NBC transmitter (Oct-Dec 1944)

November 1944 13 WOW STAGES PARTY FOR 4-H CLUB MEMBERS General scene showing a few of the 1,100 4-H Club boys, girls and leaders at the U'OfF party at the Nebraska State Fair. (Story below). Returning Gl’s Accorded Special NBC Auditions NEW YORK. — Members and former members of the armed forces who have what they believe may be talent useful in some department of radio broadcasting are being given a chance to demonstrate their abilities through a comprehensive plan of free auditions announced by C. L. Menser NBC vice-president in charge of programs. The project, known as “Welcome Home Auditions,” is revealed as the first important step by NBC looking toward a solution of the problem of rehabilitation of the nation’s fighting men and women. Auditions began October 14 and are being continued each Saturday morning. “The purpose of ‘Welcome Home Auditions’,” Menser explained, “is to examine prospects for postwar opportunities, not for the immediate present. Our theory is that an appreciable number of the armed forces have perfected their talents while in uniform, through appearances in camp entertainments or over camp radio systems, thus developing to a useful degree their latent possibilities. This applies to aspirants who seek to be musicians, vocalists, announcers, commentators and script writers. The auditions will be only the opening step toward establishing themselves in the careers that many servicemen seek. “Those who go through the try-outs will be rated by a staff of experts. There will be no promise of employment now or in the future, but to many, the auditions will provide the initial impetus that will set them on the path to the life work they wish to follow.” After each audition, the applicant will receive a certificate attesting to his audition, and in addition NBC will forward a file card of the results to the affiliated station or stations nearest the applicant’s place of residence. There it will be held awaiting demobilization of the serviceman and a call for the particular talent he has exhibited. Recordings made during “Welcome Home Auditions” will be distributed to station program managers upon their request. In this way, NBC w ill further strengthen the bond between its New York headquarters and its affiliates, a goal that has been sought since 1942 when NBC announced OMAHA, NEB.— Station WOW staged a gala party for 1,100 4-H Club members and their leaders during the recent annual Nebraska State Fair in Lincoln. The party, consisting of a banquet and entertainment, was designed by WOW’s president. John J. Gillin, Jr., as a salute for the splendid work the Nebraska farm boys and girls are doing on the war food front. Festivities got under way in the its intentions to establish a farming system for talent. It was stated then that the operation of such a system would lead to the interchange of available talent between individual outlets and network headquarters in New York, Chicago and Hollywood. The basic idea of “Welcome Home Auditions,” Menser said, has been under serious consideration for many months, and was outlined to the NBC stations planning and advisory committee which enthusiastically approved the project. “It should be understood,” Menser added, “that NBC is not initiating the movement as an agent in any form. There will be no charge for the auditions nor for the follow-up procedure which the company hopes will place many deserving artists and writers in posts where they will be best fitted. In an industry which has a continual need of so much talent, the creation of a pool of artists would react to the benefit of all stations which had access to it.” Applications for auditions under the “Welcome Home Auditions" plan may be mailed in or filed in person. huge 4-H Club Building on the fair grounds. Through the cooperation of Lieutenant-Colonel D. K. Scrubv, commanding officer at Fort Omaha, a staff of army cooks under the direction of Master Sergeant Pat Kelly prepared the dinner, featuring roast Nebraska ham. Master of ceremonies was Lyle DeMoss, program director for WOW and producer of the NBC program. “Your America.” Magazine Pays Tribute to NBC Religious Broadcasts NEW YORK.— Signal honors were accorded Dr. Max Jordan, NBC’s director of religious broadcasts, and the NBC religious programs in an article by Jay Nelson Tuck in the October issue of Read. “Many of NBC’s best have been arranged by Max Jordan . . . who started broadcasting religious special events in 1933 when he went to Bethlehem and broadcast the ringing of the bells of the Church of the Nativity there for a special Christmas program,” the article stated. Tuck then lists Jordan’s many “firsts” in the field of religious broadcasting. In his article, “Religion on the Radio,” Tuck declared that NBC’s “National Radio Pulpit" was the first inter-denominational program on the air and the forerunner of the scheduled religious programs of todav. He also pointed to the drawing power of NBC’s “The Catholic Hour.” saying that Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen, one of its speakers, is perhaps the most widely-heard radio speaker except President Roosevelt.