NBC Transmitter (Jan-Dec 1939)

2 NBC TRANSMITTER SEA TRAGEDY COVERED AT SCENE BY NBC CREW ( Continued from page 1 ) which was the base of operation and communication for the rescue work. The men stationed there were: Jack Flicker and A1 Wies, New York field engineers; Bob White, director of Special Events for New England; and Bill Eddy. Short-wave equipment was used for their broadcasts, which were picked up at a special receiver set up at Seabrook, N. H., on the coast directly opposite the sunken submarine. Three men — Bob Duffield, supervising engineer; Elmer Lantz, field engineer; and Dwight Meyer, plant manager of WBZ and WBZA, all from Boston — were at this receiver, and they sent the program by wire to a control hoard in the Naval Administration Building at Portsmouth, where it was fed to the network. The NBC men who were operating from the Naval Building were: Adolph Schneider and Arthur Feldman, of the News and Special Events Division, in New York; John Larsen, New York field engineer; and from Boston: Charles Vassal, field engineer; Cou 1 ton Morris, announcer; and John Holman, manager of WBZ and WBZA. NBC was fortunate in having the cooperation of radio stations WLAW Lawrence, Mass., and WHEB Portsmouth, N. H., independent stations, before our men could get to the scene. Arrangements were made to feed the programs of WHEB to the combined NBC networks, until our own crew was ready to carry on. During the course of the rescue operations, NBC had 26 broadcasts direct from the scene. Beside these, the New York City stations cooperated with the Navy in several special announcements. As soon as the Brooklyn Navy Yard got word of the accident, Naval officials requested the Radio City stations to broadcast instructions for the officers and crew of the cruiser Brooklyn, who were on shore leave, to report hack to their ship. The broadcasts were immediately effective, and in little more than an hour, the Brooklyn steamed for Portsmouth. Beside the men actually on the spot, credit must go to those men behind the scenes, including George Milne, Eastern Division engineer, and Paul Gallant, New York operations supervisor, who arranged all the transmission facilities and coordinated technical operations. TELEVISION ADDS MORE HOURS AND MORE FIRSTS With ten program hours a week of television broadcasts now on the air (the schedule being more than doubled), production activities are fluctuating between 3H and the mobile unit, which seems to be in constant circulation around the New York area. And, ol course, that list of famous firsts has started to swell. Great hopes have been held forth for the mobile unit, especially since that Saturday night last month when we not only had the first telecast of the Six Day Bike Races, but when an ordinary telephone line was used for the first time to transmit the television signal. The latter was hitherto considered impossible. It has long been thought that the specially developed and prohibitively expensive coaxial cable was necessary for this extremely complex signal. The new development is noteworthy, since the entire New York area can be transformed into a tremendous stage for pick-ups by the mobile unit. And down in studio 3H, things are running along quite smoothly. We looked up Noel Jordan who works with Phil Ford in television properties, and from him received some interesting notes on his particular department. Of all items that the “prop” men are sent for, the hardest to find in New York are rocks, twigs, and leaves. However, with some thousands of tons of rock being excavated for the last building to be put up here at Rockefeller Center, the foreman in charge has kindly permitted the boys to carry off a few pebbles “as long as they don’t take too many.” PUPPETS OF NBC STARS ATTRACTIONS AT FAIR Through the usually reliable sources of information the World’s Fair “musts” are now making themselves known. Among the three or four top attractions is Sue Hastings’ marionette show in the Standard Brands exhibit. Many of the three-foot puppets are perfect likenesses of Standard Brands radio stars such as Dorothy Lamour (in sarong), Rudy Vallee, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy; and their lines are spoken in the recorded voices of the stars themselves. Another popular feature of the show is the puppet circus. And the whole program has been given lavish, glamorous production — with, for instance, draperies and special lighting by Broadway’s Schacht. Now we think that dated coffee is just dandy and never cease asking Mother for a certain kind of delicious chocolate pudding, but we don’t intend this as a commercial plug. Rather, we think it worthy of note that it was the manager of NBC’s Private Entertainment Bureau. Miss Frances Rockefeller King, who hooked this most successful attraction. For the run-of-the-mill articles, the biggest source of supply is the retail stores, which seem to be glad to cooperate in lending the articles needed. But when it comes to a blue dress shirt, collar, and tie, the best they can do is to purchase the goods and then rush them to the local Chinese sudsery for dyeing. And the Lord f Continued on page 8) NBC mobile unit telecasting Britain's King and Queen (indicated by arrow) at the New York World's Fair of 1939.