NBC Transmitter (Mar-Oct 1941)

JULY. 1941 5 WEAF National Spot and Local Sales. . . . Robert Morris is now Business Manager of Radio Recording, replacing John MacDonald now Assistant Treasurer. . . . William Felundy moves from Stenographic to Engineering. . . . Arthur Cooper and Robert Prescott are our newest sound technicians. . . . Gerald Mayer is a writer in Press. . . . Charter Heslip, is a writer in Special Events and Hugh Beach transfers from Press to Sports under Bill Stern. . . . Cordan Weber has been shifted from Press to Radio Recording as a production director. . . . Doris Corwith now assistant to Public Service Counselor. . . . Thomas is an assistant director of Public Service Programs. . . . jack McPhaull is now operating a duplicating machine for Uncle Sam. . . . Returning to New York for a visit, Tom Severin and Carl Cannon, both doing well at WSCN, Birmingham, North Carolina, received a big send-off when they left New York City. Microphones, posters and a general turn-out of all the ex-C.R. fellows once in uniform with Tommy and Carl, turned Pennsylvania Station into a carnival. See George Olenslager for complete details. . . . Herb Ritter, Ernest Stanger, Bob Jones, Bob Miller, Reed Lighten, George Mack, Peter Kutchmy, Bob Hoffman, Pete Bass, Andre Yedigaroff and Bill Middleton have all answered their country’s call to service since the last issue. Guest Relations, in the last few months, have advanced these men; Bill Patterson and Robert Adams to Information; Ralph Perry to International; Robert Meyer to Continuity Acceptance ; Norman Cash to Radio Recording; Charlie Turner to Press; Terry Ross is now in Night Program; Ed Stearns to Special Events; Charles Woodford to Press, and George Fischer to Engineering. The Production Department has acquired five new directors; Cyril Ambruster; Theodore Corday; Raymond Buffom ; Bruce Cameron and Edward S. King. THE PROGRAM PRODUCTION GROUP THAT FELLOW TURNER Charles Leroy Turner is now in the army. No draftee. Turner has enlisted for the full three years and is, at present, stationed at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. A motion picture man through and through. Turner is returning to his first field of endeavor, for he is now serving, at Fort Monmouth, as a film editor preparing official army films. Turner found himself in radio by accident and yet, as he leaves NBC, he can look back to being editor of the Transmitter, president of the NBC Film Society and head of the Program Production Croup. The last mentioned was considered generally to be impossible. To organize and sustain, over a period of time, a company group within such a large organization was regarded as folly. Critics cited previous conspicuous failures and predicted a similar fate for the Croup. It hasn’t come to pass, however. By the simple procedure of remaining “out of people’s hair,’’ the Program Production Croup will, in August, enter into its second year of activity. From this point on, it must chart its course without the advice and aid of the softly spoken, quiet young man from Washington, D. C. The remaining members of the group’s governing board are meeting, as this issue goes to press, to select a new head, not to replace Turner, but rather to continue where he has now left off. NBC without Turner is quite a thought for a lot of people. He has made and held friends from coast to coast. Whether Charlie returns to radio at the end of his period of service, or continues further in motion pictures, we’ll still consider him a gentleman and a scholar. Best of luck, Charles. THE CROUP ITSELF The situation in the Program Production Croup as Charlie Turner leaves NBC is worth mentioning here. The young men in Guest Relations and Mail Messenger divisions who direct the Croup’s productions, can not and do not expect any recognition as prospective directors with the regular NBC Production Division. The same situation holds true for announcers. The turn-out of men from the Announcer’s Class and the Production Croup find, when they have landed a position out of Guest Relations, that they are no longer with NBC. Their position is invariably with some outof-town station or one of the smaller outfits here in New York. That is, if their job is that of announcing or producing. Whether this policy is the best to be found is still being talked about by some folk. There are two schools of thought on the subject. One side maintains that, in order to train men correctly in your methods of work, you must take them in early as apprentices and develop their talents under the guidance of established authorities in the field. The opposite, and prevailing idea in NBC, is in keeping with the present day, efficient factory idea. Briefly, it’s the belief that men worthy of holding down NBC production and announcing jobs must come to this company from other stations with complete, impressive backgrounds. The argument used most frequently against this method is that such men are as scarce as the proverbial flies and an impressive background doesn’t always tell the complete story. Knowing this situation to exist, men still apply for the opportunity to direct the Croup’s shows. At the last count there were over thirty applications in for guest directorial assignments. Despite the promise of nothing concrete in the way of advancement, still these young men find something in the Group worth seeking. The chance to work under actual broadcasting conditions and so improve their chances for outside advancement is enough to keep interest in the Croup alive and active. It is the only goal held out to Program Production people, and yet it seems to be enough.