A few months after the fall of Corregidor,  this letter appeared in the August 8, 1942, issue of Radio Guide.

An earlier issue of the magazine had carried an item about Army nurses who had escaped from Bataan. This was spotted by one Mrs. G.C. Wild, originally of Rapid City, South Dakota, who was then in Richmond, Kentucky, on a defense project. Mrs. Wild was the sister of Staff Sergeant Gerald W. Wagner, who had been assigned to the Sternberg General Hospital in Manila. She and her mother had no word from Sgt. Wagner since February, 1942. After reading about the nurses, she wrote to the magazine asking if they could pass along her request for information about her brother, in the event that one of the nurses could provide some information as to his fate.

While the magazine had no way to contact the nurses, it published the letter, and asked any readers who knew any of the nurses to pass along the plea.

While it’s unlikely that the letter writer received any reply to her plea, it appears that Sgt. Wagner survived the war. He is listed as having been liberated from the Cabanatuan prison camp, and the report of the liberation appears in this February 2, 1945, newspaper report.  He was later awarded the Bronze Star.

Seventy-five years ago today, the September 14, 1942, issue of Life magazine carried some of the first photographs of American prisoners of war, both military and civilian, held by Japan.  The photographs appeared in an English-language magazine published in Japanese-occupied China with the unlikely title of “Freedom,” which detailed the supposedly benevolent intentions of the Japanese toward the Asiatic people.

The photographs of the American prisoners were published to show the supposedly humane conditions the prisoners were experiencing.  Included were the photos shown below, which supposedly depicted the prisoners receiving radio receivers for entertainment during their confinement.

This first photo shows the gift of the receivers to three representatives of the prisoners, standing at attention while they accept the alleged gift.  The recipient on the left is not identified.  Shown in the center is U.S. Marine Maj. James Patrick Sinnot Devereux, who later served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland.  At right is civilian engineer Raymond R. Rutledge, who was working on a construction project at Wake Island when it fell to the Japanese.  The military-style hat he is wearing is actually an American Legion cap.  In another photo in the magazine, the cap is visible and reveals that he was a Californian.  The photo below shows Maj. Devereux (seated at right) with his unenthusiastic men allegedly listening to the radio in their barracks:

Despite the upbeat text of the Japanese propaganda article, most of the photos depict obviously unhappy men such as those shown below, in which they are shown signing phonograph recordings which were later broadcast in POW broadcasts from station JOAK in Tokyo:

Today, as a public service, we bring this illustration from the September 1942 issue of Popular Mechanics, which is just as relevant today as it was 75 years ago.

The drawing, which is clearly labeled “WRONG,” shows the housewife unplugging the radio by yanking on the cord.  The illustration in the lower left corner, shows the correct way, namely, by firmly grasping the plug.

The artist perfectly captures what appears to be a cavalier attitude on the woman’s part.  While she was probably otherwise the pinnacle of efficiency, the magazine pointed out that bad connections and broken power cords were the result of such treatment. It was a particularly bad idea in the case of the table radio, since it probably had a “curtain burner” cord, which would withstand few such jerks before causing the receiver to develop crackly noises or simply refuse to work. But even with plain line cords, then or now, the plug was easily damaged.

The magazine even noted that rubber-covered plugs were not plentiful, so this woman’s treatment of the strategic material was practically unpatriotic in wartime.

As far as we’re concerned, it’s still unpatriotic.  If you love your country, then you should unplug appliances by firmly grasping the plug.

Seventy-five years ago today, the September 7, 1942, issue of Broadcasting magazine included a supplement with the radio figures from the 1940 census, as well as a complete log of all U.S. broadcast stations as of 1942, and figures showing the numbers of radio retailers and sales figures. The map above shows the percentage of radio homes in 1940. Since there was a freeze on new stations during the War, and since no new radios were being produced, the issue provides an interesting snapshot of radio in the United States during the War years.

Massachussetts led the nation with 96.2% of its homes being equipped with a radio. Within that state, the county with the highest percentage of radio households was Norfolk County, with 98.1% of the households having at least one radio. The last place honors went to the State of Mississippi, with only 39.9% of homes having a radio, despite twelve broadcasting stations in the state. Within that state, the county with the lowest percentage of radio households was Issaquana County, where only 320 households out of 1779 had a radio, or only 18%.

Of Minnesota’s 728,359 households, 664,296 had at least one radio, for a percentage of 91.2. Lake of the Woods County had the lowest penetration of radio receivers, with 1150 radio households out of 1501 total, for a percentage of 76.6%. Minneapolis and St. Paul had very high percentages of radio households, 96.6% and 96.7% respectively. They were edged out, however, by Rochester, with 96.8% of the households having a radio. The other city included in the listing of cities over 25,000 was Duluth, with 95.7% of the households having a radio.

The station listing shown here reveals that during the War years, Minneapolis and St. Paul were served by seven stations. Both KSTP, 1500 kHz, and WCCO, 830 kHz, had 50,000 watt signals full time.

Three stations had 5000 watt signals during the daytime: WDGY on 1130 kHz, reduced its power to 500 watts at night, but the hours were determined by local time in Albuquerque, since it protected a station there. WLB, which later became KUOM, was daytime only, and also shared time on its 770 kHz frequency with WCAL in Northfield, an arrangement that continued in later decades. WTCN reduced its power on 1280 kHz to 1000 watts at night.

WLOL on 1330 kHz was licensed for 1000 watts, and WMIN ran 250 watts at 1400 kHz.

Duluth was listed as the home to KDAL on 610 kHz and WEBC on 1320 kHz. The other station serving the Twin Ports, WDSM, was licensed to Superior, Wisconsin, and appeared in the Wisconsin listings.

Cities with 250 watt stations included Albert Lea (KATE, 1450 kHz), Fergus Falls (KGDE, 1230 kHz, with 100 watts nighttime power), Mankato (KYSM, 1230), Moorhead (KVOX, 1340), Rochester (KROC, 1340), St. Cloud (KFAM, 1450), Virginia (WHLB, 1400), Willmar (KWLM, 1340), and Winona (KWNO, 1230).

Another station covering Minnesota but not listed was WDAY in Fargo, which corrected the oversight by purchasing two full-page ads, one in the Minnesota listing and another in the North Dakota section, pointing out that it had a large service area in both states, and including a story, that must have seemed just a bit risque in 1942, about a traveling soap salesman and a farmer’s daughter.

Seventy years ago this month, August 1947, the first issue of the British magazine Radio Constructor rolled off the presses, with the matshead bearing the names of editors Arthur C. Gee, G2UK, and W. Norman Stevens, G3AKA, and business manager C.W.C. Overland, G2ATV. According to the introductory editorial, postwar Britain was seeing a boom in short wave listening almost as big as the boom in broadcast listening after the first war.

The first of many receiver plans to be published by the magazine was a four tube (or three tubes, plus selenium rectifier) AC-DC broadcast set shown here. The first issue also carried a few theoretical articles, as well as the plans for one transmitter.

The magazine continued until September 1981, when the final issue was published.

75 years ago, many consumer products, such as radios, stoves, and vacuum cleaners were no longer rolling off the assembly lines now devoted to war production. Civilian radio production, for example, ended on April 22, 1942.  But these items remained available, as retailers sold the last of the remaining stock.

This ad appeared in the August 27, 1942 issue of the Chicago Tribune and shows some of the last prewar versions of these items.

The model number of the Silvertone radio-phono is not shown, but according to the ad, the set was an $89.95 value selling for only $68.88.  It featured an automatic record changer which could accommodate up to ten 12″ records or twelve 10″ records.  The six-tube radio tuned both standard broadcast and shortwave.

With wartime material shortages, replacement radio parts were hard to come by. And even when parts were available, the manufacturers had to adapt to wartime conditions.

This is illustrated by this ad from the August 1942 issue of Service magazine, showing the Mallory “Wood Neck” condenser (what we would call a capacitor these days).  Instead of an aluminum case and base, the capacitor had an impregnated paper case and a threaded wooden base.  The ad noted that “they are designed for the emergency but we predict they will be popular long afterwards.”

This RCA ad, which appeared 75 years ago in the July 27, 1942, issue of Broadcasting, shows the warning label affixed to radios in Nazi Germany.  It contains this warning:

Think it over. Receiving foreign broadcasts is a crime against the German State. By order of the Fuehrer, it will be severely punished.”

The ad goes goes on to say that most will think it over. And perhaps, like a sensible Nazi subject, the radio’s owner will take the warning to heart.

And maybe you don’t. Maybe there’s a hunger for truth in you, that no threats can suppress. Maybe you still retain some sense of the inalienable rights of a decent human being.

Maybe you tune in far-off America: to RCA-NBC International Shortwave Stations WRCA and WNBI, hearing truths that are flashes of light in a world of darkness and despair.

Seventy-five years ago this month, the July 1942 issue of Popular Mechanics carried the plans for this simple one-tube regenerative receiver. The set was designed with wartime parts shortages in mind, and most parts were non-critical, and could be found in most junk boxes.

Future issues of the magazine would carry improvements, and most parts would be reused. In addition, the suggested breadboard layout was such that there would be room for more advanced designs to be built on the same board.

The set used a single 1Q5GT tube. It used one flashlight battery to run the filament, with four in series to provide the 6 volts B+. A battery eliminator was promised for the next issue.

Coils were wound on the cardboard tubes salvaged from D cell flashlight batteries. The article called for an external antenna and ground. Tuning was accomplished by setting regeneration to maximum, and then tuning until a squeal was heard. At that point, you would turn down the regeneration control just enough to listen to the station.