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Register of the Stanford Listening Post Records, 1940-1945
40001
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Title: Stanford Listening Post Records,
Date (inclusive): 1940-1945
Collection number: 40001
Creator:
Stanford Listening Post
Collection Size:
32 manuscript boxes, 1 envelope.
13.4 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Correspondence, transcripts of radio broadcasts, study papers, notes, and card indexes, relating to radio broadcasts from
east and southeast Asia
Language:
English.
Collection open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact
the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Stanford Listening Post Records, [Box no.], Hoover Institution
Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1940.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at
http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number
of boxes listed in this finding aid.
United States. Office of War Information
Propaganda
Radio broadcasting--East Asia
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945--Propaganda
East Asia
United States
The Stanford Listening Post was established in the Archives Division of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace
in 1940 for the purpose of recording and studying radio broadcasts from the Far East. The Rockefeller Foundation granted $8,250
to cover the costs of equipment, supplies, and salaries for receiving, recording, and transcribing trans-Pacific broadcasts.
Recording began in mid-September 1940 and continued to the end of May 1941 when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
established listening posts throughout the country for round-the-clock monitoring of foreign broadcasts. The Stanford post
recorded foreign broadcasts for the FCC from 1941 to 1943 and transmitted American broadcasts of the United States Office
of War Information (OWI) to the Far East from 1942 to 1945.
The Stanford Listening Post used two short-wave receivers, an RME 69 and a highly selective HRO. During the last few weeks
of the experiment, a Hallicrafter commercial type receiver was used in place of the RME. Two rhombic antennas provided directional
reception from east-west and north-south. Two standard office Ediphones recorded the broadcasts. Only transmissions in English
were recorded in the beginning, although test recordings of other languages were made. News and news commentator programs
in English from three stations were recorded regularly--Tokyo, Japan; Chungking, China; and Saigon, French Indo-China. Occasional
recordings were made from Hsinking, Manchukuo; Shanghai, China; and Sydney, Australia.
After broadcasts were recorded on Ediphone wax cylinders, a single typed copy was made of the transcript with text double
spaced. There were several checks for accuracy. After the final checking, transcripts were duplicated and sent to a selected
list of persons and libraries interested in Pacific affairs.
The staff of the Stanford Listening Post included Inez G. Richardson, who was director, Richard Beckett, Pauline Hamm, Maria
Hoge, Rosemary Johansson, Kay Kitagawa, Margaret Lintner, Helene von Damm, and Ann Van Wagenen.
(Source:
Annual Report of the Chairman, 1940-41. Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace).