NBC Transmitter (Mar-Oct 1941)

MARCH. 1941 13 WINE OF CHOICE ON ACTIVE SERVICE Company Sergeant Major Mark Casel 53038 No. 3 Armoured Car Co. South Africa Tank Corp M.F.F.; U.D.F. Army P. O. Nairobi 18 XII 40 Dear Sirs: Your programme featuring relays from the Metropolitan Opera House has afforded the men of my Company a tremendous amount of pleasure. Situated as we are, hundreds of miles from civilization in the centre of Africa’s blazing desert, it was a relief to listen to something different from the interminable blaze of propaganda punctuated by ill-chosen dance music that is poured from every station day and night. Your commentator painted an interesting and vivid picture of the scenery, and though tired and hot, the commentary held us throughout the performance. It was a night well spent, and we are looking forward to the next broadcast, “Don Pasquale.’’ In such times as these, music and more so the music of the opera, provides the one sane haven of refuge in this world of turmoil. Congratulations to your sponsor, and our appreciation to all concerned. Yours very sincerely, C. S. M. Mark Casel Lance Corporal E. V. R. King Lance Corporal I. A. Fisch Staff Sergeant Max Colin-Twersky Co. “C” 155th Infantry (r) Reg., 31st Division, A. P. O. No. 31 Camp Blanding, Florida I should like to take this means of telling you how much I appreciate the opportunities the NBC offers for hearing good music. I am a young man who is now serving his year of military training and since I have been in camp, the radio has been my only contact with the best musical literature. Cood music is the one thing I have missed most during the last two months. At home . . . our small Victor record library has been a number of years in the making and limited funds have forced us to make careful selections. However, I believe that we can boast the very “cream” of musical recordings among our thirty some odd albums and approximately three hundred single records. But it is not about my family’s collection of recordings that I intended to write. I mention them just to give you some idea of how much I appreciate the opportunities for hearing good music. There are many programs which I should like to mention. Number one program is the broadcast every Sunday morning by Dr. Charles Courboin and this is followed closely by the NBC Symphony broadcast on Saturday night and the Metropolitan Opera broadcast on Saturday afternoon. I have written you this rather disjointed letter because I am informed that the National Broadcasting Company desires to know the likes and dislikes of its listeners. I feel that your company is doing something that is greatly appreciated by music lovers in the broadcasting of good music. I sincerely hope that as time goes on there will be more demand for this type music, for I know that the NBC will keep oace with the musical development of the listening public. Sincerely yours, A D W PERSONNEL GROUP The NBC Discussion Croup organized by Personnel Manager Ashton Dunn has been featuring unusual opportunities for round table discussion of all aspects of the industry with virtually every executive of the company. Plans are already under way for a new two year cycle to begin this Fall. Contact the Personnel Office at any time. RADIO RECORDING Temple Black joined the sales force during February. . . . Bill Cartland was drafted and is in the medical detachment at Falmouth. Mass. . . . Bill Ogden took joe Pepper’s departure for an entrance cue. ... Ed Ehrich found March a swell month in which to get married. . . . Barry Schenck is one of the most recent additions. . . . C. Lloyd Egner is displaying proof of the Florida sun. NEW MEN IN G. R. Promotions within the company, and the drafting of many of our number into various branches of our National Defense program, have brought about many changes in the personnel of NBC New York. From January first to the end of February, 35 men from almost as many walks of life have joined the Guest Relations division. "QUOTATION MARKS” “I have been told that radio in America is ‘utterly commercialized,’ but commerce did one great thing for radio — it took it away from centralized authority on the one side and from the esthetic tyrant on the other.” —DEMOCRACY by Gilbert Seldes, GOSMOPOLITAN, 1937. “Surely we need not fear the influence of false philosophy on the minds of our own people if we look toward the new horizons of industry which our inventive genius, our research, and our natural resources disclose. The security which we can build makes the security offered by dictatorship look pale by comparison. The imagination and skill of our scientists, our engineers, and our workers can be directed toward raising the living standard of all our people: toward creating a better life for ourselves instead of plotting a worse life for our neighbors. Our security will be attained by adding to human liberties, not by subtracting from human rights.” —NEW HORIZONS OF INDUSTRY Speech by David Sarnoff January, 1941