On May 26, 1942, the American operated Armed Forces Radio Service AFRS was formally established, and its first operational office was installed in the Taft Building at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood California. Among its many duties was the development of a worldwide network of medium wave broadcasting stations as a morale booster for American servicemen on duty in many widely separated countries. By the time World War 2 ended, there were more than one hundred of these AFRS radio broadcasting stations on the air, large and small.
Somewhat parallel with the development of the American AFRS stations was the development in Australia of a similar network of medium wave radio broadcasting stations for the benefit of Australian service personnel on duty in various Pacific Islands, and elsewhere. The first radio service for Australian armed personnel was established in the Middle East in 1940, with the broadcast of Australian programming in Egypt and Palestine.
During the year 1943, initial planning and construction began in Australia for a series of 21 mediumwave stations, fixed and mobile. The electrical and electronic equipment for eight of these transportable stations, each rated at 200 watts, was installed into three army trucks, together with antennas which when erected, were strung between two metal masts, each 100 ft high.
The callsigns for these eight transportable 200 watt mediumwave stations ranged from 9AB to 9AH, and also 9AT, and the callsign and the affiliation with AAAS, the Australian Army Amenities Service was nicely painted on the side of each truck. Before each radio station was shipped overseas, test broadcasts were conducted, mainly from Williamstown, a seaside suburb of Melbourne in Victoria and from the Rose Bay Golf Links in Sydney, New South Wales.
An additional thirteen of these mobile stations, each rated at 10 watts, operated with callsigns ranging from 9AI to 9AT, and also 9AV. All of the electronic equipment for each of these low powered stations was installed in just one army truck. Highly prized QSL cards were issued for the reception of these mobile and transportable stations.
In addition, the two fixed land stations, 5DR at Darwin in the Northern Territory and 9PA at Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea were considered originally to be part of the AAAS broadcast service.
The American AES-AFRS station WSSO-WVTI was earlier installed into a wooden Dallas Hut that arrived in Torokina on the island of Bougainville in kit form, and it was inaugurated on April 15, 1944. This station was closed on January 21, 1945, and it was subsequently reinstalled in Manila in the Philippines.
It was originally planned that the Australian transportable station 9AC would arrive in Torokina on Bougainville Island one month later, on February 23, though there was an unintended delay of three weeks. During the interval between the departure of the American WVTI and the arrival of the Australian 9AC, the Australian forces installed a temporary low power fill in station, which also identified on air as 9AC.
By mid year (1945), the new Radio Torokina (9AC) had been installed in the American Dallas Hut and it was already on the air with 200 watts on 1280 kHz. The Americans had left some of their electronic equipment in the Dallas Hut, including much of their library of music records.
Programming from 9AC was made up of locally produced “Stars in Uniform”, a general knowledge quiz, and the Hospital Request Hour, which featured music that was requested by recuperating servicemen. Many other programs over 9AC were on relay from the shortwave VOA stations in California, and also from Radio Australia in Melbourne. Three of the announcing staff at 9AC Torokina were previously on air with mediumwave stations in Melbourne: Maurice Callard 3DB, Eric Spence 3AK, and Brian Carlton 3XY.
Each of the Australian AAAS stations suffered from two major problems: Insufficient training and capability of the radio operators to diagnose and correct electronic problems, and the everlasting wet and moldy tropical weather patterns. In December 1945, the Australian radio magazine, Radio and Hobbies, reported that station 9AC Torokina was transmitting its radio programs at only 20% modulation.
However by that time, the Pacific War was already over, and the Australian troops began to move out and return home. The Australian radio station on Bougainville remained on the air until at least April (1946), and in August it was ordered to leave Torokina, and proceed to Lae in New Guinea, where it linked up with another AAAS station 9AB, which was also undergoing its own similar set of technical problems.
More from Bougainville another time.
(AWR/Wavescan-NWS 574)