and facilities associated with the transmitter. A broadcasting station consists of a broadcast transmitter along with the production studio which originates the broadcasts. Broadcast transmitters must be licensed by governments, and are restricted to specific frequencies and power levels. Each transmitter is assigned a unique identifier consisting of a string of letters and numbers called a callsign, which must be used in all broadcasts.
The Wrotham transmitting station is located on the North Downs, close to the village of Wrotham in Kent, England and just north of the M20 motorway. Its National Grid Reference is TQ595604. The current mast on the site was constructed in 1981, is 176.6 metres (579 ft) tall, and was built to replace the original mast of equal height that was constructed in 1951.
The Woofferton transmitting station is owned and operated by Encompass Digital Media, as one of the BBC's assets which were handed over as part of the privatization of World Service distribution and transmission in 1997. It is the last remaining UK shortwave broadcasting site, located at Woofferton, south of Ludlow, Shropshire, England. The large site spreads across into neighbouring Herefordshire.
Rhode Island PBS Foundation and The Public's Radio, doing business as The Public's Radio, is a non-commercial, listener-supported, public radio network for the state of Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. It carries news, talk and information programs on several FM frequencies and one AM station. It holds periodic on-air fundraisers and seeks donations on its website. The studios and offices are in the historic Union Station in Downtown Providence.
WNPN is a radio station broadcasting an NPR news/talk format. It is the flagship broadcast outlet for The Public's Radio. Its official community of license is Newport, Rhode Island, but from a tall tower in Tiverton the signal covers most of Rhode Island and the South Coast of Massachusetts. It also has repeater stations WNPE in Narragansett Pier and WPVD in Providence. The network provides the sole local public radio outlet for Rhode Island.
The Emley Moor transmitting station is a telecommunications and broadcasting facility on Emley Moor, 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the village centre of Emley, in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.
The Whitehawk Hill transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility located at Whitehawk, an eastern suburb of Brighton in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is the city's main transmission facility for television and radio signals. It broadcasts digital television, FM and DAB radio to the coastal city of Brighton and Hove and to surrounding areas along the Sussex coast including Shoreham-By-Sea, Worthing and as far as Seaford. It stopped broadcasting analogue television when the digital switchover occurred locally in March 2012.
A timeline of notable events relating to the BBC World Service, the world's largest international broadcaster, which began broadcasting in 1932.