Seventy-five years ago today, the November 16, 1942, issue of Broadcasting carried this ad with a story showing the importance of the nation’s shortwave broadcast transmitters.

When Herr Braun was ordered to report for farm work in the south of Germany, he made an arrangement with his brother who worked in the rail yards. No matter what happened, the brother promised to write from Cologne every week.

At first, Herr Braun received letters written on cheap thin paper. But one week, the letters stopped with no explanation. The local Nazi paper reported an ineffective British raid on Cologne, but with only small damage. The Luftwaffe was invincible, according to the paper, an the enemy could never reach Cologne in force.

But the letters never came. So one night, Herr Braun tuned to a forbidden station–an American shortwave station. “And there it was–the facts, the figures, the full grim story of the mighty German city blown to bits from the air. Yes, the railroad yards were destroyed.”

So Herr Braun started to wonder. The newspaper had lied. Thanks to the powerful shortwave transmitters using RCA equipment, Herr Braun’s faith began to fade.