NBC Transmitter (Jan-Nov 1942)

OCTOBER 1942 5 "CHICAGO, THAT WONDERFUL TOWN" Love for Chicago Caused Harry C. Kopf to Become a Leading Citizen There HARRY C. KOPF • “Harry C. Kopf is a Chicago boy who built up one of the greatest sales records in all broadcasting history, and became a vice-president of NBC and general manager of its central division.” That, in miniature, is the story of one of the best-known, best-liked executives in . radio. But insofar as biographies go, that statement is far from complete. It says nothing at all about an executive who is called by his first name by everybody from his auto mechanic to the company’s biggest client. It overlooks the facts in life about a young fellow who hung up a couple of track records for himself at the University of Illinois, and who traces his foundations in sales technique to the business side of a Chicago soda fountain. For the record, he was born at Shawneetown, Illinois, on December 26, 1902, the son of an electrical engineer. It is also a matter of record that his parents gave him the middle name of Clifford — a fact which he has striven valiantly to forget, beginning with early grade school days on Chicago’s South Side. They had arrived in Chicago about 1912, and following his bout with the grade school books, he went on to Hyde Park High School and an extra-curricular job of dishing out chocolate malts and cokes across a marble fountain top. It was along in that period he made his acquaintance with athletics, taking a healthy interest in track events and basketball. Later, at the U. of Illinois, track prowess netted him several charms for the watch chain in sprint events. He also got an Alpha Tau Omega pin for his vest, and a job promoting the sale of Chesterfields for the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company. He went on to a B.S. degree in 1925, majoring in advertising and selling, and emerged on the Chicago scene that year in search of a job. He was soon engaged making space sales for the local display department of The Chicago Herald-Examiner. The record there, to quote the terse description provided by an associate, indicates that he was “definitely a hot-shot.” In 1927 he joined the A. W. Shaw Publishing Company, to represent the national department for “System” magazine, ^nd went along with the firm when it was absorbed by tbe McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. In 1929, his firm enthusiastically offered him a much better post in New York, and that led to the conclusion that Kopf, apparently, is a “Chicagophile.” You get that idea from the fact that he left McGraw-Hill because he didn’t want to go to New York, and he departed from his Here s young Harry Kopf a score of years ago when he was a freshman at the U. of Illinois. His activity in track events paved the way to his stellar sales sprints of later years. He’s still an ardent sports enthusiast. next job, with The Literary Digest, because they wanted him to go to Detroit. Kopf wanted to stay in the Windy City. That was in 1931, November to be exact, and the decision brought him to NBC. The name of Kopf loomed large in the commercial broadcasting picture from that time on. Drackett Chemical was an early account, and so was Real Silk Hosiery and the Hoover Vacuum Cleaner Company. He stepped into the Procter & Gand)le picture at an early date and was of major aid in turning the company into the biggest single customer on NBC. For the datebook, the following are milestones: January 1, 1939, appointed sales manager of the NBC central division; October 9, 1940, appointed general manager of the NBC central division effective November 1 of that year; October 3, 1941, elected vice-president of NBC. Nobody associated with him underestimates his executive talents. Even the messengers from the NBC mail room rate him as “a high-power guy.” Noted for fast attack and lightning wit in matters of business, he is also noted for being the kind of individual with an instinctive liking for people. He considers himself as something of a football expert and probably takes more interest in the sports pages during the fall than at any other time of year. His house is near Northwestern University’s Dyche Stadium, so there’s no major transportation worry for his autumnal Saturday afternoons. His tendency to do things efficiently and swiftly also characterizes his bowling game, a pastime in which he rates well above average. But when it comes to golf, that’s another matter entirely. Associates concede him to be one of the most amazingly bad players in Christendom. In the past couple of years, Kopf has become an addict of various Waltonian pastimes. By a long stretch of the imagination, this new interest in aquatic subjects might be traced to his peacetime penchant for ocean voyaging. So enamored of the briny deep is he that he has crossed to Europe and back at least three times and to South America once. The latter event furnished a bit of a thrill, due to the fact that it was a Dutch ship and had to dash for port when Germany invaded the Netherlands. In passing, one stray fact should be noted. Perhaps he is motivated by the ancient observation that “He travels farthest who travels alone.” In any event, he is still definitely in the eligible bachelor class — a fact that daily contributes to the general bewilderment of young ladies who see him in his daily rounds.