Q894 Summary

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.

To read the Tape Transcript, click here. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1, Pt. 2).
[Better copy requested and received 2018] MP3.]
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FBI Catalogue           Radio Transmissions

FBI preliminary tape identification note: None

Date cues on tape:     December 2 & 3, 1977 (specified)

People named:

 
Bible verses cited: None

Summary:

(This tape was transcribed by Vicki Perry. The editors gratefully acknowledge her invaluable assistance.)

This tape consists of three radio-patched conversations between the headquarters of Peoples Temple in San Francisco and Jonestown. In the first and third patch, two adult daughters – both of whom have been associated with Concerned Relatives – speak to family members in Guyana. The second conversation, which comprises the second half of Side 1, consists of the Jonestown leadership, including Jim Jones, trying to clear up some administrative matters, but this portion of the tape is less clear, and there are enough coded references so as to make it virtually incomprehensible.

In the first conversation, Sandy Rozynko speaks with her mother and one of her two brothers in Jonestown. In the third, Mickey Touchette speaks with both of her parents, two of her three siblings, and her grandfather. The messages delivered by the young women are the same, and each of them repeats the message over and again – they love their family members, they want to get them out of Jonestown, they will offer their relatives safety and a new start to their lives, the stories that Jim Jones has been telling about their stateside relatives are lies, Jim Jones himself is  sick and evil and manipulative – but even more consistent are the replies from all of the Jonestown residents who speak: They live in the most beautiful place in the world, they will never come home, their stateside relatives are liars and thieves and revolutionaries, and while they say they love their daughters, they have made their lives in Guyana.

Because of the distortion and static in the radio transmissions from Jonestown, it is difficult to determine the affect and emotion of the family members there, even when the language they used is virtually identical from one to the next. The words of the two stateside daughters also become repetitious, but – similarly, in part because of trying to overcome distortion and break-up of signal – they have to cry out their messages, and each one’s voice shows frustration and even exasperation during their respective conversations.

FBI Summary:

Date of transcription: 6/29/79

In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into the assassination of U.S. Congressman LEO J. RYAN at Port Kaituma, Guyana, South America, on November 18, 1978, a tape recording was obtained. This tape recording was located in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, and was turned over to U.S. Officials in Guyana and subsequently transported to the United States.

On June 10, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B102-C28. This tape was found to contain the following:

Several transmissions between WA6DTJ (recorded on that end) and W6BMIB Portable 8R3 (in Jonestown?) shortwave broadcasts. One is on December 2, 1977, and “SANDY” is trying to persuade “MIKE” to leave the Temple. Another, on December 3, 1977, has “MICKEY” trying to persuade her whole family; grandparents, parents, MICHELLE, ALBERT, MICHAEL and Uncle TIM. They all refuse.

Differences with FBI Summary:

The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.     

Tape originally posted December 2022.