NBC Transmitter (Jan 1943-Sept 1944)

14 NBC TRANSMITTER MINDING THEIR PEAS AND CUCUMBERS NBC Western Program Chiel Gets Air Spotter Award • HOLLYWOOD. — Radio’s efforts in general, and one man's efforts in particular, in behalf of the Aircraft Warning Service in the West, were formally recognized by the Fourth Fighter Command in San Francisco recently when John W. Swallow, Western program manager of NBC, was honored by Army officers for a novel patriotic contribution. Swallow, who fostered the weekly radio production. “Eyes Aloft,” in behalf of the Fourth Fighter Command, was the first civilian guest ever invited to the Falcons Club, exclusive social club of Fighter Command officers, where MajorGeneral William E. Kepner pinned on him an Aircraft Warning Service 500-hour pin in recognition of his efforts. Last Summer the Fourth Fighter Command sought some means to stimulate recruiting of volunteers for the F ilter Center and Ground Observation Posts in the Western defense setup. Radio seemed to be the answer. In behalf of NBC, Swallow came forward with “Eyes Aloft,” which began on August 17, with Robert L. Redd as writer-producer. Redd donated his services. Swallow added the NBC Hollywood staff orchestra, and all talent was cast at minimum AFRA rates. The program is carried on the NBC Pacific Coast network Mondays and is recorded for playback by other stations which wish to carry it. A weekly feature of the program is news of Filter Center workers delivered by Sam Hayes, Sperry Flour newscaster. When volunteer recruiting needed an added stimulus last month in the face of Summer vacations and the usual drop-off of workers, the Fighter Command flew Hayes in an Army plane to 14 coast cities in 14 days, several thousand recruits resulting. In awarding Swallow' the 500-hour pin General Kepner and Brigadier-General William Morris of the Fighter Command were warm in their praises of radio for bringing the importance of Pacific Coast defense home to the people. THEIR • NASHVILLE, TENN.-In an effort to sustain interest in local victory gardens during a severe drought. WSM — in collaboration with the State Department of Agriculture — has continued a series of broadcasts started earlier in the season when Southern gardens were being planted. Weekly programs, broadcast direct from prize gardens in and around Nashville. are being handled by Louie Buck. WSM farm program director and veteran staff member. Later, when the canning season gets underway in earnest. Buck plans to sw itch to that phase of the food conservation campaign. He will broadcast canning demonstrations presented by farm bureau experts who will explain how to preserve the vegetables they have produced. Helpful hints on various canning methods in which different types of equipment are used will be presented. The series won great praise as a timely public service. Proof that WSM practices what it preaches is the large well-tended victory garden near the station’s 50.000-watt transmitter located on Franklin Road, near Nashville. Engineers and technicians tend the beans, peas, tomatoes, corn, potatoes. squash and watermelons cooperatively. There is every indication, at present. that they w ill harvest a bumper crop. “H ATCH THOSE WEEDS!” -That's the radio learning of Tennessee State Agricultural Commissioner C. C. Flanery to WSM listeners during a current victory garden campaign. Commissioner and Mrs. Flanery are shown with Louie Buck, W SM farm program director, during one of a series of broadcasts on victory gardens and how to make them grow. The scene is the commissioner's own Nashville garden, in which he tests various vegetables and farm crops. Similar scenes have reached the editor of The Transmitter from NBC stations in all parts of the United States. The manner in which radio responded to the victory garden idea was typical of the way in which the industry is rallying around all phases of the war effort. Station employees were among the first to launch victory gardens. MIDWEST WOMEN HELP BOOST RADIO BOND SALES Left photo shows leaders of a War Bond and Stamp selling contest sponsored by WMAQ and conducted in the main lobby of the Merchandise Mart , Chicago. L eft to right are Mrs. Irvin Levy. Mrs. Alex Dreier (wife of the NBC commentator) , Mrs. Leo Frey and Mrs. Norman Barry (wife of the jormer NBC announcer now at a Navy school). 7 he grouj) is called “ Thursday Girls " because that's the day they re on duty. Right photo, taken at KSD (St. Louis), shows the station's director of women's activities, Reggy Cave (left), with members of the Incarnate Word Academy's newspaper staff after the girls donated a year's profits for a W/ar Bond gift to their school. JOHN W. SWALLOW