NBC Transmitter (Jan-Nov 1945)

12 NBC Transmitter “MOVIECASTING’’ CHEERS DENVER ARMY PATIENTS Official Fitzsimmons Hospital Photo Sergeant Bill Walker is in charge of radio production. Here he is shown describing a feature. His narration is blended u ith actual sound track pickups. DENVER.— GI Joe does not have to miss the latest movies if he is a bed patient in the Fitzsimmons General Hospital. It’s easv. All he has to do is turn the knob on his radio headset to the designated channel when movies are being shown in the Post Theater, and the movies— sound track and description— come to him. NBC demonstrated the system recently on an “Army Hour” broadcast through the facilities of KOA. Connecting the sound track from the projection machine into the broadcasting system was a real engineering feat. Let Sergeant Tony Lacobucci, the radio engineer at Fitzsimmons explain it: “A signal is taken from the output of the RCA highfidelity photophone amplifier with the Post Theatre movie system and used to Heads Portland Ad Group PORTLAND, ORE.-Arden X. Panghorn, managing director of KGW, NBC affiliate here, has been elected president of the Portland Advertising Federation for the coming year. Panghorn has been a member of the NBC stations planning and advisory committee since its inception, representing the Pacific Coast stations of District No. 8. He served as a member of the board of governors and as vice-president of the Portland advertising group last year; and is concluding a term as vice-president of the board of the Oregon State Broadcasters’ Association. operate an amplifier connected to 2.500 headsets. A commentator microphone is connected to the circuit allowing description to be interposed between the sound taken from the sound track.” A movie over the air has many spots that are minus voice parts or sound that is not easily recognizable, but with a narrator to properly introduce the show, set the scene, describe the characters, identify the sounds, and fill in all other data, the story becomes real. Sergeant Bill Walker is the man who does the narration. “Moviecasting” is the title given the project. The idea is but another example of what the Army Medical Department is doing in its attempt to make the hospital patients’ time in bed more pleasant and comfortable. College Profs on KSD ST. LOUIS.— Through a program produced entirely by college professors for KSD, the Florsheim Shoe Companv is testing radio salesmanship with its first regular broadcasts in St. Louis. Florsheim has bought only occasional radio shows anywhere in the past. Entitled “Faces and Places in the News,” the program is written and broadcast by Dr. Edwin S. Leonard, chairman of the English department at Principia College. Research for the program is by Dr. Floyd McNeil, chairman of the history department. WHFM Builds Show For Men At Sampson Naval Station ROCHESTER, N. Y.— The men in the hospital at Sampson are assured of good radio entertainment with WHFM, Stromberg-Carlson’s FM station in Rochester, beaming a series of programs their way. The WHAM Staff Orchestra, under the direction of Gene Zacher, provides the musical background and vocalists are featured. The program takes a special angle as the drama part of the show involves the men themselves. Each week the story of one of these men is told on the air and to that man goes a gift of cigarettes. The opening program was highlighted by the presentation of 3,500 blank records and a recorder to the hospitalized men by A1 Sigl, local news commentator and head of the A1 Sigl Blood Donors Unit. It is Sigl’s hope that every man will have the opportunity of saying “Hello” to his loved ones on Christmas. Commander Milton Greenberg of the All-Navy Post of the American Legion and George Shafer, post commander, have appeared on the air. The post is responsible for the awards each week. This is one of many tie-ins the Stromberg-Carlson stations have made with the big Sampson training station. The Navy unit’s close proximity to Rochester has prompted several WHAM special features. CHEER-UP M.4N — Al Sigl, newscaster, chats with Lieutenant E. D. Brinly, of the Sampson .\aval Training Station, on the occasion of presenting the station with a recorder and 3,500 discs for sailors’ use. WHFM, sister FM station of Rochester’s Station WHAM, has a special program series dedicated to the yavy station.