In 1940 the United States, still staggering slightly from the effects of the depression, was growing stronger & could smell the winds of War in the sea breeze.
Great Britain's soldier were driven from the continent and were heroically evacuated at Dunkirk. We gave Britain a "mothball fleet" of outdated destroyers to augment their naval effort. More than 4,500 Londoners were killed in the first month of the Blitz.
The war in Europe prompted President Roosevelt (having been elected to a 3rd term, over Willkie) on December 28, to make a radio broadcast. Widely referred to as one of his fireside chats, it be- came known as "the Arsenal of Democracy" address.
For the first time in our nations his- tory the selective service system began a peace-time draft. It was hard to remember that the war was "over there".
We still tried to relax & enjoy. Walt Disney released two major works of animation: Pinochio & Fantasia. Great names were in the movies: Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath; Betty Davis in All This & Heaven Too,Clark Gabel, Spencer Tracy, & Claudette Coburn, in Boomtown; and Robert Young in Northwest Passage.
Music came from every radio. The state of Oregon had over 285,400 radio sets. Marrion Hutton & the Glen Miller Orchestra brought us The Five O'clock Whistle, while the same band with vocalist Ray Eberle released A Nightingale Sang in Barclay Square. Wee Bonny Baker and the Orin Tucker Orchestra made a hit with Oh Johnny, and "Hal Kemp and his Smoothies" took a spot on your hit parade with the Lil Red Fox. In December Duke Ellington dusted off the Sidewalks of New York and put it into that same parade. Other noteworthy songs include Blue Afterglow, from Jimmy Lunsford; Only Forever from Bing Crosby; We Three from the Ink Spots and Careless from Diana Shore.
But war held a dark scepter over our radios. The Communications Act of 1934 "confers almost unlimited power over radio on the President in time of war and even under conditions short of war." In September 1939 the Secretary of State declared a state of "limited national emergency". Less than a week after this declaration WCMA of New York City was charged with the interception of secret radio communications sent by the governments of Germany and Great Britain, and the rebroadcasting thereof without the authority of the sender.
Who was interested in these matters on the west coast? Men like W. J. Jerman, Harold C. Singleton, Louis Bookwalter, and Roy Hunt were interested. Singleton was the Chief Engineer for stations KEX & KGW who were both owned by the Oregonian. Hunt was President of KALE and of KOIN, both owned by the Oregon Journal, where Bookwalter was technical director. Jerman was Chief Engineer for KWJJ.These station were the network affiliates for Portland, holding down CBS (KOIN), Mutual (KALE), NBC Red (KGW) and Blue (KEX). Whatever they did the 102,000 radio sets in Multnomah county were sure to hear, as were the ears of "uncle Sam".
When the time came for the nation to "go to war", radio was there!