Radio Booth: Unique Spoken Newspaper During the Resistance War

During the final years of the resistance war against France, radio booths appeared in the Central region to update news of the resistance and national construction to every village and hamlet.

After the August Revolution in 1945, in terms of radio, our country had Voice of Vietnam (established on September 7, 1945 in Hanoi ) and Voice of the South which started broadcasting at the end of July 1946.

Radio document published by the Information and Propaganda Department of Binh Dinh province on September 25, 1950

PHOTO: DOCUMENT

The Voice of the South was established under the direction of Mr. Pham Van Dong, special envoy of the Party Central Committee and the Government in Inter-zone 5, to support the Voice of Vietnam. At first, the station was located at Tho Loc communal house, Ton Dinh village (now Tho Loc hamlet, Tinh Ha commune, Son Tinh district, Quang Ngai ). In 1947, the station moved to Nuoc Bo area, An Ninh village (now An Dung commune, An Lao district, Binh Dinh) with the new name of Voice of the South under the management of the South Central Administrative Resistance Committee and the leadership of the Standing Committee of the Zone 5 Party Committee.

At the end of 1948, the station moved to Nuoc Trong, An Thanh village (now An Trung commune, An Lao district, Binh Dinh). At first, the station broadcast in Vietnamese, and later in French and English. The station's program included news and music , mainly war news, domestic and international situations, and conveyed government directives and commentary to help people understand the plots and tricks of the French colonialists, calling for patriotism and solidarity against foreign invaders.

In mid-1953, the radio waves of the Voice of Vietnam became stronger, covering almost the entire country. The Southern Resistance Radio Station (1948) and the free Saigon - Cho Lon Radio Station were stable, so according to the Government's policy, the Voice of the South gradually reduced its activities, and in December 1954 it stopped completely, ending a 7-year journey accompanying the people of the South and the whole country in the fight against the invaders.

According to the History of Binh Dinh Province Press (1930 - 2020), although the Voice of the South Radio Station was located in Binh Dinh, because the transmitter had low power and the coverage was narrow, and most of the cadres and people did not have radios to listen to; as for the written newspapers, Nhan Dan Newspaper, the Central Cuu Quoc Newspaper and newspapers published by Binh Dinh Province, the circulation was very small, while the majority of the people were still illiterate, so the dissemination of information was very limited, almost not reaching the villages, hamlets and households.

To inform and propagate the Party and Government's guidelines, policies and strategies to the grassroots level, and to implement the policies of the Leaders of Inter-Zone 5, the Information and Propaganda Department of Binh Dinh province and the free zones of the provinces of Zone 5 developed "radio booths" to update news of the resistance war and national construction to every village and hamlet.

In Binh Dinh, radio booths have spread to the villages. The booths are built in the style of small stilt houses, about 5-6 meters above the ground, either standing alone on four pillars or placed on the tops of tall trees. The materials used to make the booths are reeds, coconut leaves, thatch, and bamboo. The means of broadcasting are speakers made of corrugated iron or areca spathe.

Radio booths are usually built in the village center, each village has one booth. Small communes that lack information officers only build one booth in the commune center, where there are many people and offices of commune agencies. In particular, there are villages such as An Thuong village, An Thanh commune, Hoai An district (Binh Dinh) that have up to 3 radio booths in 3 concentrated residential areas: Hoc Nghe, Phu Cu, Dong Tron.

The radio booths located in the villages of the commune are all managed by the commune's information and propaganda officers. The source of information for broadcasting is mainly based on news articles in the provincial newspapers, Nhan Dan newspaper, the Central's Cuu Quoc newspaper, and bulletins sent down by the department and the information and propaganda department. Every month, the Binh Dinh Provincial Information and Propaganda Department publishes 3-5 issues of radio documents to serve the information and propaganda work of the radio booths.

At first, provincial and district information officers went to the communes to help commune information officers carry out the propaganda program of the radio booth. Later, due to the strong development of the radio booth network, the Information and Propaganda Department of Binh Dinh province opened training courses for grassroots information officers to organize daily radio broadcasts.

Every day, after two working sessions, around 7-8 pm, people gather under the radio booth to listen to news, especially war news from various places. In some places, the number of people listening is as high as hundreds. In the radio broadcasts on the radio booth, in addition to the news, there is also a performance including revolutionary songs, resistance songs, folk songs, folk songs, folk songs, folk songs, folk songs, folk operas, etc. performed by local people. Although it is "homegrown", both the news broadcast and the singing part, the listeners listen attentively and enjoy it very much, no one leaves halfway.

When the enemy intensified their attacks, in some places the radio tower became a warning station for enemy aircraft and warships. When there were warships lurking at sea or planes circling in the air, the people sitting on the radio tower would repeatedly beat gongs and wooden fish to let the people know and take precautions.

Although the means were very rudimentary, thanks to the extensive network reaching the grassroots and operating continuously throughout the resistance war against the French, the radio booth promptly informed the majority of the population about the policies of the Party, the Government and the locality; the situation of increasing production, building the rear, news of victories everywhere in the province, in Inter-zone 5 and the whole country; encouraged and motivated all classes of people to enthusiastically promote patriotic emulation, actively contributing to the victory of the resistance war against the French.

Thanks to the birth of the radio booth, a form of collective newspaper reading, important news articles published in newspapers, especially articles explaining the Party's guidelines, policies and strategies; news of victories, news of production achievements, serving the frontline, developing education, culture, health care... were conveyed to the community, contributing to encouraging and motivating the emulation movement of resistance and national construction of all classes of people in the province.

The radio booth can be considered the predecessor newspaper of the radio and television industry of Binh Dinh province later.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/choi-phat-thanh-to-bao-noi-doc-dao-trong-khang-chien-185250616211941436.htm