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May 1941 Radio-Craft
 [Table
of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Craft,
published 1929 - 1953. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
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An incredibly glaring example of
the famous admonishment* that those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it,
Radio-Craft magazine editor Hugo Gernsback wrote in May of 1941, a full
half year before the United States of America officially entered World War II,
about how current conditions regarding domestic commercial radio broadcast stations
were likely being used by German agents to send coded messages to offshore vessels
(ships, submarines, and aircraft). In example, he cited, amazingly, an article he
himself published in 1915 in The Electrical Experimenter magazine accusing
Dr. K. G. Frank, of the German
Telefunken
company, of conducting spy operations from the Sayville, NY, station on Long Island.
A copy of the letters that were exchanged between Mr. Gernsback and Dr. Frank
were reprinted in this edition (see "Sayville Once More").
Spoiler alert in case you don't read the other article: Dr. Frank was eventually
arrested for his espionage activities and interred for the duration of WWI.
Dig this excerpt from the 1941 article, "The hot spot in the United States, at
the present time, is our southern border. Information can get across this border
easily." Here we go again with a flood of undocumented (aka "illegal") aliens crossing
our southern border with the encouragement of selfish, traitorous (IMHO) politicians.
Sooner or later, that invasion will finally be successful.
* Attributed to George Santayana in
Common Sense.
Radiobotage
 Eternal Vigilance must be our watchword against
radio subversion
By the Editor - Hugo Gernsback
It is a well-known fact that history tends to repeat itself in more ways than
one. Right now we find ourselves again in a similar position to that in 1915 when
we were not at war with Germany - yet German agents were active to the detriment
of the country then, as they are now.
Prior to World War I, .the then German Imperial Government had planted on these
shores a number of radio stations which ostensibly were for commercial purposes
only, but were later proven to be violating the laws of this country by committing
un-neutral acts against the United States.
The United States, at that time, took over the German wireless stations at Tuckerton
and Sayville, Long Island, to prevent un-neutral messages from being sent to Germany.
In an Editorial, entitled,
"Sayville,"
in my former magazine, The Electrical Experimenter, for August 1915, I
took pains to show how masked and disguised messages could be sent out, violating
our then neutrality. My reasoning was violently objected to by the head of the Sayville
wireless station, the well-known Dr. K. G. Frank. For the record, I reprint elsewhere
in this issue (*), the exchange of letters that took place at that time. The arguments
set forth by Dr. K. G. Frank are exactly those used by present-day German officials;
and the tone and attitude was the same in 1915, as it is in 1941. Dr. Frank was
later proven to be the active United States head of the German Information Bureau
(Secret Service) - now the Gestapo.
Through the vigilance of some self-appointed American investigators - old-time
wireless operators - who made phonograph records of the Sayville transmissions at
that time, the United States Government became convinced that the two stations were
used for illegal purposes and promptly took them over.
In those days there was no broadcasting. All traffic had to go out via dots and
dashes. The spoken word was not then broadcast. It should be noted that present
subversive activities of the Axis Powers are much more thorough, less crude and
infinitely more subtle. It is of paramount importance today that information regarding
much of our defense activity should not reach the Axis Powers; the more delay that
can be interposed to important news reaching the Axis, the better it will be for
our welfare. Information, if it is to be of use at all, must be transmitted with
reasonable speed. As far as the United States and its geographical position is concerned,
this can be accomplished nowadays only by means of cable, radio or telegraph. Technically,
this country at this writing is not at war with the Axis, yet our defense activities
are of terrific importance to the Axis partners. Eternal vigilance to keep information
from going out, either by radio, cable or telegraph, must be the watchword from
now on. Since the advent of radio broadcasting, conditions have changed and the
"radioboteur" - the Fifth Columnist - who is active, will use the utmost ingenuity
to get important information through. It should not take an Edgar Allan Poe to devise
effective schemes as to how our radio broadcast stations can be misused to transmit
such information, which on the surface looks innocent enough. It should always be
borne in mind that the United States, at the present time, is wide open and it is
comparatively easy to get vital information out of the country. To the North of
us the chances are slim, because Canada being at war, probably stops most subversive
intelligence. Our eastern and western coasts are not quite so safe, because radio
transmitters placed at isolated, points on our coasts can easily transmit short
wave radio messages to Europe, or Asia, with outfits that can be placed in automobiles
or trucks and moved about whenever necessary. That, of course, is the obvious thing,
hence, the smart "radioboteur" will not use it, except when no other avenue is open.
It is dangerous and will become more dangerous to foreign agents as, time goes on.
This will be made clearer below.
The hot spot in the United States, at the present time, is our southern border.
Information can get across this border easily. It can even be telephoned or telegraphed
to Mexico, thence cabled, or radioed, across the oceans if necessary. It is here
where our Government will have to be more than careful and more than watchful and
it will be a task of the first magnitude to prevent message; from leaking out in
this direction. While on the surface it looks hopeless, it is not quite as difficult
as it might appear, because there are several methods, which need not be discussed
here, to effectively' stop messages of this type.
There are other means whereby
Fifth Columnists,
and foreign agents, can disguise information in more subtle ways which are not immediately
apparent. There are a number .of foreign-language stations in this country, which
to the writer's mind, should, at the present time, not be allowed to broadcast in
such languages. I know I will be assailed vigorously on this point by those who
operate such stations, but I insist that while they might have a purpose in peace
times, they have no purpose at the present, dangerous period through which we are
passing.
You do not have to be a master of ingenuity to invent a number of simple and
easily arranged codes which can be sent out over these - and for that matter any
other broadcast station - by foreign agents who pose as entertainers. Popular songs,
even ordinary music, can be arranged in such a way as to convey certain meanings.
You have often witnessed the so-called "mind reading" performances where simple
words or questions are asked by one performer, while the "mind reader" immediately
tells you what object his partner has touched. Inflection of the voice, certain
word combinations, etc., all can, be made into effective codes. The same thing is
true of music, whether it is a piano or violin solo. It can be done so effectively
that even the owners of the station would not be aware of what is going on. What
good you say, are such masked codes? Of tremendous importance, for the simple reason
that a number of listeners can take down and decipher the code and then pass it
on by radio, or by other means, over the border and across the oceans. You might
say, "Why go to the trouble of doing all this?" "Why not use the cable or similar
methods?" The point is that it is more difficult to do it by cable, because certain
word combinations arouse suspicion, whereas radio broadcasts by voice, singing or
instrumental music appear harmless and the perpetrators run less chance of apprehension.
We note, therefore, with great satisfaction that our Government, through the
Federal Communications Commission, has set aside recently, ,$1,600,000 to aid in
national defense. Plans have been made for the establishment of listening posts
to record, .translate and analyze foreign shortwave broadcasts in this country.
While records have been made before of foreign shortwave broadcasts for various
Government agencies - Departments of State, Agriculture and Justice - the Government
never had undertaken any study of them on a large scale. Now, for this purpose,
the field service is adding about 40 trained men to its staffs at the stations from
which the work will be carried on. These men, with the cooperation of the existing
staffs, will now conduct a 24-hour watch to find and record programs which might
be of interest. The records will be sent to Washington, where the headquarters and
main staff of the new division will be located. Here a force of more than 300 technicians,
translators, clerks, propaganda analysts and other experts will translate them into
English, and study them to determine their importance.
Up to the present time, various studies have been made chiefly by private propaganda-analysts
and patriotic organizations; and broadcasters as well as private investigation groups
will be asked to cooperate. The Commission plans to supervise radio broadcasts more
carefully in order to tighten control. Thus, for instance, additional men are working
on monitor, or listening stations which have been tracking down an increasing number
of illegal stations. The Federal Communications Commission has already a number
of mobile radio listening posts and their number will be greatly increased in the
near future.
But, what is needed desperately right now is actual recordings of every United
States station of every broadcast emitted. This in itself is an enormous undertaking,
as can readily be imagined, but in view of what I have said above, it will be found
necessary, without a doubt. While the danger of "radiobotage" is not so great from
network programs - due to the fact that these usually are rehearsed and would, consequently,
be stale by the time they are actually broadcast-it is the smaller broadcast stations
which are dangerous at this moment. They are chiefly dangerous because subversive
activity may go on, and no doubt has gone on already, without the knowledge of the
owners of the stations. The quicker we close this, now wide-open door, the more
effective our Defense efforts will become.
Posted June 11, 2024
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