NBC transmitter (Oct-Dec 1944)

December 1944 13 EDDIE CANTOR’S CAMPAIGN FOR Gl GIFTS RECEIVES ENTHUSIASTIC PUBLIC RESPONSE GETS NAB POST During the Kentucky-Ohio district meeting oj NAB , host Nathan Lord (left), general manager of WAVE and outgoing director, introduced the newly-elected director, James W. Shouse, Jr. (center), of WLW, to Mayor Wilson II . Wvatt of Louisville. On NAB Code Committee HALEIGH, N. C.-Richard H. Mason, station manager of WPTF, 50,000 watt NBC outlet here, has accepted appointment to the NAB code committee. The appointment wras made by J. Harold Ryan, NAB president. Also serving on the committee are William S. Hedges, NBC vice-president in charge of stations, and Lee B. Wailes, general manager of Westinghouse Radio Stations, who is committee chairman. Radio Pioneers’ Stories NEW YORK.— Orrin E. Dunlap, Jr., RCA director of advertising and publicity, is the author of “Radio’s 100 Men of Science,” a volume containing biographical narratives of pioneers in broadcasting, television and electronics. The book has just been published by Harper & Brothers, New York. The series of brief biographies represents a handy reference source as well as a volume for entertaining reading. Dunlap was formerly radio editor of The New York Times and is one of the industry’s most prolific authors. “Radio’s 100 Men of Science” is his ninth book on radio and kindred subjects. HOLLYWOOD.— Sloganed by “Give a Gift to the Gl Who Gave,” Eddie Cantor's latest and biggest NBC campaign in behalf of servicemen showed every sign of growing into the most elaborate good will movement of the holiday season. Cantor’s idea is to see that every hospitalized man in the armed forces has at least one gift to make his hospital Christmas brighter. With his usual practicality, the warm-hearted little comedian enlisted the strong support of retail stores and American Legion posts throughout the country to aid in the collection of donations which had sailed well past the 100,000 mark a month before the holiday. By the time Christmas rolls round the figures well may he astronomical as they were when Cantor put over his “Gl Joe” campaign last spring. That contest, which culminated in a postwar endowment fund of $5,000 for the winning Gl from Cantor himself, produced more than 250,000 letters which afterward enriched the scrap paper drive by 16.000 pounds. Independent, affiliated stations of the National Broadcasting Company were provided with photographs of the comedian himself and pictures of typical window displays to be distributed to department stores. Stations also declared themselves ready to assist with microphones and any Time on His Hands CHICAGO.— The minute timing of the quartz crystal clock, scheduled for early use at the famed Greenwich Observatory, is not necessary for radio network operations, according to H. C. Luttgens, chief engineer of the NBC Central division. The quartz clock, which is accurate to l/1000th of a second daily, will replace the traditional pendulum clock, accurate to l/100th of a second daily. Luttgens pointed out that NBC’s clock control system recently installed in Chicago varies but one-third of a second daily from the signals of the United States Naval Observatory, a degree considered satisfactory for correct radio operation. The NBC system is based on a tuning fork in a vacuum chamber wffiich is incited by current to vibrate at 60 cycles per second. other equipment which might he needed. Station KVOO in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has reported that every retail store in the city is all-out in the project. Cantor’s interest in Gl’s began long ago when he started to take his NBC program to service camps and hospitals and began spending his summer “vacations” entertaining convalescent servicemen. It was Cantor who fathered the “Purple Heart circuit” and enlisted the active support of other top-notch entertainers. Cantor, who has five daughters hut no sons, became an ardent foster father of every man in service, especially the wounded ones. His present campaign, logical outgrowth of his never-flagging interest in Gl welfare, winds up with a final push spearheaded from NBC’s West Coast headquarters. Cantor has had a Christmas hut erected on a plot at Hollywood’s “Times Square”— the intersection of Hollywood and Vine streets. That serves as a collection point for Hollywood and Los Angeles contributors and is presided over by stars of radio and screen. Cantor has thrown into this effort all his enthusiasm, all the astute showmanship which, directed in other channels, have made his ever) venture a sustained success. This seems likely to top them all. A PATRIOTIC. BIT— Station KARK, Little Rock, arranged this window at Pfeiffer’s Department Store to help boost Cantor's campaign for gifts for GI's. Richard H. Mason