NBC transmitter (Oct-Dec 1944)

6 NBC Transmitter COVERING THE ELECTION Comprehensive Presidential Returns on Elaborate Schedule NEW YORK.— When the 1944 Presidential race reaches its climax at the polls on November 7, NBC will present the most comprehensive program of returns, news and commentary ever offered the public bv radio on an Election Day. The entire operation will be under the supervision of William F. Brooks, director of news and special events, with NBC affiliated stations blending local plans into the overall network picture. Final details are not yet formulated, but the master plan has been set. With the exception of early flash W illiam F. Brooks news? coverage is to begin during the 6 to 8 p.m. (EWT) period. Two regularly scheduled news programs ( Lowell Thomas and H. V. kaltenborn) will be offered to stations not already carrying them. In addition, other programs will stand ready to accept news cut-ins. At 8 p.m. I EWT ) NBC will go “all out” for election return coverage, and will remain on the air throughout the night until the Presidential race has been decided. Five minutes each hour and half-hour after 8 p.m. have been allocated to the NBC affiliated stations to present local news and election results to their listeners. The whole evening will be programmed as a unit. Emphasis will be on returns and news, but stars regularly heard on Tuesday nights will be heard in connection with election coverage. In addition to election results from the three news services (AP, TP. INS I , NBC will receive returns from its owned and operated stations by direct wire and telephone. During the evening there w ill be a halfhour roundup from eight to ten key election centers around the country, with trained political observers describing local poll contests. NBC crews have been assigned to cover Presidential and VicePresidential candidates of the two major parties throughout the tabulation. Na tional Democratic and Republican headquarters also will be covered. On Election Night, NBC’s New York and Washington staffs will work together to cover the various contests. H. \ . Kaltenborn and Richard Harkness are assigned to the Presidential race: Morgan Beatty to Congressional and Gubernatorial contests of national interest; and John W. Vandercook. Don Hollenbeck and Don Goddard to other of the night’s highlights. In addition, many of NBC’s listeners will be able to follow the election trends more closely by means of score sheets which will be distributed by local stations. Returns will be broadcast in a form adapted to the charts. Studio 8H, the largest broadcasting studio in the world, will be the ner\e center of operations for NBC’s Election Night operation. All news w ill be funnelled into this room and entered on giant charts, making it easy for the commentators broadcasting from there to analyze the local and national pictures at a glance. These are the advance plans for NBC's coverage of the elections. Additions to this program w ill be announced as scheduled. Experts Speak “Perhaps he should have thrown a curve hall.” That's what Billy Southwortli (with ball) is telling Grantland Rice, (left) dean of American sports writers, and J. Roy Stockton, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball expert and KSD sports commentator. The three experts— plus a fourth, Luke Seivell— were scheduled to broadcast a resume and highlights after each 1944 world series game, all broadcasts sponsored by KSD and The Post-Dispatch. ( Story at right). “BEHIND SCENES" BALL SERIES A KSD SCOOP ST. LOUIS.— Behind-the -scenes pictures of the World Series, featuring Billy Southworth, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals; Luke Sewell, manager of the St. Louis Browns, and Sports Authorities J. Roy Stockton, of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Radio Station KSD. and Grantland Rice, dean of sports scriveners, were an early October NBC feature. The series of broadcasts, each 15 minutes in length, was to be heard as long as the Cards and the Browns, pennant winners. battled for the world championship. Rice was assigned to give a summary and analysis of each game. Manager Southwortli. whose Cardinals are the first National League club to win three straight pennants in the past 20 years, w as to discuss playing strategy, and. whenever feasible. his moundsman for the next game. Sewell followed the same format. Stockton, veteran sports writer of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, sponsor of the broadcasts from its Station KSD, was teamed with Southwortli and Sewell in a discussion of the games highpoints. These broadcasts, in which two pennantw inning managers were to be brought to a mike after each contest to tell their story of the day’s game on a nationwide network and by shortwave to men overseas, were an innovation in radio. Rice is considered one of the foremost sports authorities and writers in the nation. Stockton, a widely known baseball expert, is past president of the Baseball Writers Association. NEW YORK.— Bill Stern, NBC Director of Sports, is follow ing a policy of booking football games for broadcast which paid dividends in former years. He never makes his choice until he has studied the scores over the weekend, therein enabling him to bring to the mike as many undefeated and untied teams as possible. However, there are two games he always books long in advance, regardless of season records. He knows the sports world wants to hear them despite seasonal upsets. They are the Notre Dame-Army game at the Yankee Stadium and the Rose Bowl game at Pasadena on January 1.