Evening star., 1941-09-07
Boston Station Fights
Nazi Propaganda
In South America
Chinese Girl Teaches
Bosie English Course
To Latin Neiehbors
Nv BLAIR BOLLES.

walter .. IemHlOH, Wilo CdIlc W
washington for conferences with the
State Department, says his short
wave radio station WRUL, In BoS-
ton. is hitting hard against the
German lies" in broadcasts to Latin
American countries as well as to
Europe.
WRUL-World Radio University
Is stepping up the tempo OF It's battle
of the airvaves against the Nazis
in the Spanish and Portuguese
speaking new world, where the Ger
mans have been actively propagan-
dizine against the United States al
most since the day Adolf Hitler rose
to power.
There are nearly 2,000,00o radio
sets in Latin America capable OF
hearing American stations" Mr..
Lennon said. Since the war began
the Nazis have been able to export
only a few German-made sets to
the Western Hemisphere. The num-
ber of American-made sets Is IN
ereesing.
"The Germans used to sell sets IN
South America manufactured IN
vay to make it impossible for their
users to get any but Nazi statlons
and Nazi propaganda. That day Is
fast passing"
Virtues of Democracy Praised.
With the help of the American
Government, station WRUL gives
course to Latin Americans In the
theory of aviation. 1t teaches the
Morse telegraphic code. 1t conducts
q travel program which acquamts
Latin Americans with the beauty
spots and culture of our cities. IL
provides Latin Americans with SEMI
classical dinner music.
The speakers over the shortWaVe
radio from Boston interlard these
practical programs with direct rel
erences to the virtues OF the demo-
cratic system, which are subjected
to ceaseless attack from the radio
broadcasts out of Germany ar
ranged by Joseph Goebbels.
The station also provides South
America with a weekly summary OF
the American national defense Ell
fort. Mr.. Lennon and his aides
are able to keep abreast OF the Ger
man propaganda trend through the
monitoring of the Axis broadcasts
which the Federal Communications
Commission undertakes.
Mr.. Lennon approaches the work
of his station with the zeal Of a man
with a mission. The seed Of WRUL
was planted at the Versailles Peace
Conference of 1919, which 1t. Lem
mon, U. S. N. attended as President
wilson's radio operator. At Yer
sailles he saw the need for some
method of bringing the peoples OF
the world TO some understanding Of
each other.
A Cultural Weapon.
He dreamed of q radio station
which could serve as university for
the whole earth, and in the middle
i93Os his dream came true. WRUL
was established in Boston, In order
to have it near the great minds OF
Harvard and the Massachusetts, In
stitute of Technology.
When the war began, Mr.. Lem
mon turned his university into Q
cultural weapon for the democracies.
He entered the airwaves fight, d.
recting programs against the Axis
in every continent. Now he Is a
vice president OF the International
Business Machines Corp, as well as
president of WRUL, dividing his
time among New York, Boston and
Washington.
Mr. Lennon thought that teach
ing the English language would go
long way toward developing an un-
derstanding Of this country among
the descendants of the 1berlan
peoples living in Latin America.
Basic English has fundamental
vocabulary of $50 words, to which
are added 200 words to cover the
needs of any particular field.
Basic English is widely taught in
the Far East and among the Asiat-
les who learned our language
through that medium is a pretty
little Chinese girl, Pin Pin Tan.
She was graduated from Yenching
University in China and in 1889
from Radcliffe College, Boston.
Spanish Also Taught.
Pin Pin Tan organizes the WRUL
English course and various persons
at the station broadcast it. In
struction Is given on a regular
school basis. Once year the pupils
are given an examination over the
air and they send in their papers
for correction and marking.
The English lessons and the mes
sages of democracy inspire many
listening Latin Americans to for
ward suggestions to Boston about
improving the usefulness OF WRUL.
A Venezuelan sends to Boston
scripts for broadcasts aimed at ac-
quainting Latin-American countries
with each other because there is a
gulf of ignorance between, say, Co
lombia and Chile about the : two
nations and their ways.
In order to spread the good neigh
Dor spirit two ways. Mr.. Lennon
has a course teaching Spanish to
North Americans, which can be
heard in South America. There
the wife Of an American business
man has been learning Spanish by
tuning in WRUL. The station can
be heard by radios with short-wave
facilities on band 49, 604 mega
cycles. The programs are sent out
from two 50,000-watt transmitters
located at Heatherly Beach, Mass,
near Cape Cod.