[NJARC] Italian-American Radios during WWII

[Al Klase]

Hi Nick,

As you may remember, this subject was brought up a couple of weeks back 
by Alex Magoun.  He had a request for info from Geoff Bourne of AWA on 
behalf of Morgan Beatty.  We took the discussion off-reflector.  I'm 
glad the loop is getting closed.  The inputs for Johna and Walter are 
really interesting as well.

Anyway, FYI, here's the message I sent to Bourne:

QUOTE:

Hello Geoffrey,

Alex Magoun of the David Sarnoff Library passed your request for 
information along to the New Jersey Antique Radio Club.  Please pass 
this back to Mr. Morgan at PBS.

I spoke to InfoAge librarian Steve Rosenfeld the other day regarding the 
disabling of short-wave radios during WWII.  Steve dug up the attached 
article appearing in Sylvania News, Jan-Feb 1942.  This was a 
publication for the radio service industry supplied by Sylvania Electric 
Products, a prominent vacuum-tube manufacturer.  Steve has submitted a 
freedom-of-information request to the Justice Department to try to 
obtain a copy of the original "circular letter" from the Attorney 
General Biddle mentioned in the article.

I'm a little concerned because I feel statements like "...whose radios 
were tampered with by the federal or local authorities" gives a false 
impression.  Per the attached article the Attorney General of the US 
required that citizens of enemy countries in the United States not 
possess cameras and short-wave radios for obvious security reasons.  
(Consider how we passed information to the French underground later in 
the war.)  These aliens had the option of having the short-wave 
capabilities of their radios disabled.  Statements like this indicate 
the actual intention of this regulation:  "Police are further instructed 
by the Attorney General to use every consideration to make this 
regulation impose as little hardship or inconvenience on 
well-intentioned aliens as possible."

Radios with disabled short-wave bands are not, at all, unknown among 
restorers of antique sets.  So, it's apparent that a fair number of 
people complied with this regulation.

Also, an NJARC club member provided a link to a web article discussing 
the enemy alien situation in 1942:
http://www.sos.state.or.us/archives/exhibits/ww2/threat/aliens.htm

I hope this helps everyone understand what was actually going on in this 
period.

Regards,
Al Klase
NJARC Radio Technology Museum at InfoAge

END QUOTE:

NICHOLAS SENKER wrote:
> Visit our web site - See http://www.njarc.org
> _______________________________________________
> I spoke to Morgan Beatty of Lion Television today about a radio I had recently restored in which the short wave bands had been disabled.  The wire from the low band antenna coil (2-7 MHz) was neatly clipped and tucked out of the way.  The antenna coil from the high band (7-22 MHz) had been removed with no traces.  When I returned the radio to the owner he confirmed that his parents, who were Italian immigrants, had the radio serviced during WWll when the SW bands were disabled. 
> Mr Beatty is researching this type of activity for a production of 'History Detectives - Enemy Aliens' in which radios were disabled, possibly by Federal Mandate.
> This subject has been discussed before on the reflector but my recent experience confirms that this was happening.  Does anyone else out there have actual experience or knowledge of the extent this was happening?  I told Mr Beatty I would forward any comments from club members.  
> He can be reached directly at Lion TV, tel 212-206-8633
> Nick Senker
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Alex Magoun <amagoun at davidsarnoff.org>
> To: NJARC <njarc at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:39:30 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: [NJARC] Italian-American Radios during WWII
>
> Visit our web site - See http://www.njarc.org
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-- 
Al Klase - N3FRQ
Jersey City, NJ
http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/