KGEI Transmitter Site

Belmont, California

Circa 1960

The transmitter facility for international shortwave station KGEI, located at Belmont, Calif., as it appeared around 1960. The facility — built with thick, bomb-proof concrete walls — was constructed in Belmont in 1940 by General Electric next to co-owned KPO’s transmitter.

The three stubby 125-foot towers to the right of the building were originally erected by GE on Treasure Island for the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition, during which time the station was operated experimentally as W6XBE; the towers supported “curtain” antennas that transmitted KGEI’s signals on the 19-, 25- and 49-meter bands.

KGEI would later become a key station for the Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC), which acquired it in 1959. The station was closed in 1995 and dismantled shortly thereafter.

SOURCE: Far East Broadcasting Co. archives.