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December, 1 945
FILM AND RADIO GUIDE
27
A tense moment for the sound-effects boys in the radio studio of the New York City Board of Education — Station WNYE, located at Brooklyn Technical High School, America's No. 1 FM educational project, winning new honors os we go to press.
Tracy and Captain Midnight acts like Captain Midnight. The reasons, of course, are obvious. When you have a wealth of trained and experienced talent, limitless funds, and an eager sponsor, you can get quality performance.
Main Problem
This, then, was our main problem : If we were going to be successful in broadcasting effective educational programs, how could we make them as realistic and impressive to New York City students as those offered to them by well-established network systems? After all, in the eyes of our young people (and they are able critics) commercial standards were the ones we had to meet.
This dilemma was a much more serious one for us in radio
than it would have been in other established entertainment fields. Let us look at the stage or screen, for example. Talent, here, is a mighty important factor, but, as you know from your own experience, if the artistry of the performers is slightly unequal to the task, colorful scenery, appropriate costumes, clever make-up, and atmospheric lighting compensate for the actor’s deficiencies.
But not so in radio! In radio the play is not the thing, but the voice is. The voice makes the play. The voice of the radio actor must indicate clearly to the unseen audience whether he is French or Polish, whether he lives in the seventeenth or twentieth century, whether he is a diplomat or a vintner, whether he is rich or poor, whether he is forgiving or vindictive. Thus,
with the critical listening of today, the director has no subterfuge for the inadequate radio voice, especially in front of a velocity mike.
The problem narrowed itself down to something like this : How could we find “the diplomat” or “the vintner,” or, in a more general sense, how were we to locate the splendid talent we knew to exist in our public high schools ? How could we help them to inspire the vast audience of “all our children”?
The Plan
Well, the situation came to a head mighty soon, and subsequently the solution. It occurred in a matter of minutes after a very difficult dramatic broadcast. As I recall, Mr. Macandrew had been watching the levels in the control room, and I had been