NBC Transmitter (Jan 1943-Sept 1944)

4 NBC TRANSMITTER WRAK STAGES QUIZ SERIES IN AIRCRAFT FACTORY WAR WORKER QUIZ — Harris Lipez interviews one of the test pilots at the Piper Aircraft Plant, Lock Haven, Pa., in “ The Piper Quiz,” a broadcast staged at the war factory by WRAK ( Williamsport . Pa.). Here’s an entertainment idea with a war service angle that’s tvinning large audiences and considerable good-will. • WILLIAMSPORT, PA. “The Piper Quiz” has become one of the most popular programs on WRAK here. Originating in the wing plant of the Piper Aircraft Corporation at Lock Haven — 25 miles from here — the program serves a twofold purpose — employees’ factory entertainment and an ace air feature. The series is an excellent attention-getter. Harris Lipez, personnel manager at Piper, is quizmaster, and contestants are selected from the employee audience. From time to time, vocal soloists and musicians among the war workers are Good Wishes • NEW YORK. When a Radio Citv florist gave A1 Walker, of NBC’s guest relations department, a miniature garden in a goldfish bowl, he didn’t know what he was starting. Nor did Walker, at the time, but it turned out to be a wishing well. And it’s doing a land-office business. The bowl reposed on Walker’s desk and one day he dropped in a penny and told inquirers that anyone so doing and making a wish at the same time might get his wish. When the wish came true, all wishers had to do was return and drop in a nickel, the money going to the American Red Cross. presented on the show. There are cash prizes for correct answers and a jackpot is built from money “lost” by wrong responses. This is customarily allotted to a “smokes for the boys” fund. Cash is also paid for questions sent in by radio listeners. The program took a unique twist recently when the usual quiz time was allotted to a round-table discussion held in the office of W. T. Piper, president of the company, with the executive and his assistants exchanging ideas on post-war plans in regard to aviation. News Break at Doorstep • PENSACOLA. FLA. WCOA special eventers got a break recently when one of the most disastrous fires in the history of Pensacola occurred just across the street from the studios. All that was necessary for an on-the-spot description was to open a window and place a mike on the balcony. Jim Hendrix. WCOA’s special events man, was Johnny-on-the-spot, with two broadcasts during the course of the raging blaze. The damage was estimated at over $100,000. and one of the town’s leading furniture establishments was completely destroyed. Texas Station Stages Own U.S.-Mexico Good-Will Show • WESLACO, TEX.— In the first singlestation international broadcast of its kind, KRGV recently presented a dramatic exchange of good-neighbor talks by governors on both sides of the Rio Grande. The programs originated at the Third Annual Agriculture and Industrial Exposition of Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on September 11. With approval of both American and Mexican Governments, the broadcast was arranged as a feature of the first extended good-neighbor trip into Mexico by a Texas governor. It also marked the practical activation of the Texas governor’s recently launched good-will program. In a 30-minute broadcast from the Victoria Exposition grounds, Governor Magdalena Aguilar of the State of Tamaulipas and Governor Coke R. Stevenson of Texas exchanged pledges of continued efforts toward better inter-American relations. especially as they concerned Mexican workers and residents now living in the Lone Star State. The program was sponsored by C. R. Anthony Stores, an NBC and regional KRGV advertiser. Chief Engineer Lewis Hartwig supervised the Victoria-Weslaco hook-up. and Bob Stephenson, staff announcer, handled the m.c. assignment. CHICAGO VISITOR Geoffrey Bridson, writer and producer of the British Broadcasting Corporation, whose impressions of America are transcribed for rebroadcasting in England, is given an eyetour of the Windy City by NBC Actress Muriel Bremner.