Station YMCA today cancelled the weekly radio addresses of Father Charles E. Coughlin from Royal Oak, Mich., for failing to submit the script in advance. Last week’s address “explaining” Nazi persecution by linking Jews to Communism, which prompted the station’s action, was repeated today from transcription on the 48 other independent stations throughout the country which are hooked up each week for the “radio priest’s” talks.
Station YMCA, whose president, Donald Flamm, had been in communication with Father Coughlin’s representatives until one a.m. today, broadcast at four p.m.–the scheduled hour for Father Coughlin’s broadcast–a statement by Mr. Flamm explaining that the program had been barred because “we do not believe it is in the public interest to broadcast material which will stir up religious or racial strife and dissension in America.”
While there was no local outlet for Father Coughlin’s speech, many were able to pick it up on the Newark station, WHBI. It consisted largely of a transcription of last week’s address, which deplored persecution of Jews, but also presented justification for it. The transcription was presented as evidence of Father Coughlin’s faith that what he had said was true.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
