Sign-off for conelrad

Back in 1951, when the U.S. began to worry about Russian-atom armed bombers, somebody had a notion that the invaders might steer by the crisscrossing waves of U.S. commercial broadcasting stations. Probably Russian navigators were never so helpless as that, but an official system, Conelrad (for Control of Electromagnetic Radiation), was set up to foil them. Under Conelrad regulations, all regular broadcasting would go silent during an attack, while stations going on and off the air on two special frequencies, 640 and 1240 kc., would stand ready to give instructions and comfort to the quaking population.

Conelrad continued for nearly twelve years, at considerable cost in money to the Government and nuisance to the broadcasters while improved navigation methods made steering by broadcasts sound like something out of the Stone Age. Then Russian bombers themselves became a minor menace compared with ballistic missiles, which can strike a few minutes after the first warning and are steered by inertial guidance systems that need no information from U.S. broadcasters or any other external source.

Last year the Department of Defense at last decided that Conelrad had long outlived its fractional usefulness. But it seemed to have a charmed life, and not until last week was it formally declared obsolete. On Aug. 5 it will be replaced by a new Emergency Broadcast System, which, during an attack, will use all AM stations that are still in working condition to send a single program of orders and solace to those citizens who are still alive.

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