You can call me a skeptic, but if I had been a young man 75 years ago and encountered this ad in the June 1943 issue of Radio News, I think I would have had my doubts as to the bona fides of the New York Technical Institute.

First of all, despite the Big Apple moniker, the Institute was located at 786 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey.

Of course, there’s something to be said for getting out of the rut, not griping, and making yourself valuable.  And the ad pointed out that men with outstanding ability and specialized training were the ones who got ahead both in the armed forces and in civilian life.  So the concept of mastering Japanese Morse code probably wasn’t a bad one.

But I have my doubts as to what the New York Technical Institute, Japanese Code Section, could actually deliver, especially given the rather princely sum for the course, a total of $57.50.

And you had to be committed to sign up.  The ad didn’t ask you to send a stamp for more information about the course.  You were expected to send $10 for the first lesson.  If you were satisfied with the experience, then the remaining 19 lessons were an additional $2.50 each.  Of course, the dollars in question were made out of silver at the time, and the value of a silver dollar then was about the same as it is today.  So the price of that first lesson, sight unseen, was about $320 in today’s money.  I think I would have stayed in my rut.

This might be a bargain if they sent you some records or even Instructograph tapes to master the Japanese code at home.  But there’s no indication that any such thing was included.  And I suspect that if these features had been offered, the ad would have said something about them.  Instead, the 20 lessons apparently consisted of nothing but paper, with no indication of how the student was expected to gain any practical experience before getting out of his rut.

For those (then or now) interested in learning more about the Japanese telegraph code, much valuable information was contained in two articles published in QST in September 1942 and October 1943.  There was, understandably, great interest in the subject.  The 1943 article pointed out that many requests had been received for back issues containing the 1942 article, even though they had been long out of print.

I haven’t been able to find any other information about the Japanese Code Section of the New York Technical Institute.  I doubt if very many readers sent them a $10 money order.

Anne Frank. Wikipedia image.

On this date seventy-five years ago, June 15, 1943, Anne Frank noted in her diary that everyone in Holland had been directed to turn in their radios.  She noted that throughout Holland, people were scrambling to find old radios to turn in so that they could keep another set, and that those in her group had arranged to get a small secret set.

As we have written previously, some ingenious examples of clandestine Dutch receivers are shown above.

Seventy-five years ago today, KOA Denver ran this ad in the June 14, 1943, issue of Broadcasting.

The station ran its weekly “Music Center for Enlisted Men” for the morale of servicemen stationed in the Denver area. The half hour program ran Friday nights, and enlisted men participated in choirs and dramatic presentations. The project was spearheaded by the wifes of commanding generals and post commanders in the area, along with Colorado’s governor and his wife.

Here’s an unusual example of an “N” amateur call sign from 1938, from the June 1938 issue of All Wave Radio magazine.  The card was actually for a QSO by W9GZB, but the owner of that call, Arthur “Musty” Musgrave, 527 Union St., Emporia, Kansas, was a member of the Naval Communication Reserve, for which the corresponding “N” call sign was used. That service dates back to at least 1929, since there is an editorial in the August 1929 issue of QST encourage amateurs to consider enlistment.

According to an editorial in QST for August 1940, the Naval Communication Reserve was open to men aged 15-35. Former servicemen in any branch of the military were eligible up to the age of 50. Amateur radio operators could enlist as seamen and were immediately eligible to take the examination for the radioman rating. Physical fitness requirements were the same as those for the regular Navy. Experienced radiotelegraph operators were especially desired, since the need for signalmen at the time exceeded the need for radiomen.

Musgrave, the sender of this card, was a linotype operator with the Emporia Gazette newspaper. According to the December 20, 1940, issue of that paper, he was called up to service in 1940 and assigned to the San Diego naval base.  After the war, Musgrave’s call became W0ZGB, which he held until at least 1960.  He died in Kansas in 1971.

The signature on the left-hand margin of the card is the reason why the QSL was shown in the magazine.

This is the signature of William Allen White. W4DVO had sent it to the magazine along with the story of working Musgrave on 80 meter CW. After copying the QTH, the Florida station mentioned that Emporia “owed its place on the map to William Allen White.” To that, Musgrave replied, “you’re telling me!”, and told the Florida contact that he had worked for him for over twenty years. To prove the point, he had his boss autograph the card. According to the magazine, “something tells us that ZGB is going to be a popular station with the autograph hunters.”

William Allen White. Wikipedia image.

William Allen White was, indeed, the owner and editor of the Emporia Gazette, where Musgrave worked as a linotype operator.  White, was regarded as a spokesman for Middle America and was dubbed the “Sage of Emporia.”  Earlier a supporter of Teddy Roosevelt’s run for President on the Bull Moose ticket, he was later tapped by FDR to help generate support for the Allies before America’s entry into the Second World War.

Shown here is the victory garden of KNX, Los Angeles. The picture appeared 75 years ago today in the June 7, 1943, issue of Broadcasting magazine.

According to the ad, the station went to work after the call went out from Washington to raise vegetables. It noted that the soil under glamorous Hollywood had been, just a few years earlier, fertile farm land.

So the station ripped out the terrace in front of its studio, plowed the soil, fertilized and cultivated it. As a model to its listeners, the station grew vegetables to show what California was capable of.

The station’s first crop went to the Los Angeles Orphans’ Home. The practical experience of growing crops went by proxy to many thousands of listeners.