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- [00:16]
A
Hello and welcome to Wave scan, the international DX program from Adventist World Radio, researched and written in Indianapolis by Dr. Adrian Peterson and in Los Angeles by Ray Robinson and produced in the studios of WRMI shortwave in Okeechobee, Florida. I'm Jeff White. This is edition NWS817 for release on Sunday, October 20, 2024. On the program today, an offshore radio station against Hitler, Hurricane Milton's effects on WRMI and part two of our report on the HfCC B24 conference in Uzbekistan. The radio station of the German Freedom Party was the first European offshore radio station and the only one which primarily targeted a German audience. Remarkably, it served a political purpose resistance against the Nazi regime. It was programmed by German journalists living in exile, so supported by Dutch, British and French collaborators in their courageous but unfortunately short lived project in 1938. Here's Ray Robinson at the Voice of Hope studios in Los Angeles to tell us more.
- [01:40]
B
Thanks Jeff. Well, I thought I knew quite a lot about European offshore radio, but I'd never heard of this one before. Some new research was published by Dr. Martin van der Ven in Germany in July. We're very grateful to him for this fascinating historical reportage. This is the story of the sender der Deutschen Freiheitsspartei or the station of the German Freedom Party which operated from the radio ship Faithful Friend on shortwave in January 1938. Adolf Hitler had been in power in Germany for five years and the potential for another all out war was looming. A 50 year old journalist and Centre Party politician, Dr. Karl speaker had been living in exile for those five years. He'd been the ministerial director and press secretary of the Reich governor government from 1922 to 1925 and he also led a special department to combat National Socialism under Heinrich bruning's government in 1930 and 31. But after the Nazis took power in January 1933, speaker was dismissed from his state position for political unreliability. He fled abroad, first to France, then England and later to the USA and Canada. Under the pseudonym Miles Ecclesi, he published a pamphlet called Hitler Against Christ in 1936. Then together with another exile, Otto Klepper, he founded the German Freedom Party or the dfp. The aim of the organisation was to unite various political and religious viewpoints into a centrist People's Front without Communists. They opposed the Hitler dictatorship from abroad with as much anonymity as possible while still maintaining contacts with the Wehrmacht, churches, economists and student groups in Germany. On February 17, 1937, a Paris daily newspaper published a first leaflet signed by the Reich leadership of the German Freedom Party, demanding a referendum on whether Germany should continue to participate in the Spanish Civil War. Klepper and speaker then distributed subsequent German Freedom letters through secret channels from the end of March 1937 to targeting mainly the foreign press correspondents accredited in Berlin. But besides his publishing activities, Karl Speake discovered radio as a medium for his political activities and resistance against the Nazi regime. From the second half of February 1938, he used the ship Faithful Friend, registered in the English port of Lowestoft, Suffolk, to broadcast radio programmes on shortwave against the Nazi regime. The ship, built in 1913 by the shipping company John Chambers Co. Ltd. In Lowestoft, was a steam powered fishing trawler that had belonged to Gilbert Co. Ltd. In Lowestoft and which used the call sign LT33. On February 18, 1938, the ship was sold to Wessex Drifters Ltd. A front company founded by the SIS, the British Secret Intelligence Service now known as MI6. The trawler cruised under the British flag in the international waters of the North Sea and the English Channel, mostly along the northern coast of France between Dieppe and Cherbourg, but also later off the Dutch coast. While serving as a radio station. Eight men were on board, the captain, a cook, four sailors and stokers, all English fishermen, a German journalist who also acted as the radioman and a Dutch radio technician. Speaker's radio station station of the German Freedom Party was supported by two experts from Vara in Hilversum who alternated on board. They used a shortwave transmitter with an output power of just less than 5kW, which had apparently been prepared in utmost secrecy by British technicians. Even the British government was not officially informed. The frequency used was 7842kHz, or 38.25 meters, but a later report also mentions 1,070kHz. There may have been some confusion between the station of the German Freedom Party and another station called the German Freedom Station, which broadcast its programs From Spain on 1-070kHz or 29.8 meters shortwave at the same time. But a situation report by the Gestapo in Karlsruhe does note at the end of April 1938 that the freedom Station was was heard several times during the month on both 29.8 and 38.25 metres, the wavelengths of the two similarly named stations. The German radio men on board the broadcast ship Faithful Friend were two social democrats, initially Jakob Altmeier and shortly thereafter Ernst Langendorff. The station is believed to have started broadcasting in February 1938. The exact date isn't known, but it was probably shortly after the sale of the ship to Wessex Drifters Limited on the 18th of that month. Available sources suggest that Carl Speke, as the initiator and organisational and editorial head of the radio station, was not himself on board the broadcasting ship. He evidently wrote his texts in Paris, from where they were sent to a cover address in the port where the Faithful Friend docked. At times, the broadcast ship Faithful Friend was reportedly shadowed by a French warship to prevent it entering French territorial waters while broadcasting. The French authorities were apparently well informed about the true mission of the ship, but they left the Faithful Friend undisturbed during its stays in the harbour. The station announcement in German, of course, was this is the radio station of the German Freedom Party. The broadcasts were intended to be heard daily, normally from 7:30 to 8pm and from 10 to 10:30pm if weather conditions permitted. The programs were repeated several times per night. In case of a storm, the ship occasionally couldn't leave the harbour, so broadcasts had to be cancelled. They read news from around the world, but mainly from Germany. This was followed by political commentary and an international press review, as well as calls to resist the Hitler regime. Altmeyer and Langendorff provided detailed reports in their broadcasts about the Condor Legion, through which the German Reich government was involved in the Spanish Civil War. They referred to the January 13, 1935 Saar referendum as a rigged referendum. And according to another Gestapo situation report in Karlsruhe, the radio station called for a no vote in the referendum on the Anschluss of Austria to the German Reich, planned for March 13, 1938. The Anschluss was the idea of the unification of Austria with Germany, with which actually had strong support in both countries at the time. In an interview in April 1976 on German radio, Ernst Langendorff remembered the events of 1938. He said the first editor and radio speaker on board was Jakob Altmeier. But after just a few days he quit as the working and living conditions on this dirty and primitive coal powered ship were simply too much for him during the winter storms. I reached Dieppe in mid February. The stormy sea had forced the entire fishing fleet into the harbour. Nevertheless, we set out to sea the next afternoon. After just a few hours. I was drenched to the skin due to the high waves and I was so sea sick that I was quite incapacitated. Ready to die, I sought out my small cabin. The captain eventually returned to the harbour. During the night the storm subsided and the next afternoon the sea was Fairly calm. So we made a new attempt and. And this time everything worked. The Dutch technician from Radio Hilversum got the broadcast equipment ready. With the electricity coming from a gasoline powered generator, we broadcast on 38.25 metres shortwave. At 7.30pm I sat in front of the microphone and read the station announcement. This is the radio station of the German Freedom Party. Then followed news, an international press review, a commentary and various informative program segments. The broadcasts lasted 30 minutes each and were regularly punctuated by the station identification, including the wavelength and broadcast times. This continued for about two months. Whenever we were in harbour, I stocked up on newspapers and magazines. I'd also take the opportunity to call Dr. Speaker in Paris, who provided me with information, advice and instructions. The day before the planned Austrian referendum in March 1938, the German army crossed the border into Austria unopposed. You can imagine how busy I was in my radio broadcasts, passing on the reaction to Germany's actions from the international press. As far as I could get hold of it, we had no news editorial staff. I was the only news editor on the ship. During the daytime I always sat at the radio receiver taking notes on reports from the English, French, Swiss and German broadcast broadcasts. I then made my news broadcasts from these notes and was on the microphone twice every evening for half an hour each, the first one being a longer news broadcast. I also had newspapers, magazines and books with me which gave me ideas for commentaries which I wrote and read out myself. How well the German Freedom Party transmitter was received in Germany is very hard to determine. I only know for sure that it was monitored by the Gestapo and because in a military history archive in Freiburg there are reports of an intercepted broadcast from this transmitter, which is named in full in those reports. Dr. Speaker had connections in Scandinavia and he'd asked his friends there to tune in when the station was broadcasting. They sent him reports on the reception quality, but of course that says nothing about the actual listenership in Germany, which was probably very small. At the end of 1937, Germany had about 68 million inhabitants. Of these, only 9 million people were registered as licensed radio listeners. But each receiving device undoubtedly served multiple listeners, especially in families. By 1938, the German radio industry had produced about 3.4 million people's receivers which the Nazis used as an inexpensive propaganda instrument to influence the the masses. This was a medium wave only receiver, with the shortwave band deliberately omitted by design to try to prevent reception of degenerate broadcasts from abroad. However, in the 1930s, the German language broadcasts of the BBC could also be heard on medium wave and thus on the people's receivers regularly. In those German language broadcasts. The BBC gave instructions on how to convert a people's receiver into a world receiver by by adding a shortwave converter. The last broadcast from the Faithful Friend probably took place after about two months on the night of April 11th, 12th, 1938. Again, Ernst Langendorff recalls, everything went well until early April. On land I called Dr. Speecker who instructed us to stay in the harbour. When he finally arrived, he explained that he expected difficulties for our broadcasts due to changes in Paris. His contact at the Ministry of Foreign affairs at Quai d' Orsay had advised him to get out of French national waters until the situation became clearer. After some discussions, we eventually followed the advice of the Dutch technician. Accordingly, we were to head for the port of Eimuyden. The crew in Cherbourg harbor followed Karlspieker's recommendation and sailed to Eimuyden in the Netherlands on April 12. When they docked, the boat was thoroughly inspected, first by customs officers and then by a group of harbour police officers. The authorities sealed the transmitter and checked the crew members papers and passports. Langendorff had to accompany them to the station where there was a silent confrontation with a German officer wearing a Nazi badge on his lapel. Apparently the German embassy had been informed in advance. But the following day, April 13, after deciding that the transmitter was probably just a normal ship to shore radio, the ship received permission to leave the harbour again, which happened on April 14, allegedly with the destination of Dunkirk. The transmitter was eventually stored in a warehouse in Boulogne and the ship returned to England. Langendorff returned to Paris on Easter Saturday, April 16 and learned that Karl Speake had meanwhile hired a comfortable motor yacht which was also to be equipped in Boulogne. However, during a test run, the yacht caught fire after some gasoline was spilled in the galley. The boat was then a total wreck. So, frustrated at that point, speaker gave up his courageous radioship project. Speaker, of course in 1938 had to cover the costs for food and wages for the Faithful Friend's crew, finance the fuel, both coal for the ship's engine and gasoline for the generator, and procure the broadcasting equipment. However, it has since transpired that he had numerous contacts with British underground organisations. Jakob Altmeyer and Carl speaker are both listed in the Directory of Officers, Agents and main contacts of Section D of the Secret Intelligence Service SIS. Founded in April 1938, just as the broadcasts from Faithful Friend were ending, the SIS received formal permission to commence activities in March 1939 and eventually formed the core of the Special Operations Executive, the soe. But it seems highly likely the whole Faithful Friend project was covertly funded through British intelligence in London. So what happened to the ship? The Faithful Friend is believed to have been scrapped at the end of 1939. Back to you, Jeff.
- [16:06]
A
Thanks, Ray. Next week, Ray will be taking a look at the history of the V call signs in Newfoundland. Two weeks ago we had a report on radio's role in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which came ashore in North Florida and continued into the southeastern United States. Unfortunately, Another strong Category 4 hurricane hit Florida on October 9, with the eye striking around the city of Sarasota on the Gulf coast of Florida and then continuing all the way east across the state. The center crossed slightly north of the WRMI transmitter site in okeechobee, spawning over 100 tornadoes in its path. The tornadoes did not hit WRMI, but the high winds from the hurricane did do extensive damage to the station's transmission lines that carry the signal from the transmitters to the antennas. Electrical power was out on Wednesday afternoon and it wasn't restored until 21 hours later. So all of WRMI's transmitters were off the air on the night of Wednesday, October 9th. After power was restored on October 10th, the the WRMI engineers assessed the damage in the antenna field and amazingly they were able to repair most of the transmission lines very quickly. So most of WRMI's frequencies were back on the air Thursday night. Some additional frequencies returned on Friday. As we record this edition of wavescan, there are still three WRMI frequencies that are off the air, but it is hoped they will be restored very shortly. Now let's continue our report about the High Frequency Coordination Conference which took place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan at the end of August. Along with Red Telecom, the Uzbek Ministry of Digital Technologies and the government's Broadcasting Authority co sponsored the conference. Representatives from these organizations opened the meeting on Monday, August 26, followed by speeches from the HFCC Chairman, yours truly, and the representative from the Arab States Broadcasting Union, Mohsen Gomam. The Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union was also represented. Here's an edited recording of the opening plenary in Tashkent. The first voice you'll hear is that of Jerome Irigoyen of Teladi Fusion de France. He's hfcc's Vice Chairman.
- [18:30]
C
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Tashken, the capital of Uzbekistan, the largest city metropolitan Central Asia and key cultural, economic and political hub hub in the region. With a story spanning of two millennia, Tashken Has a rich history marked by Persian, Turkish and Russian influence. It combines modern architecture with historical monuments. A blend of tradition and modernity. It is the first time that HFCC conference take place here in Uzbekistan. I hope you enjoy your staying in this place. I'm happy to introduce this B24 conference. First thanks to Daniel Robinson, Managing director of Red Telecom hosting this conference. Daniel, please.
- [19:26]
D
Good morning everyone. Jerome took all my words, so I don't have to say everything. Repeat. But. Welcome to Tashkent. We are very happy to welcome all the delegates from all over the world. As Jerome said, this is the first time that this conference is being held in Central Asia. And I think it's a wonderful opportunity to diversify locations that the HFCC holds the conference and for the delegates to see this region, which has a lot to offer. It's beautiful. The people are wonderful. Enjoy your stay here. I'd like to thank various organizations that assisted us. The hotel, of course, my own staff, the Ministry of Digital Technologies and CRRT, our partner here. As such, I'd like to welcome Mr. Usmanov from the Ministry of Digital Technologies. Who will say a few words of welcome to the delegates. And then we'll have one other speaker. A short welcome, please. Mr. Usmanov. Russian English Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
- [20:43]
A
English. English.
- [20:46]
D
We are very glad to see you in our capital city in Tashkent. Welcome to Uzbekistan. I hope you will enjoy staying in Tashkent. Very well. Let me continue in Russian. We're very happy to welcome our honored guests to our capital. We hope that you use the. The delegates. Use this opportunity to do your work here and successfully. Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is one of few countries that is still able to. Or still broadcasting on shortwave in high power. In high power. Thank you. And we're still. And we're trying to maintain the infrastructure to continue to broadcast on shortwave. Because we're sure. We're sure that shortwave still has a future. Our station has various antennas. We're continuing to modernize the station and work on that. Our organization, crt continues to work on maintaining the infrastructure and modernizing it. And we're happy to continue to allow the possibility of broadcasting on shortwave from Uzbekistan. Thank you very much. Now I'd like to invite Mr. Mahmoud. Yeah. To say a few words from CRRT which deals with the technical issues in Uzbekistan broadcasting. Hello. Ladies and gentlemen. We have a tradition again. This is that with our partner, Red Telecom, for the. To participate in the HFCC for the registration of frequencies. Right.
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C
The.
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D
The deputy minister from the ministry was supposed to join us, but because due to events, he was not able to do so. As Mr. Usman indicated, our station here has been working since 1957, broadcasting shortwave. This is just a part of our work that we do in Uzbekistan. Besides radio, we also do terrestrial TV broadcasting.
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A
So there was some.
- [25:53]
D
And if we'll see how, if we could be able to arrange maybe a trip to the station to have a look at. Thank you. Thank you very much.
- [26:05]
C
Okay, thank you very much, Daniel, and thank you very much, everybody.
- [26:09]
A
You were just listening there to the opening plenary session of the HfCC B24 conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. We'll continue our reporting from Tashkent in the coming weeks here on wavescan. Folk music from Uzbekistan ends Wastecan today. Thanks for listening to wavescan, the international DX program from Adventist World Radio, researched and written in Indianapolis by Adrian Peterson and in Los Angeles by Ray Robinson. Next week, the V call signs of Newfoundland and our Newfoundland Radio Adventure. WAVESCAN is heard weekly on KSDA in Guam, AWR relays in various locations, WRMI in Florida, WWCR in Tennessee, Voice of Hope Africa in Zambia and irrs, Italy. Send reception reports directly to the station you're listening to. Reports for KSDA and other AWR sites should go to qslwr.org Other correspondence not reception reports can be sent to wavescanahoo.com I'm Jeff White at WRMI Shortwave in Okeechobee, Florida. Till next week. Good listening, everyone. Ra.