Radio Swan (Honduras)

Radio Swan was a pirate radio station based in the Swan Islands, a group of islands in the western Caribbean Sea, near the coastline of Honduras. Under the "Radio Swan" and "Radio Americas" names, the station was in operation from 1960 to 1968.

In 1960, a Central Intelligence Agency cover, the Gibraltar Steamship Company (which didn't own any steamships and whose president was Thomas Dudley Cabot) owned and established Radio Swan on Swan Island, a covert black operation to win supporters for U.S. policies and discredit Fidel Castro.

The radio station began acting as a regular commercial broadcaster with sponsors such as Kleenex, Phillip Morris Co., and others lined up, operating with a 50,000 watt transmitter on AM 1160 and on shortwave with a power of 7,500 watts on 6000 kHz. The importance of this island was in its location and proximity to the island of Cuba, because on March 17, 1960, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had approved covert action to topple the regime of Fidel Castro in Cuba. As early as October 30, 1960, the Castro government sent reconnaissance flights over Swan Island and the Caribbean Coast of Guatemala (CIA 11-3-1960).

Swan Island was claimed by the governments of both the United States and Honduras, although the island was in the de facto hands of personnel acting on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). A Mr. Sumner Smith of Boston also claimed ownership. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) claimed that it had no jurisdiction over the station.

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