Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

r ■"'■•■"*"' jjjU "■•"""■""" if iionriiT ST. jdiiN DAVID M. ANDKHSON '^ / GBANT PASS JOHN VANDEBCOOK NBC Reporters Cover the War tCoutinuiil from pw^c 10) ing that he was going to Ueimiark to look for a story. No dullards, the New York news stafF at once interpreted Jordan's eahle as the tip-off of the forthconiini; in\asi()n. NBC reporters were (juickly dispatched to the danger spots. The invasion came within a few days, just as Jordan had predicted. And our reporters were on tlie job in Nor- way and Sweden. W'iien Hitler smashed into llollanil, Belgium and France, NBC's reporters coxered the in\asion from all fronts. They brought .American listeners one of the last broadcasts out of Holland. They continued broadcasting from Paris until the Nazi troops took over. Helen Hiett left the French eapitol lit- erally only a few yards ahead of the advancing Nazis. With the fall of France, NBC ex- panded its news staff throughout the ! 24 RADIO AGE 1 Balkans. .Martin Agronsky, the doughtv Hutgers Uni\ersity graduate, who did his first broadcast for NBC in 19oy Irom Cene\a, was sent to Belgrade and then to .\nkara. Reporters were sta- tioned in Bucharest, Budapest and .Mhens to cover the Balkan war. At .Ankara, .Agronsky made radio broadcasting history. There, in \ irtn- ally the last remaining neutral capital in eastern Europe, Agronsky found himself in a strangely advantageous position to gather news of all the bel- ligerents. He could attend functions where .\.\is and Allied diplomats still iubi)ed shoulders. Agronsk\"s bioad- casts were packed with so many dail\- scoops that they became "must" listen- ing for American newspapermen and diplomats. As exciting a reportorial life as Agronsky had at .\nkara, it was dull compared to what he was later to en- niunter in Hong Kong, Singapore, Java nid .Manila. Agronsky was never a man to pull a punch. He may have angered some but he was later proved correct in his assertions that ea.sv-^oing life in Singapore was not enough to stop the Japs. One of his broadcasts reporting that .American warships in the Far East were using ammunition that had de- teriorated through age aroused Con- gressional repercussions but resulted in an official acknowledgment of the ac- curacy of his stateuKMits. When Hitler struck at Russia, NBC already was on the job. Robert Magi- doff was in Moscow to bring .American listeners the official Soviet reports of the progress of the war. When Moscow was threatened in the winter of 1941. Magidoff went to Kuibyshev with the official Russian government entourage. NBC in New York had meanwhile per- fected arrangements through RCA Communications to bring Magidoff's voice to the I'nited States either across the .Atlantic or Pacific, bv whichever route atmospheric conditions were better. Magidoff is in the NBC traditi(m- he's no arm chair repoiter. He has vis- ited the Russian fighting fronts and seen for himself what goes on. He has brought American listeners the first re- ])orts of the prowess of .American arms in the hands of Russian fighters. He is frequently quoted by Red Star and other official Sov iet publications, a trib- ute to his accurate reporting. Incidentally, it was Magidoff who initiated the negotiations bv which NBC obtained the Western Hemi- sphere rights for the first performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's Seventh Sym- jihony by .Maestro Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphonv Orchestra. .As Hitler drove deeper into Russia and negotiations between the United States and Japan neared the breaking point, NBC eyes were turned to the Pacific. Late last fall, reporters were hurriedly dispatched to outposts in Java and Batavia to supplement the staffs in Chungking. Tokyo, Mamla, Honolulu and Hong Kong. Reporters Mobilized Then came December 7. Within seconds. .NBC reporters at home and abroad, wherever stationed, were mobilized to report the latest de- velopments, to analvze world reaction. ;:nd to report from the battlcfronts. \\ithin an hour of the Jap attack on P("arl Harbor, we were receivins direct reports from Bert Silen and Don Bell in .Manila and Jim Wahl and others at Honolulu. NBC men were rushed from Chicago, Denv^er and Hollv\vood to San Francisco to establish a fullv- manned operating point for Pacific Seas operations. In the early morning of December 8, Army and Navy head- quarters at \\'ashington were manned by NBC reporters. .A special 24-h()ur telephone circuit was established at Washington .so that .Armv and Navv information could be got to the micro- phones within a matter of sectmds after release. On December S. Silen made eight broadcasts from Manila, setting a jiace which was followed mitil that hapless citv fell to the Japs. On December 9. Silen and Bell wrote another glorious chapter in the history of NBC broadcastins; with their eyewitness description of the bombiii'j; of Manila. American listeners heard the crack of bombs and the rattle of anti- aircraft fire as Silen and Bell, assisted by \\'.illaee. stayed on the spot to de- scribe what their eves saw. • "eppe.Five "t St Jolin ■\6C news t( npectanvre] ''rternotilic ^IjtVaneliadj 'rf Britisli r ""iMacVai ''"li'repnrff, ^BLr, ii^HHHmiiDusftpaanpfi