NBC Transmitter (Jan-Dec 1939)

8 NBC TRANSMITTER NBC TRANSMITTER Published for and by the employes of the National Broadcasting Company from coast to coast. VOL, 5 JUNE. 1939 NO. 6 EDITORIAL BOARD Gordon Nugent Editor Don Witty Associate Editor Powell Ensign Assistant Editor Charles Van Bergen . Photographs N. Y. CONTRIBUTORS Ken Ellsworth Guest Relations Costa Mustaki Guest Relations Kirk Quinn Script Address all correspondence lo: NBC Transmitter, National Broadcasting Company, 4-A Clients, RCA Building, New York, N. Y. Telephone: Circle 7-8300. Extension 220. EDITOR’S NOTE Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable at the last moment to present Horace The Penguin as originally scheduled for this time. In his stead, we present for your entertainment a short program of house-organ selections. AAA YOUTH RULES RADIO The average age of NBC-Central Division members is 33 years. To prove again that radio broadcasting is a young man’s game — that it’s youth that plans, produces, and operates America’s greatest social medium, Lynn Brandt interviewed a number of Central Division department heads to strike an “average age” of our personnel. Opinion held to a range of 32 to 34 years. Even more amazing is the fact that a large group of Central Division people have been with NBC 7 to 10 years, while those with 3 to 7 years form the great majority. Then another large group, prior to NBC service, began their careers in other radio affiliations. So with the Central Division payroll counting 320 members, averaging 33 years of age, here already are radio veterans with years of service and experience to their credit in America’s fastest growing business. Another Knot Is Tied Soundman John Houseknecht made a trip to Bennetsville, S. C., to marry, on June 3rd, Miss Claire Hazel of stage and radio. Miss Hazel was the Honey Chile on Bob Hope’s program. MARCONI STAMP ISSUE COES TO NBC EXHIBIT A memorial to the “Father of Radio,” most recent philatelic treasure acquired by the NBC Stamp Club Collection, is now on exhibit at the National Broadcasting Company’s Radio City studios. The memorial consisting of the three stamps issued by Italy in 1938 to commemorate the late Senator Guglielmo Marconi, was presented to the NBC Stamp Club by David Sarnoff, president of the Radio Corporation of America, a close friend of the great Italian scientist and inventor. The stamps, identical in design, bear the portrait of Marconi. They are of 20 centesimi, 50 centesimi, and one lira 25 centesimi denomination, printed in red, violet, and blue, respectively. Sarnoff s gift has been mounted in the club’s section devoted to stamps referring to radio. Among these are the first “radio” stamp, issued in 1918 by Guatemala and presented by the President of Guatemala; a set of Newfoundland stamps, issued in 1924, picturing the antenna on Cabot’s Tower which picked up Marconi’s first transatlantic wireless signal on December 12, 1901; and stamps similarly referring to radio. Among the many other items are the Great Britain One Penny Black of 1840, and the first United States stamps, issued in 1847. To assure corporate life to its collection the Stamp Club has presented it to NBC. It is on permanent exhibition on the fourth floor of the New York studios. TELEVISION ADDS MORE HOURS AND MORE FIRSTS (Continued, from page 2) knows what they do when they get a call for a baby. The heat generated by the battery of lights in the studio furnishes an interesting highlight. It has the same effect on the varnish of an instrument that the summer sun has on untanned skin. Consequently, any piano which is to be left in the studio must be carefully blanketed. And metal objects left under the lamps must be experimented with before being picked up. So much of the heat is absorbed by them that they have resulted in innumerable blistered fingers. Supposedly, every living thing has its enemy, and the “prop” man is no exception. His nemesis is the engineer who is given to eating the properties. Certainly the directors are doing their best to present a well rounded program schedule. Sporting events have already become an established fact, with the most noteworthy attempt to date the telecasting of the Baer-Nova fight. Newscasters are appearing more and more frequently, and in the case of scheduled events of importance, you are given an on-the-spot view of what is taking place. Dramatic sketches have long been established. So it is that we watch one development take place after another, and as each falls into its particular groove, we patiently await the time when the Transmitter will be able to cover the agenda of television personnel from coast to coast. This is how O. H. Wilkens, air-conditioning engineer, propels himself around in the 85,000-gallon tank of cold water, part of the Hollywood Radio City air conditioning system, when he has to clean the portholes through which studio visitors peep into the tank to see if it’s really water. No, applications are not being accepted for similar Summer positions.