Located on top of Tafelberg, the highest hill on eastern part of Curaçao, is Radio Hoyer’s FM transmitting tower. The power source for the transmitters, 100% solar electricity, is what makes the Radio Hoyer FM project especially unique. The two commercial FM radio stations that broadcast from this site are the world’s first to be fully solar powered. The system was put into operation on March 10, 1984.

The site chosen for the FM transmitting complex lent itself to the use of a highly directional transmitting antenna system. The primary benefit of a directional antenna in this application is reduced power consumption. This site was perfect except for the lack of electricity, said Fred M. Chumaceiro, technical adviser of Radio Hoyer, who designed and installed the station. From the many options available to obtain electricity, the need for high reliability sparked the decision to go with solar power. The effective radiated power of each of the two FM stations is 4 kilowatts (horizontal and vertical). With the high gain antenna system, a transmitter power output of only 300 watts is required for each station.

Radio Hoyer is a locally owned 50-year-old company, which operates two radio stations. Radio Hoyer 1 featuring programming in the Papiamento language and Radio Hoyer 2 with programming in Dutch. From its beginning in 1954 up to 1984, Radio Hoyer operated only in the AM band. From 1984 to 2004, it operated in both AM and FM bands. In 2004 the AM operation was closed down and broadcasting continues only in the FM band. Curaçao is one of five islands in the Caribbean that form the Netherlands Antilles..