SASWA - then it was just SAWA as the printer had left the second
'S' off the logo - was founded in the backroom of Bill's Bar &
Slovenian Hamburger Inn in Intercourse, PA sometime during the week of
August 7-13, 1963. Unfortunately, the exact activities that went on
in that room that lead to the foundation of SASWA will never be known.
Nor will how the five founding members woke up on the morning of
August 14, 1963 on a sidewalk in Happy Jack, Arizona with an edition
of the SASWA by-laws and 50,000 copies of the August, 1963 edition of
BLANDX.
After those first 50,000 copies sold out at the local newstand in
two days (possibly due to the accidental enclosure of a counterfeit
$100 bill in each one), it was decided to continue the club on a
somewhat more legal basis. Founding member George Le Bouton agree to
take on duties as publisher/editor/secretary/treasurer. So, a few
nights later George and his wife hit a local business supply store for
a mimeo machine and some much needed cash. The September, 1963
edition of BLANDX was printed in Intercourse, PA.
BLANDX back then scarcely resembled today's "magazine".
It was not full of boring DX information and grossly inaccurate
loggings, but rather contained girlie pictures and a sci-fi story
or two. The girlie pictures had to be dropped after the police
raided Le Bouton's home.
In February, 1965 it cost the then 595 members $3.27/year for
membership. The club's headquarters, as described by Le Bouton, was a
twelve room penthouse suite with a very large terrace and the club had
a staff of forty-eight beautiful secretaries. Needless to say, Le
Bouton was a notorious liar.
It was during the following six months that several of today's
columns were added to BLANDX, e.g. "Shortwave Central",
"Scorebored", and "Important Filler".
Inter-club squabbling had always been a concern in the hobby.
Therefore in January, 1966, SASWA announced the formation of a
friendship committee under the direction of Luigi Locatelli.
Unfortunately, soon after that the editors and publishers of many
competing clubs mysteriously disappeared, but at least SASWA's
membership totals climbed higher and higher. This caused Le
Bouton to observe, "We must see eye to eye while we are standing
back to back." As usual, Le Bouton had been drinking heavily
when he said that.
Taking low-blows at other members was obtaining an even greater
emphasis at SASWA. The need for more space for snide remarks and
witty statements about the morality of other DXers' sisters caused the
club to drop MW coverage in June, 1966. This made SASWA the world's
first all-SWBC club with a member in Weed, New Mexico.
December, 1966 brought the debut of a character who would become
hated by thousands: Charlie el Notoub. El Notoub was a gossip
columnist with a vivid imagination and a staff of skilled
photographers. Although he destroyed the reputations and
marraiges of several dozen DXers, BLANDX continues to
print his valueless, trashy material for reasons unknown. El
Notoub never revealed his true identity, and several members
wasted the most productive periods of their lives attempting to
figure out who he really was.
The year 1967 brought several changes to the club. Le Bouton
began mailing the bulletins, eliminating the need for members to fly
to Intercourse, PA each month to pick up their copy. Log report began
using actual member loggings, instead of the editors' imagination,
WRTH, and local phonebook. Finally the membership fee was doubled to
$6.54 a year after another libel suit. And of course in December,
1987 the club celebrated four years and five months of existence.
As it was, 1968 was the most quiet year in the club's history. Le
Bouton joined AA and the bulletins actually began to appear on a
regular basis. Also a new feature edited by Oregon DXer John Smith
(not his real name) was added - "The Flasher Sheet". As some
confusion over the column's purpose soon arose, the column's name was
soon changed to "Hot DX-type Stuff" and a new editor found. In
general, the improved BLANDX of 1968 was the result of Le Bouton's
plagarizing bulletins of major European DX clubs.
In 1969 Le Bouton reported that Radio Moscow had contracted the
club to assist them in seeking out a North American member who could
supply a monthly taped DX segment as well as selected vital US defense
secrets. BLANDX was proud when member Col. William Breese was
accepted and approved upon recommendation of the SASWA BoD.
Le Bouton was well known for his very frank statements, some of
which are believed to have caused his wife's suicide in May, 1969. In
June, 1969 a somewhat more introspective Le Bouton wrote, "In the days
after I gone, let it be remembered that SASWA was once run by a
megalomaniac who wanted nothing more than to squeeze others dry for
every drop of power or money he could get."
Membership finally passed the 2500 mark in January, 1970.
However, a shortage of editors led to the establishment of an
editorial draft lottery among the membership. A small proportion of
those drafted to be editors swam across the border to the Bahamas, but
most served willingly after Le Bouton arranged to have their QSL
collections held hostage. In February Log Report changed from listing
loggings in alphabetical order by country's dictator's middle name to
a numerical approach, listing by a country's GNP in 1947.
Then in November, 1971 Le Bouton absconded with the club's
finances and went to Uganda where he became a cabinet member for Idi
Amin. (In September, 1972, he disappeared without a trace following a
coup attempt. However, in 1974 he was reportedly seen in Oruro,
Bolivia.) Fortunately a committee was formed by members Sven
Gonzalez, Hank Borington, and Paul Fremus, who were able to get SASWA
back on its feet again and even make a tidy profit for themselves by
raising dues to $10.57 a year. Another major change made by the
committee was the elimination of the editorial draft lottery. Without
Le Bouton to spread viscious rumors about the editors' manhoods, as
well as their mothers and girlfriends, many members were willing to
volunteer to serve the club. In 1972 several additions were made to
the BLANDX staff as Dr. Phillip Simpson and Bill Kyle joined Log
Report and Clay Hastings joined Roll Out! Club HQ was moved to Glad
Valley, SD when Hank Borington took over all administrative duties.
The above article appeared in the 1987 edition of BLANDX, the DX
bulletin parody magazine. More information about BLANDX is available
from Don Moore.
This website is maintained by Don Moore,
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A History of SASWA
By Dillon Hollister
Association of North American Radio Clubs
DXer of the Year for 1995.