Answering an urgent
plea from President Roosevelt, KSFO’s Wesley Dumm built shortwave
station KWID in 1942. It was the West Coast’s most powerful shortwave
station, supplying critically-needed radio coverage in the
Pacific during the war. The KSFO transmitter building on Islais Creek
was expanded to house the transmitters, and a large antenna field was
built adjacent to the transmitter.
ABOVE, LEFT: KSFO president Wesley Dumm and chief engineer Royal V. “Doc” Howard review plans for the KSFO transmitter building on Islais Creek.
ABOVE, RIGHT: An expansion room on the South side of the building housed the giant transformers for the transmitters.
BELOW, LEFT: The round addition to the West side of the building contained a large rotary switch that connected the transmitters to their respective antennas. The wires extended out from the insulators in the windows were connected to the antennas.
BELOW RIGHT: This view from the antenna field, still under construction, looks East towards the expanded building. In 1943, another building expansion was added on the North side (left, in this view) to house the transmitter for a second shortwave station, KWIX.
John F. Schneider & Associates, LLC