Do You Want a Tokyo Rose Radio MOD?

[Florida Sailor]

I would appreciate some advice from the forum. I have been doodling around with a Radio Tokyo Mod, NHK Radio. The idea was to have a station with Tokyo Rose, that we could listen to when we were near Japan. Here are the problems I have encountered.

There is not very much material available and what I could find are not very good in sound quality. I tried “washing them” a bit, but they are still not very good. At least 50% of each one I have are too static filled to understand.

The “Zero Hour” broadcasts began in 1943, bit the earliest ones I have are August ’44.

Tokyo Rose was the name our guys gave to the female voices on the “Zero Hour”. There were about 20 different ones and the lady we tossed in jail after the war identified herself on the radio as Anne and later Orphan Anne. None of them referred to themselves Tokyo Rose.

I would like to keep NHK Radio as authentic as possible and still have it dedicated to having Tokyo Rose broadcasts for the game. As I have the format for the broadcasts, I can create new ones from scratch. I have a lady whose voice could melt the polar icecaps and she has agreed to help me. I also have all the music I need. I am ready to start production. It will take a few weeks, but I think it will be fun to have for the radio. I would make one program for each month starting in early ’43 and ending in August ’45. They would consist of American music and of course, news and commentary by our “Tokyo Rose”. I would have the broadcasts, each an hour in length, as events. These would begin at the same time and date each month. I would then have to add some music to the folder that would play in between the broadcasts. So far, so good, but I need some input from the forum before I get started.

Here are my initial questions.

What do we have her identify herself as? Tokyo Rose, Orphan Anne or some other name?

How “mean” do we want her to be? In original broadcasts she is fairly “sweet” and just plays US music like a modern DJ. The “slanted” news and commentary is read by men. Do we want an authentic or a Hollywood version of our girl?

As long as we are creating this from scratch, do we want to have her lean toward directing her propaganda at the US submarine force? We could have general propaganda and a few snide remarks about US subs or really have her aim at the sub force.

What music do we want playing in between the broadcasts? US swing or Japanese martial and traditional music?

How far from Japan should “NHK Radio” be able to be picked up on our radios?

I could really use some guidance from the forum before I start creating the MOD. The way I plan to do it should not be affected by any patches, so that is not a problem. Depending on how we finally decide to do this will determine how long it takes me. I would guess it might wind up being a Christmas present for the forum.


Let’s confine this to just Tokyo Rose. The German “Lord Haw Haw” and “Axis Sally” were not heard in the Pacific.

ALL commentary on this subject is welcome.

This is also posted on the UBI Forum.
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...5/m/4291040306

If you are a member of both, it would be helpful to me if you post replies there.

@fred8615 Go ahead with your Radio Tokyo MOD. I will name mine NHK Radio, so that members will have a choice between your authentic broadcasts and my “re-creations” or have the ability to have both. I will post all of my Zero Hour material on filefront in a few days. I will email you a link when I upload it.

d

[Iron Budokan]

Yep.

[Cap'n Spanky]

What an excellent undertaking....

for me... make it as authentic as you can and stick with Rose.

Thanks in advance for yet another realstic immersion

[Chock]

You'll find it very hard to locate a lot of Tokyo Rose recordings, not many exist, although it would certainly be fun to have such a mod. You might want to note that there is strong evidence that she was forcibly made to do the recordings and was in fact very sympathetic to American prisoners.

Chock

[dean_acheson]

Possibly transcripts of programs somewhere?

[Florida Sailor]

Originally Posted by dean_acheson

Possibly transcripts of programs somewhere?

Iv'e been looking for weeks without sucess. If you know where I can find some, please put up a link. I have 9 shows total, most of which are of very poor quality. I have no transcripts at all other that for the shows I already have. The GIs listened to her a lot, but unfortunately didn't record very many. They just listened for the "music from home".

[DeepSix]

Yes! Definitely would like a Tokyo Rose mod and like your approach to solving it.

Speaking only for myself, I don't think I would mind the static too much, assuming there's enough non-static for the listener to know it's supposed to be a broadcast. If it's a separate radio station, I would just tune to a clearer station and then maybe go back to see if the reception was any better as would a real-life listener. I have all of my U.S. swing music in the Washington folder, for instance.

Does she have to identify herself at all? If the various broadcasters never actually identified themselves by any particular on-air handle then I don't need it in a mod (again, just my opinion).

Don't think she needs to be all that mean. My understanding is that the female broadcasters offered propaganda in the friendliest of ways - e.g., "Enjoy this song we know is one of your favorites, and think about your girls at home who are going out with other boys while you are fighting a war you cannot win." [Said with a smile]. If that is an incorrect understanding on my part, then FWIW I might like to have the male voice added in to read the propaganda and leave the music to "Rose."

Don't think her propaganda should be directed solely at the sub service; everyone in the Pacific was listening to her whether they were G.I.s or marines or sailors. Might be kind of fun to be on a sub and hear her say something like "This song is for the soldiers of the 1rst Marine Division, who are currently suffering on Guadalcanal...." Here again, I'd defer to more expert knowledge, but I think soldiers sometimes got their "news" and scuttlebutt in similar fashion.

What music do we want playing in between the broadcasts? US swing or Japanese martial and traditional music?

Both I think.

How far from Japan should “NHK Radio” be able to be picked up on our radios?

Don't know - whatever is historically accurate (or a reasonable approximation).

Let’s confine this to just Tokyo Rose. The German “Lord Haw Haw” and “Axis Sally” were not heard in the Pacific.

Agree.

Thanks for doing this!

[clayton]

Been done, brother. Check Tim Healy's work...

[Florida Sailor]

Originally Posted by clayton

Been done, brother. Check Tim Healy's work...

Ted Healy's is the late '44 & early '45 authentic broadcasts. Great work, but there are only 5 shows. What I am planning are 24 or 25 new, hour long programs that will try to be true to the "spirit" of the originals.

[Monica Lewinsky]

Originally Posted by Florida Sailor

I would appreciate some advice from the forum. I have been doodling around with a Radio Tokyo Mod, NHK Radio. The idea was to have a station with Tokyo Rose, that we could listen to when we were near Japan.

Please, then pretty please, once you overcome the problems. Sounds [no pun intended] like a REAL COOL idea.

Thanking you in advance of your efforts!

[SteamWake]

I would actually pay for this mod.

[leovampire]

http://www.earthstation1.com/Tokyo_Rose.html

There are a lot of excerpt's from her show in here.

here you go a cd with her broadcasts for only $5.00 us has 16 of her radio broadcasts and over 5 hours long.

http://www.otrcat.com/tokyorose.htm

[Reaves]

More radio mods certainly won't hurt. I'm a big fan of them for immersion and a high quality Tokyo Rose mod will definately make my quite selective mod choices.

[Florida Sailor]

Originally Posted by leovampire

http://www.earthstation1.com/Tokyo_Rose.html

There are a lot of excerpt's from her show in here.

here you go a cd with her broadcasts for only $5.00 us

http://www.otrcat.com/tokyorose.htm

Thanks leo, but I already have that. Most of these are 30 second spots. Sign ons, sigh offs. In fact I have had that CD for 3 weeks. As far as I can tell, there are no more than 10 more or less complete shows and I have 9 of them. One of the better 60 minute shows I have contains less than 20 minutes of intelligible content no matter how I wash it. fred8615 will get copies of everything I have, including the material from th CD and his MOD will use what he can. I plan on creating all new shows. If you want authenticity stick with fred's MOD. Mine is going to have to be a "fun" Mod.

BTW I am a big fan of ROW. Thank you for that incredible piece of work.

@Steamwake Sorry, if I got paid for it, that would take all the fun out of making it. You're just going to have to accept it as a gift. That's all there is to it.

[dean_acheson]

Originally Posted by Florida Sailor

Iv'e been looking for weeks without sucess. If you know where I can find some, please put up a link. I have 9 shows total, most of which are of very poor quality. I have no transcripts at all other that for the shows I already have. The GIs listened to her a lot, but unfortunately didn't record very many. They just listened for the "music from home".

I don't know of any, but this thing has the possibility of being one of the best radio mods ever.

The National Archives? Have you talked to anyone there? The College Park station?