In our continuing story about the return of Press Wireless to the Philippines towards the end of the Pacific War in the middle of last century, we begin with the PWI events in Hawaii a decade or two earlier. Press Wireless was founded in the United States in 1929, and they began to develop their own worldwide network of shortwave stations for the two-way flow of news information and reports.
It is stated that PWI was serving 62
countries worldwide in the 1930s; and at the peak of their international development
they operated 100 transmitters in their own shortwave stations located in North
& South America and in the Philippines.
Some news transmissions were by high speed Boehme in Morse Code, and
others were voice reports for rebroadcast on network radio stations in the
United States.
An official government listing for
June 30, 1930, shows that a total of 13 shortwave frequencies were registered
for a new PWI station located
near Honolulu in Hawaii. This new shortwave station was designed for communication with PWI at Belmont, south of San Francisco in California; it was constructed in 1932; and it was allocated the callsign KDG.
near Honolulu in Hawaii. This new shortwave station was designed for communication with PWI at Belmont, south of San Francisco in California; it was constructed in 1932; and it was allocated the callsign KDG.
Soon after station KDG was
inaugurated, PWI lodged a complaint with government authorities in Washington
DC stating that a European station, FYR located at Lyon in France, was causing
interference to the reception in California from their Honolulu station. Station KDG was transmitting on its allocated
frequency of 11640 kHz, and the station in France was allocated the neighboring
channel 11650 kHz, though it was putting out an unstable signal a little lower
in frequency.
There are no known monitoring
reports of the shortwave station in Honolulu KDG, probably due to its apparent
low powered operation, and also to the fact that its news transmissions must
have all been in high speed Morse Code.
At the end of ten years of on air service, that is early in the year
1941, Press Wireless abandoned its Hawaiian shortwave station, due no doubt to
the availability of other stations that were in use for the transmission of
news information.
However some three years later
again, on April 14 1944, PWI filed an application with the FCC for a new
shortwave station in Hawaii. The
transmitter for this station was planned for installation at Ewa, on the south
coast of the capital city island Oahu, on the western edge of Honolulu. There is no further information regarding
this projected shortwave station, and it is presumed that it was never
installed, due to wartime shortages of equipment and personnel. Perhaps also, PWI was aware that difficult
financial times were ahead of them.
Around this same time, another PWI
project was on the ascendancy, and this was the wartime venture of a training
project in Hicksville in association with their large superstation and the
nearby electronics factory. The massive
shortwave station was located on Cantiague Raod Hicksville, and the manufactory
was located a quarter mile distant in two large buildings on the other side of
the roadway.
The High Power Transmitter School
was conducted by PWI at Hicksville in co-operation with the American Signal
Corps at Fort Monmouth in neighboring New Jersey. Training exercises were conducted on a 40 kW
PWI shortwave transmitter. Among those
who underwent training on this transmitter was Terry Sandford who wrote a book
on his wartime experience with the American/Australian radio ship “Apache”; and others
also, who served with PWI in Europe and the Pacific.
In 1944, under the direction of
General Douglas MacArthur, a team of PWI personnel was assembled at Hollandia
on the north coast of New Guinea, just across the border on the Dutch side of
the island. Two sub-teams were formed:
one team with a 400 watt high speed shortwave transmitter PZ established their
facility at Tacloban on Leyte Island, and the other team with a 10 kW voice
transmitter PY established their station in Manila.
After MacArthur’s forces
entered the Philippine national capital city, the PWI personnel established a
radio studio in the Soriano Building in downtown Manila, and the transmitter
was installed several miles out in the country.
In advance, the American army had selected a building for the PWI
transmitter, but it was soon discovered that the retreating Japanese had
destroyed it. Another building two miles
further out was chosen, and equipment was unloaded into it. However, due to Japanese infiltration, PWI
decided on a third location and this became the semi-permanent home for their
shortwave transmitter.
Press Wireless International PY in
Manila made its inaugural transmission to the United States on February 25,
1945. Three days later, station PZ in
Tacloban was closed, and soon afterwards it was
reinstalled with PY in Manila.
Then, during the following month March, PWI Manila took over the
transmission of news back to the United States that was previously sent from
the radio ship “Apache”.
On many occasions, PWI Manila was
heard by international radio monitors in the United States, New Zealand and
Australia. Callsigns were announced on
air and they ran in a series from PY1 to PY19, according to whichever frequency
was in use. The Manila station
communicated with the somewhat mysterious new PWI shortwave station that had
just been built on the edge of Los Angeles in California.
As with other PWI stations, Manila
sent out transmissions of news in high speed Morse Code as well as voiced
messages for retransmission over the American radio networks. As part of their identification announcement,
Press Wireless, PWI was often identified on air as PreWi (PREE-WHY).
Early in the new year 1946,
shortwave PWI in Manila was noted with occasional relays from the Armed Forces
Radio Station WXOI. This mediumwave
station WXOI was on the air under an apparently official American AFRS
callsign, though little else is known about
this entertainment radio broadcasting station.
Due to the fact that no other
shortwave communication station was on the air in Manila immediately after the
end of the war, the President of the Philippines, Sergio Osmena, issued an
Executive Order, granting approval for PWI Manila to transmit all forms of
radio information back to the United States, not only just media news
information for use on radio and in newspapers, but also business and personal
communications.
This Executive Order, No 104,
expired on June 24 (1946), after which PWI Manila quietly disappeared.
(AWR/Waescan-NWS 307)
