1942 : When the GIs Took to the Airwaves in North Africa

On November 8, 1942, Allied forces landed in North Africa. It was the beginning of a campaign that would take them through Tunisia, then to Sicily and up the Italian peninsula. Along the way, the U.S. military would establish a network of radio stations some of them mobile to keep troops informed and entertained and, above all, to boost morale. Within two years of the landings in Morocco and Algeria, fifteen stations had been established, while eight had already closed as American forces moved steadily eastward and northward.

But the story got off to a rocky start. A team of radio operators was standing by aboard the battleship USS Texas, ready to go on the air in the first hours of the invasion. The plan was to provide information to the local population while the Americans prepared to take control of Radio-Maroc in Rabat. As the invasion fleet approached the coast at dawn, however, French coastal batteries opened fire on the American ships. The Texas, positioned off Port-Lyautey (now Kénitra), came under fire. The bombardment destroyed the ship’s antenna and badly jolted the radio equipment, putting the station off the air before it had even begun broadcasting. Fortunately, there was a backup plan. To announce Operation Torch, a secret transmitter had been installed to take over the broadcasts of Radio-Maroc.

Once the fighting was over, the radio team found itself with little to do. Radio-Maroc remained under the control of the French army, which had by then switched sides and joined the Allies.

The First GI Radio Station in Casablanca

The first radio station specifically aimed at U.S. troops emerged in Casablanca. Its origins can be traced to a conversation between General George S. Patton and one of his lieutenants, Andre Baruch, a radio announcer who had enlisted in the U.S. Army in December 1942. With a small group of soldiers who knew their way around radio broadcasting, Baruch set about putting a station on the air using whatever equipment they could find. They got a lucky break when Houston Brown, an Army officer who had been a technology teacher in civilian life, came across an old French shortwave transmitter. Brown repaired it and modified it for medium-wave broadcasting.

Just two days later, at noon on December 15, ABS the American Broadcasting System went on the air. Its first record was What Is This Thing Called Love? At first, it was very much a shoestring operation. About twenty records were available, and the news was largely lifted from American radio broadcasts. The station initially operated from noon to 1 p.m. and again from 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Things soon improved. Supply ships began arriving with 4,000 records, some forty recorded programs provided by American radio networks, and, most importantly, a sturdier 1,000-watt transmitter. By March, the Casablanca station was broadcasting from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. It used two frequencies: 1083 kHz on medium wave and 7035 kHz on shortwave.

A Mobile Station for the Fifth Army

The old improvised transmitter was eventually sent north to Oujda, near the Algerian-Moroccan border. There, it relayed Casablanca programming on 1230 kHz to the Fifth Army, which was then being assembled at Oujda. The Fifth Army would later receive a fully mobile radio station, installed in two trucks. It could move with the troops, following the front as the Allied advance carried the American forces all the way into northern Italy.

OAC Radio : The First Network

In the spring of 1943, another 1,000-watt station was installed in Algiers. Two relay transmitters extended its reach, allowing GIs stationed across Algeria to hear what was becoming the first real network of Army radio stations. It was called OAC Radio, after its three stations: Oran (1204 kHz), Algiers and Constantine.

The stations proved popular, thanks in large part to recorded programs supplied from the United States by AFRS the American Forces Radio System, established in March 1942. Their success convinced the U.S. Army that these local stations needed to be organized on a more permanent footing.

The First AES Station Goes on the Air

On Monday, May 26, the U.S. Army launched a new entertainment station for troops stationed in Algiers. The studio and its 1,000-watt transmitter were installed at Allied Forces Headquarters. At first, the station broadcast daily from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. and from 6 to 10 p.m., on 279 meters (1110 kc).

The station was officially inaugurated with a special message from General Eisenhower. It was called the American Expeditionary Radio Station (AES). The schedule quickly expanded. AES soon broadcast continuously from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., eventually moving to 286 meters (1050 kc). Its programs were heavy on music and entertainment, much of it supplied by the major American radio networks. Soldiers could hear popular programs featuring stars such as Jack Benny, Charlie McCarthy, Fred Allen and Bob Hope. Each week, 42 recorded programs were shipped from the United States to supply the GI stations overseas.

AES also broadcast three hours a day of recorded programming for British troops. These programs were produced by ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association. The British, however, soon decided to establish a station of their own. In January 1944, they launched the British Forces Experimental Station in Algiers for British troops. Its engineers made use of a small transmitter captured from the enemy. The experiment would eventually develop into the British Forces Broadcasting Service, which would become the main radio network serving British forces around the world.

Radio Follows the Allied Advance

The next stage came in July 1943, when the Allies landed in Sicily. AES personnel and equipment followed the troops. As the front moved north through Italy, the radio stations moved with it and new ones were established along the way. By May 1944, American military radio stations were operating in Casablanca, Oran, Algiers, Tunis, Palermo and Naples. The mobile station accompanying the U.S. Fifth Army was also on the move with the front. The network was becoming a familiar part of everyday life for American troops thousands of miles from home.

When There Was No Studio, They Built One

Not every station had access to proper broadcasting facilities. On August 17, 1943, a 150-watt station went on the air in Oran on 650 kHz (421 meters). The U.S. Navy provided the equipment and personnel; only the station manager came from AES.

A station was later established in Tunis, but it did not remain there for long. Its team followed the Army to Sicily, leaving Tunis without a station. A six-man military radio team eventually set up shop in a bomb-damaged building near Bizerte. They had to improvise almost everything. German blankets abandoned in a military depot were brought in to insulate one of the rooms and turn it into a makeshift studio. The team cobbled together a turntable, built its own mixing console, found a microphone and assembled a small transmitter. On May 15, 1944, the station began broadcasting in the evenings on 1210 kHz.

It was a remarkably humble operation but it was enough to put a familiar voice on the air for American troops at the front. From Casablanca to Bizerte, from North Africa to Sicily and then up through Italy, military radio had followed the American advance almost every step of the way.

And when the war ended, so did the stations. One by one, they went silent as American troops left the region and returned home, except at the U.S. bases that would remain in Morocco.