CSL-TV

Up until 1954, the US Armed Forces exclusively provided radio broadcasts. Plans to introduce a television station were proposed to Gen. Curtis E. LeMay to boost morale for servicemen in US Air Force bases. To this end, AFRS was renamed AFRTS on April 21, 1954. CSL-TV became the first television station set up by them, and started broadcasting on October 17, 1954, after receiving a permit from the Portuguese Government. The government dictated that television sets were limited to U.S. and Portuguese military personnel, as there was no Portuguese TV available locally in the area. Television receivers were heavily controlled and were registered like firearms. Equipment was provided by the DAGE company on the cheap, which was inadequate for broadcasting. Following the Limestone Air Base 20-watt experiment, it was determined that all AFRTS television stations would operate on low-powered transmitters. CSL's transmitter signal covered a radius of 3.5 miles from the transmitter to the shore line. The station broadcast seven hours a day on average. CSL-TV moved to new facilities in mid-1958 on a hilltop overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the base. The station also started using kinescopes while other stations in the AFRTS circuit were starting to air videotaped content. Programming was received in tapes from the United States until the entrance of the station to the AFRTS SATNET system. A SATNET dish was added in November 1983, enabling the base to have access to live news and sports; becoming the first overseas base to do so, after an experimental service was tested in 1982. Over-the-air broadcasts ended in 2011 due to its old age and inconvenient location; the building was torn down in November. 2015 was marked by the reduction of the contingent of American military staff working at the base. Currently the base is served by an internal closed-circuit cable system limited to personnel, carrying the eight AFN channels, a radio station and a community channel. ==References==