NBC Transmitter (Jan 1943-Sept 1944)

NOVEMBER 1943 3 TAKING TO THE AIR IN TWO WAYS Airplane Edition of Esso Reporter Represents Important Promotion for WBZ and WBZA CELEBRATING EIGHT YEARS OE NEWSCASTING The Esso Reporter , of WBZ and WBZA. entertained men who have been identified with the program since its inception. Seated at the head table (left to right) are Carlo DeAngelo, radio director of Marschalk and Pratt ; Jack Knowlton, assistant division manager. Colonial Beacon ; General Manager C. S. Young of WBZ and WBZA; Don O’Brien, assistant advertising manager of Standard Oil of N. J.; and James V. McConnell, NBC spot sales manager. # BOSTON.— The Esso Reporter, recognized as a pioneer in radio newscasling, is trail-blazing once again. The daily radio bulletins now form the world’s first “newspaper-in-the-air. This publication, known as The Upto the Minuteman, is published three times daily at the East Boston Municipal Airport and distributed free of charge to all patrons of Northeast Airlines in New England. This innovation, which puts the Esso Reporter in the air as well as on the air, has been made possible through the cooperation of the Colonial Beacon Oil Company, Northeast Airlines, WBZ and WBZA. and the United Press. The Up-to-the-Minuteman is an attractive mimeographed edition of the latest world and local news as edited by the Esso Reporter for broadcasting by the Westinghouse radio stations. The paper's nameplate is a carefully planned streamer in red, white and blue, with credit afforded the various organizations cooperating on the venture. Immediately after the Esso Reporter broadcasts are completed on WBZ and WBZA. the news is rushed over Western Union printers to the Northeast Airlines for mimeographing and delivery to the stewardess five minutes before plane departure time. Editions are produced simultaneously at all the airline’s commercial terminals; and— in addition— are relayed to Northeast’s stations in the Arctic and across the North Atlantic. Lieutenant-Governor Horace T. Cahill, of Massachusetts, was on hand at the East Boston Airport when The Up-to-theMinuteman made its debut. He was presented the first copy by Helen Murdock. Northeast Airlines hostess. Officials of Esso, the Marschalk and Pratt Advertising Agency and the New England Westinghouse radio stations joined Milton H. Anderson, vice-president in charge of operations for Northeast Airlines, in inaugurating the service. WBZ and WBZA presented a 10-minute special events broadcast from the side of the big airliner which took aloft the first edition of The Up-to-the-Minuteman. While the world’s first newspaper-inthe-air is the newest adaptation of the Esso Reporter, the popular daily newscasts entered upon their ninth consecutive year on WBZ and WBZA early on the morning of October 7. Later that same day, officials of the New England Westinghouse stations played host to the men who have been closely identified with the Esso Reporter since its inception. These men were special guests at an informal luncheon in Boston’s Copley Plaza Hotel. General Manager C. S. Young, of WBZ and WBZA, presided at the gettogether and spoke briefly of the pioneering service provided by the Esso Reporter in radio newscasting. "When we started this service,” he said, “it was WBZ's first venture in the news broadcasting field. Since that time and with the knowledge gained through handling the Esso Reporter we have branched out considerably and now use both the United Press and Associated Press (Press Association) for fourteen newscasts every day.” After remarks by various other guests, Alton Hall Blackington, WBZ's lecturer and spinner of “Yankee Yarns,” showed his exclusive pictures of the famous New England Hurricane of September 21, 1938, which was one of the outstanding events covered by the Esso Reporter for listeners to WBZ and WBZA newscasts. Seated at the head table with General Manager Young were: Jack Knowlton, assistant division manager for Colonial Beacon; Don O'Brien, assistant advertising manager for the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey; Carlo DeAngelo, radio director for Marschalk and Pratt, and James \ . McConnell, manager of NBC Spot Sales. Other guests included: Frank Powers, Leslie Fitzgerald. W. A. Noyes, Robert Lybeck and J. A. Doyle— of Colonial Beacon; Henry Minott, manager of the Boston bureau of the United Press, and Robert Howard of NBC Spot Sales. NBC SCORES ALOFT • NEW YORK.— Many NBC affiliates are supplying American Airlines with sports results through an arrangement made between the airlines and the NBC stations department. The information is supplied by the affiliate to the nearest airline office. The latter transmits scores to planes en route and the flight officer enters the items on a blank posted in the cabin. The blank contains space for call letters of the cooperating station.