The Mysterious Mrs. Redgrave

The very first broadcast in the Philippines, probably in all of Asia was a test broadcast in 1922. According to the book Broadcasting in Asia and the Pacific by John A. Lent, an American woman named Mrs. Redgrave used a five-watt transmitter for a test broadcast from Nichols Field in Manila (Then just Camp Nichols, now Villamor Airbase). Her first name is unknown. A 1973 fire destroyed many records from the period. But the event is corroborated by a 1925 letter from Governor General David Wood to Bureau of Insular Affairs General Chief Frank McIntyre. The book Appropriation of Colonial Broadcasting by Elizabeth Enriquez further reiterates the claim and the lack of information on Redgrave going as far as to check the U.S. National Archive and Records Administration (NARA). Mrs. Redgrave remains frustratingly anonymous.

The surname Redgrave isn't particularly common. It originates from the parish and village of Redgrave, north west of Eye in the county of Suffolk as early as 1050. Author and artist Gilbert Richard Redgrave is even known to have some of his books on the shelves of the American Circulating Library of Manila back in 1907. The sisters Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave crossed the pond and rose to fame in the late 1960s, but were born long after the test.  Roy Redgrave his wife Margaret, and their son Sir Michael Redgrave all were famous on stage, and screen back to the silent film era. [SOURCE] Michael is known to have visited Manila, but not until decades later. He would have been 14 at the time of the broadcast. Margaret Redgrave was performing at a Comedy Theater in London in 1922 and also occupied. Possibly our Mrs. Redgrave was Hope Pillsbury [SOURCE] Redgrave,  the wife of Captain DeWitt C. Redgrave Jr. who christened ships at Evansville shipyard in the 1940s. In 1922 his ship the U.S.S. Montgomery was in the Pacific...

Excluding that unlikely arcane event, radio in the Philippines started in 1924 with establishment of KZKZ-AM in Manila on 729 kHz. The station as run by Henry Herman Sr., owner of an Electrical Supply Company. Mr. Herman was an American and a former soldier in the U.S. Army Signal Corps who fought in the Philippine–American War. He stayed in the Philippines after he was honorably discharged. Like many others he was trying to sell more radios by broadcasting programming for them to receive. His radio career began with a temporary permit in 1922 from the Bureau of Posts for a couple different transmitters one of which was mobile.

Two years into the experiment, Herman replaced the experimental stations with a 100-watt station with the call letters KZKZ. However, Herman soon after gave up on the commercial potential of radio. On October 4, 1924, with KZKZ but a few months old, he sold it to the Radio Corporation of the Philippines (RCP). RCP expanded into Cebu putting up KZRC (Radio Cebu) in 1929, which is now DYRC. It quickly became a free for all, which persisted until a U.S. colonial government instituted frequency assignments in 1931. For what it's worth Henry Herman was forced in WWII to sell electrical supplies to the Japanese military. Charged as a collaborator, he lost his military pension. More here.

The History of Radio in the Philippines

Edmundo A. Reyes wrote the book  The History of Amateur Radio in the Philippines. His original call sign was KA10R, his last one was DU10R. The book is both a history of Ham radio in the Philippines, and his autobiography.  It was published in 1974 and runs for 233 delightfully arcane pages. I don't know what the size of the printing was, but the only U.S. Library I can find with a copy is Yale. That image below is from the Old Old Timers Club, (OOTC) which is how I have the below image.

Reyes first began broadcasting in 1933. At the time there were only a handful of commercial radio stations on air in the Philippines. The first was KZKZ-AM, which began broadcasting from Manila in 1922 on 729 kHz. It was owned by Henry Hermann, the owner of an Electrical Supply Company. It started out at 5 watts, and by 1924 was operating at 100 watts when it was sold to the Radio Corporation of the Philippines (RCP).  They in turn launched KZRC-AM in Cebu in 1929 broadcasting with a 100-watt transmitter. In 1926 RCP began working on a Manila-San Francisco service.  KZRH may have signed on in 1933, but other sources claim 1939. But those are commercial stations. There was still radio before that.

In a 1920 Commercial and Government Radio Stations of the U.S. report I found the below list. Most list multiple frequencies. All were owned by the Philippine Insular Government. In other words, the radio band was already hopping by 1933 when Eduardo got his ham license.

• KPB - (600,1000 Mhz) - Amuguis, PI
• KEW - (600, 1200 Mhz) - Balabac PI
• KZAB - (600, 1200, 1500, 1800, and 2400 Mhz) - Basco, PI 
• KEO - (600, 952 Mhz) - Bongao, PI
• KPC - (3000 Mhz) - Batangas, PI
• KEV - (750 Mhz) - Cagayan de Sulu, PI
• KPI  - (600, 1200 Mhz) - Cebu, PI
• KPJ  - (600, 1200 Mhz) - Culion, PI
• KIF  -  (600, 1200 Mhz) - Davao, PI
• KPM - (600,1200 Mhz) - Hoilo, PI
• KPN  - (200 Mhz) -Isabela de Basilan, PI
• KIL  - (600, 1200, 1900 Mhz) - Jolo, PI 
• KPZ - (600, 952 Mhz) - Mati, PI
• KIZ  - (600, 1200 Mhz) -Malabang, PI
• KPV - (600,900 Mhz) - Malangas, PI
• KPW - (600, 1200 Mhz) - Malita, PI
• KPX - (600, 952, 1200 Mhz) - Port Lebak, PI
• KIV - (600, 1200 Mhz) - Puerto Princesa, PI
• KIY - (600, 1200 Mhz) -San Jose, PI
• KPY - (300, 600 Mhz) - San Francisco, PI
• KED - (600 Mhz) - Siasi, PI
• KIW - (1220 Mhz) - Zamboanga, PI

While Reyes book is reputed to be the best, it is not the only book about radio history specific to the Philippines.  Nonetheless, it's a tome I need to add to the library at some point. There are still a handful of other notables:

• The History and Development of the Radio Control Office - Judith Guthertz (1972)
• Stay Tuned: The Golden Years of Philippine Radio - Ben Ancieto (2007)
• Radyo: An Essay on Philippine Radio - Elizabeth Enriquez (2008)