The First VOA Relay Station in the Philippines
According to the official history of PBS, the Philippine Broadcasting System in the Philippine Islands, the first programming from OWI the Office of War Information in Los Angeles California, and VOA the Voice of America in New York City, was on the air from a low powered mediumwave transmitter aboard an American submarine in the Lingayen Gulf, off the west coast of Luzon Island. This unique radio broadcasting station operated with just 50 watts under the callsign KZSO, and it took to the air in its Philippine service in December 1944.
Voice of America Relay Station in a Submarine
The Voice of America radio stations in the Philippine Islands, that subsequently became so well known throughout the international radio world, underwent a very small though very interesting beginning towards the end of the Pacific War in the middle of last century. In order to understand those early origins way back then, let’s go back to the year 1942. This is what happened.
VOUS St John’s, Newfoundland
Long Lost Radio History Images: LLRI #50 – VOUS – AFRS in Canada.
During the Second World War the United States set up its Fort Pepperrell base on the shores of Quidi Vidi Lake…
The Early Days of 2KO Newcastle
The material used in this history has come from scrapbooks and transmitter logs held by 2KO, photos and documents provided by the families of Jim Cowan, Ken Greenhalgh, Max Spitzkowsky, Harold Whyte and previous staff members Rob Cornwell, Ron, Dorothy and Len Daley, Reg and Judy Davis, Ron Hurst, Roy Nielson, Russell Thornton and Allan Whyte.
Return to the Radio Scene on Bougainville in the South Pacific
Wireless came to Bougainville more than 100 years ago with the installation of Australian made AWA equipment which was taken into service in January 1916 under the Australian callsign VIU. In those days, many of the closer Pacific Islands that had been annexed by the United Kingdom were administered from Australia.
Radio Malaya Singapore in Two Different Countries
By the end of January 1942, Japanese armed forces had scrambled down through the thick jungles and the multitude of rubber plantations on the Malay Peninsula until they finally reached Johore Bahru, facing Singapore Island. They then began sporadic attempts at bombarding the island and at crossing the waterway that separated the Malay mainland from Singapore Island itself.
AFRS “Stateside USA” on KIBS Canton Island
From a CD donated to us in 2012 by Glenn Carpenter, enjoy this episode of AFRS “Stateside USA – 15 Minutes of Home Town Highlights”, broadcast on KIBS Canton Island
BNBS Leopoldville, Belgian Congo
Rare station id & booklet from station OTC of the Belgian National Broadcasting Service transmitting from Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo c1953
Gary Cooper on KIBS Canton Island 1953
In 1953 Gary Cooper was returning to the US after filming the movie Return to Paradise on location in Samoa. During his stop-over in Canton Island, Cooper was interviewed by the local radio station, KIBS, for their feature “The Traveller Talks”.
The Original Radio Saigon
In the Summer of the year 1928, Mr. Joseph de la Pommeraya, representing the newly organized Franco-Indochinese Radio Company in Saigon, approached the Director of the French Radio-Electric Society in Haussman Boulevard in Paris with a request to buy a 12 kW shortwave transmitter for installation in Saigon…
V-Discs 1940s Cassette Compilation
V-Disc : An American military record label during WWII V-Disc (“V” for Victory) was a morale-boosting initiative involving the production of several series of recordings…
Baseball Commentary on WVTB, 1944
New Guinea Christmas Day Olympics, December 25, 1944, sponsored by the 360th Service Groups Special Services at A.P.O. 713, Unit 1, against the 868th T/5…
Early New Zealand Radio Personalities
In the 1930’s Auckland, New Zealand, teenager Elsie Orams (later Sanders) started a scrapbook of press clippings featuring radio personalities of the time.
You Have Been Listening
“You Have Been Listening..” is a station 3YA anniversary programme marking 25 years of broadcasting in Christchurch. Consists of music, narration and brief interviews with…
Rare Photos from WXLN, Nome, Alaska, 1945
Valeria Edwards, from Los Angeles, wrote to us: Hello Attached please find photos of my father, Sherman Edwards (b 1919 New York – d 1981…
Office of War Information – Central Pacific Operations
A Photo Essay This photo essay booklet from the estate of John C Seehaas has been the source of material for several articles on our…
Shortwave Campaigns During World War II
On the morning of 7 December 1941, the day the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war, The New York…
AFRS Pacific Overview
Meet the Mosquito Network Inside the U.S. effort in a battle of the airwaves during the Pacific campaign of World War II Mark DurenbergerRadioWorldSeptember 2019…
WSSO 670 Voice of Bougainville 1944 QSL
James Stewart has sent us this photo of a QSL flyer from WSSO in 1944 and writes: In going through some of my Dad’s papers,…
The Pacific Ramblers Live on KTOH, Kauai, Hawaii March/April 1945
In 1945 the band the Pacific Ramblers were entertaining listeners on radio station KTOH, located in Kauai, Hawaii. Dale Halleron wrote to us: I have…