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JOHN W. HOLBROOK — NBC Announcer
JOHN W. HOLBROOK, New York announcer of the National Broadcasting Company, was awarded the 1931 radio diction medal by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Holbrook, 26-year-old Bostonian, and one of the youngest announcers, received the medal at the third annual award meeting of the academy in New York. Hamlin Garland, chairman of the academy’s radio committee, made the award in the presence of President Nicholas Murray Butler and other members. Garland said Holbrook’s voice combined ■“the best of English english and American english” and commended his taste, pronunciation, grace and authority in its use. “In making our third award, we have found a decision more difficult for the reason that the general level of announcers has risen,” Garland added. He announced that the committee recommended honorable mention to David Ross of the Columbia Broadcasting System; William Abernathty of the Washington, D. C., division of NBC, and Sen Kaney of the Chicago division of NBC. Holbrook, although born in Boston, and formerly on the staff of WBZ, the Boston Westingliouse station, was educated in Toronto and Quebec. He was graduated from Bishop’s College School, Lennoxville, Que., in 1926, and entered the broadcasting field three years ago. He joined the National Broadcasting Company in May after winning network recognition during his announcement of nation-wide broadcasts originating in Boston. “A throng of cultivated young men have demanded recognition,” Garland said. “The number of university graduates has multiplied and the managers appear to be increasingly aware of their responsibility to the home circles into which the voices of their staff penetrate.” Garland declared the Anglo-American standardization of English speech by the microphone and the talking screen could not be stopped. “The question which should concern us is whether this standardization is proceeding along the right lines. The radio is even now the chief educative factor in this process. If standards are to be universally adopted, it is important that they should be fine.” Garland’s address and Holbrook’s response were broadcast on NBC network. This is the third year of the award. Winners of the medal in previous years were Milton J. Cross and Alwyn Bach, both of the NBC staff.
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