[CW] Don Wallace, W6AM (b. 1898- d. 1985)

[D.J.J. Ring, Jr.]

*Press Wireless History
<https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Prewi_company_history.htm>*

*ARCHIVE.ORG <http://ARCHIVE.ORG> LINK: *
https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Prewi_company_history.htm

*Press Wireless History*
Founding

In 1920, dissatisfied with the cost and timeliness of news transmission by
international telecommunications companies a group of publishers formed the
American Publisher's Committee on Cable and Radio Communications (APC), and
after a year's work, the group decided to go into the communications
business themselves.  Their first operation was a dedicated radio link from
London, England to Halifax, Nova Scotia, using long-wave equipment provided
by the British Post Office, left over from WWI.  Halifax was chosen not
only because of its excellent location for radio reception from England,
but also because large communications companies prevented APC from
purchasing equipment in the US.  Messages received at Halifax were
transmitted by telegraph to US addresses, entailing delay and extra cost.
APC began discussions with the Federal Radio Commission (FRC, later the
FCC) for use of "transoceanic" frequencies (above 6 Mc), and on May 24,
1928, the FRC allocated 20 frequencies to various press interests.
Arguments amongst the various press companies about frequency allocation
led the FRC to order the companies to form a public utility for the purpose.

Press Wireless Corp was founded in 1929 to serve this purpose, capitalized
at $1M.  The companies that initially owned stock in Press Wireless included
- The Chicago Daily News
- The Tribune Company
- Christian Science Publishing Co.
- Times Mirror Co.
- Chronicle Publishing Co.
- New York Times Co.
- New York Tribune, Inc.
- United Press Assoc.
- North American Newspaper Alliance
- King Features Syndicate
- Associated Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Rocky Mount (NC) News

with no one company allowed to own more than 20% of Press Wireless'
shares.  Further wrangling with newspaper companies not original part of
Press Wireless complicated operations until February 1931, when the FRC
clarified the rules under which the company was to operate.
Pre-War Years

PreWi's first station WJK was built in Needham, Mass in 1930, and was used
to communicate with the existing Halifax station.  Long-wave receiving
facilites were set up at WJK to intercept transmissions from London.  When
a message was received at WJK, Halifax was notified, to avoid duplication,
saving telegraph charges, and speeding up traffic delivery to US addresses.

>From this point PreWi expanded its facilities, constructing a transmitting
station on a 185 acre site at Hicksville and a receiving site at Little
Neck, Long Island in 1930 (the Little Neck "control station" shown in the
photo below).

[image: hicksville_control_station.jpg (725999 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/hicksville_control_station.jpg>

The receiving station at Little Neck contained up to a dozen or more
operating positions, and this facility was in constant use through the
1940's. The transmitting site opened for full service in 1932. By 1933 the
company  had as many as five callsigns, all beginning with "WJ" (WJO, WJP,
WJQ, WJS, and WJU).  At the time, each frequency was allotted a different
callsign, regardless of which transmitting equipment was in use. Oddly one
of the shortwave stations at Hicksville had the four-letter callsign
"WRDK", presumably because PreWi management had in mind becoming a
broadcaster, and indeed that proved to be the case.

The Hicksville transmitters were originally rated at 10KW, but later
transmitters operated at lower power, some 5KW and one 500W rig.  At least
one 40KW transmitter was in operation during WWII, manufactured by Press
Wireless itself.  A Time Magazine article stated that there was a 100KW
transmitter in operation by 1939 at the facility.

Stations were built in San Francisco and Honolulu in 1932.  PreWi's
stations often used vacuum tubes imported from foreign countries to
circumvent US patent restrictions.  The Honolulu station used callsign KDG,
and the Honolulu/San Francisco link used  frequencies 7340, 7355, 7370,
7820, 7835, 7955, 15610, 15640, 15670, 15730, 15760, 15880 and 15910 Kc.

At about the same time, PreWi negotiated an unprecedented lease agreement
with the French Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs for transmitters and
receivers located in Paris.  The agreement allowed PreWi to conduct
operations from a newly opened Paris office.  Many American newspapers
began to use the Paris-to-NY service provided by PreWi, centralizing their
dispatches from Paris.

The company's network began to circle the globe (see map below), and
customers included Associated Press, Agence France Press, Reuters
(Britain), ANSA (Italy), DPA (Germany) and others.

[image: world_map.jpg (365596 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/world_map.jpg>

As the company grew, it assembled a expert engineering and production staff
and began building equipment itself.  Many of the new PreWi engineers were
radio amateurs, including Ray de Pasquale, who became the company's
Director of Manufacturing in the late 30's.  PreWi was often the first to
develop and put into service improved communications technology, and this
included FSK for both RTTY and Facsimile (PreWi's FSK design were featured
in a Nov 1944 Electronics Magazine article "Frequency-Shift Radiotelegraph
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/fsk-Electronics-1944-11.pdf>")
.  PreWi also pioneered frequency multiplexing for RTTY with its "Duo-Plex"
system.

By the late 30's the company was manufacturing its own HF transmitters with
power output up to 50KW, and it also built receivers including the PW Model
C (fixed frequency receiver) that provided reception for the company's
multi-point press-casts and photo-casts by various new agencies.

Service during this time period covered 62 countries and carried 450
million words of text, 36,000 fax photos, and 83,000 minutes of voice
programming per year.  It operated 47 HF transmitters at its Centereach,
Long Island facility and 10 at Belmont, CA.  The 500-acre transmitting
antenna farm at Centereach supported over 70 antennas of various types,
both omni-directional and directional.  The Long Island and California
facilities pioneered and operated a large array of diversity receiving
equipment.

Press Wireless' global network for the first time provided nearly instant
news delivery via newspapers, broadcast stations, and bulletin boards.
Although primarily a news dissemination and broadcasting organization,
PreWi also provided communications between ground and trans-Atlantic
passenger aircraft including all ground facilities for Aeronautical Radio,
Inc, which served airlines entering and leaving the US.  The company also
won a competitive bidding process to transmit US Weather Bureau
meteorological facsimile maps from Washington DC to European and Pacific
destinations.  PreWi provided duplex radio teletype service for the United
Nations between New York, Geneva, and Leopoldville.  The State Department
also depended on PreWi's teleprinter service to Montevideo, Uruguay, which
provided 97% up-time, the highest rate of service of any the State
Department operated around the world.

PreWi's California transmitting and receiving facilities provided a unique
service to Japan and China, accommodating the two ideographic languages
using facsimile service, since at the time, teleprinters could not support
these languages.

PreWi substantially improved communications between Moscow and New York,
often adversely affected by propagation problems across the North Pole.
The company developed alternate routes that made use of automated
repeaters, one via its Montevideo station and the other via California and
a Soviet station in Khabarovsk, Siberia.  At the time, these were the only
circuits of their kind.

PreWi was the first company to offer multiple-address or
multiple-destination transmission of news, referred to by the FCC as
"scheduled transmission service".  By the 40's, the company had 700-800
customer accounts, not including 250 multiple-address subscribers.
Broadcasting

In addition to press message traffic, PreWi entered the broadcasting
business in the 1930s, using transmitters located at Hicksville, Long
Island. Initial broadcast transmissions were made in 1935 using the
callsign W2XGB, using a 500W transmitter, though subsequently, broadast
transmitters of 1KW and 5KW were used.  Often PreWi's broadcasts were
relays of programming from WOR, a 50KW station in New York.

QSL's from Press Wireless indicated callsign W2XGB by the late 30's,
stating a 5KW power level.  Station W2XDH was initially rated at 1KW, but
made use of a 10KW station beginning in December 1940.  PreWi was quite
happy to acknowledge SWL signal reports, as shown below.  This report, from
a listener in nearby New York City, cannot have had much value to the
company, but politely answered in any case!
[image: prewi_signal_report_1938.jpg (601762 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/prewi_signal_report_1938.jpg>

Original signal report from Louis Ragazzini.
[image: prewi_signal_report_qsl.jpg (428156 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/prewi_signal_report_qsl.jpg>

Hicksville transmitters were sometimes used in the pre-war years for relays
of special radio program broadcasts to Europe, the Caribbean, and South
America, usually in English and Spanish, and these were typically taken
from regular NBC broadcasts.

In a particularly odd experiment, and in cooperation with WOR, an attempt
was made to communicate with the planet Mars.  A 100KW shortwave
transmitter at Hicksville was beamed skyward in August 1939.  Evidently no
reply was heard.

In 1942, a Hicksville shortwave station operating as WCW began test
broadcasts relayed from the Mutual Radio Network, this in anticipation of
regular relays for the Voice of America.  These regular VOA relays began in
April 1942, and many broadcasts in many languages were transmitted to
Africa, Europe, Latin American and the Pacific during the  next 3 years.
These relays were intended for direct broadcast to listeners.  The
broadcasts, and sometime news reports, were intended for American armed
forces as well.

Starting in March 1943, VOA relays from PreWi Hicksville were identified
on-air with regular 4-letter callsigns, just like regular broadcast-band
stations in the US.  The known callsigns included WKCS, WKLJ, WKRB, WRKD,
WKRI, WKRO, WRKX, WKTM, WKTS, WLIO.  These stations were evidently intended
for program service to particular areas, though not to specific
transmitters, nor to particular shortwave frequencies.  At the same time,
the usual 3-letter callsigns were still in use for PreWi's various types of
transmissions, including broadcasts.

VOA and Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) broadcasts ended late in 1944.
And, 13 years later, the history Hicksville station was closed, and a new
station opened at Centereach.  During the 30's, PreWi's Hicksville station
issued a few QSL cards that included a photo of their transmitter building,
and listing the callsigns W2XGB and W2XDH.  No QSL's were issued from the
3-letter callsigns.
World War II Years

As the war approached, Press Wireless was the only American communications
carrier operating in France during the summer of 1940.  As the Germans
crossed the border into France, PreWi, by previous arrangement with the
French government, moved their operations to Bordeaux, then to Tours,
providing the only communications between France and the US and England.
During this period, PreWi not only handled their usual press traffic but
also carried government and banking messages.  On July 13, 1940, the
company established a Vishy station.

PreWi's station in Shanghai continued operation even as the Japanese were
invading the city in August 1937, and they continued operation until
discovered by the Japanese Army.  It is said that as the Japanese came in
the front door, the radiomen went out the back door!

Censorship was clearly going to be a problem for the company as they
reported on the war effort.  Well in advance of the US entering WWII, the
company was already discussing the issue with the government.  The photo
and caption below became a newspaper story in March 1940.  Joseph Pierson
was the General Manager for PreWi at the time.  A face that would frighten
children...
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/j_pierson_photo_3_27_40.jpg>
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/j_pierson_caption_3_27_40.jpg>

After the US entered the war, press reports from the various fronts were
handled in a way dictated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the FCC, and the
Board of War Communications.  PreWi got a bit of a 'raw deal' when it was
barred from North Africa and later from Italy.  Mackay Radio Corp received
exclusive rights in North Africa and RCA in Italy, as the Joint Chiefs
stated that each new circuit into the war zones be limited to one carrier.
The FCC denied several applications by PreWi to operate at various points
in the war zones, including Algiers, Oran, and Tunis.

To deal with this situation, the company filed a petition to the FCC on
July 28, 1943 to modify its license to expand its authority from fixed
public press service to fixed public service.  Other communications
companies objected, stating the PreWi was attempting to become a general
communications company.  PreWi amended its application to request fixed
public service only on circuits restricted to one American carrier because
of war considerations, and only during the time when the one-carrier
restriction applied.  The FCC granted the petition.  By 1944, for example,
Press Wireless was operating from Palermo Sicily.  See The Palermo Lyre
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/prewi_dispatch.pdf>
for
an example of a dispatch from that station.  At this point the FCC finally
designated Press Wireless along with Mackay to handle the copy of war
correspondents during the upcoming Normandy invasion.

During the war years, Press Wireless greatly expanded its manufacturing
capability, producing radio transmitters and other gear both for itself and
for the US military.  The Secretary of War conferred the Army-Navy
Production "E" Award three times on the company for outstanding achievement
in producing communications equipment for the war effort.  War-time ads
from PreWi touted the company's defense efforts (in this case the 40kW
transmitter (center) and the AN/FRR-3 and -3A diversity receivers (right))
and quite justifiably mentioned the prestigious "E" awards.

<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/E-award.jpg>
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/transmitters_radionews_2_44.jpg>

<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/div_rcvrs_electronics_5_44.jpg>
Press Wireless manufacturing personnel photographed upon presentation of
the "E" award.  The photo is from Ray de Pasquale's personal collection. Ad
from Radio News, Feb 1944 Ad from Electronics Magazine, May 1944

War correspondents assigned to the Normandy Invasion were greatly surprised
just a week after the beginning of the invasion, June 13, 1944, when they
discovered that they could communicate directly with their home offices
back in the US.  A portable radio station had been shipped by Press
Wireless from New York to England, and from there the station was loaded
onto an LST, beached at Normandy, and installed on the Allied lines on June
6, 1944.  (It appears that PreWi shipped several stations from Long Island
to Europe--at least one of them is still sitting on the bottom of the
Atlantic off Long Island, the victim of a German U-boat).  The station was
initially located in a horse pasture near the Normandy shore.  3,000 miles
away radio operators at Baldwin, Long Island began searching for signals
from the newly-established station.  Press Wireless representatives in
Washington and London had been trying for months to get a frequency
assignment, but the delays were endless.

These difficulties did not slow down Myron Earl, who was in charge of the
Normandy station.  With copy flooding in from war correspondents, Earl
decided it would be better to get onto the beach and worry about
frequencies later.  As traffic increased, he decided to use a frequency
already authorized for PreWi's San Francisco circuit, though he had doubts
about whether his 400W transmitter would be able to work reliably.

Baldwin operators noticed that the San Francisco transmitters was suddenly
being jammed by another station, and ordered San Francisco off the air.
Then the station call letters "PX", the Normandy station, were clearly
received.  On the next day, June 13, Press Wireless accepted a dispatch
from its first Normandy customer, Henry T. Gorrell, of United Press.  New
York received the copy a few minutes later.  In the first week of
operation, PX sent 200,000 words to the New York offices and thence to
press associations, newspapers, and magazine whose correspondents had filed
copy.
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/normandy_runner.jpg>

[image: normany_station_1944.jpg (589699 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/normany_station_1944.jpg>
Rear Caption: "Press Wireless in Normandy.  A member of the U.S. Army's
Public Relations Office Staff runs with a copy passed by the censor to the
truck containing a wireless transmitter in Normandy.  Transmission is made
direct to New York and stories clear in about 20 minutes after censorship.
The transmitter, operated by U.S. Army, was in operation June 11, 1944,
five days after D-Day.  Planet Photo No. 675  War Pool Photo, not for use
in British Isles or western hemisphere serviced by London OWI to List B"

Rear Caption: "France--Operating from Normandy under the auspices of the US
Army since D-Day plus 5 is this Press Wireless transmitter.   Here, a
tape-puncher (left) and technician are hard at work in the transmitter
truck.  (Credit--WP--Acme Photo by Bert Brandt, War Pool Correspondent)
7/22/44"

PreWi's difficulties with the government were not over, however.  An order
from headquarters forced PreWi to suspend all operations.  Only after
correspondents cabled General Montgomery and Eisenhower, and President
Roosevelt, was the order rescinded.  Operations were closed down for nearly
30 hours.

Station PX followed closely behind the Allied advance, as they continued to
move through France and Belgium.  The operators became adept at rapid setup
and tear-down of their antennas, with due attention to camouflaging their
truck.  At no time did Press Wireless refuse copy.  British correspondents
filed dispatches to London through New York faster than they could via a
direct route.  The operators sped up service to 90,000 words per day by
radio telephone and radiotelegraph.  Not long after the station became
operational in France, voice operation was brought up.  American radio
networks picked up the programs originating from the trusty 400W
transmitter and re-broadcast them.  PX was the first radio station to
operate in the newly-liberated Paris, providing the first news from the
city.

>From Belgium, Station PX proceeded to Berlin, arriving in July 1945.
Direct radio telegraph service to New York was established, and the first
message was sent to the American Broadcasting Company in New York by Donald
C. Coe, one of its Berlin correspondents.  Facilities for radio photo and
radio telephone were installed shortly thereafter.

After a permanent Press Wireless station was installed in Berlin, Station
PX moved to Nuremburg in November 1945.  The very same 400W frequency-shift
transmitter was transported by the same Army truck (see photo above) that
unloaded it from an Army transport ship on the Normandy beachhead.  Roughly
500,000 words of press traffic were handled by the station during the
Normandy Invasion.

Press Wireless was also active in the Pacific theatre of operation.
Another mobile station, Station PZ, accompanied the invasion forces into
the Philippines, beginning operations on November 14, 1944.  The station,
situated on Leyte, was manned by a crew of 9 and housed in a sand-bagged
and camouflaged structure.
[image: prewii_leyte.jpg (706896 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/prewii_leyte.jpg>
[image:
prewii_leyte_caption.jpg (446763 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/prewii_leyte_caption.jpg>
Photo of PreWi Leyte operations bunker (Dec 1944) Caption on rear of photo.

Though not truck mounted, Station PZ could be dis-assembled and moved very
rapidly.  It sent the first commercial news messages from the Philippines
to the US since the Japanese invasion in 1941.  Press Wireless mobile
stations followed General MacArthur to Luzon and then into Manilla,
transmitting news from the front to the Leyte station, for relay to the
US.  In the first 12 hours after the US entered Manilla, PreWi handled some
25,000 words of copy in this way.  The Leyte station communicated with the
company's station in Los Angeles, CA, and special land communications
allowed dispatches to reach New York within 12 minutes of their filing on
Leyte.

Operations in the Philippines presented special problems for the PreWi
operators.  In addition to constant rain, mud and heat, the paper tape used
for RTTY communications became soggy and couldn't be properly punched.  The
PreWi crew had to employ some cleverness to make things work.  An emergency
oven, big enough to hold 25 rolls of tape, was quickly fabricated from a
box, a spare heater, and a thermostat; this worked well, as it turned out.

>From the Popular Mechanics article "Flashing the News from the Front" (June
1945)
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/pop_mech_1945/flashing_the_news.pdf>,
the Leyte crew is quoted as saying:

"We fondly refer to the transmitter as "Venice" and the operating center as
"Hollywood and Vine".  (This is in honor of the California home station.)
The latter is in a dimly lighted corner of a concrete building.  The walls
are rough and water-stained.  The tin roof serves as a ceiling.  The floor
is of cement and threaded with cracks.  The atmosphere is damp and the high
humidity results in troubles not often encountered at home.

In  the corner of our "office" is the broadcast "studio".  Constructed of
wood and covered on the interior with tar paper and burlap, it is a far cry
from the modernistic studios we knew back home.  The microphone sets on a
packing box. A kerosene lantern is the source of light as this is written.
The windshield from a wrecked Ford passenger car serves as a window."

The first voice transmission for radio-network distribution was sent from
this "studio" on December 23, 1945, using PZ's 400W transmitter.  Its
success is considered remarkable by radio engineers, skeptical of the
ability of a 400W transmitter to send broadcast-quality audio across the
Pacific.

During the war years, the importance of the company would be difficult to
overestimate.  For example, in 1942, PreWi handled 34% of outbound and
50.2% of inbound press wordage out of all American carriers.  In 1943, the
company transmitted 67% of the 4,875 radio photos transmitted that year,
including 417 hours of multiple-address photo transmissions (PreWi being
the only company to offer the service).

I came upon this odd little item relating to PreWi's war years:  A
Lieutenant Kendrick Buckwalter, assigned to the1244th SCSU (Service Command
Service Unit, 848th Signal Training Battalion) evidently assigned to Press
Wireless in Hicksville, Long Island) submitted an absentee ballot for the
1944 election. Below are scans of the envelope:
[image: k_buckwalter_front.jpg (633497 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/k_buckwalter_front.jpg>
[image:
k_buckwalter_rear.jpg (810448 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/k_buckwalter_rear.jpg>

In July 1945, the company built a new manufacturing site in Long Island
City, New York, as reported in the two photos and captions below.  Since
the war ended just a few months later, production at the LI City plant can
hardly have begun in time to help the war effort, but the company still had
the new plant on the books after the war.

[image: pre_wi_ground_1.jpg (779618 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/tmc_history/photos/tmc_people/pre_wi_ground_1.jpg>

[image: pre_wi_ground_2.jpg (871911 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/tmc_history/photos/tmc_people/pre_wi_ground_2.jpg>
Photo by Drucker-Hilbert Co. 106 W. 43rd Street, New York 18, NY, Photo
number 5722#4.  Attached label says: "From Press Wireless, Inc. 1475
Broadway, N.Y., N.Y.  MEN BEHIND THE NEW PRESS WIRELESS ENGINEERING AND
ASSEMBLY PLANT in Long Island City are Left to Right, Ray H. dePasquale,
Director of Manufacturing, Press Wireless, William Welsh, President of
Welsh Brothers Contracting Company of Long Island City, Builder-Owner, and
Salvatore Barone, Chief Manufacturing Engineer, Press Wireless."  Sal
Barone later went on to become the founder and president of Northern Radio
in New York City. Photo by Drucker-Hilbert Co. 106 W. 43rd Street, New York
18, NY, Photo number 5722#3.  Attached label says: "From Press Wireless,
Inc. 1475 Broadway, N.Y., N.Y. PRESS WIRELESS HISTORY IN THE MAKING.
Salvatore A. Barone, Chief Manufacturing Engineer, and Ray H. dePasquale,
Director of Manufacturing, Press Wireless, Center, Turned the First Earth
for the Foundations of the New Manufacturing Engineering Plant at 35th
Avenue and 38th Street, Long Island City, July 16, 1945.  Looking on and
Applauding are Members of the Manufacturing and Engineering Staff."


Post War Years

Direct radio news service was established between the US and The
Netherlands soon after the establishement of PreWi's permanent office in
Paris, with first contact on January 3, 1945.  The station in The
Netherlands operated under the call sign "PV", and it used equipment
similar to that landed at Normandy.

The Manilla circuit had been shut down on December 31, 1941 upon the
Japanese invasion, but was resumed on February 26, 1945.  The new service
between the Philippines and the US included radio telegraph, phone and
facsimile modes.

In May 1945 PreWi established direct radio service between New York and
Buenos Aires, Argentina, handling both press reports and government
communications.  This was the first radio link between the two countries
and the fourth PreWi station in South America.

At the US government's request PreWi established a relay station in
Tangiers, North Africa, to handle press and government traffic between
Europe and America.  Experience during the war had shown that North Africa
was an ideal location for radio relay purposes.  The government further
promised the company that it could make use of war surplus material
stockpiled in Europe.

Fergus Kerrigan, VP of the company, negotiated a loan from the
Export-Import Bank to finance the Tangiers project.  However, A. Warren
Norton, president of the company, strongly opposed the project and declined
the Bank's offer, but never gave a reason for his opposition.  A group of
executives in the company disagreed with Norton and took their case
directly to the Board of Directors, arguing that failing to install the
relay station would lead to a decrease in traffic and revenue.  However,
the Board supported Norton, and disallowed the loan and the installation.
Mackay Radio subsequently received authorization for a relay station in
Tangiers, and it was shown later that PreWi lost a considerable amount of
revenue by turning down the government's offer.

Immediately after the Japanese surrender, PreWi opened an office in Tokyo,
manned by Chester Ford.   Ford had an amazing series of adventures during
the Pacific campaign, having gone ashore with the invasion force at Leyte
and in the Phillipines.  An account of his war years is given in Press
Wireless Signals Magazine, Vol III, No. 3
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/prewi_signals/prewi_signals_v3_n3.pdf>
.

This Signals issue was written right at the end of the war, and provides a
remarkable picture of a large company operating at full bore, both on the
manufacturing side and on the press traffic business.  That, unfortunately,
was about to come to an abrupt end.

The company obviously was pinning its post-war fortunes on the technology
developed during the war, and by taking advantage of post-war news
opportunities.
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/girls_un_sessions_4_3_46.jpg>
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/prewi_ad_1946.jpg>
Caption reads: "GOOD NEWS!  New York--If you can get by the Marines, stop
in at the Press Room at Hunter College and you'll see these three pretty,
uniformed Press Wireless staff members at work during the United Nations
Security Council Sessions.  Left to right: Wanda Slusher, 511 E 85th St;
Wanda Robinson, 3305 Broadway, Astoria; and Alice Sawicki, 1649 Nelson Ave,
Bronx.  4/3/46"

Ad placed in the Yearbook for Broadcasting/Telecasting, 1946.

During 1946-1947 PreWi suffered significant financial losses because of
reduction in press volume after the end of the war, and because of
increased personnel expenses.  Indeed, revenues dropped by nearly 2/3
during the one-year period.  The company attempted to stem these losses by
reducing operating expenses, including the shutdown of its brand-new radio
equipment manufacturing operation on Long Island (which indirectly led to
the founding of Technical Materiel Corp, as well as Northern Radio).  It
also asked the FCC for authority to handle press administrative and general
deferred commercial traffic.  There was considerable disagreement within
the company about the rate structure proposed for these types of traffic,
and evidently the FCC  had some reservations about allowing the company to
enter this business, denying the request.

A layoff of 46 operating staff in August 1946 led to a strike by members of
the American Communication Association (ACA) union, and further, Western
Union employees refused to relay copy from PreWi, though WU management
continued to handle PreWi's traffic without delays for a time.  Within days
an embargo on international press messages went into effect to put further
pressure on the company.  The embargo was lifted on August 19, 1946, when
the ACA agreed to arbitration with the company.  The strike ended when the
arbiter, Arthur Meyer, ruled that the company had to re-hire the 46
employees.  Eventually the arbitration was settled in favor of Press
Wireless, stating that it was within its rights to fire the employees.

This was a pyrrhic victory, however; the company's financial situation was
so dire that it was forced to file for bankruptcy on August 15, 1947, and
the filing was authorized the US Federal Court.
1950s-1960s

In 1957 the company moved its New York transmitting facilities from
Hicksville to a 500-acre site at Centereach, Long Island, where it operated
47 high-power transmitters, though in the 50's the transmitters were built
by Gates
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Gates_1954-12%20December.pdf>.
The receiving site was moved to Northville.

Below is a photo of Press Wireless technicians viewing the signal from
Russia's second earth satellite, called "Muttnik" on November 3, 1957.
(Click on photo to see full-size image).

[image: muttnik.jpg (918429 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/muttnik.jpg>

Press Wireless was acquired by ITT in 1965.  At the time, D.K. deNeuf was
president of the company.  deNeuf had joined PreWi in 1930 as a Vice
President, left the company to become general manager of Northeast Radio
Corp, and rejoined PreWi in 1957 as Executive VP, becoming President in
1963.

Press Wireless was still in the broadcast business, at least as late as the
mid-60's, as indicated by this QSL to a SWL in Sweden:

[image: prewi_qsl_1964.jpg (427753 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/prewi_qsl_1964.jpg>
Press Wireless Manufacturing Company, Inc.

Press Wireless Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1941 in
Massachusetts under the original name Milliken Machine Company, with all
operations located in a plant in West Newton, Mass.  The facilities of the
former Press Wireless Manufacturing (PWM) Corporation of Hicksville, Long
Island were acquired in 1948 and Milleken's corporate name was changed to
Press Wireless Manufacturing Company, Inc.

In 1952 the controlling interest in PWM was acquired by La Pointe
Electronics, Inc and the facilities of the Hicksville Division were moved
to a more spacious plant in Rockville, Connecticut.  The plant was adapted
to the quantity production of electronic and precision electro-mechanical
parts and equipment.

Press Wireless Manufacturing's two plants (West Newton, MA and Rockville,
CT) and their facilities, equipment, and products are described in a
brochure "Facilities of Press Wirelss Manufacturing Company
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/pw_mfg_facilities.pdf>
".

Below is a scan of PWM's very classy stationery and envelope (kindly
provide to me by Duncan Brown K2OEQ from the Antique Wireless Museum's
archives):
[image: pwm_stationery.jpg (1357930 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/pwm_stationery.jpg>
[image: pwm_envelope.jpg (635556 bytes)]
<https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/Photos/pwm_envelope.jpg>


References

   1. D.K. deNeuf, "A History of Press Wireless, Inc." Antique Wireless
   Association OTB. (Date Unknown)
   2. Carl Frederick Hugo Wermine, "History of Press Wireless, Inc.," MS
   Thesis, University of Illinois Urbana, 1948.
   3. http://longislandgenealogy.com/Wireless/Wireless.html
   <https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/http://longislandgenealogy.com/Wireless/Wireless.html>
   4. Arthur W. Macmahon, "Memorandum on the Postwar International
   Information Program of the United States
   <https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/postwar_info.pdf>",
   Dept of State, 1946.
   5. D.K. deNeuf Obituary
   <https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/04/obituaries/dk-deneuf-81-ex-head-of-press-wireless.html>,
   NY Times, August 4, 1988.
   6. American Adventist Radio Worldscan website
   <https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/http://www.ontheshortwaves.com/Wavescan/wavescan100606.html>
   .
   7. History of Broadcasting in Hawaii
   <https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/http://www.qsl.net/ah6rh/am-radio/hawaii/history.html>
   8. D. K. deNeuf "A History of Press Wireless, Inc
   <https://web.archive.org/web/20210928161006/https://tmchistory.org/PressWireless/pw-sowp_sparks.pdf>",
   Sparks Journal  (Date Unknown)







On Sun, Jul 21, 2024 at 3:52 PM D.J.J. Ring, Jr. <n1ea at arrl.net> wrote:

> 40 years ago Don Wallace, W6AM (b. 1898- d. 1985), was interviewed in 1984
> by Wayne Overbeck, N6NB, for the PBS series, "Radio Collector." The
> interview takes place at Radio Ranch in Palos Verdes, CA, and shows Don's
> shack and antenna farm. The property is likely a condo farm today. The
> California Historical Radio Society, CHRS, is presenting this uncut
> interview. Don had 6 beams for Australia alone! He switches them with the
> switch that controls relay switching. On the air since 1910 until his
> death. Don had 14 rhombic antennas. 61 telephone poles supported his
> antennas, scattered around 120 acres. Another 110 poles carried the
> feedlines to the antennas. https://www.qsl.net/ne6i/w6am/
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5iVb-3MHEY His QSL card shows the
> rhombic layout.
> Press Wireless, an overseas radio communications company, bought 100 acres
> in the 1920s and set up a receiving station. The gently sloping hilltop,
> without a house in sight, was considered ideal for the station because of
> its 1,200-foot elevation.
> Don C. Wallace helped the company choose the site and in 1945 bought the
> property from Press Wireless, along with an additional 20 acres. It already
> was dominated by the company’s commercial transmission poles, but Wallace
> brought in a large crane and reset all of them. “At one time,” said his
> son, “there were 45 miles of wire in the air.” [image: w6am-00631-sk7.jpg]
> [image: w6am1.jpg]
>
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