Broadcasting (Jan - June 1945)

Cassidy Discovers That War Is Hell Attack by Divebomhers Brings Realization Of Utter Terror By JAMES CASSIDY WLW War Correspondent With the American Forces in Belgium The author of the accompanying report is director of international broadcasting of WLW Cincinnati. Since arriving on the European scene a few weeks ago, he has scored numerous radio "beats" — among them the first broadcast from German soil and the first eyewitness radio account of American shelling of the Nazi home territory, both carried by WLW and NBC. TWO DAYS BEFORE Christmas the full utter terror of war came home to me as it never has before. Two days before Christmas, with a number of friends of mine, I was caught in a German divebombing attack. The bombing was a small part of the tremendous counter-offensive which has been launched against the First Army and of all the events that have happened to me since I came over here this was the worst. A number of us were in a building somewhere in Belgium. We had just finished lunch. It was a clear bright day. The sun was coming out and because most of us were tired after all that had happened we decided just to rest a few hours before moving again. I was looking at a copy of the Stars and Stripes. The Dive Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion a short distance away. Having been blasted out of a building by a buzz bomb earlier in the week I thought that this was another that had gone safely overhead and landed beyond us. But it wasn't a buzz bomb. It was German plane divebombers, three or four of them. There were quick frightened shouts from the men in front of the building, a modern building with good strong walls but also with huge planes of glass in front. There was a frenzied terrible scramble as all of us in the front room of the building dived into a corner. George Hicks jumped in right on top of me and dug his head into the scramble of people who were huddled in a corner. Then the German plane came down. It dove down in the long terrible drone, dove and dove until it seemed that it must crash right on us. Then the blast came. It came in a horrible, stunning explosion. The building rocked as the bomb went off directly outside and the walls, the windows, the plaster came tumbling down upon us. My own senses went numb. I felt nothing and I thought nothing except one thing — that more bombs were coming and they did. There was a second I heard a cry of pain, not a loud cry but a surprised pri Page 16 • January 8, 1945 vate cry of pain as the building rocked again and the air was filled with the uncontrollable earthshaking cataclysm of sound. Then another explosion came rocking the building a third time. By now the building was a white fog of dust, dust scattered over uniforms of men lying on the floor, dust over the remains of somebody's noontime meal and mingled with the dust and plaster, thousands of slivers of glass, glass everywhere. My eyeglasses had fallen off. Stupidly I fretted because I thought they were broken next to me. I saw a table and dived under it for protection. I remember saying to myself, "Oh God, Oh God" and sweating with fear in case the ceiling should cave in. We could still hear the bombers. Is this the end of everything, I wondered — of home life and the future. Strafing Another came down but this time there was no bomb. This time it was the loud rattle of strafing. The shells spattered against the walls and then it was over. Slowly, we picked ourselves up. What I remember most, even more than the front wall blown away, was the whiteness of everything changing its appearance as the first snowfall changes the look of the field. The building was unrecognizable. It had been modern. Now it was a shambles of concrete, draperies, glass on the floor and light coming in where the front wall had been. One man was moaning and clutching his arm. Others were bleeding. I felt myself to see if anything had happened. There was TO ACCOMODATE several high Government officials who will be honor guests, the Radio Correspondents Assn. has changed the date of its annual dinner from Jan. 13 to Jan. 11, Earl Godwin, president, and William Costello, chairman of the dinner committee, announced last week. The dinner now is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday at the Hotel Statler, Washington. Bob Wood of CBS Washington, chairman of the entertainment committee, said all four major networks will combine facilities to present a program of top-ranking stars. On the committee with Mr. Wood are William Hillman, Blue; Charter Heslep, Mutual; Carleton Smith, NBC. Acceptances already have been received from several Cabinet members and heads of Government departments, as well as heads of the networks, according to Mr. Costello. Among the dignitaries who will be MR. CASSIDY a little blood on my arm but that was all. I had been one of the lucky ones. I was alive. Out on the front yard four men were dead; one of them was -ny roommate Jack Frankish of the United Press. I didn't know he was dead until somebody wandered up to me and asked me if I knew it. I remember saying, "Oh my God" again and then wandering around in a kind of dull stupor, not quite certain of what I was doing. Two trucks were in flames reaching fifty feet high. Outside the ambulances came and carried away the dead and the wounded. I found another correspondent Jack Wilhelm of Reuters whose leg had been bruised a little but he and I and Harold Denny of the New York Times found a jeep and climbed in and got away from the hellish place. guests of the association are VieePresident-Elect Truman; Associate Justices Reed and Douglas of the Supreme Court; Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff; Adm. William Leahy, chief of staff to the Commander-in-Chief; Lt. Gen. Alexander A. Vandergrift, commandant, U. S. Marine Corps. Secretary of the Navy Forrestal, Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau, Secretary of Agriculture Wickard, and Postmaster General Walker also will attend. Secretary of State Stettinius tentatively accepted. Niles Trammell, president of NBC, and Paul W. Kesten, executive vice-president of CBS, also have notified the Committee they will be present. Invitations have gone to President Roosevelt, heads of the other networks and all Cabinet members, as well as to associate members of the association, more than 100 of whom live outside Washington. CBS to Get KSO, KSCJ From Blue Transfers Effective June 15; Follow Cowles Shifts KSO Des Moines and KSCJ Sioux City, both present affiliates of the Blue Network, will join CBS June 15, Herbert V. Akerberg, CBS vicepresident in charge of station relations, announced last week. A sequel to the recent announcement of the Blue Network that the Cowles stations, KRNT Des Moines and WNAX Yankton would transfer their affiliation from CBS to the Blue on June 15 {Broadcasting, Dec. 18], the CBS statement confirms the predictions made by Broadcasting at that time. KSO to Be Basic KSO, 5,000 w on 1460 kc, will be a basic CBS station, with a nighttime hour network rate of $210. KSCJ, 5,000 w on 1360 kc, will be a basic supplementary CBS outlet with a nighttime hour network rate of $160. Current CBS rate card shows KRNT, 5,000 w on 1360 kc, as a basic station with a network rate of $220 per evening hour, and WNAX, 5,000 w on 750 kc, as a member of the northwestern group with a network evening hour rate of $250. WJEF Grand Rapids, Mich., which will join CBS as a supplementary outlet when it goes on the air, has postponed that date from Jan. 15 to Feb. 1 because of construction difficulties. Station, owned by John E. Fetzer, operator of WKZO Kalamazoo, will operate with 250 w on 1230 kc with a network evening hour rate of $75. TSN Renews MBS TEXAS State Network has renewed its affiliation contracts with Mutual for another two-year period, effective Jan. 1, 1945. Contracts cover the complete TSN line-up, comprising the six-station northsouth group and the three-station east-west group. Continential Can on Net CONTINENTAL CAN Co., New York, on Jan. 6 made its debut as a radio network advertiser when it assumed sponsorship of the CBS documentary feature. Report to the Nation on 142 stations plus CBS outlets in Toronto and Montreal from 1:30-2 p.m. Continental Can, in its weekly program, will use institutional commercials as well as. tin containers commercials. Agency is BBDO New York. Wise. Net Appoints WISCONSIN Network Inc. has announced appointment of Burn-' Smith Co., New York, Chicago and, Los Angeles as exclusive national' sales representatives. Network, organized in 1941, is affiliated with Mutual, and comprises eight Wisconsin stations: WCLO Janesville; WRJN Racine; WIBA MadisonPoynette; KFIZ Fond du Lac; WHBL Sheboygan; WHBY Appleton; WFHR Wisconsin Rapids; WSAU Wausau. Broadcast Advertising BROADCASTING • Radio Correspondents Assn, to Fete High Government OMcials on Jan. 11