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Reviewed by Bart Lee. ©1999 John V. Terrey.
First published in Antique Radio Classified,
September 1999, and at the A.R.C. website, http://www.antiqueradio.com/bookrev1_09-99.html
Radio on short wavelengths opened up the world. Commercial
interests exploited the discoveries by the amateurs in the early
1920s that wavelengths under 200 meters could girdle the globe.
The broadcasting craze of the 1920s featured a desire to hear
distant stations--DX. The shortwaves on which stations began
to broadcast in the late 1920s and early 1930s made worldwide
DX a nightly event. Like local broadcasting before it, the
shortwave broadcasting of the 1930s generated an enormous enthusiasm.
Jerry Berg has now chronicled the history of that phenomenon.
We owe him a debt of gratitude. He has written a very good
book indeed -- On the Short Waves, 1923-1945. Everyone
who has ever tuned a dial above 1600 kc ought to buy it.
You'll like it.
On the Short Waves tells the story, not only of broadcasting,
but of shortwave listening as well. Jerry quotes Hugo Gernsback
in 1926, "I cannot imagine any greater thrill than that which
comes when I listen, as I often do, to a station thousands of
miles away. It is the greatest triumph yet achieved by mind
over matter."
Jerry tells who the broadcasters were, and in the increasingly
tense 1930s, what they were trying to do. He provides great
detail on the listeners as well, not only the hobbyists and casual
listeners, but also the World War II volunteers who monitored
tirelessly for news of prisoners of war in order to notify their
families.
The book distills station histories, equipment, publications,
ephemera (e.g. QSL cards and EKKO stamps), personalities, clubs,
and events of the world into 272 pages of well written and superbly
illustrated text with scholarly notes and a thorough index.
Outstanding as it is as a source of historical material, the book
is even better for enjoyable reading by anyone with an interest
in radio, its powers and its development. Not until the
coming of the worldwide Web on the Internet has a technology had
so much impact on the world of nations.
Shortwave radio, as Jerry tells the story, made us all internationalists
because it brought the voices of the world -- unedited, unmediated,
and unspun -- directly into our homes. They came, not only
into our "radio rooms," however modest, but also into
our living rooms. We could hear the world and make up our
own minds about what we heard. DX took on meaning, and the book
lays it out. To this day, a shortwave radio provides an
unmatched ear to the world, and we should be thankful to Jerry
for telling its history so well.
But what of an encore? A compact disk with this story, and
with accompanying audio and illustrations in color? A coffee-table
book with color illustrations updated to the 1990s? A second
volume -- 1945-1995, The Cold War in the Ether? If
Jerry does any of these, you may be assured that they will be
of high quality -- equal to that of this book.
On the Short Waves, 1923-1945 is available for $42.50,
plus $4 ($6 foreign) shipping, in a 280-page, 7-1/2" x 10-1/4"
hardcover format, from the publisher McFarland & Co., Box
611, Jefferson, NC 28640. Orders: 1-800-253-2187;
Fax: 336-246-5018; www.mcfarlandpub.com.
It is also available from other booksellers.
Note: I am personally indebted to Jerry Berg for my presentations
on shortwave radio history at recent AWA conventions. (Bart Lee,
327 Filbert Steps, San Francisco, CA 94133)