Manila Rose Scripts

In February, 1945, before the U.S. fully controlled the Philippines, The Army Counter Intelligence Corps arrested Myrtle Liston, aka "Manila Rose." Just as Iva Toguri would do in September, Liston voluntarily turned over scripts from her music and nostalgia program, Memory Lane. However, whereas Toguri's program Zero Hour showed no real propaganda, Memory Lane clearly did. You can judge for yourself in the scripts below.

Memory Lane broadcast from Manila of RPRM from 5 to 5:30 PM. The Japanese employed a hodgepodge of call letters including PIAN, PIRN, PIRM, PIAM, KZRH, KAIN, KZRF, and RPRM for two radio stations and intermittently a third. PIAM exemplifies the confusion. CIC reports state that "Station PIAM broadcast on shortwave, being beamed to the United States." This comports with Liston's testimony that she broadcast POW messages to American families. Conversely, FBIS headlined transcripts "PIAM Manila to the Philippines." FBIS recorded PIAM broadcasts in English, Spanish, and Tagalog that include segments such as "Native song by a lady, words in Tagalog," local news, and introductions by announcers such as "Good evening, friends and fellow Filipinos. Through this program, your government comes to you tonight ..." Were PIAM a longwave station broadcasting locally, it clearly would not carry POW messages for Americans. If there is a logic to the various call letters, I have not discovered it.)