A piece of radio history that many of us don't know occurred. During World War II, Western Defence Command ordered all West Coast stations off the air.
________________________________________________________________

The Oregonian, Friday June 5, 1942 page 1.

COAST RADIOS SENT OFF AIR

Portland radio stations along with all other Pacific coast stations Thursday had their second consecutive night of radio silence since the Jap attack on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Wednesday. All coastal broadcasts from Canada to the Mexican border was suspended at 9:00 P.M. by the Western Defence Command and 4th Army as a precautionary measure.

The second night of radio silence which denied possible enemy ships or aircraft off the coast, the use of any radio beam as a guide.
_______________________________________________________________

What a time to be living on the West Coast with the ultimate DX conditions! I'll bet Eastern stations were inundated with confirmation requests.

Craig, were Portland radio stations included? We are not exactly on the coast.

I believe the radio silence involved all stations in the western halves of Washington, Oregon, California, and the southern portion of Arizona.

Interesting info about those times here:

Japanese Internment 1942

From Craig's original post:

"Portland radio stations along with all other Pacific coast stations Thursday had their second consecutive night of radio silence..."

Portland radio stations would have been perfect for Japanese bomber planes. The signals would have guided those planes straight to a major population center. In the thinking of the Western Defense commanders, Portland was probably close enough to the coast that enemy aircraft would have a pretty good chance of making it over here at night without being spotted and shot down.

Gee, I read it twice and didnt register the first 3 words.

What about daytime?
I think the homed in on daytime AM radio Broadcast tower in Hawaii?
Perhaps since the surprise factor was gone, they wouldn't risk trying in daytime.

I have understood there was blackouts in Portland, was that done on same nights?

I was going to point out "Portland radio stations along with all other Pacific coast stations" too, 62, but decided rather to try to define what the Western Defense Command considered the "Pacific coast" to be. The link I provided above on Internment reveals much about the fearful climate people experienced during WW2.

This is so weird! I was going to post additional information on this thread tonight, thinking no one had posted on it since it was started 6 days ago. Last week when I found what was originally posted from library microfilm, I barely got it documented before closing time. Tonight I continued my KXL microfilm research and found a day later this:
________________________________________________________________

The Oregonian, Saturday June 6, 1942, Behind The Mike: The Radio Blackout.

Suggested substitutes for local stations in case the silence period is continued include: KSL, Salt Lake City (1150kc), KOB Albuquerque (1030kc), KGHL Billings (790kc) and KOY Phoenix (550kc).
________________________________________________________________

Somebody screwed up! KSL was 1160kc & KOB was 770kc. Those frequencies don't match up to KSL's or KOB's earlier assignments either.

KSL probably would have been best choice since they were 50KW, but the others might have been OK too with the band much emptier, especially with california quiet.

I think most people had a wire antenna at that time, so they wouldnt have any trouble picking up KSL. Some radios had loop antenna, but I think most needed a wire. Wire was stretched from house to tree or post in back yard. Not sure what people in apartment buildings did.

How much longer did the nighttime radio silence last?

When was that big frequency re-shuffle?

1941, not to be confused with the movie of the same name.

Interesting note, the link describes the incendary bombs that landed in Oregon forests as dropped from a sub-launch airplane, but I believe they were actually sent by balloon from the Japanese mainland.

IIRC one of these bombs remained unexploded until discovered by a group of children on a picnic, resulting in one or more deaths.

When the incendary devices were first delivered, the news stations and papers supresed the info, and it denied the Japanese the knowledge the idea worked at least some, if they had known it worked they were working on germ devices to be delivered that way.

Would the news media willingly supress that type of info today?

no

The sub attack on Fort Stevens (near Astoria) was also in June 1942.

Nwokei, Are you sure "the news stations and papers suppressed the info"?
read below:
The picnic was May 5th, 1945.

"First public announcement of the "balloon war" came in the third week of May 1945 when Washington confirmed that Japan had been launching gasbags for "several months" and warned Western residents to be on the lookout for the deadly devises. A week later the War Department acknowledged that such a balloon had caused the six deaths in Oregon;"

http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/people/smokejumpers/missoula/History/555th/555.htm

Thats what this article said, by late May, most of Japans capability for making balloons and sending them were eliminated.

The closure went as far inland as KODL in The Dalles. The station there built a small cabin behind the studio building so a person could sleep on the site. I was told that there was a device rigged to the teletype that would wake the sleeping operator in the event he was needed to sign the station on and broadcast emergency information