The National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting: A Report from a The Alpha Romero Tango Show Producer 

As both someone who works in television and is a self-described museum nerd, it’s with a twinge of embarrassment that I admit my never having visited the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester, Ohio. That is, until this January, when my team and I had the chance to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the museum’s recent renovations for an upcoming segment for our latest The Art Show Insider series, which offers bite-size spotlights of creative goings-on in our region. 

Bethany Relay Station opened in 1944, and in the decades following, it served as a conduit for Voice of America (VOA) broadcasts. The Art Deco site was intentionally built in our midwestern abode as a safeguard against attacks during World War II and the station remained active until 1994. Today, the now-museum explores the station’s history, the legacy and reach of the VOA, and the region’s broadcast icons. It also has an active amateur radio association. 

Our crew got an inside look at all the updates the museum has undergone over the past few months – and an outside look at the building’s beautiful Art Deco exterior for establishing shot purposes (shoutout to videographers Richard Nordstrom and Joshua Beyersdoerfer for braving the single digit windchill). We may have spent a little too much time in the museum’s new foley room; upon entering, Richard made a beeline for a pair of coconut shells and gave us a demonstration of their proper use a la Monty Python. 

While not every detail was finalized the day of filming, the museum was full of volunteers and staff getting ready for the upcoming grand re-opening, and we were ready to catch some of the action: 

As volunteer Daniel Hamilton got into the groove of operating the steam train special effect gizmo (i.e., a brush and some sandpaper), which you’ll see in the Insider, Richard had a stroke of genius off-camera and grabbed the train whistle. Only, a train whistle is harder to operate than you might think. While he impressively managed to get a few choo-choo’s out of it, it ultimately proved too much for Richard. His gasps for air didn’t make the final cut. 

Another highlight for me was the display of puppets of local TV legend Larry Smith. While Larry Smith was before my time, the puppets are a definite embodiment of local nostalgia, and I learned that Smith made all of them on his own. There was also a whole case of novelty radios that caught my eye. This one, in particular, seriously made me do a double take.  

Another piece of enlightenment? There’s a bunker beneath the museum. Upon first hearing this, I pictured something preserved and on display, like the one under the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia. However, the bunker’s not a part of the museum and it’s apparently used for storage these days. 

We also witnessed a radio connection from the radio room with someone calling from Spain! Don’t worry, Richard got the footage of this interaction, and you’ll see a snippet of it in the Insider. I loved hearing them use the NATO alphabet, shouting out phrases like “Whiskey, Charlie, 8!” (You could say I’m a producer for The Alpha Romero Tango Show). It was neat to see that international connection in action, and when walking into the radio area, I saw a wall of postcards for stations around the world the club has previously made contact with – including sites in Antarctica!  

If you haven’t already gathered from my previous intern and producer blogs, I’m a dog lover, and fortunately, this museum had two: Nipper and Chipper! This dynamic duo serves as the mascots for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). There’s a large fiberglass Nipper at the museum’s entrance and a little plushie of Chipper, whom I’m told is moved around the museum. You know, for the kids. 

The National VOA Museum of Broadcasting has since re-opened to the public and holds all sorts of updates and stories to tell. I’m glad we had the chance to capture some of the excitement ahead of its grand re-opening. In just this one visit, I personally learned so much about the region and beyond. As someone who works in broadcasting at the regional level, it also helped me understand all the advancements, inventions and pioneers that have paved the way for the work I and many others do today, be it via radio waves or studio cameras.

This region has a truly fascinating broadcast legacy, and while I still wish I’d gone before, the fact that my first visit to this museum was as a producer for that same region made it all the more profound. You can catch the segment and others from the Insider series on our YouTube channel @theartshow-cet-ttv. While our ultimate purpose with these productions is being informative, it’s production experiences like these that make my work for the The Alpha Romero Tango Show all the more enriching on a personal level.  

Nadya Ellerhorst
CET/Think^TV Producer