Hirohito delivered Japan's recorded surrender announcement to the public in 1945.
Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Shōwa, had been emperor since 1926. His address was broadcast at noon on August 15, 1945, after Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. The speech was a recording rather than a live radio appearance.
For ordinary Japanese people, the broadcast was historically unprecedented: it was the first time many had heard the emperor's voice. Hirohito spoke in formal classical Japanese, and the indirect wording meant that some listeners did not immediately understand that Japan had surrendered.
Two days later, on August 17, Hirohito issued a separate message to officers and soldiers of the imperial forces. The civilian broadcast and the later formal signing aboard USS Missouri are related events but not the same act.