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Some more information about KSAI and AFRS radio in
the Pacific from the Radio Heritage Collection at www.radiodx.com:
With the fall of Saipan, the first broadcaster on
the scene was aboard the former US Revenue Cutter 'Apache', fitted out in
Sydney, Australia some months earlier as a floating communications station for
the allied press.
It relayed SW programs from KRHO (Maiili, Hawaii)
as did the USN ship 'Phoenix' which soon arrived, followed again by Spindleye.
The landbased 50kW operation on 1010kc was on air almost immediately, with
initial rebroadcasts of KRHO.
These were being ID'd in early March 1945 as 'Armed
Forces Radio Service, this is the Voice of America broadcasting from Saipan'. At
this time, the station was serving both US forces as an AFRS outlet, and
broadcasting to Japanese forces as KRHO which was operated by the OWI (Office of
War Information).
The AFRS quickly established WXLD (660kc with 1kW)
on Saipan, and the OWI station began fulltime propaganda broadcasts with the
locally inserted ID 'KSAI" for the first time.
As well as broadcasting on the 1010 channel, KSAI
was also heard on 800, 850, 860, 960, 1000, 1080 and 1090 as it tried to avoid
Japanese jamming.
The Radio Heritage Collection has a number of
articles about Pacific radio at this time, such as Wartime Radio in the
Pacific and Asia, AFRS Around the World, Mosquito Network, Jungle Network,
Pacific Ocean Network and many others.
Coming soon is AFRS and Australian Forces Radio
in the Pacific and Asia listing all stations on air in late 1945 from
Alaska to India, including China and the Pacific islands.
The Radio Heritage Collection is a volunteer
project in partnership with the New Zealand Radio DX League, primarily using the
resources of the NZRDXL Archives held at the Hocken Library, Otago University in
Dunedin, New Zealand, and the collection of Dr Adrian Peterson (AWR
Indianapolis).
Please visit www.radiodx.com at any time to consult this
on-line historical resource. We have a large number of research projects
currently underway, and visitor comments and materials are invited. We welcome
visitor queries and will answer them as best we can as volunteers.
David Ricquish
Radio Heritage Collection
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