Captain Allen Leading a Group of Guadalcanal Natives in the Rendition of a Hymn in Pidgin

Image size: 1600 x 1191 pixel. 601 KB
Date: Friday, 11 May 1945
Place: Henderson Field, Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
Photographer: Unknown

Captain Allen leading a group of Guadalcanal natives in the rendition of a hymn in pidgin. Captain Spencer M. Allen was formerly associated with WGN Radio, Chicago. The eight Armed Forces Radio Services (AFRS) stations set up in the south Pacific were called the Mosquito Network of the American Expeditionary Stations (AES). These stations were: WVUQ Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands (1000 watts, 690 kilohertz, second & key station); WVUS Noumea, New Caledonia (1000 watss, 975 kilohertz, first station); WVUR Esperitu Santo, New Hebrides (1000 watts 1040 kilohertz); WVUT Nandi, Fiji (50 watts 660 kilohertz); WVTI Cebu City, Philippines 500 watts (1340 kilohertz); WVTM Manila, Philippines 1000 watts (1300 kilohertz); WVUV Pago Pago, American Samoa 50 watts (1270 kilohertz); and Navy Radio Tutuila, Samoa 10 watts (1270 kilohertz). At Guadalcanal, the radio station studio and transmitter sites were in a coconut grove about one-half mile from Lunga beach. A dallas hut was divided into a control room and a studio. There was a large plate glass window and some sound proofing between the two rooms. AES staff dubbed their small studio shack in the coconut grove, Radio City, an ironic reference to the imposing headquarters of the NBC network in New York City.Mosquito's weekly broadcasting included 13 hours of U.S.-made AFRS transcriptions and 28 hours of decommercialized U.S. network shows—flown in from the States. The rest was local material, ranging from the reading of war correspondence in the area to burlesques such as McGoo's Booze Hour ("Next time you visit your PX take home a handy family-size container of McGoo's Old Man in the convenient 60-gallon drum") or the Atabrine Cocktail Hour to encourage the taking of anti-malarials. On the evening of March 2, 1944, AES-Guadalcanal, first broadcast a test signal. Regular broadcasts started March 13 and lasted throguh 1946. Two days before this photo was taken, WVUQ broadcast news of the German Surrender.\ Of the 300 AFRS stations in operation worldwide in 1945, only 60 remained in 1949. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1082