Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

Sarnoff Lauds Radio's War Role RADIO PLAYED IMPORTANT PART IN TURNING TIDE OF VICTORY TO UNITED NATIONS; RCA PRESIDENT VIEWS SITUATION AS BRIGHTER. BUT WARNS AGAINST SLACKENING EFFORT. By Col. David Sarnoff President, Radio Cnrporuiion of America NO YEAR in radio history has been so packed with activity in communication and scientific re- search as 1942. From research to manufacturing, from domestic broadcasting to world-wide commu- nication, all radio has literally oper- ated under one three-letter call W-A-R. All the wonders and skills of yes- terday and today in radio, are con- solidated in the war effort for Vic- tory tomorrow. The war situation is far brighter than a year ago, but we have a hard road ahead. In 1943, there must be no slackening in the all-out effort. We must guard against over-confidence until the war is won and peace is made se- cure. New inventions and important developments which in normal times might require years to reach prac- tical service, have been rushed to completion in months to meet the demands of war. The scientific achievements of radio in 1942 re- main military secrets. \Mien the service that radio has performed for the fighting arms of this coun- try is made known after the war, Americans will be proud of the ra- dio research workers and engineers, and of the production men and women, who have equipped the Army, Navy and Air Corps with apparatus unsurpassed in efficiency. Radio communication men will have dramatic and historic reports to make on their part in the war. Ra- dio broadcasting, too, will have interesting facts to tell when Peace opens the microphone for wartime revelations. In every branch of its activity, the art is far surpassing its historic achievements in World War I. In modern warfare the tide of battle flows to the side on which science, engineering and production are most strongly allied. Radio in 1942 played an important part in turning the tide of victory to the United Nations. The press has published photo- graphs of great ships being launched, massive tanks rolling down the production lines, fighter and bomber planes roaring aloft to combat, destroyers and submarines protecting great convoys and Com- mandos attacking an enemy-en- trenched beach. These pictures re- veal that the warring monsters maneuver with remarkable preci- sion. But the pictures give little or no clue that radio is an important segment in the brain of these en- gines of war. An antenna is usually the only evidence that radio is aboard. Yet, it is radio which gives these armored monsters their ears and eyes, and even their sense of direction. The equipment they con- tain, and how it is used, remains a war secret within their iron hulks and hulls. Radio gives eyes and ears to the Flying Fortress, to the under-sea craft, to the warship and to the mechanized infantry. The bomber can fly blind by radio, it can hear afar. In recognition of the plane's radio directional "instincts," broad- casting stations in enemy territory go off the air, falling like nine pins as it approaches, lest they serve as guides. The submarine has radio ears just as a fish has gills. To the warship, radio is indispensable in battle, in manoeuvring, and in tracking down the enemy. Speeds Military Action Ashore, the infantry operates radio as a lifeline of communi- cation. Even the advance units supplement their portable radio stations with self-contained pack stations popularly called "walkie- talkies." The achievements of the AEF North African invasion dem- onstrated the efficiency of the U. S. Signal Corps and Navy Communi- cations—both operating in perfect harmony were described as "im- mensely vital to such fast moving and spectacular offensive." Naval communications won high commen- dation for the efficiency and dis- patch with which it handled Amer- ican vessels in the armada of 8.50 w a r s h i p s and transports that reached the African shores. Radio coordinates and speeds modern military action: it is the one factor which has made blitz possible in warfare, and then made possible an effective defense against that blitz. Radio in itself is speed. It travels at the speed of light. Its wavelengths cannot be cut. bombed or blasted. A "walkie-talkie" can project a message into the air from underbrush, from a forest, or a hill RADIO AGE 3