Belmont Model 40-A-AC
"Navigator" (1932)
Airline Model
62-274 (1937)
Arvin Model 602A
(1939)
Airline Model 14BR-1502B
(1941)Soon after, amateur radio operators were using this newly discovered technology to talk to each other over the airwaves. Some operators, who proclaimed themselves as broadcasters, took interest in reading the newspaper or playing music over the radio. By 1920, the first commercial radio station had been established in Pittsburgh—KDKA. An additional 575 commercial radio stations were established nationwide 2 years later. However, none played as large of a role as radio did in the 1940’s.2
From the 1920’s to the mid 1930’s, radio’s popularity grew at a moderate but steady rate. Not until the late 1930’s did the popularity of the radio begin to grow immensely. By 1940, nearly 90 percent of American households owned at least one radio set. On average, families listened to three to four hours of broadcasting a day. The most popular radio programs drew in approximately 30 million people. Even some of the secondary shows were able to attract a few million listeners.3
With such enormous popularity, it is no wonder that radio became the principal medium of communication during World War II.4 During the war, the radio served as the main tool by which a "wartime culture" could be created. Using advertising, daily soap operas and popular programming, the government was able to insert propaganda, instill patriotism, and explain the intricacies of the war and at the same time was able to entertain millions of listeners around the country. According to Stephanie Lungociu, this effort attracted much support for the war.5 Indeed, this is correct. Propaganda through the radio did help win support for the war. The various ways in which it did will be explained later on.
The decision to use radio as the main means of communication was based on two advantages that radio held over other forms of communication, such as newspapers. First, the radio provided a daily link to large portions of the population. Since, 90 percent of American families owned a radio, the reachability of the populace was quite high. Radio also reached many more people than newspapers or posters because anyone could understand radio. According to Dee Campo, there was no literacy requirement to understand what broadcasters were saying.6 She states that literacy was not a requirement to find out about the news around the world. Therefore, anyone could be informed. Another reason why radio was used so widely was because it had a regular and predictable schedule. Propagandists could plan for the even distribution of their messages and be able to count on the same number of people to listen daily.7
Flowing daily through the radio tubes of listeners across the country, were an abundance of advertisements. By the early 1940's the airwaves were controlled mostly by advertising agencies and their commercial clients. Almost every time slot was taken up by these sponsers. Once they controlled a slot, it was up to them to fill it with whatever commercials they preferred. Eventually radio stars became connected with the specific product they were selling: Bob Hope with Pepsodent, the comedy soap and Jack Benny with Jell-O.8
After Pearl Harbor, however, these commercials were not used simply to persuade consumers to buy a certain product, but rather, they served as a communications ground in which patriotic war sentiments and propaganda messages could be inserted. Advertisers and radio writers found themselves competing to see who could come up with the greatest appeal for self-sacrifice and national unity. Any why not? The government gave the incentives for these writers and advertisers to do so. The Great Depression had left American businesses with a lack of confidence from the American people. As a result, advertising confidence was down also. However, as wartime came about, the government encouraged advertisers to come back to the airwaves, as long as they participated in the propaganda effort. The government allowed businesses to write off 80 percent of their advertising costs as long as their commercials had patriotic and pro-war sentiments. Therefore, commercials no longer had Bob Hope selling just toothpaste, but instead, Bob Hope was selling "Pepsodent, the patriotic paste."9
By the spring of 1942, the amount of regular listeners had dropped considerably. National advertisers and radio writers began to speculate as to whether the over-zealous war effort the government tried to put forth was doing radio harm, instead of good. Soon, the speculation turned into criticism. Desperate measures by the government to continue its wartime propaganda resulted in the formation of two agencies, the Office of War Information (OWI) and the War Advertising Council (WAC). These newly created committees were responsible for continuing the insertion of pro-war sentiments on radio. However, their approach was somewhat different in that propagation would be more streamlined. Advertisers of weekly programs were required to include a propaganda message on every fourth show. Daily newscasts and soap operas were to contain war messages on a bi-weekly bases. Through such careful planning, OWI and WAC were able to carry out well-orchestrated propagation into the homes of unaware Americans on an hourly and daily bases. Unknowingly, citizens had been sold the war in what they thought were merely entertaining programs.10
An example of such cleverness could be found on the popular radio comedy, Fibber McGee and Molly. On December 1, 1942, there was a nationwide gas ration that was put into effect. On four gallons a week and at a speed limit of 35 miles per hour, the government figured that the rationing would prevent citizens from driving too much and thus, the precious commodity of rubber would be saved. On the same night the rationing went into effect, 30 million Americans tuned in to listen to Fibber McGee express his concern over the gas rationing. Cleverly using sarcasm, the radio program pointed out to the public that most driving was unnecessary. The following dialogue between Fibber and Molly illustrates this point:
Molly: Yes, you don’t need four gallons!
Fibber: Doggoneit. I do too. Four gallons is outrageous. Where can I
go on four gallons of gas?
Molly: Where do you want to go, dearie?
Fibber: Well…Gee, whiz…What if I did want to go some place? In an
emergency or something…
Molly: You mean like running out of cigars?
It was not only Fibber’s sarcasm that convinced people that gas rationing was the right thing to do but it was also the fact that Fibber represented the typical American citizen. He echoed many of the same sentiments that actual citizens did, including those of a disgruntled citizen. At the same time that Fibber appeared to be an average citizen, he was also sending subtle propagation messages. Through Molly, he was told to lighten up and place his trivial self-interests behind national interest.11
Giving up much driving in order to save rubber for the war was not a popular measure amongst Americans. However, popular radio programs, like Fibber McGee and Molly, helped to instill in the minds of the public that gas rationing was the patriotic and unselfish thing to do. Like the war effort itself, gas rationing had to be sold to the American people and radio was the perfect means by which to do it.12
Another ingenuity of the OWI and the WAC was allowance of comedians, such as Bob Hope to regularly broadcast from army bases overseas. Through his frequent broadcasts from army stations, Hope came to be known as the "quintessential GI comic." More than a comic, though, Hope served another important purpose. He expressed many of the thoughts and frustrations of American soldiers overseas. He talked about the many things that soldiers felt and experienced themselves. They were things such as crap games, the local bars and girls. At the same time, he poked fun at the superiors that every soldier loved to hate. Hope provided Americans at home with an meaningful link to their loved ones overseas. OWI and WAC allowed and encouraged comedians like Bob Hope because they figured that a considerable portion of the population would not buy the war because they had loved ones at stake. As Hope provided crucial communications between soldiers and citizens, the public’s tensions were eased a bit. Again, the government was able to sell the war to the public in an ingenious way.13
As the war progressed, many comedians, radio stars and writers came to be considered an essential part of the war effort. The government considered their role as hidden propagandists to be a very important one. So much, in fact, that these radio personalities were excluded from the draft. The government was afraid that there departure would take toll on its radio propaganda because so many Americans were convinced of the war because of these stars. The government wanted to ensure that they would stay by excluding them from the draft.14
Perhaps the most memorable form of propaganda was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s "fireside chats." Begun in 1933 and continuing throughout the war, Roosevelt broadcast his chats almost daily from the oval office. In his nightly monologues, Roosevelt set about to assure the American people of the state of the country. This was especially important during World War II. Not only were some unsure of the appropriateness of U.S. involvement in the war, but some were outright against it. Roosevelt tried to ease some of this anxiousness by relaying phrases such as, "Let us unite in banishing fear!" He wanted to instill patriotism and unite the country which was viewed as crucial to winning the war. By using the radio, Roosevelt could create a more intimate relationship with fellow Americans. He communicated his ideals through mass communication but at the same time he provided personal appeal. The public was more likely to respond to an up close and personal president, rather than one who was far removed. Again, radio was the means by which propaganda could be successfully inserted.15
In summary, the radio was a very important communications tool during the second world war. Through the use of many of radio’s commercials and programs, the government was able to permeate propaganda but at the same time provide entertaining programs. These programs provided a way for the war and its many efforts to be sold to the American public that might not have otherwise been successful through ads or newspapers. Without the radio, to a certain degree, the government would have been without a voice and the public would have been kept in the dark.
