Years before that fateful Sunday Dec. 7 when Japan made its colossal mistake and bombed Pearl Harbor, the FRC, forerunner of the FCC knew of the vulnerability of Hawaii.
Our own government licensed nearly 30 special radio stations. Placing them across the country, giving them each a private frequency! With the maximum power of 50,000-watts.
This class 1A authorized a 24-hour, day and night signal. Together they made up a standby communication system, available to the USA. Owners like E.C.Anthony of KFI, were given priority status. For engineers, spare parts, transmitting tubes and layered security. To include squads of armed, US riflemen.
OWNERS OF LA STATIONS AND THEIR ENGINEERS WERE Patriots in plain clothes
Here is the real reason KFI did what it did. Not the reasons we pushed to explain KFI’ s behavior.
California was much easier to defend than the island outpost, Hawaii. So it was that invisible and un-bombable radio signals were sent to Hawaii from two locations in California. Electronic, air borne navigation depended on them
Brand new, two days old, B24s were led across the USA and across the Pacific to Hawaii. It was important that these signals be strong and UN interrupted, day and night!
That is the real reason for it all!
The distilled water, PRE TESTED TUBES, STANDBY generation, MACHINES, PUMPS AND water TANKS. Three men once a week checked all the connections. Cleaned every insulator, dressed the high power contacts in their oil baths. One engineer was always within 3 seconds of the main switch. ( I did these things while wondering why.)
Some of our men must have known something! But I was told nothing till 20 years after the war was won. Most of these men have died with their secret There must be other secrets even now! We hear about spare satellites parked behind the ones we know about. Mysterious deviations that are only relevant to Naval ships.
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Usually, the rated abilities of military stuff are purposely understated. That is, expect that we see more, Hear more, move faster, carry more weight and armament and out perform what we admit to the press.
I don’t think Mr. Anthony was directly, compensated for his cooperation But it was this Government wartime involvement that initiated nighttime radio that has become commercially sustainable!
All night Radio for LA and southern California dates from the mix of these three diverse parties: KFI, Ben Hunter, and the USA!
Note: It was the unending supply of equipment like B24s that overpowered the enemy. That and the determination of the People, in and out of uniform.
nw