NBC transmitter (Oct-Dec 1944)

10 NBC Transmitter KSTP Star Will Visit Gl Fans on Overseas USO Tour MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. GI Joes from the Aleutians to the South Pacific, from Alaska to Australia— in fact, virtually all over the world where the unique signal of Station KSTP’s directional antenna carries his voice nightly— know and love Randy Merriman, glih-tongued. zany master of ceremonies of the station’s “Overseas Special” program. Now, after hearing him for nearly three years on the show aired nightly, some of them are going to get a chance to meet him in person. Randy reported in New York September 11 in preparation for a six-month overseas tour with a ETSO entertainment unit. He is the first personality from an independent radio station to Ire selected by talent scouts for the same kind of entertainment tours made by Bob Hope, Jack Benny and other network radio stars. Into which theater of operations he’ll go, Randy had no way of knowing in advance. He’d like to visit them all. but, failing in that, has expressed a preference for the European front because he hopes “to do a show for the American service men in the Sportspalast in Berlin after they’ve marched into Germany. ’ Randy would be the first to object to his being called “master of ceremonies” of the “Overseas Special” program. Because “there's nothing ceremonious about our show,” he says. Because of KSTP’s unusual directional antenna set-up which converts the station’s 50,000-watt beam into the equivalent of a 135,500-watt signal at night. “Overseas Special” girdles the globe. Randy’s mail comes from men on nearly every continent and from ships on virtually all seas. His program defies description (you have to hear it to appreciate it! I and although he has other talent with him to help entertain the GIs, it is Merriman’s personality which has made “Overseas Special” a favorite with service men. Randy — christened Anson Randolph some 32 years ago in Minneapolis, although nobody has been that formal with him since— started his career as a showman early. He ran away from home three times while he w-as still going to high school, to go on the road wdth circuses and carnivals, among them the great Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey GI FAVORITE -KSTP's Randy Merriman who will visit men in service overseas who have followed his program “Overseas Specialfor nearly three years. His fan mail comes from servicemen, in most war zone',. show. With them he worked mostly as a barker, or, as he prefers to call it, an “outside lecturer.” Randy’s wife, Evelyn, and their two children, Susan, 8, and Michael. 2, will remain in Minneapolis until he returns from his overseas tour to resume guidance of the “Overseas Special " program. He promised to keep in touch with the KSTP show, which will continue in his absence, sending regular reports of his travels to the program. Whenever possible. if recording equipment is available, he’ll transcribe interviews with Minnesota and Northwest service men he meets and send them back for broadcast on the show. Hedges Tells NAB Session Of NBC’s Video Service CHICAGO.— NBC is prepared to establish a television service as soon as men and materials are available, it was stated August 31 by William S. Hedges, NBC vice-president in charge of stations, in an address before the closing session of the Executives War Conference of the National Association of Broadcasters here. “We believe that experimentation should continue with the end in view of supplying the public with constantly improved television service,” Hedges asserted. “We do not believe in the principle of withholding a practical four-cylinder automobile from the public because a theoretical eight-cylinder engine is about to be developed. “Television is not just an improvement over something else. It is a new and unique and original medium of communication. It will be a tremendous addition to the social and economic life of the nation.” Hedges envisioned video as a means of opening a new avenue to education and recreation, supplying new employment for millions, and as a vital new arm of distribution. “Television is going to help American industry prime its own pump and keep it pumping,” he said. The NBC v.p. predicted a speedy grow th for FM after the war. A banquet in Trenton, New Jersey, on August 4, marked It TTM s joining NBC. Left to right, facing camera: Frank Wellman, It TTM sales manager ; It illiam S. Hedges, A BC vice-president in charge of stations; Morgan Beatty, NBC commentator ; Congressman Elmer W ene. It TTM president; Paul Alger, ft TTM manager; Jack Barry, of tf TTM staff, and Sheldon B. Hickox, Jr., NBC station relations department manager. Two figures at left, not facing camera, are Easton C. Woolley, assistant to Mr. Hedges, and Elmore B. Lyford, of NBC. s stations staff.