NBC Transmitter (Jan-Nov 1945)

6 NBC Transmitter NBC Men, Captured by Japs, Reported Safe in Manila WTIC WINS COMMUNITY PRAISE FOR RESULTS OF HARTFORD ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS PROGRAMS HARIFOLTU, CONN.— In cooperation with the Hartford Alcoholics Anonymous organization, Station WTIC has started a series of programs aimed at helping persons conquer excessive alcoholic tendencies. It is believed that WTIC is the first station to broadcast such a series of programs publicizing the aims of the group. At first, station officials agreed to broadcast a trial of four weekly fifteenminute programs. The interest evidenced by the general public was so overwhelming that the series was continued. Letters from both men and women re(juesting assistance for relatives, friends or themselves flooded the A. A. office. In addition, the organization received innumerable telephone calls. In cases where the inquiries came from people outside of the Hartford A. A. area, the inquiries were referred to the group nearest the address on the letter. All A. A. groups in WTIC’s service area have noted an increased interest due to the programs. The programs consist of informal discussions by different memljers of Alcoholics Anonymous. These people were once hopeless alcoholics who have recovered from their malady, and tliey aim to square their debt of gratitude in being cured bv helping other alcoholics to recovery. In telling their own experiences they attempt to prove that “there is hope for the alcoholics.” Fictitious names are used on the program. “The first time I ever got drunk, I did it deliberately, to see how it would make me feel. Before long I was drinking a quart of liquor every day of my life.” This quotation is taken from a story told by “Marion,” a member of the A. A. who gave the message on one of the programs that A. A. works just as well for both sexes. In her story, she told how she had been committed to the State Hospital for mental disorders for life because of alcoholism. She was released after a year to be permitted to try the A. A. program. There she found her answer. Such are the dramatic stories told on the programs. The startling recoveries made by the broadcasters give the public a better understanding of just how' the Alcoholics Anonymous program works and the public service it renders. Non-members have appeared on the programs to give an objective appraisal of the organization. For example, in one broadcast Dr. John C. Leonard, assistant medical director of the Hartford Hospital, told how medical authorities support the organization, and pointed out that Alcoholics Anonymous often can succeed where medical assistance has failed. Members of the three major religious faiths participated on another program and gave their whole-hearted support to the group. Dr. Selden D. Bacon, assistant professor of sociology at Yale Lniversity, talked on another of the broadcasts. A letter written to WTIC by the Hartford A. A. says in part: “The entire Hartford Group is deeply appreciative of the opportunity furnished by WTIC to stimulate public interest in Alcoholics Anonymous and to greatly extend the scope of their usefulness in helping others who need help wuth this baffling problem. Thank you for your contribution to one of the country’s most serious puldic liealth problems today.” NEWSCASTER Pulchritude mixes with popularity in the South. Annie Lee Stagg, women s commentator for WSB (Atlanta) teas voted one of America's most popular women commentators in the Radio Daily poll. NEW YORK.— Bert Silen, NBC correspondent in Manila at the start of the Pacific war, and Don Bell, his colleague, whose broadcasts of the Jap attack on the Philippines made radio history, have been reported safe by George Folster, NBC reporter w ith General MacArthur. Both presumably were freed when the First Cavalry Division entered Manila February 3 and captured the civil internment camp at Santo Tomas. Silen, who re i mained behind voluntarily when Ameri ; can newspapermen were evacuated from i Manila when it fell to the Japanese, had previously been reported a prisoner of the enemy. Bell, however, had been offi | cially reported tortured and killed. No further word aside from the fact i that the two men were seen and are safe | had been received up to February 5 by NBC, but Silen was again heard on February 7. Silen and Bell made radio history in their coverage of the Japanese attack on the Phili|)pines. Broadcasting daily from KZRH in Manila, until December 30, 1941, the two men were the first to give Americans an eyewitness idea of the meaning of war. One of their most graphic broadcasts was the Jap bombing of Manila on December 9. 1941. The broadcasts continued until stations in the islands were dismantled on December 31. Three years before his rescue, Silen was luoadcasting an account of the Jap attack on the Philippine capital, when he was knocked off the air. He was heard for the first time since his release from Santo Tomas on a special NBC broadcast February 7. His first sentence was: “Hello, NBC. As I was saving when I was so rudely interrupted over three years and a month ago. every Filipino and every American living on these islands knew that MacArthur would return and avenge this terrible invasion of a harmless and peaceful country to bring about peace and final victory.” NEW YORK.— Wright Bryan, NBC war reporter and managing editor of The Atlanta Journal, who was captured by the Germans on the Western Front September 12, was reported “free, safe and well. ’ according to the Associated Press.