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Australian Radio History

Support Radio Heritage Foundation and Radio Yesteryear 97.3 FM by buying this brand new book ‘Australian Radio History’:
Australian Radio History

*We recommend the limited edition book ‘Australian Radio History’ compiled by Bruce Carty for the incredible story of 600 AM radio station call signs and much more about Australia’s radio history right up to 2011.

*Beautifully illustrated with many colorful station logos, and featuring popular Australian Music Charts compiled from the 1920’s to 1979.

*Radio trivia collector’s heaven with a wealth of detail that goes behind the scenes of hundreds of radio stations, personalities and events.

*Each copy is personally signed by Bruce, who at 13 was Australia’s youngest DJ on Radio 2KA Katoomba, and proceeds of each sale are shared between the Radio Heritage Foundation and Radio Yesteryear 97.3 FM www.radioyesteryear.org.au covering Lake Macquarie NSW.

*The price includes shipping anywhere in Australia and airmail around the world for just $A60/$US60. Thanks for supporting these two radio heritage projects.

*Use the PayPal Donate buttons to order your copy now.

$A60 shipped within Australia

$US60 airmail around the world

Feature Station 2YD Wellington Ambush

In 1937, the move from private radio to state regulated radio in New Zealand was gathering pace with the creation of a National Commercial Broadcasting Service now competing directly with the National Broadcasting Service.

The latter indulged in a well planned ambush of the opening of 2ZB [NCBS] on April 28 1937 by bringing 2YD on the air three days earlier – it was commercial in everything except commercials.

It even caught the radio press by surprise, and this is how the ‘Radio Record’ weekly reported the arrival of 2YD on 990kc the following week:

NZ 1937 2YD On Air

© Radio Record, Radio Heritage Foundation Digital Collection

Resourceful listeners were monitoring the dial however, and one was enterprising enough to secure a written confirmation of the first day of broadcast of 2YD...

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2ZB Wellington 75 Years
Early Personalities

NZ 1937 2ZB on Way

© NZ Radio Record, Radio Heritage Foundation Digital Collection

On April 28 1937, radio station 2ZB of the National Commercial Broadcasting Service began broadcasting to Wellington from atop Mt Victoria, overlooking New Zealand’s capital city. The studios were located in the Hope Gibbons Building on Dixon Street. The frequency was 1120kc on the medium wave dial...

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Art of Amateur Radio Japan
The Quartz Hill Collection

7K2BLP Moriyuki Furuya, Yokohama

7K2BLP Moriyuki Furuya, Yokohama

Quartz Hill Amateur Radio Station ZL6QH was based at an old short wave receiving station located about 30 minutes drive from central Wellington, New Zealand.

With a wide variety of aerials stretching across the hills of an exposed farm site overlooking the wild seas of Cook Strait, the site offered amateur radio operators a unique operations platform and a ZL contact eagerly sought after by thousands of amateurs around the world.

Thousands of the QSL cards received from these stations over the years have been preserved, and we're pleased to continue a new series featuring some of these cards.

Many amateur radio operators include entertaining art work on their personal QSL cards, and here are some of the cartoon style characters featuring on a selection of such cards from Japan.

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Amateur QSL Gallery
ZL2ADN Collection Radio Shacks

UA3VSX Igor A Blokhin, Vladimir, Russia

UA3VSX Igor A Blokhin, Vladimir, Russia

In the first of this new series, amateur radio stations from around the world that have worked ZL2ADN Palmerston North, New Zealand, are featured.

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Australian Radio 1922-2012
Amateur Radio DJs lead the way...

It’s around 90 years ago that the first Australian radio stations began broadcasting to a few enthusiastic early adopters of the new technology called wireless, and this is the kind of music that was popular at the time.

Australian Radio History

Australian Radio History

Hello, I'm David Ricquish in the Wellington studios of Radio New Zealand International and that was Louise Homfrey with her hit from 1927, "There's a Trick in Pickin' A Chick Chick Chicken". Louise was born in New Zealand and actually christened with the name Hinemoa... and started broadcasting in 1926 from Sydney radio station 2BL [which at that time was owned by Sydney Broadcasters Limited].

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Listening with Lizzie
British Commonwealth on the Air 1952-53
Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee
Queen Elizabeth II 1952-2012

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II broadcasting to the British Commonwealth from the New Zealand Broadcasting Service in Auckland, Christmas 1953

Princess Elizabeth was on holiday visiting Kenya in central Africa when news broke that her father, King George VI had died, and she assumed the throne on February 6 1952. Her coronation as Queen Elizabeth II took place the following year, 1953.

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ZL6RWC Rugby World Cup Radio

Counting Down to 100 Years of Popular Kiwi Radio 1921-2021

Apex Rental Cars logo Pub Charity logo

Kiwi Radio Campaign Sponsor
Apex Rental Cars
New Zealand

Kiwi Radio Campaign Sponsor
Pub Charity
Community Funding


Calling all radio/rugby fans

MELISSA KINEALY

Papakura Radio Club members will be making contact with people from all around the world during the Rugby World Cup.

But they won't be meeting them face-to-face. Instead they'll be using a special call sign – ZL6RWC – from September 1 to October 31.

David Karrasch

RADIO SOUNDS: Papakura amateur radio club member David Karrasch can't wait to use the club's special world cup call sign. Photo: FIONA GOODALL

Longtime member David Karrasch is hoping they'll make contact with more than 40,000 people in that time.

"We expect to have it on air on two or three bands every day. It will be swamped."

He applied to the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters for a call sign especially for the Rugby World Cup. The club's usual callsign is ZL1VK.

But club members won't be having lengthy banter with contacts. Most communication is just an exchange of call signs, he says.

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4IP Ipswich
'Your Local Station for Better Entertainment'

Station 4IP is owned and operated by the Ipswich Broadcasting Company Pty. Ltd. This up-to-date broadcaster was officially opened in September, 1935, and since its inception has provided high-class programmes for listeners in Ipswich and surrounding districts.

4IP listener card

4IP listener card © Cleve Costello Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation

The transmitter operates on a frequency of 1440 Kc’s with an aerial power of 200 watts. Programmes are radiated daily from 6.30 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. Broadcasting activities are handled by a competent staff, many with years of engineering, executive and writing experience, and all with good educational backgrounds.

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2QN Deniliquin
'The Riverina Station'

2QN is situated in the heart of the fertile and wealthy Riverina district of N.S.W. Its signal is heard far afield where the popularity of its programmes is reflected in the large mail which flows into the station every day.

John Pearce, 2QN

John Pearce, 2QN

Popularity of the station has been due in no small manner, to the new manager - chief announcer JOHN PEARCE who, just discharged from the R.A.A.F. took up duties with 2QN in August 1945. John has a personal touch which ensures him a large audience and makes his sessions popular. With several years of radio experience, he joined the R.A.A.F. and served as a Pilot. In that Service, he always seemed to be organising something - stage shows, broadcasts and even, we believe, smoke parties. He is an expert musician, and once led to the piano is hard to dislodge even with the largest missiles. While John was in Canada with the Air Force, he was the first and only Australian to compere “Command Performance,” from C.F.A.C., Calgary, Alta.

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2MW Murwillumbah
'The Voice of the Far North Coast'

2MW, owned and operated by the Tweed Radio & Broadcasting Coy. Pty. Ltd., has come a long way since the pre-war days of 37, 38 and 39.

2MW listener card c1950

2MW Murwillumbah sent this card to a New Zealand listener around 1949 © Cleve Costello Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation

Owing allegiance to no network, 2MW takes pride in being an independent unit in one of the richest districts in Australia...

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3BA Ballarat
'The Voice of the Garden City'

Original 3BA Ballarat logo

The original 3BA Ballarat logo as seen on this letterhead detail from 1935 © Eric Shackle Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation

3BA BALLARAT ”Built on Gold”

Since commencing operations in July 1930, “The Voice of the Garden City” - 3BA Ballarat - has progressed in every phase of broadcasting. Itself a city of over 40,000 inhabitants and over 400 factories, Ballarat is Victoria’s most productive and thickly populated area outside Melbourne. 3BA services 19 per cent. of the population of Victoria other than Melbourne, and a district producing 29 per cent. of the State’s wealth in 8 main primary products...

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2KM Kempsey
'The Voice of the Macleay'

2KM QSL card 1944

2KM "The Macleay River Station' sent this card to a listener in 1944
© Keith Robinson Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation

This station is operated by Radio Kempsey Limited, Head Office, Hosking House, Hosking Place, Sydney. The Studio and Transmitter are at 61 Belgrave Street, Kempsey; Licensed and operating power, 500 watts; wavelength, 306 metres; Frequency 980 Kilocycles...

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VU2ZP Yank Radio... Bangalore: The Brochure

VU2ZP Brochure Page 1

This is the Army! On 20th January 1945, Colonel Melville C. Robinson, then commanding officer of Southern India Air Depot, conceived the idea of installing a radio station at this base. In the Army, thoughts - at least, the thoughts of a commanding officer - quickly lead to action. The wireless hummed with an exchange of messages while technicians and experts converged on Bangalore and planes transported equipment. Then, on the twenty-ninth of January, for the first time over the air were heard the words “This is Radio Station VU2ZP in Bangalore beginning its regular schedule of daily broadcast…” These words were spoken by Burt Urdank, the station’s first announcer, until that instant a motor pool dispatcher. And so was a radio station born. The initial staff consisted of three men: the base adjutant, Lt. Richard Gajewski ; Urdank ; and a former personnel clerk, Art Tracy. But like Topsy, the staff “just growed” until, in November, nine men were engaged in the turning of dials, repairing of equipment, writing of scripts, programming, newscasting, announcing - all dedicated to the improvement, of our precocious war baby...

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This is Station WLKT Miho

In 1946, British announcer Peter Knowlden introduced radio programs to British Commonwealth Occupation Forces at Miho Airfield in Japan with the words ‘This is Station WLKT Miho operating on 14-40 kilocycles and 2-oh-8 metres’ and played Eric Coates’ “London Again” suite as his nightly signature tune.

His audience included Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Indian Air Force personnel, and he broadcast from a mobile radio station that was originally built in Melbourne, Australia for the AAAS – Australian Army Amenities Service – and had been allocated the call sign 9AM.

WLKT mobile truck studio

WLKT broadcast from a mobile truck studio, like this one which later became the key AAAS station WLKS in Kure
© Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs, State Library of Victoria

Peter says “I have no idea how that truck got to Miho, the roads were awful, but the railway line was excellent, so maybe it came that way.”

How did a British serviceman become the DJ on an Australian controlled radio station with an American call sign operating in Japan?...

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97FM Radio Warms Listeners at Scott Base, Ross Dependency

"97FM keeps us entertained at work and in the bar in the evenings" reports a winter staff member at the New Zealand Antarctic base writing on a recent blog for the UK Natural History Museum.

DJ Johnny 5 at 97FM Scott Base

DJ Johnny 5 at 97FM Scott Base
© UK Natural History Museum



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Early Chinese Radio in Peking

RADIO STATIONS IN PEKING, 1932 TO 1939

Melvin Bok was born in China in 1912 and lived in Peking.

Melvin developed an interest in radio from an early age. When he was only thirteen, he left school for a year to join a company run by an American in Peking named Warren E. Stimson. Stimson was an agent for the Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company and also imported Crossly radios. Another role Stimson undertook was as a news agent listening to broadcasts in Morse code from the US using long-wave, there being no short-wave technology at the time. After the year was up, Melvin, who had by then learned Morse code, returned to school and started to make various ‘radio gadgets’, as he puts it, in his free time.

Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company issued these original stock shares

Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company issued these original stock shares

On completing his schooling in 1932, Melvin joined the AIU insurance group in Peking. Melvin admits that he was less than enthusiastic about working as an insurance agent but he at least developed some useful contacts. He continued to expand his knowledge of radios and, soon after joining the company, built his first short-wave transceiver and became an avid radio ‘ham’.

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Chinese Local Radio in the 1930s

The Orient opens its heart to radio and in the footsteps of the American listening public, succumbs to the appeal of native amateur hour artists.

by Robert H. Berkov

Miss PeLung, youthful star at radio station XHHS, Shanghai

Miss PeLung, youthful star at radio station XHHS, Shanghai. Although slow to accept radio as a popular pastime, China now is making rapid strides in that direction.

AGE-OLD China, shaking loose from centuries of tradition, has taken the radio to its heart, and loud speaker entertainment has become one of the most important influences in a nation which is fast adopting the modernism of the west in even the most outlying sections.

From bustling Shanghai and fast-growing Nanking near the eastern coast, to Chengtu in remote Szechuan province, from the far reaches of Hopei province in the north to Yunnan in the extreme southwest, countless receivers blare forth a cacophony of western and Chinese music, announcements, speeches. Out of the ether to hundreds of middle schools come the lessons and exhortations of mass-education broadcasts. In shops and homes are heard, in rapid succession, the traditional story-tellers of old Cathay and the swing music of American jazz bands from the swank hotels and cabarets of Shanghai. And once a month, to crowds reminiscent of World Series listeners in America come the stentorian voices of announcers reciting the lucky numbers of the National Lottery.

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3GL Geelong
The Geelong Advertiser Station

The Old Established 3GL

3GL is owned and operated by the Geelong Advertiser, Victoria’s oldest morning journal, founded by John Pascoe Faulkner in 1840.

3GL QSL card 1949

3GL issued this plain bold QSL to confirm reception in 1949 © Cleve Costello Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation

3GL commenced operations in November, 1931, being the second country station established in Victoria. It is now in its fifteenth year of operation. The power is 500 watts, its frequency 1350K.C. (222 metres). It gives continuous service - Monday to Saturday from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and on Sunday 8 a.m. to 10.15 p.m.

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2KA Katoomba
The Voice of the Mountains

Station 2KA first went on the air on September 7th, 1935 with studios and transmitter at Medlow Bath. Early in 1937 the studios were established in the main street of Katoomba.

The present transmitter with its giant twin steel towers, the tops of which are over 3,000 feet above sea level, was erected in 1938. The transmitter, which is capable of putting 2,000 watts into the aerial, was built for 2KA by Amalgamated Wireless. The station was granted an increase to its present aerial power of 1,000 watts in June, 1938, and since that time excellent response has been received from most parts of the State. Mail arrives regularly from listeners outside the 50 mile radius.

2KA listener confirmation 1944

2KA issued this listener confirmation in 1944 © Keith Robinson Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation



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2GF Grafton
The Voice of the Clarence

2GF

Station 2GF commenced operations on December 15th, 1937. It transmits on a Wave Length of 248 Metres (1210 K.C.’s). 2GF has made continual progress, and all of the best Shows are heard from this Station, either on Relay or Transcription. The Station takes a very active part in local affairs and renders many services to the community. It is situated in one of the wealthiest areas of the North Coast of New South Wales, and has become an integral part of the community life in Grafton and District.

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VU2ZS Misamari, Assam, India 1944

Misamari Air Force Base with airfield tower, 1944

Misamari Air Force Base with airfield tower, 1944 © Walt Newman at www.thebicyclingguitarist.net

Station VU2ZS Going Places - 3 Watts to 50

Sgt. Fishman of 1327 BU Hopes for All-India Coverage

1327 BU, ASSAM - A 50-watt transmitter can’t quite compare with NBC or CBS but it is definitely better than none.

Anyway, that’s the opinion of the founder and program director of radio station VU2ZS, Sgt. Lawrence J. Fishman, and his listeners. And, if ambition is any indication of the future, the present 20-mile radius of the station someday will grow to an India-wide coverage.

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VU2ZP Southern India Air Depot, Bangalore

VU2ZP Business Card

VU2ZP Bangalore staff used this business card in 1945 © Arthur J Tracy Collection

VU2ZP AT BANGALORE QUITS I-B AIRWAVES

By SGT. CHARLES KELLOGG Roundup Assistant Editor

Late in the evening of December 9, a khaki-clad GI leaned close to a microphone in what had once been an unused warehouse on the giant Southern India Air Depot of the USAAF in Bangalore and said simply: “This is VU2ZP, your Armed Forces radio station, signing off the air for the last time.”

With those words there came to an end broadcasting activities which started on January 29, only nine days after Col. Melville C. Robinson, the commanding officer of Southern India Air Depot, made known to AFR the need for a radio station at the sprawling air base, located in the south central part of India.

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This is Radio Station VU2ZP in Bangalore

On JANUARY 20, 1945, Colonel Melville C. Robinson, then commanding officer of the Southern India Air Depot at Bangalore, conceived the idea of installing a radio station at that base. The wireless hummed with an exchange of messages while technicians and experts converged on Bangalore and planes transported equipment.

Then on January 29th, for the first time over the air were heard the words, “This is Radio Station VU2ZP in Bangalore beginning its regular schedule of daily broadcasts...”. These words were spoken by Burt Urdank, the station’s first announcer, until that instant a motor pool dispatcher. And so a radio station was born.

Tower of VU2ZP Bangalore

The broadcast tower of VU2ZP Bangalore, India
© Arthur J Tracy Collection

The initial staff consisted of three men: the base adjutant, Lt. Richard Gajewski; Urdank; and a former personnel clerk, Art Tracy. But like Topsy, the staff “just growed” until in November nine men were engaged in the turning of dials, repairing of equipment, writing of scripts, programming, newscast-ing announcing - all dedicated to the improvement of the precocious war baby.

 > read more

AFRS The India-Burma Network

Commercial Radio Plug Featured Even On Armed Forces Stations

By SGT. ART HEENAN Roundup Staff Writer

Radio executive and advertising agencies need have few worries that when the millions of overseas servicemen return home they will disgustedly turn off commercial plugs, with the comment that they have grown used to hearing the best of programs without having to listen to an announcer tell of the benefits of Nine Star Headache tablets.

At least that is the opinion of Theater Radio Officer Lt. Robert F. Black, who heads the India-Burma network of the U.S. Armed Forces Radio stations.

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AFRS 'Wings Over The Orient'
WOTO Bhamo, Burma

Armed Forces’ Radio Stations Bring American Programs To I-B

Doing Great Morale Job

Roundup Staff Article

BHAMO - Our G.I. radio stations in this Theater are doing an exceedingly professional job. In Delhi, Calcutta, Kandy, Bangalore, Ramgarh, Agra, Ledo, Shingbwiyang, Tezpur, Jorhat, Gaya, Chabua, Karachi, Myitkyina and Bhamo, American air waves are carrying American programs to American troops.

According to broadcasting experts with whom I have talked, at least three of these stations could prosper in the States as commercial enterprises on the basis of their entertainment value. One of them is our most forward station, WOTO, in the heart of North Burma.

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AFRS Along the Ledo Road

AFRS OUTLETS GO SILENT ALONG ‘ROAD’

By SGT. GEORGE GINGELL

The great pulse of the Ledo Road has slowed down. The thousands of men and machines that manned the incredible supply line to China have gone. The pipeline is no more and the jungle is fast creeping in along the way that once swarmed with platoons, companies and battalions of Service Troops. Among the landmarks to disappear in the wake of departing men were the Armed Forces Radio Stations.

Part of the staff which once operated VU2ZN at Ledo

This is part of the staff which once operated VU2ZN at Ledo. Left to right are S/Sgt. George Gingell, Lt. L. M. George and T/3 Walter Flint, all three now at VU2ZY in New Delhi, and S/Sgt, Rob Spiros, now en route to the U.S

Since 1944, troops along the road had been provided with Stateside radio entertainment by a chain of broadcasting stations known as the India-Burma Network. Men in Chabua, Shinghwiyang, Myitkyina, Ledo and Bhamo were entertained from early morning until late night by the finest radio programs in the world.

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