"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
...

Do note that the regulation says "...an audience in the continental
United States..." - it says nothing about the citizenship or national
origin of the listeners in foreign countries.

In other words, Americans traveling abroad would be an acceptable target
audience. Certainly with regard to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean
(the primary places U.S.-based SW stations claim to target) you could
make a case that there are enough Americans visiting the target areas to
justify the programming. In fact, many SW broadcast stations in other
countries DO specify their own nationals travelling abroad as a target
audience.

Of course we'd still know who the REAL target audience is...



I've heard that suggested elsewhere. I'm having a hard time believing
they really thought a US-based international pro-Communist station could
have found enough support to get off the ground. (especially with the
massive opposition they would have faced at all levels of American
society at the time

A Communist or leftist station would have been highly unlikely but not
inconcieveable. There was a leftist press in the postwar era, such as the
Daily Worker. Many newspapers owned their own radio station. Many
conservatives such as Col. Robert McCormack, were staunch supporters of the
first amendment and would have vigorously defended the right of the Commies
to have the same right to broadcast as everybody else.

And I'm having a hard time figuring out why they'd *want* to stop an
anti-Communist station.

I think they would want to speak with one voice. And playing favorites
would be unnecessarly divisive.

But I think the domestic propaganda arguement makes more sense when applied
to the VOA. I have no doubt there was a fear that the VOA could become the
voice of the party in power.



Given the political history of the domestic clear channels, I think the
"competition to domestic stations" explanation makes more sense.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com


I don't know how much domestic SW could compete with domestic clear
channels. Radio did, and does, depend on advertising. And most radio
advertising is local. Sure, the clear channel stations had a nighttime
coverage of hundreds of miles, but did they do much of their own programming
for people outside their prime coverage area? I'm guessing they didn't. If
they did, would it have increased their advertising revenue?

Domestic SW would have been a bigger threat to the established radio
networks, especially if some genius would have been able to solve the
propagation problems. Technical progress in radio was happening fast in
that era, so it's easy to imagine David Sarnoff and the others worring about
the possibility of a handful of SW stations posing a competitive threat to
their national networks. A viable, low cost SW network would have been able
to pirate or create the sort of national "Old Time" radio programming which
did sell Ovaltine or Texaco gas or whatever. I know the clear channel
stations were network stations, but I think they could have survived on
local programming. Obviously, the networks had alot more to lose and they
were the ones with the strong voice in Washington. Anyway, that's all
speculation on my part.

But US domestic SW didn't get going until the radio networks had faded.

Frank Dresser