[IRCA] AFRS Mosquito Network - Radio Heritage Media Release

[Geralyn Hollerman <lynnhollerman@xxxxxxxxx>]

For anyone interested:
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US Armed Forces Radio WWII
The Famous Mosquito Network
Celebrating 65 Years
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The Radio Heritage Foundation has released a major new series of
three articles at its global website www.radioheritage.net telling
the story of the famous Mosquito Network that broadcast in the South
Pacific in WWII.

Some 65 years ago, the American Expeditionary Station at Guadalcanal
in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate came on the air. In the
following 18 months, the later renamed WVUQ entertained hundreds of
thousands of allied forces who moved through the spawling military
complex on the island.

In these three articles, you'll learn how the Mosquito Network got
its name, see how the various stations [as far south as 1ZM Auckland,
New Zealand] were actually set up and run on a daily basis, read
about the famous Hollywood stars of stage and screen who featured on
the air and in person in remote jungle outposts, and understand just
how important the stations were to the morale of allied forces.

The series is authored by Radio Heritage Foundation board member
Martin Hadlow, who interviewed many of the surviving broadcasters
personally, and had access to historical AFRS documents. Martin is
also a former manager of the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service and
understands radio broadcasting in a tropical zone from personal
experience.

These new articles at www.radioheritage.net outline the birth of
radio broadcasting in the Solomons and Vanuatu [then the New
Hebrides], from mobile radio stations in suitcases, to fully fledged
18 hours a day operations as good as any found anywhere in the USA in
the 1940's.

It also answers the question as to whether or not the Mosquito
Network was really a network at any time, or were the stations always
independently operated. Amazing what can be done with good radio
conditions!

This is a major contribution to understanding how early broadcasting
actually came to many parts of the Pacific for the first time with
the US Armed Forces Radio Service in the mid-1940's. WVUQ staff also
recorded local music and broadcast programs for Solomon Islanders.

You'll also enjoy our earlier major articles at www.radioheritage.net
on AFRS Jungle Network and AFRS Japan, whose stories are so strongly
connected to those of the Mosquito Network. As well, there are other
articles on AFRS Alaska and individual stations such as WVUV American
Samoa, KMTH Midway, WXLE Eniwetok, WXLF Canton Island and other AFRS
stations in Alaska and the Pacific.
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Radio Heritage Foundation is a registered non-profit organization
connecting popular culture and radio heritage across the Pacific. Our
global website is www.radioheritage.net. We always welcome donations
of funds, volunteers and materials to help build our radio heritage
projects preserving the past for future generations to enjoy. Our
donation button is on every page and we thank you for your support.
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Lynn.
Lafayette, LA
Check out the IRCA web site at http://www.ircaonline.org



      
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