NBC Transmitter (Jan-Dec 1939)

12 NBC TRANSMITTER Jkttntoci^arg (jfJttnu# The NBC Transmitter salutes these members of the National Broadcasting Company ivho, this month, complete their tenth year ivith the Company. Isabelle Cooney Dark-eyed and brunette Isabelle Cooney became a member of the NBC Central Division ten years ago as secretary in the Sales Departme n t. Twelve months later, she was transferred to the office of Vice President Niles Trammell, where she served in a secretarial capacity for more than nine years, until Mr. Trammell became NBC’s executive vice president with offices in New York. The first of this year. Miss Cooney became secretary to the Program Manager of the Central Division. Miss Cooney says, “I can’t imagine working in any other field than radio. Since I became a member of the National Broadcasting Company, I have realized how fortunate one is to be a part of a new and thriving business. Something new every day. The romance of radio is what tomorrow will bring in the matter of new developments, new program ideas and new friendships gained in the course of your duties.” An ardent hobbyist, she enjoys golf, bridge, swimming, and is an expert equestrienne. Miss Cooney recently was presented with a set of NBC chimes by her feminine colleagues in the Central Division. Patrick j. Kelly If you are the kind of person who admires — and who deep down inside secretly envies — the man who has lived, and lives the “busy life”, then we’d like to have you meet NBC’s supervisor of announcers in Radio City, Pat Kelly, who this month completes ten years as a member of the family. Take a look at a well-packed past. Mr. Kelly was born in ChartersTowers, North Queensland, Australia. In Sydney, he studied marine engineering; then he took off to sea and made the rounds of the Pacific, from the South Seas, Hawaii, Samoa, Japan. China to Vancouver, B. C. He narrowly escaped death in a shipwreck in the frigid waters of an Alaskan sound. After more engineering study in Vancouver, he went to Seattle, and while there his fine tenor voice was discovered by Fortune Gallo who • offered him a contract and under whose management he sang for over ten years. Later he went to New York and an Pat Kelly engagement with the Schuberts, whose company of Blossom Time he left in 1929 to join NBC. Since then, he has endeared himself to radio listeners, not only by his announcing but also by his singing on Cheerio’s program, and to the men he works with by his understanding friendliness. For a look at Pat Kelly today, we’ll have to step fast. If we don’t find him in his office in Radio City planning schedules, outlining the work of his men, reading news flash bulletins from his specially-built control board, auditioning aspiring young announcers, or performing one of a hundred other duties, then we ll really have to step fast. We may catch him in News and Special Events, working out plans for some special broadcast with other officials, perhaps in the Master Control Room straightening out T some network problem, or maybe in the studios J where, each day. he announces a popular program e. c. Callahan which is appro priately entitled. Getting the Most Out of Life. And if we miss him — well, try his office later. Away from the hectic life in Radio City, he finds diversion and relaxation in his flower garden at his home in West Hempstead, Long Island. Mrs. Kelly, Hungarian by birth, is also a former musical star. They met while play ing in Blossom Time. E. C. Callahan If you happen to look up and see a good looking chap with reddishblonde hair and an armful of NBC equipment dangling from a plane, descending in a skip or climbing on a skyscraper, you can be sure it’s Ed Callahan — E. C. Callahan of the KPOKGO Field Group, to be formal. Mr. Callahan celebrates his tenth year with NBC on March 20, and it’s been an eventful decade. He was one of the small group, who helped to make the NBC wheels go ’round soon after the Western Division was organized, and he’s a member now of that roving squad which is always on the spot — with microphones to tell the world about it — where things are happening. To recount the special events, Mr. Callahan has helped to cover would fill the Transmitter — but they have included the dedication of Boulder Dam, and a ride on a four-by-four beam, looped to the end of a hook and swung out over Black Canyon — 800 feet below — flying in army blimps and every other kind of air vehicle, including the Macon just before its tragic destruction, broadcasting the Los Angeles Flood — speeches by the President and a two weeks’ tour through the clouds over the national parks. Engineer Callahan was born in Dallas, Texas, and moved to California in 1918. Like most good radio engineers he was building crystal sets long before he ever dreamed of radio as a livelihood, but he started his training as an operator in the Naval Reserve, in which he is a lieutenant, junior grade. He was an underwriter for the Firemen’s Fund Insurance Company when NBC offered him a chance to put his engineering talents to work in 1929. Barbara Clark Ten years ago a young graduate