Evening star., 1945-04-08
ShOrt-Wave Radio to Plav
Vital Part in Postwar Era
L. S., Slow to Start, Now Has Elaborate Setup
to Gain and Keep Contacts Aimed at
Inter.Am erican Understanding
Bv John W. G. Ogilvie,


e of Inter-American Affairs.
needed information work. First of all,
direct international short-wave broad
casting is the only medium not subject
to censorship and control of the receiv-
ing country Furthermore, no other me-
dium can compare with short-wave
broadcasting for speed and magnitude
of mass communication or for reading
illiterates.
Due to the United States belated
recognition of and entrance into this
type of international international OPP
Grafton, our short-wave service to the
other Americas, when this country en-
tered the war, could not be favorably
compared with the broadcasting services
of our ally, Great Britain, or our enemy,
Nazi Germany. Their transmitters, long
beamed to the other Americas, far sur
passed in number and coverage the II
transmitters owned and operated by
private industry in this country.
At the time of Pearl Harbor, the
snort-Wave transmitters in the United
States were located in five different
alternate language patterns such as Eng
lish, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French,
Czech, etc. The Government could not
request the lincensees to alter their sew
eral language programming patterns
and change their beam directions to
cover all of the other American repub-
lies, since this would have placed large
4 L,,, I, ~ D4
cause of the concentration of population
and receiving sets on the east coast OF
South America in the vicinity of the two
large capitals of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
and Buenos Aires, Argentina, the COM
mercial companies had concentrated on
developing radio audiences in these
areas.
All Stations Leased.
If the United States was not to remain
far behind both our enemies and our
Allies IN the international broadcasting
field, this situation obviously had to be
corrected Thus, in November, 1912, all
IA United States short-wave broadcast
ing transmitters were jointly leased by
the Office of Iner-American Affairs and
the Office of War Information. Orders
also were placed by the two Government
agencies for the construction of an addl-
tional % transmitters, to provide multi
frequency coverage of all regions in the
other Americas, as well as of the rest Of
the world.
BY July, 1943, 1t became evident that
additional transmitters were needed to
improve reception, but they could not
be built quickly enough to solve the need.
Consequently, single Spanish-lan-
guage program service was sent out on
teamed transmitters, which provided
multi frequency coverage to all areas in
the other Americas. NBC and CHS pro-
vided the programs on alternate hours.
A single Language service
also was programmed equally by NBC
and CHS.
In order to provide programs for the
English Language transmitters Of the
United Network, commercial sponsors
and domestic networks co-operated by
making available their finest United
States programs without expense to the
Government. All commercial announce
ments on these programs are deleted
before broadcasting. The United States
Armed Forces Radio Service has sup
piled programs especially designed for
members of the armed forces stationed
in the Western Hemisphere.
To augment Spanish and Portuguese
short wave programs produced in the
United States, radio commentators,
writer's, actors and technical experts
were brought to the United States from
the other American republics. Lam
guage experts were especially needed.
as there is considerable variation OF
Spanish terminology in the various re-
gions of the hemisphere.
Seek Interesting Programs.
Axis broadcasts to the other Amer
icas gained listeners because they were
interesting, though many times false.
The Office of Inter- American Affairs
seeks to make its news broadcasts both
interesting and true. Every effort IS
made to obtain all possible sources OF
information on a news development so
that high degree of accuracy can be
reflected in the news output
The listening audience in the
Americas is already conditioned to look
for important economic, trade and busi-
ness news on the United States Short
wave radio broadcasts The Importance
of this factor will be considerable when
the war ends and once again the United
States seeks to supply goods to Latin
American markets.
In addition to direct international
short-wave broadcasting and rebroad-
casts locally of United States program
received by short-wave or commercial
point -to-point communications, this
Office has produced transcriptions in
order to reach still larger group Of
radio listeners, in the small towns as
we'll as in the large cities. The tran
scriptions, produced by Spanish and
Portuguese language talent in New York
and Hollywood, are shipped to stations
in outlying areas in the other American
republics, and serve as means Of
supplying fine radio programs indicative
VI VIC dAAlS dAIO Cu4Cu1C VI tIlC O11AGCO
States to these local radio stations.
Since certain programs cannot be
satisfactorily produced in the United
States, the Office of Inter-American
Affairs also produces radio programs
locally in the other Americas. Trained
radio representatives have been sent to
all of the major capitals in these coun-
tries. These representatives have worked
with local stations of technical problems