Radio Liberty

The Radio Liberty towers at Playa de Pals have been destroyed. (see picture below)

Thirteen radio towers that serviced a U.S. government shortwave facility in Spain for many years have been blown up.

Radio World readers are familiar with the Playa de Pals facility from a story published in 2003 by former managing director for Spain of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty David Hollyer.

After years of speculation on the disappearance of the radio station's 13 towers, they were demolished on Wednesday 22 March 2006. Sixteen kilos of explosives put an end to one of the Costa Brava's most picturesque, characteristic and conflicting landscapes. All loads exploded at the same time, at 4 p.m., and after a few seconds the antennas collapsed towards the beach and the areas without vegetation, at a distance from the houses there.

The cost of the project was about $1.68 million including the removal of electric installations and generators, underground gasoline deposits and concrete antenna guy foundations. It has been reported that the Catalan government has discussed using the former radio station's main buildings as a telecommunication museum or offices for a future nature park.

For a historical recollection about the site, see Hollyer's 2003 account.