1945 Radio News


(4.7 stars; 17 reviews)

Experience the news from 1945 with this collection of radio broadcasts. This compilation includes various news segments and V-Discs from that pivotal year in history.

While these files may not all be available on archive.org, they provide a fascinating glimpse into the past.


This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.

Chapters

Select a chapter to play

FDR Fireside Chat On Battle Of The Bulge 20:42
January 7, 1945 25:07
January 14, 1945 24:57
Yanks In The Orient 15:26
January 17, 1945 28:44
WCCO Noon Newscast Cedric Adams 14:52
January 28, 1945 25:05
Healy's Open House Nylon Stockings 14:06
Adolf Hitler Last Broadcast 0:33
A Friend Of Yours & That Sly Old Gentleman 5:29
January 1, 1945 5:08
February 9, 1945 14:27
FDR Returns From Allied Conference At Yalta 3:45
February 18, 1945 24:35
Sgt. Richard Mawson Lands On Iwo Jima 2:20
Arthur Prim Reports The First Strikes On Iwo Jima 1:11
February 19, 1945 4:59
CAN Iwo Landing 0:17
Live Coverage Of U.S. Marines Landing On Iwo Jima 4:49
Sgt. Mawson On Iwo Jima Landings 2:17
Leslie Nichols On Iwo Battleship 3:08
CAN Report On Japanese Fortifications On Iwo Jima 0:40
How American Wives Are Faring 29:30
Tank Communications In Battle For Iwo Jima 1:26
Bud Foster From Flagship Of Admiral Kelly Turner 1:44
James Forrestal On The Battle Of Iwo Jima 4:26
Walter Winchell 10:27
Battle Of Mot 3:48
Nobody Knows 3:59
Old-Fashioned Love 4:16
CAN Iwo Jima Underground Fortifications 0:40
Battle For Iwo Jima 3:36
March 1, 1945 2:47
FDR Last Address Before Congress 1:00:33
Leslie Nichols Reports As Battleship Destroys Plane 0:46
March 4, 1945 24:41
A Soldier At The Breaking Point 4:25
Remagen Bridge Crossed 0:21
Ian Wilson Reports Americans Cross The Rhine 0:21
Chester Wilmot Reports From Montgomery's HQ 1:42
March 11, 1945 24:50
The March Of Time Report Of Vatican Policies 29:30
CBS Report To The Nation 4:03
March 18, 1945 24:54
United Nations Conference In San Francisco 14:28
Richard Sharpe General Slim's 14 Army In Mandalay 2:04
Black Marketeers In France 29:50
News Of The World 14:29
As Gliders Cross Rhine 1:11
Richard Dimbleby Recounts Glider Landing 3:43
Awaiting To Cross The Rhine 2:12
Winston Churchill Crosses The Rhine 1:23
Stanley Maxted Recounts German Attack On Hamilcar 1:35
March 25, 1945 24:48
March 26, 1945 19:25
Stuart McPherson Reports From Germany 1:16
The Kitchen Of Tomorrow 29:05
BBC British Soldier Released From OFLAG 12B 3:36
Wynford Vaughan-Thomas Reports On The Spearhead 1:58
Red Top 4:30
Poor Little Rhode Island 5:27
Cottoneyed Joe & One Meat Ball 4:41
Baltimore Oriole & Hong Kong Blues 4:22
Easy To Love 3:24
Don't Ever Change & Walk A Little Talk A… 5:06
Desolation On Iwo Jima 2:01
Edward Ward On Buchenwald 11:34
NBC War Report On The Battle Of Okinawa 1:49
Dream 2:59
The March of Time First Recorded Sounds of Mosquitos 29:44
April 5, 1945 25:02
Fishing Boat Sunk By U-Boat 11:26
Matthew Halton Gestapo In Holland 4:13
Richard Dimbleby Reports on German Civilian Reaction 2:07
April 8, 1945 24:50
Bill Henry Reports On Order Of Succession 11:40
CBS Bulletin Reports FDR Is Dead 0:25
CBS Don Fisher Coverage Following FDR's Death 21:31
Fulton Lewis Reports FDR's Death 1:04
April 12, 1945 13:51
Death of FDR 14:16
Fiorello La Guardia On FDR 9:54
Dora Bateman Commentary On FDR's Death 4:39
April 13, 1945 15:14
April 13, 1945 12:41
NBC Reports On FDR's Funeral Train 13:41
Undelivered FDR speech given by FDR Jr. 5:29
Edward R. Murrow On Buchenwald 10:40
A Report from London 10:40
April 15, 1945 25:02
Our Hour Of National Sorrow 1:58:42
Sammy Kaye's Sunday Serenade 24:20
Memorial to Franklin D Roosevelt 29:59
President Truman Addresses Congress After FDR's Funeral 6:02
CBC Canadian Army Repels Desperate Germans 4:01
CBS This Is My Best I Will Not Go Back (FDR) 28:10
President Truman On The Death Of President Roosevelt 3:34
Ernie Pyle Killed In Action 0:25
April 19, 1945 11:50
Richard Dimbleby Reports From Belsen 1:11
Allied POWs Free At Last 3:42
BBC Red Army Set To Enter Berlin 1:10
April 22, 1945 4:27
April 22, 1945 11:00
April 22, 1945 10:38
This Country Of Unspeakable Evil 9:26
Wynford Vaughan Thomas Reports On Bucholz Hall Of Honor 3:43
CBC Spies And Refugees In Allied Territory 2:48
April 25, 1945 0:55
Freddy Grisewood & Frank Gillard at Torgau-Elbe 0:45
April 25, 1945 4:08
U.S. Russia Meet 1:01:41
BBC Mussolini Partisans 1:08
BBC Russians and Americans Link 0:45
April 27, 1945 2:16
Sigrid Schultz In Ravensbruck 2:18
April 27, 1945 9:05
U.S. & Russia Meet 9:05
MBS American POW interviews 11:08
April 28, 1945 4:22
I Was There: The Story of Ernie Pyle 29:03
Jergens Journal 12:02
CBC Général Vannier Témoigne De L'horreur Des Camps De Concentration 0:21
Lord Haw Haw Final Drunken Broadcast 9:51
Scanning The Radio Dial 29:54
Robert Reid On Siegenheim Prison Camp 2:26
On The Upbeat 3:53
Only Another Boy & Girl 5:56
More And More 5:36
Delayed-Action War 3:32
First Service At Belsen Concentration Camp 0:34
Adolf Hitler Is Dead 0:46
Stuart Hibberd Announces Hitler Is Dead 0:44
A Toast At Torgau 4:07
MBS News Reports Hitler Is Dead 14:14
Adolph Hitler Is Dead 1:17
The Fall Of Berlin 0:30
BBC W.V. Thomas On Wehrmacht Surrender In Lauenberg 0:30
Thousands Surrender 1:30
Mock Germany Calling Broadcast 3:13
Chester Wilmot Awaits Surrender At Montgomery's HQ 0:21
May 4, 1945 0:47
BBC Field Marshall Montgomery Reads The Surrender Terms 0:58
CBS German Cease Fire 1:54
May 4, 1945 14:45
BBC Radio Newsreel From Belsen Concentration Camp 29:32
Can It Really Be Over? 4:29
Major C.F. Hoey Wins The Victoria Cross 2:19
May 5, 1945 3:31
Kentucky Derby 2:29
May 6, 1945 11:05
May 6, 1945 10:43
V-E Day Special Victory Program Many Stars 30:11
BBC Berlin Has Fallen 0:31
V-E Day 1:20
Thomas Cadett Witnesses Nazi Surrender 1:33
CBC Canada Celebrates Victory In Europe 25:29
Germans Sign Unconditional Surrender 6:04
Germans Surrender 1:47
May 7, 1945 14:25
May 7, 1945 14:25
May 7, 1945 14:04
H.V. Kaltenborn Comments On The End Of The War In Europe 13:59
Germany Surrenders 0:27
V-E Day 350 United Jewish Appeal 14:49
May 7, 1945 14:04
WOR News and Jimmie Fidler's Hollywood 29:18
May 8, 1945 55:46
Winston Churchill Speaks At Victory Party 2:48
God Save The King 1:02
H. Marshall Reports As Crowds Celebrate V-E Day 1:17
King George VI On Victory 0:57
Montgomery Remember Those Who Gave Their Lives 1:03
May 8, 1945 1:18
Germany's Unconditional Surrender 6:31
Winston Churchill V-E Day Celebrations 2:58
Winston Churchill Announces Nazi Surrender 1:40
Mackenzie King Addresses The Nation 12:29
Paul Triquet's Victoria Cross 7:38
George S. Patton 3:05
London Picadilly Circus Celebrations 1:54
Harry Truman Announces German Surrender 0:23
News Of The World 15:03
President Truman Proclaims Victory in Europe 19:47
May 8, 1945 51:52
King George VI On Victory In Europe 13:50
May 8, 1945 56:33
Thomas Cadett Describes The Devastation Of Berlin 1:41
Thomas Cadett Reports From Hitler's Bunker 1:23
Howard K. Smith Reports On Berlin's Destruction 10:14
Victory In Europe Edition 26:52
A Note of Triumph 59:04
May 13, 1945 25:07
The Landing Of The Marines On Iwo Jima 14:17
Matthew Halton Recounts Winter Struggle In Holland 0:44
May 20, 1945 24:55
The Meaning of V-E Day to Negroes 24:59
Now It Can Be Told 13:46
1st Lt. Gladys Fitzgerald Army Nurse Corps 2:48
Belsen Interviews 13:50
General Eisenhower's Memorial Day order of t 15:27
A Mildred Bailey with Paul Baron & his Orchestra - Sometimes 3:34
Lamplight 5:23
May 1945 AFRS V-E Broadcast Generals and Fleet Admirals 56:33
May 1, 1945 MBS Special Marine Broadcast 14:38
June 10, 1945 13:55
Dwight D. Eisenhower Guildhall Address London 11:22
The Zero Hour Hosted By Orphan Anne 50:19
Alex Dreier's Weekly News Analysis 5th Fleet Attacks Tokyo 14:12
Wings Over Jordan Interrupted 2:23
Eisenhower Addresses Joint Session of Congress 26:49
NBC News With Robert St. John 11:41
Ben Grauer Reports On Eisenhower's Homecoming 29:41
June 23, 1945 13:57
We The People Red Cross Volunteer 29:39
Up In Central Park 10:04
Which Of The Great 48 Are You From? 3:21
I Should Care 6:06
June 1, 1945 5:22
Three Caballeros & Victory Polka 4:17
You Tell Me Your Dream & Cielito Lindo 5:23
A Love Note To Tokyo Rose 1:37
Bob Steele Interviews Cpl. Charles Connor & Cpl. Henry Eaststri 3:33
The War Goes On U.S.S. Franklin Survivors 13:18
July 3, 1945 14:41
July 8, 1945 13:26
July 8, 1945 25:07
The Liberation Of Paris 28:24
July 20, 1945 8:19
July 22, 1945 25:35
MBS Reports Army Bomber Crashes Into Empire State Building 5:54
July 29, 1945 25:13
Truman Speaks Of Japanese Rejection Of U.S. Ultimatum 0:30
There I've Said It Again 4:57
You Belong To My Heart 3:19
Please Don't Say No 3:09
We'll Be Together Again 2:30
Lazy River 2:21
Too Marvelous For Words 3:16
When Your Lover Has Gone & Falling In Love 5:33
Baby Won't You Please Come Home 5:25
Cross Your Heart & When The Quail Come Back 6:01
Jumpin' Jehosaphat 3:17
Stars In Your Eyes & El … 4:52
Cavallero Boogie 1:35
Carle Boogie 3:06
What's The Use Of Getting S 5:43
Let's Fall In Love 3:20
Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone 1:11
That's What I Like About The South 2:45
July 1, 1945 5:45
Deacon Jones & I Like 'e 4:11
Take Me Out To The Ballgame 4:35
Strange As It Seems 4:56
Twilight On The Trail & Red River Valley 4:29
August 5, 1945 4:57
Philco Radio Hall of Fame: Landing Craft Musical 29:57
Atomic Bomb Destroys Hiroshima 0:55
August 6, 1945 0:21
August 6, 1945 0:12
August 8, 1945 BBC Nagasaki 2:05
Russia Declares War On Japan 1:56
Group Captain Leonard Cheshire Nagasaki Witness 2:00
U.S. Waits For Japan's Surrender 12:57
The Zero Hour Hosted By Orphan Anne 50:50
President Truman Threatens Japan With Further Atomic Attacks 0:26
Japan Surrender Offer 14:07
August 10, 1945 14:30
August 10, 1945 14:26
David Harum 14:19
NBC WEAF News At Noon 14:25
Maggie's Private Wire 14:25
August 10, 1945 14:26
The Music Room 14:47
August 10, 1945 44:35
August 10, 1945 14:23
The Guiding Light 14:32
Today's Children 14:30
Woman In White 14:28
Betty Crocker Service Program 14:27
A Woman In America 14:45
Ma Perkins 14:16
Pepper Young's Family 14:42
The Right To Happiness 14:40
Mary Noble Backstage Wife 14:13
Stella Dallas 14:31
August 10, 1945 14:55
Young Widder Brown 14:30
When A Girl Marries 14:33
Portia Faces Life 14:16
Just Plain Bill 14:31
August 10, 1945 14:57
August 10, 1945 14:41
Serenade To America 24:38
August 10, 1945 4:34
August 10, 1945 14:36
Highways Of Melody 29:34
August 10, 1945 28:42
August 10, 1945 CBS False V-J Day Report 14:23
NBC News of the World 29:09
Atlantic Spotlight Beatrice Kay 29:11
August 11, 1945 14:12
The Zero Hour Hosted By Orphan Anne 52:31
August 12, 1945 25:10
False Initial UPI Report Of Japanese Surrender 0:50
The False Peace Flash 14:05
Waiting For V-J Day 14:22
August 14, 1945 9:49
Japanese Surrender 12:04
Japanese Surrender 9:58
Japanese Surrender 12:08
Victory Extra 50:02
August 14, 1945 16:07
CBS Live Streets Of Hollywood 3:37
Hirohito Speech Surrendering Because Of A-Bomb 7:58
CBS Reports Truman Accepts Japanese Surrender 3:54
CBS Reports V-J Day Celebrations In Cincinnati 0:47
End Of World War II 0:15
Commentary On End of the War 5:31
August 14, 1945 6:30
Japan Surrenders 3:58
Japanese Surrender News 11:45
Ben Grauer On V-J Day Celebrations In Times Square 4:22
August 14, 1945 3:32
H.V. Kaltenborn Comments On The Japanese Surrender 5:34
Kaltenborn Reports On The End Of The War 5:27
1st Bona Fide Japanese Surrender 0:35
Public Announcement V-J Day Services 0:19
Reaction In Washington 0:13
August 14, 1945 17:31
V-J Day Report From White House 0:32
Japan Surrender Celebration Milwaukee 58:25
August 14, 1945 19:55
Woman Describes V-J Day Announcement 0:24
August 15, 1945 1:40:19
V-J Day 19:17
August 15, 1945 1:14
British Crowd Sings God Save The King 0:45
Clement Atlee Announces The Surrender Of Japan 0:55
King George VI To Empire 1:00
CAN Admiral Bull Halsey Message To 3rd Fleet 1:42
The Second World War Is Over 5:13
KLUF Crisis In War Town Heartbreak Island 15:08
V-J Day Gene Krupa from the Hotel Astor 14:53
Hirohito Announces Japanese Surrender 0:11
President Truman On Victory 1:03
WOR Bulletin Suicide Of Japanese War Minister 0:40
August 16, 1945 11:19
August 19, 1945 25:23
Day of Prayer & Thanksgiving 29:49
August 26, 1945 24:50
Admiral Turner Okinawa Invasion 2:06
A Report To The Nation Excerpt 2:02
Radio Moscow Victory Guns 1:04
You Go To My Head 3:51
September 1, 1945 14:24
Webley Edwards On U.S.S. Missouri 3:25
General MacArthur On Victory Over Japan 1:42
President Truman V-J Day Special 29:03
General MacArthur Announces Japan's Surrender 1:44
September 2, 1945 23:34
Ernie Pyle Bob Hope On The War's End 1:53
Japanese Surrender Ceremony Onboard U.S.S. Missouri 32:36
Japanese Surrender Broadcast Recap 17:12
Victory Over Japan Speech 2:04
September 9, 1945 25:33
September 16, 1945 25:50
Congressional Medal Of Honor General Jonathan Wainwright 28:25
A Tremendous New Force 5:27
Letters from Servicemen 13:40
Orphan Anne Performs Mock Sign-Off For U.S. Newsreels 0:19
Orphan Anne Performs Mock Sign-On For U.S. Newsreels 0:56
Prophecy 14:13
September 23, 1945 24:55
Victory Chest Program 1945 Victory Drive 13:56
V-Disc A Maj Glenn Miller & the Band Of The AAF Training Command 5:50
A Kiss Goodnight & North 6:31
Good-Night Song 5:28
Belsen Survivor 1:42
Victory Chest Program 1945 14:20
William F. Halsey and 3rd Fleet Return to U.S.A. 13:54
Quoting America Labor Strikes 13:09
Quoting America: Nuremberg War Trials 13:18
October 24, 1945 0:53
Harry S. Truman Navy Day Speech, NYC 26:58
The French Elections 14:06
Gershwin Piano Concerto 5:42
Gershwin Piano Preludes 2 & 3 3:29
September In The Rain 6:02
Jungle Drums & Casey Jones 4:42
Stars In Your Eyes & My Shawl 6:05
St. Louis Blues 4:28
Dinah 4:18
Downhearted 5:10
Beyond The Blue Horizon 4:33
October 1, 1945 5:40
Medley From Waikiki Wedding 6:14
I Wish 3:13
Put Another Chair At The Table 3:21
Till Then 2:52
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy 2:18
Home 3:29
Almendra & Tra-La-La 5:09
When The Gooses Come Back To … 4:02
Baia 3:38
CBS Report To The Nation 30:16
Sgt Frank Foster On Building The Burma Railway 1:22
Reginald Watson-Jones In Honour Of Russia 5:31
Story of KQW Jack Webb 28:11
Göring, Hess & Ribbentrop Plead Not-Guilty At Nuremberg 0:23
William Joyce Lord Haw Haw Dismissal Of Appeal 3:32
Bing Crosby Victory Bond Show 27:15
Doris Miller Tribute 3:42
Look for the Silver Lining 3:20
Slim Gaillard Quartette - Atomic Cocktail 2:41
Bob Hope Christmas Show From San Francisco 30:36
Bob Hope Christmas Show From San Francisco 22:14
AFRS Command Performance 1945 Christmas Special 2:03:02
December 25, 1945 1:00:19
1945 In Review 59:21
WJR Stump Us 14:11
The Fred Allen Show: Duke Ellington Pre-emption 28:46
December 31, 1945 1:00:04
1945-xx-XX BBC - General Forces Programme ID 0:28
1945 Radio News 0:11
Indian Love Call Medley 2:50
KFI Ad Club of Los Angeles WWII Recap 13:02
Swinging On A Star 2:45
Radio Bremen - ID & Interval Signal 1:32
Radio Hamburg- ID & Interval Signal 0:11
Radio Herrijzend Nederland 0:32
Radio Munich 1:11
Slim Gaillard Quartet - Laguna 2:44
Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams 2:10
Tokyo Rose Describes Her Show 0:54

Reviews

Outstanding! Thanks for Posting


(5 stars)

Our host has done a marvelous thing! Wowser! I'm listening to an Admiral refrigerator commercial with a tag to save paper for the war effort. That's one small example. I'm struck by the literate, conversational manner of Douglas Edwards. It's not to clipped gotta-say-it-fast five minutes of news we get now. Love those 15 minute newscasts. There is a local station here that actually reports a 15 minute newscast, complete with funeral announcements. It is rare. We have lost a LOT by having to cut down the news today. Again, thanks for sharing. If you have more, please post more.

Reference lost on me


(5 stars)

In Norman Corwin's "On A Note Of Triumph" (1945-05-13), there's a particularly dramatic passage beginning at 38:40 where different voices are frantically shouting lessons that we've learned from World War II. One of them is, "We’ve learned that a newspaper with a big circulation right at home can lie with a straight face seven days a week and be as filthy and fascist as a handout in Berlin!" I'd love to know which newspaper Corwin was referring to. So far I haven't been able to turn up anything.

Something off here


(3 stars)

Listening to Hitler's last recorded broadcast, there is no screaming, no fervor, no nothing. By this time, he was a shell of his former self. He was heavily medicated, suffering from a host of ailments. In less than 5 months, he would be dead and the war in Europe over.

1945 Radio News


(5 stars)

Great selection of news broadcasts. One correction though, the CBS World News dated April 5, 1945 should actually be April 15. It was the day FDR was buried, he died on the 12th and was buried on the 15th.

It's like I'm in 1945


(4.5 stars)

Nice

Great clips! Are they public domain by any chance?


(5 stars)

These are all amazing clips - thank you for uploading them! I'm currently doing research for a documentary about the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the clips from February and March of '45 are so enlightening! I'd love to be able to use them in the documentary if at all possible. Do you know whether they (especially 15 through 21) are public domain? Or, if not, might you know who owns the rights to them, or how to find out? Any information in that regard would be greatly appreciated. I can be reached at bsswrap@gmail.com Thanks again!