1940's radio bands

[George Lemaster]

I was licensed in 1958. SW bands were chock full of SW broadcasts (AM) from every country and hams mostly used AM. VHF 2 meters was AM phone and FM came along later when you could buy surplus Motorola tube VHF radios in mid to late 60s.  A few rich hams I knew had SSB but most of us had receivers not stable enough for SSB reception. Lots of WW2 surplus all AM and CW of course. 
Some hams were on rtty but ham bands were cw and am phone. Military long haul was rtty and multiplexed rtty. There were news feeds on rtty.
George