Radio Silence!

Station Featured:  KGU, Honolulu, Hawaii

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Radio silence is...well, silence on the radio.  Sometimes it happens by accident (and usually prompts people to quickly change the station to make sure the radio isn't busted or the power isn't out).  Sometimes it happens by design - like during Remembrance Day observances at eleven o'clock every November 11th.  Sometimes it's maintained as a sign of respect when someone is laid to rest.

There is a civilian radio operator's code (procedure word, or more commonly, "Proword") used to command silence on the air:  "Seelonce seelonce seelonce".  The order clears the airways so that fainter signals (like a distant "mayday!") can be heard.

And then there was the moment when all of North America went silent.

On June 2, 1942, all radio stations from Canada to Mexico went silent.  Several months after the attack on Pearl Harbour, a new air raid alert was sounded, and all radio stations were ordered to cease broadcasting.

The reason for the radio silence:  On December 7th, 1941, Japanese forces used the AM radio signal from KGU Honolulu as a homing beacon, allowing their ships and planes to zero in on Hawaii - and Pearl Harbour.  Silencing all radio stations thwarted attempts by bombers and kamikazes to hone in on further North American targets.

Imagine the terror and confusion.  at the time, with the exception of newspapers and film news reels at the cinema - there is no other immediate source of news. 

You turn on the radio and find its dead.  You turn the dial.  Nothing but the hiss and sizzle of static on the air.

Something very bad has happened, if every station is off the air.  but you have no way of finding out what's happened - because your only source of instant news is gone.

There's no word of where the air raid is targeted.  There's no word if the air raid had already begun and destroyed North America.  There's nothing but silence.  The curiosity - and fear - must have been devastating.

In today's terms:  imagine hearing an air raid (or tornado alert) siren.  Your first instinct is to turn on the TV.  Nothing but static or a "no signal" indication.  You turn next to the radio.  Silence.  You turn on the computer, your cell phone, your iPad - whatever it is you use to get instant access to the outside world - and you find "no service".

Your world shrinks to the four walls and the open air about you.

You have no idea where the war front is; for all you know, civilization outside your immediate environment has been snuffed out, and there's no one left alive but you and your neighbours.

Imagine the relief, then, when the radio stations began broadcasting again, the night of June 2, 1942.

So, while the Golden Microphone apologizes for its own radio silence these last couple of weeks, we're happy to announce it's not because of technical blunders, shipwrecks, state funerals, or air raids.  Moving - and writing a book - has interrupted our broadcast.  By November 1st, we should be broadcasting faithfully once more.

Stay tuned!