SWLing Post reader Nathan Woodruff is researching his late grandfather, a US Navy radio operator in WWII who later worked as a maritime radio operator for the United Fruit Company.
Family photos suggest his grandfather spent roughly six months, around 1947, working at the WBW coastal radio station in Burrwood, Louisiana — the former Tropical Radio Telegraph Company station that, according to most records, ceased operations decades earlier when United Fruit consolidated its coastal network.
Nathan’s key question: how long did WBW actually operate as a relay station? If WBW shut down in the 1920s or ’30s as records suggest, then either the family timeline is off, or a smaller facility carried on under that call sign (or a related one) into the post-war years. If you have any information about WBW, Burrwood, or Gulf Coast coastal stations operating into the 1940s, please leave a comment below. I’ll pass along anything useful to Nathan — and I’ve included the photo of the station from his grandfather’s album above.
Hey – I’m back … from the rabbit hole …
1912 – Appendix to Radio Act showing that the meteorological reports from Burrwood were tagged as “BW” … 1912 is at the very beginning of organized callsigns and I think this shows where this is going.
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-FCC/Radio-Act-of-1912.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
1914 – Description of Tropical Radio Telegraph Co
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Early-Technical/Telegraph-and-Telephone-Age/Telegraph-and-Telephone-Age-1914.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
1916 – Station listing for WBW with wavelengths
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Everyday-Engineering/Everyday-Mechanics-1916-07.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
1917 – Description of the network that the Burrwood station was in:
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Pacific-Radio-News/Pacific-Radio-Vol-1-4%20apr%201917.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
1922 – Several mentions of station at Burrwood in story about United Fruit Co/Tropical Radio Telegraph Co
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Broadcast/Radio-Broadcast-1922-09.pdf#search=%22wbw%22
1925 – “5XE” for an experimental station at Burrwood issued to Tropical Radio Telegraph Co
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Listeners-Guide/Radio-Listeners-Guide-1925-Vol-I.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
1925 – WBW mentioned in several places
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Logs-Lists-Directories/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/Radio-Atlas-1925-26-Akron-Beacon-Journal.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
1926 – Callbook listing showing WBW
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Early-Radio/Call-Book-1926-Amateur.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
1929 – Dept of Commerce Station List with WBW
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Logs-Lists-Directories/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/Commercial-&-Government-Radio-Stations-of-The-US-June-1929.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
1929 – W5XE listing for Tropical Radio Telegraph Co having sprouted a “W”, presumably in ’27.
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Logs-Lists-Directories/Archive-Radio-Logbooks/Radio-Stations-Of-The-US-June-1929.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
1931, 1932 – Mention of Tropical Radio Telegraph Company
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Bell-Laboratories-Record/30s/Bell-Laboratories-Record-1931-12.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Bell-Laboratories-Record/30s/Bell-Laboratories-Record-1932-02.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
1932 – WBW (and others) License To Cover a Construction permit
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Heinl-Letter/30s/HEINL-REPORT-1932-08.pdf#search=%22wbw%22
1966 – Much, much later mention of a USACE MF/HF, probably marine station at Burrwood:
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-CB-Radio/S9-Magazine/S9-1966-05.pdf#search=%22burrwood%22
Starting around the 60’s or 70’s, Tropical Radio Telegraph Company, callsign WNU, was a maritime station (Slidell Radio) in Pearl River, Louisiana.
https://dn710004.ca.archive.org/0/items/zhh-st.-helena-inside-view/Utility%20shortwave%20radio%20QSL%20cards/WNU%2C%20Pearl%20River%2C%20Louisiana%20.jpg