Dhahran

Dhahran (Arabic الظهران aẓ-Ẓahrān, meaning "the two backs") is a city in Saudi Arabia located in the country's Eastern Province not far from the Persian Gulf a short distance south of the larger port city of Dammam. Dhahran is, technically speaking, a fenced-in company compound, and only Saudi Aramco employees and their dependents may live inside. However, because the town's name is also used for the international airport (DHA) and US consulate, both located outside the Saudi Aramco compound, "Dhahran" is often used for convenience to refer to the larger metropolitan area that includes (Al-)Khobar, (Al-)Dammam, and many private residential compounds, all of which have grown together into a single megalopolis of over 1 million inhabitants.

Media

Newspapers and magazines

All papers published locally are either owned by Saudi Aramco or special community interest groups (SIGs), and they are all free. The main weekly is the Arabian Sun newspaper. Most Saudi Aramco-owned papers and magazines are available online at Aramco's official website (anyone may request a hard-copy subscription free of charge). The papers that are owned by SIGs are available online only through Saudi Aramco's internal network.

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The company's highly regarded Aramco World magazine of Middle Eastern and Islamic topics can be subscribed to in the United States for about $3. (Website: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com)

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Television

Aramco TV (Dhahran TV, and named Channel 3 later) was the first TV channel in the Persian Gulf area and the second in the Middle East. Dhahran TV started broadcasting on September 16, 1957. Although originally in English, it had later started to broadcast in Arabic, but at the same time, viewers could listen to the English version of the TV programs through Aramco radio simultaneously. In 1970, it had become a commercial free, all-English channel after the Saudi channel started broadcasting in 1966. Up until the first Persian Gulf War Channel 3 was the only English langauge television station readily availiable and it was sometimes the object of humor for its airing of dated and censored entertainment programming, and a bland nightly news broadcast.

Related Topics:
Persian Gulf - Middle East - September 16 - 1957 - Persian Gulf War

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Many expat brats that grew up in Dhahran in the 1980s and 1990s will recall some quaint memories of the channel, i.e. the onscreen caligrophy that appeared to announce the prayer times, or the fact that "Children's Shows" were at least a couple years old and could not show any kissing between men and women. Most Dhahran residents used their television set to watch VHS tapes or play video games. The highlight of Channel 3 was that it did air well done documentaries on Middle Eastern history, culture, cuisine and environment, and during the first Gulf War it aired a documentary on how to properly use gas masks, after some accidental deaths occurred.

Related Topics:
1980s - 1990s - Video games

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The death of Channel 3 was that Dhahran residents started to get other choices for English langaguge entertainment and news television. In the early 1990s the first Persian Gulf War gave Dhahran residents the ability to pick up the Armed Forces Radio and Televsion Service. By the late 1990s, satillight television services were becoming more affordable and offering a wider selection of commercial news and entertainment programming that was less censored and more contemporary. The result was that in 1998 Saudi Aramco shut down the channel.

Related Topics:
1990s - 1998

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