Radio, the Jacob Ruppert, and Admiral Byrd’s Second Antarctic Expedition
When Admiral Richard E. Byrd set out on his Second Antarctic Expedition (1933–1935), he was not merely returning to the southernmost continent to extend the geographical discoveries of his first venture. This time, Antarctica itself would speak—regularly, audibly, and live—to the outside world. Radio transformed the expedition from an isolated polar enterprise into a global broadcasting event, and at the centre of that achievement stood the expedition’s flagship, the S.S. Jacob Ruppert.
By 1933, long-distance shortwave radio had matured just enough to tempt engineers and broadcasters into attempting what had never been done before: sustained two-way communication and scheduled entertainment broadcasts from the Antarctic. Byrd’s second expedition carried more radio equipment than any exploration party in history up to that point. Engineers themselves admitted that, prior to departure, they could not even say how many transmitters would ultimately be placed in operation “at the bottom of the world”.
Radio fulfilled several simultaneous roles. It was a safety link between the expedition and civilisation; a command-and-control system for ships, aircraft, sled parties, and base stations; a scientific tool; and—most dramatically—a means of mass communication. Through the CBS and NBC networks, Americans followed the expedition in near real time, listening to voices from a continent that was still largely terra incognita.
The S.S. Jacob Ruppert: From Cargo Ship to Floating Radio Station
The expedition’s flagship began life as the 8,257-ton steel cargo vessel Pacific Fir, formerly engaged in the West Coast lumber trade and later laid up among surplus World War I ships at Staten Island. Leased from the U.S. Shipping Board for the symbolic sum of one dollar per year, she was completely reconditioned and rechristened Jacob Ruppert, honouring one of Byrd’s principal financial backers.
The S.S. Jacob Ruppert
Under Commodore Hjalmar Fridtjof Gjertsen, a Norwegian naval ice pilot, the Jacob Ruppert became not only the logistical backbone of the expedition but also a floating broadcasting and communications centre. On the outward voyage in 1933 she carried 45 officers and crew, navigating from Boston via the Panama Canal, Easter Island, and Wellington, New Zealand, before pushing south toward the Ross Ice Barrier.
Even Marconi Played a Role Behind the Scenes
The Columbia Broadcasting System was responsible for all radio installations, equipment and the entire communications operation of the expedition. CBS estimated the cost of this at 1 million dollars. The expedition itself was financed through private funding and commercial companies such as CBS and its sponsors.
The Federal Radio Commission, predecessor of the Federal Communications Commission, assigned fifteen frequencies to the Byrd Expedition: 6,650, 6,660, 6,670, 8,820, 8,840, 13,185, 13,200, 13,230, 13,245, 13,260, 17,600, 17,620, 21,515, 21,600 and 21,625 kHz.
Prior to the departure of Byrd’s Second Antarctic Expedition in October 1933, CBS technical adviser Edwin K. Cohan stated that only practical trials would demonstrate which frequencies would provide the most reliable communications. In fact, although transmissions from Little America were received by shortwave listeners on many frequencies, only two — 8,820 and 13,200 kHz — originated from the list authorised by the FRC.
Cohan received extensive expert assistance during the planning phase. The science of long-distance radio communication, particularly through geomagnetically active polar regions, remained largely unexplored in 1934. Technical advisers included Dr T. S. McCaleb of Harvard University; A. Y. Tuel, Vice-President of International Telephone and Telegraph; Harry Young, a senior executive with Western Electric; William Thompson of American Telephone and Telegraph; S. H. Simpson of RCA; and the “father of radio” himself, Marchese Guglielmo Marconi.
No one knew with certainty how effectively signals would propagate from Antarctica to the United States. Early plans called for transmissions to be relayed via station LSK in Buenos Aires.
When Marconi learned that the expedition intended to test a series of frequencies between 6 and 21 MHz, he predicted that direct communication between Antarctica and New York might indeed be possible at the higher frequencies within this range. The renowned radio pioneer offered to establish a receiving station aboard his floating laboratory on the yacht Elettra, stationed off the Italian coast, in order to intercept signals from Little America.
Once transmissions began, it soon became evident that direct communication across more than 10,000 miles was entirely feasible — not only for professional monitoring stations, but also for ordinary shortwave listeners in the United States, and on frequencies descending to as low as 6 MHz.
For reliable reception of relay-quality signals, however, intermediate stations were frequently utilised, including Argentina’s LSK, KKW at Koko Head, Hawaii, and an RCA station at Bolinas, California.
The key station of the Byrd Expedition was KJTY, operating with a 1,000-watt transmitter that was initially installed aboard the S.S. Jacob Ruppert.
A Radio Installation Rivaling a Naval Vessel
Contemporary accounts emphasise that the radio room aboard the Jacob Ruppert was comparable to that of a major naval ship. The installation was divided into three functional systems:
Official Communications (CW) Morse (CW) transmitters and receivers handled all formal expedition traffic via the Mackay Radio system, ensuring dependable commercial communication with the outside world.
The S.S. Jacob Ruppert in Panama CanalBroadcast Transmissions Entertainment and information programmes were transmitted using a dedicated 1,000-watt phone (AM) transmitter employing large vacuum tubes. These broadcasts were heard regularly in the United States once the ship passed through the Panama Canal in October 1933.
Reception and Monitoring One of the principal receivers aboard was the well-known National AGS communications receiver, valued for its single-dial tuning—an important operational advantage under expedition conditions. A full set of AGS coils allowed coverage of virtually all conceivable wavebands.
The ship’s radio stores alone comprised more than 2,000 individual components, weighing approximately three tons. The inventory included:
10 transmitters
14 receivers
143 transmitting tubes
440 receiving tubes
115 quartz crystals
23 microphones
2 complete recording machines
55 measuring instruments
Receivers for both broadcast-band and long-wave reception were also carried, reflecting the need to monitor stations worldwide.
Broadcasting from the Ship
Radio control room on S.S. Jacob Ruppert
Broadcasting space aboard the Jacob Ruppert was severely limited. The ship’s studio measured approximately 6 by 8 feet and was adjacent to the radio control room. So scarce was space that the studio doubled as sleeping quarters for four members of the radio crew, with four bunks installed. Four control knobs mounted on the panel regulated current to the studio’s microphones.
Despite these constraints, the ship originated a series of Saturday-night broadcasts during the three-month voyage south. These early programmes, transmitted under the call sign KJTY, often came from an improvised cabin studio and were relayed via South America to RCA’s transoceanic receiving station at Riverhead, Long Island, before being fed into the CBS network.
From Ship to Ice: Little America Goes on the Air
Once the expedition reached the Bay of Whales and established its base at Little America in January 1934, the radio operation expanded dramatically. The 1,000-watt transmitter was moved ashore and reinstalled on the Ross Ice Shelf, where it operated under the call sign KFZ. Power was supplied by a 1,000-pound gasoline-driven generator—the heaviest single piece of radio equipment taken south and the only reliable power source at the base.
Antennas were to be supported on towers left standing from Byrd’s previous expedition, but the party prudently carried materials for new towers in case Antarctic storms had destroyed the originals.
From Little America, broadcasts were transmitted over distances exceeding 10,000 miles. Signals were often relayed via Buenos Aires and then forwarded northward through RCA facilities to New York, where CBS distributed them to 59 key stations across the United States. CBS’s shortwave station W2XE also forwarded the broadcasts to Europe, Canada, the Pacific, and even Australia, where the 1,000-watt signals could sometimes be received directly.
Aircraft, Sleds, and the Expansion of Radio Coverage
The radio cabin on the afterdeck of Byrd’s flagship S.S. Jacob Ruppert. From: Popular-Communications-1985-01
Radio accompanied nearly every means of transport used by the expedition. Byrd’s Curtiss-Condor aircraft carried a 50-watt transmitter, enabling the historic South Pole flight to be reported almost immediately. The signal was relayed from Little America via a 200-watt station to the Jacob Ruppert and onward to the United States.
Additional aircraft—including a Fokker and a Fairchild—were similarly equipped. Even dog sleds carried 1-watt VHF transmitters and receivers operating on 5 metres, allowing short-range communication between sled parties and base—an extraordinary level of integration for the early 1930s.
The Human Voice from the Bottom of the World
The broadcasts themselves were informal, sometimes chaotic, and immensely popular. Programmes mixed news, scientific commentary, music, and improvised entertainment. Sponsors such as General Foods underwrote the cost, with advertisements often delivered live from the Antarctic. One memorable sonic trademark was the barking of “Mike”, a sled dog whose voice opened many broadcasts.
CBS sent engineer John Newton Dyer to supervise operations on site, along with journalist and announcer Charles J. V. Murphy, who acted as producer, writer, director, and presenter. NBC and General Electric responded with their own broadcasts to the expedition via W2XAF, including a hugely popular “mailbag” service that allowed families to send short messages to Little America and receive replies.
Legacy
By late 1934, as the Antarctic summer returned and scientific work intensified, broadcasting gradually receded in importance. Yet the achievement remained unparalleled. Never before had an expedition offered such extensive opportunities for broadcasters, shortwave listeners, and radio amateurs alike.
The S.S. Jacob Ruppert, once a dormant cargo ship, had served as the first true Antarctic broadcast platform. Together with the transmitters, receivers, generators, and antennas hauled south across oceans and ice, she helped prove that radio could collapse distance itself—bringing the “bottom of the world” into living rooms thousands of miles away.
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