NBC Transmitter (Jan-Nov 1945)

2 NBC Transmitter News, Drama and Special Event Broadcasts Gave NBC Audiences Complete Story of the Atom Bomb VOL. to SEPTEMBER, 1945 No. 10 NBC Transmitter Monthly by the National Broadcasting Company RCA Building, Radio City, N. i . PEACE AND VICTORY In a letter to NBC President | Niles Trammell dated Aufiust 15, Brigadier-General David Sarnoff, j)resident of the Radio Corporation of America and board ehairman of NBC, states: “I am proud, as I know you are. of the magnificent performance of the NBC and all members of its staff, in the handling of its programs and news events which marked the end of the war. It was a splendid job and the achievements of your staff, both at home and abroad, deserve highest ])raise. To you, and through you to them, 1 extend my heartfelt congratulations and grateful appreciation.” Mr. Trammell, in a letter writ | ten August 21), addressed to “All I NBC Employees Everywhere,” stated in part : “History making events have moved so rapidly in these past few months that I have found fre(pient cause to express to all of you my pride, congratulations and appreciation for your remarkably fine performance on those extraordinarily hectic occasions. For the latest of these — the period fol [ lowing .japan’s offer to accept the I Alliecl surrender terms — I want to tell you how proud 1 am of the outstanding job you've done, adding further luster to NBC's reputation, and to thank you most warmlv for your individual contributions to the magnificent j)uhlic service our combined efforts made it j)ossihle for our company to achieve. “In this hour of total victory, wc here on the home front rememher with grateful thanks the almost ()00 of our company who entered the scr\ ices of our country, and especially pay tribute to those 10 men who have ma<h' the supreme sacrifice. “'Fhc return to our iiorinal peacetime pursuits will find us of NBC facing problems and responsibilities no less important than those we’ve met so well during almo>l four vears of war. ” j NEW YORK.— NBC on August 0 gave a report ou President Harry S. Truman’s announcement of the atomic bomb dropped on Ilirosbima as complete as any coverage yet made during the war. The Fred Waring program was interrupted at 11:17 a.m. I EWT ) for a switch to Washington, where Ralph Howard Peterson read the President’s report. Following this, NBC continued its news re]>orts with David Dietz, science editor for Scripps-Howard. taking the place of John W. Vandercook's evening news commentary. Later, instead of the Richard Darkness news broadcast. NBC presented eyewitness accounts of the bomb’s testings from Station KOB. a network affiliate at Alhu(juer(]ue. New Mexico, near where first tests were made. A worker in a plant })roducing atomic bombs near Knoxville, Tennessee, was then heard through facilities of WROL during the same period. Opinions on the new bomb and its destructive work in Ja|)an were heard all during the day on the commentary programs of W. W. Cha|)lin, Lowell Thomas and H. V. Kaltenhorn. Within a few hours of President Truman’s announcement of the new atomic bomb, NBC was on the air with a dramatic program telling the story of the research which made the bomb possible. originally broadcast on January 24, 1941, as part of the “L nlimited Horizons” series. Nearly 100 persons from every department at Hollywood Radio Cil). plus a lew in New York, were involved in getting the finished production on the air. Joe Alvin’s news and special events department was responsible for the idea. Sidney N. Strotz, vice-president of the network’s Western division, and Alex Rohh, substituting for vacationing program director Lew Frost, cleared the time with C. L. Menser, vice-president in charge of programs, in New A ork. Thomas Peluso not otdv had to get his orchestra on the job in a hurrv. hut had to rescore the music for 1<! |)ieces. instead of the 11 which were on “I idimited Horizons” when the series went off the air two >ears ago. Before rehearsals could begin, a studio had to he found on one of NBC's busiest days, and elaborate sound effects equipment set up. Finallv. with his large cast assembled in record time, writer-producer Arnold Manpiis got the show underway. Dr. Lise Meitner, woman }diysicist and a principal discoverer of the force used in the atomic bomb, engaged on August 9 in a unique two-way broadcast with Mrs. Franklin 1). Roosevelt between Leksand. Sweden, and the NBC newsroom in New A ork. The script was from NBC’s files. It was OFF TO SOI Tit IM FRIC l~F(lirard Tomlinson (left), \ BC roniinrnttilor. is entertained l/v \ BC I FrittiL Russell I right I in II ashington. Rani 1‘tntei (eenteil. HA. ehninnali. attended the bon voyage party. I I