1940-1945: The Trials and
Tribulations of War
- On June 18, 1940, broadcasting from the BBC, General de Gaulle called
on the French people to resist.
- On October 24, 1940, regular news broadcasting in Ewe, Fanti, Hausa,
Ga, Tiv, and French in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) began.
- In 1940, Radio Omdurman was created in Sudan to serve the Allied cause
in World War II.
- In 1941, Negus Haile Selassie I set up a radio station broadcasting
in four languages a day independent of colonial control.
- In 1941, the Geneva Studio (Switzerland) began broadcasts in support
of humanitarian action by the International Red Cross.
- In August 1941, a commission led by Colonel W. Donovan was set up in
the U.S. to combat Axis radio propaganda worldwide.
- On February 24, 1942, the Voice of America (VOA) started short-wave
broadcasts in English, French, Italian, and German.
- In 1943, the BBC started broadcasting English-language lessons and
halted its Russian -language broadcasts at the request of the Soviet government.
- On July 4, 1943, The American Forces Network (AFN) was set up.
- On June 1-5, 1944, coded messages were broadcasted on the BBC to announce
the imminence of the Allied landings (which took place in Normandy, France,
on June 6) and to alert resistance fighters for action.
- On April 11, 1945, the Sarajevo (Yugoslavia) radio station started
broadcasting.
- On June 9, 1945, the Soviet military administration took control of
radio broadcasting in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany.
- On August 15, 1945, the Emperor of Japan made his first radio broadcast,
announcing his country's surrender.
- On September 10, 1945, a memorandum on "Freedom of expression
and freedom of the press" in Japan abolished all restrictive laws
made known to the public under the previous regime.
- On December 11, 1945, a memorandum reorganized NHK. Governmental control
was abolished and private radio was banned. A committee of representatives
of the Japanese people was formed.