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

NBC M F ICROPHONES GO INTO THK FIELD ll\ A MILITARY PR(il;ll.\l WIVU MFN FROM ORT BRAGO, N. C, TO PICK LiP A BROADCAST FOR "THE ARMY HOUR." Army Takes the Air "THE ARMY HOUR" ON NBC. "NOT A RADIO PROGRAM. BUT A MIL/TARV OPERATION,- SECRETARY STIMSON SAYS. By William Burke Miller Mauagcr, Public Service Department, mid War Pnii/rnm Mannycr, Xntioiial Firoadcaiftiiig Co. WHEN the United States dis- covered its security was en- dangered, it set out to defend itself against its enemies with the best of its resources. When it needed an army it draft- ed the cream of its manpower. When it needed airplanes and .ieeps, it put the nation's best designers and engineers to work. When it un- dertook a military operation, it called upon the best tacticians and strategists. It called upon the men with the best "know how." And when, some months after Pearl Harbor, the United States decided to produce an official radio program, it came to the National Broadcasting Company. The plans were ambitious. What was wanted was no mean program about camp life, no melodramatic fanfare, no gags about soldiers'— but instead, a well-done, well-built jirogram; a program truly repre- sentative of Uncle Sam's vast arrriy in all its various phases; a program with sufficient dignity to represent the U. S. Army; a program that would explain the Army; a program that would demonstrate truthfully 1(1 the nation what its sons and brothers and fathers were doing, whether they were in a Texas train- ing school or u desert outpost. That was the job NBC had to do. It was not an easy one. Production directors, special events and pro- gram experts, musicians, and engi- neers conferred. The time, the length, the format, the content had to be worked out. The result was 'The Army Hour." The first program was aired on April 5, 1942—the twenty-fifth an- niversary of the entrance of the United States into the first World War. The initial "Army Hour" speaker was Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, who proclaimed it "not a radio program, but a mili- tary operation of the United States." "It is a weapon of war, and it is lieing heard and felt all over the world," said Secretary Stimson, "by you at home, by you on our remotest battle lines: by you, our enemies, wherever you may be. This is the Army Hour; let it be a potent weapon." With that auspicious inaugura- tion "The Army Hour" was on its way. Today the record of the nine- month old program is no less note- worthy than its beginning. Outstanding feature of the hour- long Sunday program is its elab- orate use of remote broadcasts. Wherever the soldiers of the United States, or its allies are to be found, there go NBC microphones. Thou- sands of miles are spanned in a single program, bringing messages from high-ranking officers and Pri- vate John Doe in every corner of the world. "The Army Hour" has gone over- seas for more than sixty "pickups"; to Chungking, to Panama, to New Delhi, Honolulu, Curacao, Cairo, London, Leopoldville, Moscow, Mel- bourne, Puerto Rico, Montreal and Algiers. broadcasting messages from the boys, speeches by gen- erals, and actual reports from bat- tlefronts. Despite that frequent globe-hop- ping, "The Army Hour" has an amazing record. Only three remote broadcasts have failed to come through, although NBC producers RADIO AGE II