A History of Radio Station Bombings

Historically, in the U.S. radio station bombings have been rare. So rare, it was comic fodder in an episode of the TV program WKRP. This is not the case in other nations. Often in the case of war or unrest, media outlets become targets. The U.S. has been very fortunate in this regard. Before I dig into the details I'm going to specify "bombings" as opposed to other attacks for the sake of clarity. The IRA's attacks on Marconi stations are usually described as fires, not bombings and are excluded. Also notably so many radio stations were bombed in WWII I doubt my list is complete. Also excluded are bomb scares, and bomb threats. I am not distinguishing between "terrorist" bombings and wartime bombings or fire bombings. I include bombings of studios, towers or any of their electrical or structural parts. The nuances are too complex to split hairs.

I discovered in the course of this project that KPFT is not the only US radio station to have been bombed, though multiple sources claim that to be the case. A more complete list also includes: WEDR, KMAK, KFWB and WKRL. Most appear to have been racially motivated as was the case with KPFT.

2018 - (9/17) Saudi-led coalition airstrike on Yemen public radio/Hudaydah
2018 - (6/12) Afghan air force bombs Voice of Shariah Radio station
2016 - (10/2) ISIS Radio Station in Al-Bayan Iraq bombed by coalition forces
2015 - (4/29) Tao FM radio in Nigeria bombed
2015 - (5/14) Burundi's RPA radio station bombed
2014 - (7/30) Israeli AF bombs Sawt al-Watan radio station
2013 - (8/7) Building housing Wow FM bombed in the Phillipines
2013 - (3/9) Voice of the People bombed in Zimbabwe
2012 - (5/29) Dunya Radio bombed in Afghanistan
2012 - (10/5) Paraguayan People's Army bombs Radio Guyra Campana
2011 - (4/21) FM 93 Radio Dilbar bombed in Pakistan
2011 - (10/24) Radio Galkayo bombed in Somalia
2011 - (5/24) Nations Radio bombed in India
2011 - (10/23) Radio Galkayo bombed in Somalia
2010 - (8/12) Farc guerrillas bomb Caracol Radio, Columbia

2008 - (10/23) bombing of marine barracks TV & radio in Beirut, Lebanon
2006 - (10/17) Voice of Tigers radio station bombed in Sri Lanka
2005 - (5/6) Voice of Charity radio station bombed in Lebanon.
2002 - (8/28) The Voice of The People (VOP) bombed in Zimbabwe  [LINK]
2002 - (4/21) A bomb detonated near radio station DXMD in the Philippines
2001 - (8/29) Caracol Radio offices in Medellin, Columbia
2000 - (9/19) DXWO radio station bombed in the Philippines
2000 - 12/13) DXMS radio station bombed in the Philippines

1999 - (4/23)  NATO bombed Radio Television of Serbia HQ
1998 - (5/30) DXLL radio journalists bombed in the Philippines
1997 - (?/?) Nigerian jets bomb state-run radio in Sierra Leone
1994 - (4/18) RPA shelled the RTLM station in Rwanda
1993 - (2/26) Truck bombing of WTC takes multiple NYC radio towers

1988 - (8/10) Israeli AF bombs PLO radio station in Lebanon
1986 - (2/25) Radio Veritas bombed by loyalists of Gen. Fabian in Phillipines
1985 - (10/17) Voice of Hope christian radio station bombed in Israel
1983 - (10/25) Radio Free Grenada bombed by US Navy SEALS [LINK]
1981 - (2/22) Radio Free Europe bombed in Munich, Germany
1980 - (2/19) YSAX bombed in El Salvador by guerrillas

1977 - (8/16) FLNC bombs radio relay station in Corsica, France
1973 - (4/20) Radio Grenada fire bombed
1973 - (9/11) CIA-backed Chilean Military forces bomb radio stations
1972 - (12/13) Radio Hanoi bombed in Vietnam
1971 - (5/4) Radio towers of the KMAK bombed in Fresno
1971 - (?/?) Radio North Sea bombed by Norbert Jurgens [LINK]
1971 - (1/21) KPFT bombed by KKK (again)
1970 - (5/12) KPFT bombed by KKK [LINK]

1968 - (2/14) USAAF bombs Radio Hanoi  in Vietnam
1967 - (?/?) WKRL firebombed in Rockland, MD [LINK]
1965 - (5/13) Loyalistas bombed rebel-controlled Radio Santo Domingo
1962 - (8/9)  980 KFWB-AM bombed in Los Angeles
1961 - (7/5) La Paz radio station bombed
1961 - (12/18) - Armed Forces of India bomb Radio station in Goa
1960 - (?/?) WEDR bombed by the KKK (multiple events) [LINK]
1956 - (?/?) Cyprus Broadcasting Service bombed
1955 - (?/?) Agents of Roberto Farinacci bomb Vatican radio station
1955 - (12/8) Japanese military bombs Guam Navy Yard and radio station
1953 - (5/1) USAAF bombs radio station at Pyongyang, North Korea

1948 - (12/19) Radio Station at Yogyakarta, Java bombed by Netherlands AF
1945 - (11/25) British AF bombs Radio Republik Indonesia/ Surakarta
1945 - (8/6) JOFK and the city Hiroshima Japan bombed by US
1945 - (4/30) USAAF bombs bombs radio station at Truk Atoll
1945 - (4/19) USAAAF bombs radio station at Neu-Ulm, Bavaria
1944 - (10/10) USAAF bombs Pagan Island radio station
1944 - (10/4) USAAF bombs Iwo Jima radio station
1944 - (8/8) USAAF bombs radio station in Hallandia New Guinea
1944 - (7/7) USAAF bombs radio station on Woleai, E. Caroline Islands
1944 - (5/19) Bombing radio stations on islands of Maloelap, Jaluit & Wotje Atolls
1944 - (5/24) USAAF bombs radio station on Wotje Island
1944 - (2/28) USAAF bombs radio station in Pintha area Burma
1944 - (2/24) USAAF bombs radio installation on Mille Atoll
1944 - (2/24) USAAF bombs radio station(s) in Burma
1944 - (2/23) USAAF bombs radio station at ManPang, Burma
1944 - (2/18) USAAF bombs radio station at Waingmaw, Burma (again)
1944 - (2/15) USAAF bombs radio station at Waingmaw, Burma
1944 - (2/13) USAAF bombs radio "installations" Kamaing, Burma
1944 - (2/9) USAAF bombs radio station SW of Haiphong, Vietnam
1944 - (2/7) USAAF bombs radio station in Vinh, Vietnam
1944 - (1/18) USAAF bombs radio station on Jaluit Atoll
1943 - (11/11) USAAF bombs radio station at Yoyang, Burma
1943 - (8/31) USAAF bombs radio station at the Solomon Islands

1932 - (2/15?) Japanese forces bomb RCA's Mukden radio station

Radio Free Zimbabwe

I first heard the three words Radio Free Zimbabwe as the title of an album by the band Okapi Guitars. Ironically they are an Australian, not African Afropop group. Their lead singer Paul Mbenna is from Tanzania, not Zimbabwe. So let us examine the relevance of Radio Free Zimbabwe, and perhaps why a Tanzanian ex-patriot living abroad in Australia might make a reference to an underground broadcaster living under an authoritarian regime.

In the Republic of Zimbabwe there is exactly one state broadcaster: ZBC. It operates two television stations and 6 radio stations: National FM, Power FM, Radio 3, Radio Zimbabwe, Spot FM, and SW 24/7 which operates only on shortwave. In 2000 a court ruling ended the monopoly of state-only broadcasting. It repealed a law that prohibited the private ownership of radio transmitters and created a framework for the state to allocate frequencies.

But the victory did not allow the plaintiff to being broadcasting. Capital FM was instructed to wait for the government to draft new laws to regulate this new media. Capital FM jumped the gun and began broadcasting six days later. They were promptly shut down by police and their equipment was seized. The Mugabe regime did act quickly and draft a law by April 2001. But it too forbid the private ownership of transmitters. Only the state owned company, TransMedia was permitted to do so. Nonetheless, the new licensing entity BAZ (Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe) began receiving applications. The ZBC rejected them all. Effectively only the state can broadcast legally in Zimbabwe. It is also illegal to act as a journalist without a permit from the (MIC) Media and Information Commission.

In 2004 the first BAZ chairman, Nhlanhla Masuku was quoted as saying:  "Who do we issue licenses,when people have not applied." This media-vacuum created a need for independent communications that is fulfilled largely by pirate broadcasters and shortwave operating outside Zimbabwe. The owners of Capital Radio moved to the UK and began broadcasting as SWAR (Shortwave Radio Africa) on 6145Khz. Except for correspondents, all of it's staff were in the London.  The U.S. Government funds a similar service on Shortwave and AM Studio 7, which has a repeater in Botswana.

There are numerous other pirate broadcasters. VOP, (Voice of People) broadcasts on 610 kHz in English, Shona and Ndebele since about mid 2000. Their offices were bombed in 2002. In 2005 they were shut down by the police and 3 reporters were arrested. VOP continues to record programs, but now from South Africa. These are broadcast on Radio Netherlands. A community group named Radio Dialogue operates (ZCR) Zimbabwe Community Radio broadcasting from the United Arab Emirates and South Africa. The book Public Broadcasting in Africa Series: Zimbabwe covers this in excellent detail .My go-to text on this topic Broadcasting in Africa by Sydney Head is out of date such that it still listed Zimbabwe under Rhodesia. But the book details a long tradition of radio going back to 1932.

But in 2008 the Mugabe regime began jamming even those few independent shortwave frequencies. And whenever anti-Mugabe sentiments sneak onto the state-owned broadcasters... there are reprisals. Gerry Jackson, the founder of SWAR was fired from Radio 3 in 1997 for insubordination. He had aired live phone calls from people being beaten by police during food riots in the city of Harare. The government of Zimbabwe has forbidden six SWAR staff from ever returning to Zimbabwe. In a speech to Parliament Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa stated "They would be welcomed back... Welcomed back to our prisons."  [LINK] In 2014 SW Radio Africa shot down due to funding issues. [LINK]  Gerry Jackson wrote

“It is with regret that SW Radio Africa announces that it is closing down. We recently stopped our shortwave transmissions but have continued to provide broadcasts via our website and other formats, but these too will cease. We’d like to thank the organisations and individuals who have supported us for the past 13 years and the contributors to our programs who have given so willingly of their time and expertise. In particular we’d like to thank our listeners, who have shared their lives, hopes and dreams and helped us to tell the story of Zimbabwe’s sad decline to the world. We hope that one day Zimbabwe finally has a government who understands that its sole responsibility is to ensure a safe, healthy, prosperous life for every man, woman and child in the country.

When the colonialist Ian Smith regime of Rhodesia was collapsing in the 1970s they cracked down on dissent. Radio broadcasting was restricted, and even individual songs were banned. The Smith government even stopped making shortwave radios to limit access. So the end of the story is that there is no Radio Free Zimbabwe, because Zimbabwe is not free. But President Robert Mugabe is 93 years old. In February 2016, Mugabe said he had no plans for retirement and would remain in power "until God says 'come'."

Radio Ship On Fire!

In 1971 Radio North Sea (aka Radio Nordsee International) was fire bombed. Because the pirate station operated from a ship as sea,the Mebo II, they were immediately in danger of having to abandon ship. The first started in the engine room and eventually reached the bridge. Then due to fire damage they lost their ship-to-shore communication. DJ Alan West continued to broadcast a mayday call SOS for about five minutes giving out their location repeatedly before finally abandoning ship.


RNI began broadcasting in January of 1970. By mid-April the Labour government in Britain began jamming Mebo II's MW signal. In May, RNI changed frequencies to the MW channel to 1230 kHz and the Labour government began jamming that frequency 5 days later as well. RNI responded by  broadcasting a pro-Conservative political messages for the general election in June of 1970.

Inexplicably the bomber turned out to be Norbert Jurgens, the advertising manager at Radio Veronica, another pirate radio station and not any agent of the Labour government. However, RNI was able to resume broadcasting the following morning, and carried out it's own repairs at sea without interruption.  Unfortunately the bombing incident was exploited by the Dutch to outlaw the supply from the Dutch mainland of offshore radio stations on the high seas. This went into effect in September of 1974. RNI signed off for the last time on August 31st.

Who Bombed Radio Free Granada?

That was us actually. The United States of America bombed Radio Free Granada. QSR Card  from here: [SOURCE] If you want to get really specific, it was Ronald Regan who issued the order. So lets go back in time to 1983. The invasion of Grenada was a small and brief military action. Grenada is a small Caribbean island with a population of under 100,000 people. For comparison that's less than College Station, TX. In 1974, after 400 years of European colonialism, they gained independence from Britain. However, they still retained the Queen as their head of state. There was a faction of course that still wanted real deal, full-Monty independence. It was called the New Jewel Movement (NJM.)

In 1979, while their Prime Minister, Eric Gairy was out of the country the NJM staged a coup. By the time he got home there was a new Revolutionary Government led by Maurice Bishop. On March 13th Maurice Bishop seized RFG and Station Manager Jerome Romain was arrested. Bishop addressed Grenada at 09:48 AM:

"Sisters and Brothers, This is Maurice Bishop speaking. At 4.15 am this morning the People's Revolutionary Army seized control of the army barracks at True Blue. The barracks were burned to the ground. After a half-an-hour struggle, the forces of Gairy's army were completely defeated, and surrendered. Every single soldier surrendered, and not a single member of the revolutionary forces was injured. At the same time, the radio station was captured without a single shot being fired."

 Later that year, a faction broke off the NJM and  Bishop was arrested. He escaped but was later killed. His death was announced by Austin Hudson at RFG. The Grenadian army decided this was the right time for them to take over, a third "coup" in under a year. The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) then only 2 years old, decided that they would like the United States to come in and "help."  Did I mention that Ronald Regan didn't like their Airport? More here.

Ronald Reagan had taken issue with their airport. He believed it was a threat due to the "Soviet-Cuban militarization" of the Caribbean. For the record that airport was built mostly by the British, but Libyans and Cubans were also employed on the project. The public given reason for the invasion was the protection of 600 American medial students on the island. But it had more to do with the NJM being Marxists and friendly with Cuba. Regan really had a thing about commies, and the OECS were not thrilled either. So Regan sent in the military, cue Operation Urgent Fury. More here.

In 1983 Grenada didn't have a full radio dial exactly.  Radio Free Grenada (RFG) had only signed on in 1961. The station was cobbled together out of  vintage WWII cast-offs from Britain and from donated parts. It operated on short wave on 15.045 MHZ, 19 Meter Band with a 75,000-watt Soviet-Built transmitter. It only broadcast between  1730 and 2100 hours. More here.

The American invasion commenced at 05:00 on 25 October 1983. The Radio station was empty and off air at that hour. Contemporary reports state that by 06:15 AM, Navy SEALS had blown up the station. Their back up transmitter at Morne Rouge was destroyed by aerial bombardment later the same day.  There was nothing left.  However, after the American invasion was complete, Station Manager Jerome Romain was finally released from prison. He resumed his post as Director of the Government's Information Services and by 1984 was reporting on their new elections. The Americans installed a new 50-kilowatt  transmitter and began broadcasting American rock music under the name "Spice Island Radio." If you want further reading, the book The Grenada Revolution in the Caribbean Present by Shalini Puri covers this story in detail.

The Bombing of KPFT

KPFT was founded by journalist Larry Lee, who convinced Pacifica Radio to establish an independent radio station in Houston, TX. His dream became a reality in March of 1970. In that same year, KPFT became the first, second and only radio station in the United States to have its transmitter bombed by terrorists. More here. 

The first sound to emanate from 90.1 FM in Houston was the song Here Comes The Sun from the then-brand-new Beatles album, Abbey Road. About two months later on May 12 members of the KKK blew up the KPFT transmitter, and the station was off the air for weeks.

Several months after completing repairs and returning to the air, the transmitter was bombed a second time! The October 6th bombing caused much more extensive damage. The cost of the damage was estimated to be about $35,000 —that's $222,000 in today's money adjusted for inflation. KPFT was off the air for more than three months. They resumed broadcasting on Wednesday, January 20th, 1971. A guard of armed police surrounded the station. They interviewed the mayor and the chief of police who both sided with the KKK, questioning their right to broadcast, and accusing them of airing obscene records.  Arlo Guthrie performed live in studio opining his set with Alice's Restaurant. This was the song that they had been playing when the October bombers struck.  Guthrie stepped up to the mic and said:

"So I was sitting in West Palm Beach yesterday, —this is in Florida— and I said "Wow, I'm gonna go over to Houston. What am I going to do there?" I mean maybe somebody will bomb me.. I didn't have any songs about bombs, or nothing like that, so I had to write one. I'd like you to sing it with me..."

A decade later, the KKK's Grand Wizard claimed that his greatest act "was engineering the bombing of a left-wing radio station," hinting none-too-subtly at KPFT. In 1977 bomber Jimmy Dale Hutto was ratted out by FBI informant Russell Rector. Russ has been in the witness protection program since the bombing because the KKK was pretty upset about his informing. Ultimately a whole quartet were indicted: Louis R. Beam Jr., a 24 year old salesman; Peter Lout Jr., a 26 year-old construction worker; Jimmy Dale Hutto a 24 year old chemical worker, and Paul William Moratto a 24 year old electrician. Hutto for his part was arrested in February by the FBI as he was driving toward California with Moratto. His intention was to dynamite more Pacifica radio stations.

Despite the actions of these right-wing terrorists, The Pacifica Network grew to five stations: KPFA in Berkeley, KPFK in Los Angeles, WBAI in New York, WPFW in Washington, and KPFT in Houston. Until 1983 it also included KRAB in Seattle. More here.