NBC Transmitter (Jan-Nov 1945)

14 NBC Transmitter REAL LIFE DRAMA ON AIR FROM AAF HOSPITAL Official Photo L\ S. 4.4F -by A AF Training Command Hospital doctors, technicians and convalescents all contributed a share to making “Yank Sick Call Ao. 17” a radio success. The program originated from fi ard \o. Id at the l.oury Field station hospital and was transcribed in the studios of Station KOA. The broadcast was presented as part of the KOA Music Center for Enlisted Men's services to Cl's in the Denver area. Television's Opportunities Discussed by NOC President CINCINNATI.— With a })rediction that television may offer more employment in the postwar period than sound broadcasting did after the last war. Niles Trammell, president of NBC. declared on January 20 that it is the most effective means of mass ( omnumication ever created. The NBC executive spoke on “Ne\\ Horizons of Radio Broadcasting" l>efore the Queens Citv Club of Cincinnati. Trammell asserted that tbe new medium is tbe most significant of the new industries that will be ready to be launebed after the war. “Once it is introduced in the United States on a national scale, television will provide employment for many thousands of men and women and for many millions of dollars of capital.” he said. “Both as a service to the public and as an avenue of employment, the significance of television is enhanced by the fact that it does not displace or replace older services or jobs. It is unitjue and different from any thing else in existence.” Turning to the present news policy of NBC. Trammell declared that every effort is made to present the news factually and objectively. “In tbe case of issues or situations involving controversy, both sides of the storv must be told impartially.” he pointed out. “As far as NBC is concerned, we believe in stating the facts as accurately and comjdetely as possible, and letting the facts speak for themselves. Then the listener can write his own editorial i f he w ants to.” In his talk, Trammell pointed to the j)ublic service performed by NBC in giving listeners complete coverage of D-Day. the Pacific warfare and the national partyconventions, all of which were handled on a non-commercial basis, w ith the network standing all costs. “The victory of the Allied nations and the return of peace will not find radio broadcasters settling back into tbe comfortable position of picking uj) their old pre-war routine and carrying on right where they left off when the war began.” tbe NBC president said. “There are on the horizon for broadcasters in tbe postwar period new and revolutionary tasks and oj)portmuties, created by the continuous forward |)iogress of radio science.” WTAM SCORES WITH “FIRSTS CLE\ ELAND. — Sw ift action on the part of WTAM’s program director. Chet Zohn, and Engineer-in-Charge S. E. Leonard, gave NBC’s Cleveland station a head start— with two “firsts”— on all com • petitors covering a wildcat strike of 400 maintenance workers at the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company which broke late in the evening of January 12. News that the strike was imminent, a strike which threatened to halt all war production in five northeastern Ohio counties, was followed by a series of rumors and counter-rumors. But amid the confusion and uncertainty Leonard and Zohn coolly laid their plans for complete coverage of the strike. Leonard ordered his engineers to prepare for emergency broadcasting, to check auxiliary equipment and take all precautions against accidents. Equipj)ing the high antenna with emergency oil lamps was just one of many tasks. Meanwhile, Zohn was busy contacting civic, union and company officials. Later when a decision had to be made, he accepted the responsibility for interrupting ” IN LOCAL UTILITY STRIKE the "Amos n' Andy" show on the net\Nork so that he might put Mayor Thomas A. Burke, Jr., on the air. Government seizure of the power plant was accomplished in record breaking time. Just 16 hours after the CIO utilitv worker union members walked off their jobs. President Roosevelt, acting through Acting Secretary of War John J. McCloy. ordered all facilities of the Cleveland company seized. Jhroughout the entire night. WTAM's news department, headed by Edward Wallace. continued to report strike news. Bulletins. newscasts and announcements were later followed by a second “first” for the station when Mayor Burke, sleepless after an all night session with union, management. LB and other government officials. went before WTAM’s microphone at 7) a.m. to urge all C. E. 1. workers to return to their jobs as tbe Army was now in control of the plant. In quick succession listeners heard Leonard Palmer, local CIO official, speaking for Harold Straub, a national CIO man. urging return to work.