STRANGEST LOVE TALE OF THE AIR

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 33, 27 January 1939, Page 6

STRANGEST LOVE TALE OF THE AIR

A MAN spoke recently every night at 10 o’clock on a mysterious Continental shortwave wireless station in a language which was foreign to many Continental listeners. Those who did not understand the language thought that the owner of the station was perhaps broadcasting political propaganda night after night. But the people who understood the language spoken by the mysterious broadcaster knew that it was Polish, and that the speeches which he transmitted every night were not political messages ‘but ardent declarations of love, addressed to a young lady named Jagunsha, a girl in Warsaw. , This, the strangest love tale of the air, is told here by the "Record’s" London reporter,

easter started his aerial declaration with the words: ‘‘Antok is ‘speaking to Jagunsha:’’ Outside this he made no mention of his name, his identity, the town where he was living, or the signal of his shortwave station. Shortwave amateurs in Poland also ‘caught these daily love messages. Many of them were intrigued and wrote to newspapers asking. who the mysterious broadcaster was. cE VERY night the broadThe newspapers _ published these Jetters, and so the Polish’ authorities got to know that a man, who, against the rules, omitted to name the signal of his shortwave station and who probably possessed’ an unregistered wireless station, addressed to a certain Jagunsha, a girl from Warsaw, declarations that grew more ardent day by day. Against The Rules NOW it is not permitted for the _ owner of. a private shortwave Station to transmit any messages over his set. The governments only permit people who are absolutely reliable from a political viewpoint, i., the government’s point of view, to operate a private shortwave broadcasting set, but even they are allowed to,transmit musical, literary or dramatic programmes only and are strictly {orbidden to transmit news items, information of any kind or other communications. "6 The young lover who: sent pasSionate messages to the girl Jagunsha every day ‘committed the threefold offence of, broadcasting communications which Should have been sent through the ‘post, ‘of refusing to ‘give the signal-of ‘his station and of opera‘ing a probably unregistered shortwave broadcasting set without licence. The Polish Broadcasting Company and the police> were eager to discaver the mysterious Antok and his wireless station, but their efforts had no results, since he transmitted his love messages on different wavelengths, every night. So Antok could not be located and, although he started his declarations at exactly the same hour every night, his identity and the Place from where he was transmitting his programme could not *@: discovered. Of course, the police did not. take the affair very seriously. If the young man had been a political orator spreading dangerous ideas over his broadcasting set, they might have made. every effort to find him and punish him. But the love-lorn Antok committed no serious offence and those who heard his daily messages were amused and touched at the young man who had chosen this rather odd way of letting his sweetheart know how much he was stricken by the objection of her parents to + their marriage.

[tT appeared that Antok had proposed. to Jagunsha and that she was willing to marry him, but her parents refused to consent to the marriage and forbade their daughter to see Antok again. They met secretly at first: but they were discovered by the girl’s parents on one occasion when tuey were sitting together in a little sweet-shop. There was a terrible scene at the end of which Jagunsha had to promise that she would never see Antok again, nor write to him. She kept. her promise, although she was very unhappy and Knew that Antok suffered greatly, too. In the meantime Antok, an engineer, lost his job, so that his hopes of marrying Jagunsha were slightev than ever. He left Warsaw and went to another town in Poland’ without bidding farewell to the girl, and with: out telling her where he was goin to try and start a new life; Anton ‘Hopes HE months passed by and he resigned himself to the sad thought that he would never be able to marry the girl he loved. Then one day a friend from Warsaw wrote to him that Jagunsha was being seen a lot with another man whom her parents urged her to marry, Antok’s love flared up again at this news. and he suffered agonising tortures at the thought ‘that Jagunsha should belong to another. man. But he did not . know what to. do.

He could not write to her, as her letters were * probably. opened by her parents, and that would make matters worse, He. could not telephone to her because again her parents would recognise his voice and would pre: vent him fr om. talking to the girl. So he hit upon the idea of transmitting a message to Jagunsha through the private shortwave radio station he had himself constructed. Jagunsha might not catch his message but other people, friends. of hers, might hear. his appeal and tell her about it. Besides, he knew that there were many amateur radio fans and experts in Warsaw, and also many. people possessing shortwave receiving sets as well as an Amateur Radio Club, so that it was not at all unlikely that several. people should receive his messages and report its contents to Jagunsha. Poland Listens LL this Antok related in his daily messages, to which by now a large number of people in Poland listened-in. All were anxious that the love-lorn young man should get the girl he loved. The newspapers printed Antok’s broadcasts, and published quotations from his _ passionate | appeals ‘to ‘Jagnnsha; his en-

treaties to the girl not to marry the other man, but wait until he could earn enough to support her and marry her, even against her parents’ will if need be. Antok told Jagunsha in ardent terms how much he loved her, and that he could not live without her. He risked the punishment that was in store for him if his wireless station was found out; he did not mind any danger as long as he could let his sweetheart know how much he longed for her, how terribly he cared. Many a girl, when listening-in to Antok’s appeals, envied from the bottom of her heart lucky

Jagunsha who was so ardently loved. But the real Jagunsha did not turn up until the end of the second week, just as the authorities were considering seriously to put an end to the illegal radio messages. The Lost Girl NE day, a blushing young girl walked into the Amateur Radio Club where the members gathered several times a week to listen-in to interesting shortwave transmissions. — "I am Jagunsha Wyczecha," she told the secretary of the club. "I read the articles in the papers about a certain Jagunsha to whom a mysterious Antok sends mesSages every night. I believe I am that girl. I would like to listen-in one night to this message at the club. We have no shortwave set at home, and I do not want my parents to know about it, as they are very angry about the whole business, anyway." ‘

That evening the girl listened-in to the aerial declaration of the man whom she had not seen for nearly six months. That night Antok was in particularly good form and his appeal to’ Jagunsha was simply irresistible. "No man will love you as much as t do, Jagunsha," he. said. . "No man will make you as happy as | could. Listen to your heart and do not let yourself be forced into marriage with a man you de not love just to please. your parents, *"T’ will work for you, I will take care of you, I will make you happy. Don’t drive me to desperation with your silence. Give me a sign that you have heard my messages, and that you still love me. Tell me that you will wait for me and will marry me. I cannut live without you."

His Voice AGUNSHA was deeply touched ‘by this message. There was no doubt that the voice was her Antok’s. She said that his full name was Antok Kivaroswski and declared that the rumour about her impending marriage to another man was mere gossip, and that she had never ceased to love her Antok, but was afraid to meet him when her parents so definitely forbade her to do so. She asked the secretary of the Amateur Radio Club to transmit her answer to Antok next evening, and tell him that Jagunsha had heard his message and still loved him, but that he must be patient because she had to overcome her parents’ objection first. Next evening Jagunsha’s mesSage was duly broadcast from the Amateur Radio Club, and since they transmitted his name, instead, they did not know Antok’s sign on various wavelengths. All the members assembled at the club during the next days, eager to hear Antok’s next transmission and to learn whether he had received Jagunsha's message or not. Messages End But. to their great disappointment no more messages came. Although they made every effort to catch the broadcast at the same hour every night, there were no iiore Messages’ fond Antdk: eee

They thought that Antok, discouraged by the failure of his attempts to get an answer from the girls for weeks, had stopped to transmit his messages just at the. time when she at last was willing to start again the romance which was so cruelly interrupted. by her parents. But Jagunsha came to the club: in a few days with a sparkling face and in high spirits. She had received a letter from Antok in which he wrote that he had heard her message. He disclosed that he was living in Byalistok and had an’ unregistered shortwave set, from which he broadcast his declarations. He informed her that he had. a job with an engineering firm and that he would soon earn enough to be able to marry her. Jagunsha showed the letter to the members of the ciub and confessed to them that her parents — were melting a little and were no more relentlessly opposed to their marriage as they had been ‘ before. a However, as soon as the police got to know through the Radio Club Jagunsha’s name and address, detectives went to her and told her that Antok would be fined for having committed the offence of sending messages through an unregistered wireless station without giving his signal. ‘Jagunsha informed them that Antok would come to Warsaw in a few days to see her parents, and that he would then report himself to the police and pay the fine. And».in another week, Antok Kivaroswski, a very happy young man, appeared at police headquarters in Warsaw, paid the ‘fine’ which amounted to 200 zlotys, and announced that it had been worthwhile to risk the punishment because he was now engaged to be hthsied' to "Fae sha 200 ees,