NBC Transmitter (Jan-Dec 1939)

AUGUST, 1939 / KOA DENVER by Mack Switzer Birmingham, Alabama, starting later this month. Carl was chosen when the station’s vice-president came to New York and interviewed several NBC employees. AAA Jack Haddock has given up the sixa-days which are guided tours for the once-a-days which are summer stock appearances. Scene: Cobweb Theatre, Buck County, Pa. Marriages For A1 Camman of Press, July Fourth is no longer the Summer holiday. No lack of patriotism is involved —in fact the date-changing ceremony was performed in the tradition-steeped courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, present home of George Washington’s will. The new day of celebration is July 1st, and the other signer of this Declaration of Interdependence is the former Agnes Schubert of New York. AAA Travel talk: Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Gilbert have recently returned from a trip to Bermuda. It is to be noted that the trip was a honeymoon jaunt and that Mrs. Gilbert is back in Stations Relations, where she is better known as Elizabeth Scott. Mr. Gilbert is connected with the Yorkshire Indemnity Co. AAA Names In The News would not be complete without a page staff marriage, but this time we must go back to June 18th. On that date Paul R. Bartlett and Mary Elizabeth Johnson of Fresno, California, were married in New York’s Brick Presbyterian Church. Next fall Paul returns to Harvard University to complete his senior year. After finishing high school and before starting college, he worked several years at KMJ Fresno, producing and announcing. He has also done freelance writing. AAA Stockton Helffrich of the Script Division and Miss Dolores Faerber of New York were married in New York on July 15th. Mrs. Helffrich is a Hunter College graduate. She returned last January from three years of teaching English in Puerto Rico. Miscellaneous Educational Director Dr. Franklin Dunham is conducting radio courses at Teachers College at Columbia University and Harvard University this Summer on the public service phases of (Continued on page 16) A. E. Nelson, former manager of KOA and now sales manager of the NBC Blue Network in New York City, spent his vacation in Denver, headquartering from the station. It was “old home week'’ while he was in town, and only the fact that “you can't have everything” was our consolation on seeing “A. E.” depart. Colorado’s sunshine did its work and Mr. Nelson left with a regular cowboy tan. He says the adage that “It’s a Privilege to Live in Colorado” is absolutely true. AAA Charles Anderson, of Announcing and Production departments, has been named assistant to Clarence Moore, program director. Roscoe Stockton has been placed in general charge of Production, and Bill Ratigan is in charge of Program Continuity. AAA Publicity and Advertising Manager Frank R. Jamison of the Public Service Co. of Colorado, for four years sponsors of the weekly KOA drama, Light On The West, attended the American Federation of Advertisers Convention in New York, and thereby we have two notable points to record. NBC Vice-President William S. Hedges assisted Mr. Jamison in doing the town, which would no doubt make a story in itself, and the AFA awarded Mr. Jamison top honors for excellence in public utilities advertising. AAA Tanya Krasanova, exotic singer from west coast stations, is the newest artist at KOA, making her debut in two-aweek programs with the staff orchestra. AAA Vacation Notes: Stan Neal and Mrs. Neal, he of the KOA engineering staff, vacationed in Yellowstone Park and the Jackson Hole region. Stan says the fishing was perfect; Louise that the mosquitoes were terrific. Jane Wellerd of General Office tripped to California and the Fair at San Francisco. Martha Krueger, also of General Office, just to he different spent her vacation in Chicago, where she has relatives. Chief Engineer C. A. Peregrine vacationed in California, visiting his mother in Oakland. AAA One of the most unusual broadcasts ever to go on the air over KOA took place recently when — on the McMurtry Paint Company ’s Golden Melodies program— Lester Harding sang from Colorado Springs and was accompanied by the ensemble under the direction of Henry Truslman Ginsburg, which would not be unusual at all except for the fact that the orchestra was in Denver, 70 miles away! Control Supervisor Walter Morrissey was in charge of the complex system of circuits and was assisted by Junior Control Supervisor Joe Rohrer and Engineer Carl Schuknecht. Baritone Harding sang at the Chief Theater in Colorado Springs and his voice was “piped” to Denver in perfect coordination with the orchestra. Besides the two-way lines to the theater, the system involved the use of circuits in three studios in the NBC Building in Denver. Anyone understanding just a little bit of radio engineering will know1 that this was a colossal job by the technical department and no mean performance, either, by singer, ensemble, and production branches. AAA The wedding of Dick LaSalle, accordionist in the KOA staff orchestra, and Patricia Bonnell of Denver took place on July 10 at St. Dominic’s Church in Denver. The couple are taking a honeymoon tour of California. AAA This is vouched for by KOA’s Carl Wieninger: In a Denver kindergarten a small lad stood up and said. “Teacher, I know7 how to spell ‘Denver’.” Rather surprised, the teacher asked him to spell it. The bov’s version was “K-O-A, Denver.” AAA Nature Sketches, a weekly Saturday morning feature from KOA to the Red Network, handled by Clarence Moore and originating from the Estes Park region north of Denver, has received nice acclaim in Radio Guide through a series of articles which started in the issue of July 7. Using KOA portable equipment. Dr. Raymond Gregg, National Parks naturalist, takes the children attending his Junior Nature School, which is free, wall-less, and government-conducted, along trails through field and forest and beside snow-fed streams, bringing things previously taken for granted to life, giving them character and personality ( Continued on page 13)