Transmitter engineer flipping the switch at antenna farm to beam program to Europe.

Seventy-five years ago this month, the June 1944 issue of Popular Mechanics highlighted the shortwave broadcasting efforts of the Office of War Information (OWI). The magazine dubbed the American shortwave stations the “Voice of America,” a name which would become official in following years.

The magazine noted that the Nazis had a head start on the radio war, since Germany had over a hundred transmitters spewing propaganda to the world. The United States had only sixteen, all under private ownership. But even though it took some time to get going, the OWI wass directing a 24 hour flow of news and information around the world. The magazine noted that America strictly adhered to factual news.

Jamming was rampant, and broadcasts were normally read at a hundred words per minute to compensate. When poor conditions dictated, this was sometimes slowed to 80 words per minute. The OWI knew that there were listeners. After the liberation of parts of Italy, a survey indicated that one in ten families heard allied programs, despite severe penalties for tuning in.