RADIO IN KYRENIA NORTH CYPRUS

Report by Wireless Waffler 17th January 2008 corrected history 19th January 2008

Our break in Jersey Channel Islands in 2007 was not one where we could relax due to rain and cool temperatures.  We decided to go to North Cyprus later in the year to soak up some sunshine before the winter really started in the UK.  

North Cyprus is under Turkish Rule. Turkey invaded Cyprus on 20 July 1974, and in 2004 the United Nations drew up a peace plan which was rejected. The Turkish  threw the Greek Cypriots out of their homes, only allowing the very elderly and infirm to stay on. It is not recognised by the EEC or any other country in the world but the Turkey. It has only been a few years since they have allowed tourists back into the country, necessary for their economy.  You cannot drive or walk across the UN buffer zone or borders unless you are recognised officially by the Turkish authorities. I can recommend a holiday in Kyrenia, the Turkish are very friendly and helpful and all seem so calm and laid back.  We were met by our holiday company Direct Travel and driven through the checkpoint, our passports and particulars were checked quickly and methodically.   We went to Cyprus before and to Nicosia, where we walked through the UN Buffer zone, to visit the poorer part of the city under Turkish Rule. The shops and facilities on the other side were not very luxurious. I did not know what to expect in Northern Cyprus. I was pleasantly surprised to see the variety of stations that were on the air. The strength of nearly all the FM stations was very good and I even managed to leave my recording equipment unattended in a wardrobe for most of the time.  I had several print outs from sites which listed stations.  I decided to log all of the frequencies that my inexpensive Eton Radio picked up.  I tried to check the read outs on the digital display which can be slightly out at times.  I also note from researching on the internet that some of the stations listed may have come direct from Turkey.  The mountains seemed to blank out reception of stations I received in Limassol.  I have listed all of the frequencies I heard, in table format.  It was not possible in all cases to identify all stations, but I welcome and will credit any idea readers may have.

The majority of stations had commercial music on them, and most carried advertising. I was unable to detect whether all were Turkish or Cypriot.   I did however hear,  radio stations , not heard when holidaying in Limassol.   I welcome assistance in identifying some of these stations. I will do some more surfing at some time, to see if I can update this article in due course.

Bayrak is the national broadcaster in Northern Cyprus. They have an international service which was mainly in English, but had news in Greek and Turkish.  They seemed to put the television news on air as well. The quality and standard of links on the news was poor at times, occasionally the music levels were distorted.  Watching the BRT television channel revealed some other amazing technical gaffes, and makes me appreciate UK standards.  I was watching a concert by Dire Straits, this ended abruptly in mid concert, and some shaky camera shots of local scenery came on.  All the other commercial stations, which were in foreign language,  seemed to be good quality and professional. All the AM, or medium wave broadcasts, were not particularly powerful.  

Dance Fm played contemporary music tracks, not all Dance and mainly English.  They did have many English spoken announcements. These sounded like they were done by East Anglian Productions, or whoever did the Laser 558 voice identifications.   It is a Turkish Station.

Metro FM played mainly pop music, nearly all English but had local language announcements. They also did a chart show and had English spoken countdown announcements.  It is a Turkish Station.

The reason for a lack of detailed information on the content of programmes is due to me not understanding the languages that were being spoken. I could hear a difference at times, the Greek is smoother sounding and the Turkish slightly harsher.   Overall though nearly all of them played a variety of Greek and Turkish music. I absolutely enjoy foreign music so I will be listening back to my holiday recordings for many years to come.

ASK FM on 97.7 was back to back English Music, They played several English spoken announcements, saying things like "Magic Radio 97.7"  Some great music - possibly a pirate statio?.  I say this because it did not put out any advertising.  Mind you it may have been a test broadcast?  I did a search on Google and there is an ASK FM listed in Ankara. The site is in Turkish so I cannot determine if it is the same station. Why should it merely put out music back to back with English announcements?

Some audio files for you to listen to are presented below, these are for reference purposes only and at reduced bitrate. Please click on the link to listen or save files.  All recorded in October 2007.   These will be deleted if server space gets tight.   More to follow.

Bayrak International bad distortion at times as original received signal

Dance FM 95 FM

Sportif Radio 89.2 listed as Kiss Fm in lists on internet   (please let me know if you can make a positive identification)

For general information on the history you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Republic_of_Northern_Cyprus  

To complete this article a picture of TV and possibly radio masts taken from behind  Apostolos Andreas Monastery on the Karpaz Peninsula in North Cyprus