NBC Transmitter (Jan 1943-Sept 1944)

2 NBC TRANSMITTER PICK-UPS FROM GOLDEN GATE San Francisco a Busy Point ol Origin for Network Programs NBC TRANSMITTER VOL. 9 NOVEMBER 1943 No. 4 Published Monthly by the National Broadcasting Company RCA Building, Radio City, New York A MOMENTOUS MOVE • “Momentous in its meaning for the modernization of education and its adaptation to present-day media.” With these words, Dr. Belmont Farley, of the National Education Association (which includes in its membership more than 900,000 of the nation’s teachers), hailed the action of the New York City Board of Education in granting full credit for courses based on NBC InterAmerican University of the Air broadcasts. For the first time, teachers required to take “in-service” courses to win salary increases can take such courses, in part, seated in their homes next to a radio receiver. “Lands of the Free” and “Music of the New World” measure up to the highest standards as great entertainment ; that they also meet stringent academic standards proves once more that radio is one of the most adaptable disseminators of information ever devised. Further details are in the article on page 12. TRIBUTE FROM LABOR • Explaining that labor counted heavily on the NBC “Labor for Victory” series to bring the truth home to the American people, the American Federation of Labor Executive Council praised the effectiveness of the programs in its report to delegates attending the recent AFL Boston convention. In part, the report stated: “The Executive Council wishes to express its sincere appreciation to the National Broadcasting Company for making these broadcasts possible by providing time over its nationwide network to the American Federation of Labor without charge as a public service.” • SAN FRANCISCO. — Exploding any thought that San Francisco is a ghost town for radio, Station KPO conies out with the announcement that 16 NBC network programs originate regularly at its studios in the Golden Gate’s Radio City. Top on the list is the transcontinental daily laugh show, “Mirth and Madness,” which is broadcast not only all over the United States but also to Canada, Mexico, South and Central America and even to our troops in Africa. Owen Lattimore’s five-minute portion of “Pacific Story” originates each Sunday night at KPO. On the subject of the war, Larry Smith’s Monday through Friday and Sunday news commentaries come from San Francisco, as do Dwight Newton’s “Fighting Front Facts.” The NBC Western division's “Vegetables for Victory” is beamed out of Radio City, with Norvell Gillespie at the mike. “News in Advertising,” General Manager John W. Elwood’s brand-new program idea, goes to 16 stations every Sunday morning. On the commercial side of the ledger, the Sperry Miller’s daily serial, “Dr. Kate,” goes to eight stations; General Foods’ “Night Editor” to the same group; Wesson Oil’s weekly “Hawthorne House” to six; Rancho Soup’s “Rancho News to ANNOUNCER MIXES IN Rad Hall, WEAF (New York) newscaster (right), stops, looks and listens as Murray Williams, plant manager of the M. J. Merkin Paint Company, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, explains the mysteries of a mixer in which pigment is blended with oil, one of the steps in paint manufacture. Hall, who since June 5 has been broadcasting news for Merkin. decided to learn first-hand about the products. six, and Standard Oil’s twin programs, “Standard School and “Standard Hour,” to 12 and six respectively. The “Standard Hour” alternates between Los Angeles and Hollywood. San Francisco, long noted as a city of music, beams five musical programs out of KPO. They are “Tunes and Tips,” “Rhythm and Romance,” Carl Kalash and Orchestra, a twice-weekly organ concert, and a remote control pick-up from the St. Francis Hotel. Portions of “The Army Hour” frequently come from San Francisco and are handled by KPO producers, announcers and engineers. All Far East pick-ups on the network's “Army Hour,” “News of the World,” “March of Time” and “NBC War Journal" come through KPO-NBC and are relayed to the rest of the web, as is the monthly transcontinental feature, “Voice of Alaska.” It is the great ambition of NBC-San Francisco newsroom editors, who handle all of these foreign pick-ups— from Fairbanks, Honolulu, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Chungking and Moscow— to be at the controls on “V-Day” when NBC correspondents will triumphantly broadcast over Radio Tokyo! Front Page Promotion • PHILADELPHIA.— KYW achieved the almost impossible the day after Italy was invaded, and daily thereafter, by cracking the front pages of Philadelphia's two morning newspapers with advertising. In order to promote the complete news coverage of the K'l W newsroom, front page advertising “readers were inserted in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Record. Veteran newspapermen in the Quaker City said it was the first time in their memory that newspapers permitted front page advertising other than “house ads and routine classified ads. The KYW “readers,” three in each newspaper, called attention to newscasts on the Westinghouse station, air time of the news commentators and the fact that any program would be interrupted at once for important invasion bulletins.