NBC Transmitter (Jan-Dec 1939)

9 NBC TRANSMITTER Roy C. Witmer, vice-president in charge of Sales, has always enjoyed his trips to Chicago. As he Jokingly told executives there recently, only one thing bothered him. Never had he been greeted at the depot by brass bands and banners, reception committees and official spokesmen. It did seem a shame. The next day Mr. Witmer returned to Chicago from a short side-trip to Racine, Wisconsin. As he stepped off the train, he realized his dream had come true. Not only was the station platform bedecked with color, brass band and cheering department heads, but President Lohr himself was on hand to greet him. Shown here, from left to right, are: Roy Shield, music director of the NBC Central Division; Jules Herbuveaux, Central Division program manager: Bernardine Flynn, "Sade” of Vic and Sade: Lenox R. Lohr, NBC president; Roy C. Witmer, vice-president in charge of Sales; and Sidney N. Strotz, Central Division general manager. JUDGE ASHBY ADDRESSES NBC STUDY GROUPS A. L. Ashby, NBC vice-president and general counsel, addressed the employe study groups April 26, explaining the functions of the Legal Department and giving the “lowdown ' on how it keeps NBC out of trouble. His highly interesting and informative talk included comment on the FCC investigation in Washington, D. C. A short talk by President Lohr concluded the meeting. This was the last meeting of the study groups for the season. They were begun in January and gave forty employes a chance to learn the various phases of radio through research, report 'writing, weekly discussions in small groups, and fortnightly addresses given mostly by executives of the company. Besides Judge Ashby, the NBC executives who spoke were Bertha Brainard, Keith Kiggins, Janet MacRorie, Clay Morgan, William S. Rainey, I. E. Showerman, and Lewis H. Titterton. The membership of the groups was decided on a competitive basis. The forty members came mostly from Guest Relations, hut also from Sales, Publicity, Electrical Transcription, Music, Special Events, Production, and Script. The men have reported enthusiastically on the course, and ap preciate the time and effort given by the executives who addressed them. The study groups will be resumed next fall, and Mr. Ashton Dunn of Personnel asks anyone interested to communicate with him this summer. Meanwhile the courses for new employes entering the General Service Department will be maintained as usual. CONGRESSIONAL PARTY VISITS NBC STUDIOS A congressional party of 250, including members of Congress and their wives and children, were guests of the National Broadcasting Company on May 11, at a demonstration of broadcasting and RCA television arranged in their honor. It was their first stop in a weekend trip to New York that will include visits to the New York World’s Fair and the ships of the U. S. Navy anchored in the Hudson. The party arrived at NBC's Radio City studios about 7:45 p.m. After being shown television and touring the studios, they saw a special variety show in Studio 8H, the largest broadcasting studio in the world, and then went to the Radio City Music Hall. NBC USHERS IN TELEVISION AT THE WORLD’S FAIR ( Continued from page 1 ) esting out-of-door programs on a scheduled basis. The start of the television service on April 30 followed a television preview' program on April 20 during which the RCA Building at the World’s Fair wTas dedicated. The dedication ceremonies, which featured an address by David Sarnoff on “The Birth of an Industry,” were flashed eight miles through the air and reproduced in receivers at Radio City. The preview program marked the first time that pictures relayed by the NBC mobile unit were rebroadcast from the Empire State tower transmitter. The images showed no trace of interference between the relay channel and the station’s regular frequency. An audience consisting of several score reporters and magazine writers witnessed the telecast on a battery of new commercial receivers on the 62nd floor of the RCA Building in Manhattan. “They saw,” according to the New York Times, “hundreds of workmen lined up along the curb at lunch hour watching the radio cameramen at work. The laborers in white overalls added contrast and stood out distinctly in the crowd. A bugle blew and the Stars and Stripes was seen to climb the mast, opening the dedicatory ceremonies.” On May 17, NBC again made television history by televising the first baseball game. The game, an intercollegiate contest between Columbia and Princeton Universities, was telecast from Baker Field, Broadway at 218th Street, New York. Five who figured in television’s curtain raiser at the World’s Fair are. left to right: Bill Haussler and Charles Van Bergen, of the NBC Photo Desk; Announcer George Hicks, Burke Crotty, television mobile unit producer; and Tom Riley, television program producer.