Broadcasting (July - Dec 1938)

plant, was immediately utilized. When this also went off the air, it was the efforts of Edgar (Jack) Frost, operator, in the control room, and Prof. Hobart H. Newell of Worcester Tech, chief engineer, that enabled resumption of broadcasting in about 10 minutes. Prof. Newell, in a hurried check of transmitting equipment on the wind-swept roof soon found a minor break and repaired it. He then checked the stays of the towers on the roofs of the Park Building and Hotel Bancroft. Two announcers, James Godfrey and Clarence W. Davis, who were in Boston when the storm broke, hastened back to Worcester and aided the rest of the staff in its task. Referring to the calm, unruffled manner in which the staff went about its work during the emergency, Mr. Perry pointed out that Mr. Frost had experienced hurricanes previously, when he was radio operator on a United Fruit Co. ship, while he himself had worked under emergency conditions during the Long Beach, Cal., earthquake disaster, when he was connected with Scripps-Howard newspapers in San Diego. WNBC, NEW BRITAIN By Milt Berkowitz WJAR, PROVIDENCE By John J. Boyle WJAR recovered quickly from the staggering blow of the hurricane of last Wednesday. Driven off the air by lack of power at the height of the storm, the station was back at full time duty early Friday. And with its return came the most dramatic period in the history of Rhode Island's pioneer station. Emergency bulletins by the hundreds from the office of Gov. Robert Quinn, from the Mayors of all Rhode Island cities, from relief agencies, from the Red Cross and from police departments were broadcast over the WJAR transmitter. Shortwave facilities over W1BBA were installed with the cooperation of the Rev. Charles Mahoney of the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Henry Burns and Jack Campbell, who handled thousands of messages throughout the country in conjunction with WJAR which operated on a 24 hour a day emergency schedule, broadcasting personal bulletins in an effort to locate relatives lost in the stormtossed areas. WJAR was the only station in Rhode Island whose towers remained intact during the hurricane. ;eeds and SALES! For a volume sales harvest, let WAIR sow your advertising seeds throughout this fertile, receptive money-spending market. WAIR is a powerful sales producer. WAIR Winston-Salem, North Carolina National Representatives Sears 8C Ayer THIS station, WNBC, joined with other stations in Connecticut in coming to the assistance of the hurricane and flood sufferers this past week. The height of the storm came last Wednesday afternoon. New Britain and environs, in the center of the storm area, had already been damaged by a five-day rainstorm. Wednesday at 4:15 p. m. the powerlines to the transmitter in Newington, Conn, broke in five or six different places and we were forced off the air. General Manager Richard W. Davis and the entire staff of engineers, announcers and office help went out on a frantic search in quest of a gasoline driven motor generator but we were unable to locate one. WNBC was off the air from 4:15 Wednesday until the power company restored service Thursday at 12:30 p. m. Under Mr. Davis' orders, the staff remained at the station and the facilities were immediately thrown open to the police, the Red Cross and other relief agencies. WNBC did its part in alleviating the suffering, trying to locate missing relatives and friends and sending out emergency, bulletins throughout, the day and night. Authorization was received from the FCC to remain on the air after our usual 7 p. m. signoff. WNBC originated two remotes from the flood-stricken city of Hartford, both from the top of the Travelers Tower. The second remote, Friday at 3 p. m., was carried by WOV, New York; WPEN, Philadelphia; WELI, New Haven; WCOP, Boston. WNBH, NEW BEDFORD By Nathan Malchman "WHAT a night!" said the WNBH staff after an entire night and a morning calculating and broadcasting returns of the State primary election. "Now for some sleep." But before desks were closed someone called attention to a rising wind. A peculiar stirring in the treetops and a funny smell in the air prompted a call to the Cuttyhunk Coast Guard Station. "The barometer has fallen 50 points in an hour," came the report. It didn't take much thinking to deduce that the hurricane which had missed Florida was rushing into the low pressure area. On the air went hurricane bulletins, the first at 4:45 Wednesday. At 5:06 p. m. as literally yards of hurricane copy were being pounded out by the radio news staff for the regular 5:30 broadcast, the power failed. •Hoping that an emergency rig might get the station back on the air, the staff deployed about the city to get a first-hand view of the hurricane, by that time a howling terror. But Station Manager Irving Vermilya and Chief Engineer Clyde Pierce found the transmitter flooded with waist-high water when they arrived at the plant in Fairhaven. Ordinarily it is 100 yards from the high water mark. As Vermilya and Pierce and the WFEA, MANCHESTER By Charles G. H. Evans SITTING in the wrecked doorway of WICC's diesel power house is Chief Engineer Garo W. Ray, who had waded through waist-deep water to start the emergency engines when the station was forced off the air. Finally the water battered down the door, causing a complete shutdown. rest of the crew worked frantically, cottages, boats and wreckage of all descriptions floated by the door. Despite the force of the blow, which reached more than 60-mile velocity at times, the antennas remained in position. The high-velocity transformers and condensers bore the brunt of water damage. At 6 o'clock Thursday afternoon after continuous work in the shack, the station was ready to go on the air. But falling trees and poles had crippled the power. Not until Friday at 7:30 a. m. was broadcasting resumed. The interval was the longest WNBH had been off the air in its 17 years of operation. WNBH was the first station on the air in the section. WSAR in Fall River was badly hit, as was every Providence station. Practically the entire period from 7:30 a. m. until 11:30 p. m. on Friday was given over to hurricane news and broadcast of personal messages. Thousands of the latter were handled for anxious persons trying to reach friends and relatives in all parts of New England. At the time of writing they were still being sent out. First news of hurricane damage outside of Hartford reached WTIC via teletype from WNBH. ALTHOUGH 60 feet of one mast was blown away in the hurricane^ the transmitter isolated and all sources of power lost for two days, WFEA, Manchester, remained on the air with but one break, mobilized the National Guard and the Disaster Relief Corps of the American Legion and cooperated with the Red Cross. Early on the afternoon of Sept. 21, both power and transmission facilities were interrupted by the high winds that preceded the hurricane. With an emergency supply of power fed through the town of Merrimack, the station crew broadcast the first flood warning, issued from the U. S. Weather Bureau at Concord, N. H. at 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the 21st. With the Manchester studios out of communication with the transmitter, an urgent warning was issued to all residents near th6 banks of the Merrimack and tributary rivers to seek higher land. At the same time, calls were broadcast to the Disaster Relief organization, ordering all Legion members to report to their headquarters at once. Final loss of power ended broadcasting at 5 o'clock. With but a few power and telephone poles standing between Manchester and Reed's Ferry, eight miles westward, at the end of the big blow and with the Merrimack River rising hourly and threaten WDRC "THE ADVERTISING TEST STATION IN THE ADVERTISING TEST CITY HARTFORD, CONN. 95% Listen to WDRC! Dr. Daniel Starch and staff called on families of every income bracket in the large Hartford County. Of All the radio families interviewed, they found 95% in the evening, and 91% in the daytime, listen regularly to WDRC! BASIC STATION OF COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM National Representatives PAUL H. RAYMER COMPANY 2,300,000 New Engenders comprise the potential listening audience of station WLAW Lawrence, Massachusetts 680 Kilocycles 1,000 Watts BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising October 1, 1938 • Page 69