CQ Amateur Radio: 75 Years and Counting!
Welcome to CQ’s 75th anniversary issue! Amateur radio has undergone incredible changes since it came back to life after World War II, and CQ has been there every month to chronicle its progress and, frequently, lead the way. Here’s a look back at highlights of the past 75 years of amateur radio as viewed through the lens of this magazine.
The end of World War II marked many new beginnings in the world, including a new beginning for amateur radio and for a ham radio magazine that traced its roots to 1917. Pacific Radio News was launched that year in San Francisco, even as amateur radio itself was shut down for the duration of World War I. Initially, the “Pioneer Journal of Western Radio News and Development” covered all aspects of radio, both amateur and commercial. By 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression (which, ironically, was a boom time for ham radio), its name had been shortened to Radio and its focus had shifted entirely to amateur radio. Radio thrived in the years to follow, attracting some of the biggest names in the hobby to its pages and, in 1936, merging with competitor R/9 to form a bigger and better-financed Radio magazine. World War II brought things to a screeching halt and, in 1944, Radio was sold to John Potts and Sanford “Sandy” Cowan. They split the magazine into two titles, with Radio being focused on broadcast engineering (it later became Audio Engineering and then Audio magazine, which was published until 2000) and the new CQ, devoted to amateur radio. The first issue of CQ was published 75 years ago this month, in January 1945 (Photo A), even as amateur radio remained shut down for the duration of World War II.1
That first issue’s editorial contained a mission statement, one which each of the magazine’s 11 editors has worked to uphold. Amazingly, even after 75 years, it is in no need of updating:
From the January 1945 issue: This, then, is the raison d’etre for CQ — a magazine for the radio amateur, with a particular invitation to the newcomer. It should not, however, be inferred that we shall confine ourselves to the ABC’s of ham radio. We visualize CQ as a magazine that will stick with the ham long after the parts of his first rig are dust-laden in the junk-box, and as a monthly refresher course for the old timer. While placing some emphasis on the elementary, we are still under obligation to carry through with articles on modern techniques and apparatus. Similarly, we shall follow up tradition (with which every ham must be familiar) with all the vital news of amateur radio today and tomorrow.
Radio Silence (Sort of)
When amateur radio operators returned to the airwaves after World War II, was there to help them get back on the air, get back to DXing, contesting, and building. But the earliest issues appeared before the war had ended and before the ban on private radio transmitting had been lifted. Actually, America’s 60,000 hams weren’t entirely silent during the war. Thousands were The March 1945 issue of featured an article on “WERS at Work” ().
