NBC transmitter (Jan 1943-Sept 1944)

May 1944 3 COVERING THE INVASION Huge Staff of Experts Placed at Strategic Battle Points for NBC Coverage of Great World News Event NEW YORK. — The National Broadcasting Company, through its news and special events department, has completed plans for coverage of the European invasion from the West. William F. Brooks, head of the department, has rearranged his staff, added more newsmen and correspondents and established facilities to give a complete report of the military operation when it materializes. In charge of the London invasion staff is Stanley Richardson, who will have on his roster such experienced reporters as John MacVane, David Anderson, W. W. Chaplin, John Vandercook, George Y. Wheeler, Edwin Haaker and Merrill Mueller, youthful veteran of the London blitz and the North African and Italian campaigns. Francis C. McCall, department operations manager in New York, will be in London to assist Richardson in coordinating broadcasting material and in assigning men where the news will be the hottest. Lowell Thomas, H. V. Kaltenborn and Robert St. John will also be part of the NBC team covering invasion developments, but will probably operate from the United States. In Washington. Richard Harkness, Morgan Beatty, Leif Eid. William McAndrew and Captain Thomas Knode, honorably discharged United States Army veteran of the Buna campaign in the South Pacific, will cover details originating from the war agencies in the nation’s capital. For some time NBC has been in contact with the Army and Navy, the British post office (which controls circuits out of England) , the BBC and various officials in Washington who will have a part in the censorship and dissemination of news once the invasion gets under way. The news department has prepared background copy, assigned special features to be developed both domesticallv and abroad, and has booked a number of prominent figures representing various occupied countries, so that when the flash comes NBC will be readv .to give the best coverage possible over the network. NBC, with other networks, has assigned a recording crew to the Navv, and stories obtained will be pooled in London. With these recording devices, correspondents will he able to bring a front line picture direct to the microphone. What these crews see will be recorded and later broadcast back to the home front. As other battle fronts will be affected when the cross-channel push comes, NBC has acquired other crack news men and correspondents to report from their theaters of operations, tying in with any movement from the West. The “quarterback” for the invasion team will be William F. Brooks. He will operate from his headquarters in Radio City, shifting the men from one key position to another as points of action change. And the same formula for gathering the news, as has prevailed in the past, will be rigidly enforced: that of guarding against any interpretations which might tend to give listeners a false impression of the story as it develops. Though but 41 years old, Brooks has been a newspaper man since 1917. His first reportorial job was on his hometown paper in Sedalia. Missouri. He later attended the University of Missouri and worked on several Mid-West newspapers, including The Kansas City Star. He began his long career with the Associated Press in Kansas Citv in 1926 and was later transferred to Washington. D. C. as feature editor. He covered both the Republican and Democratic conventions in 1928 and later came to New York as executive editor of the AP feature service. In this capacity he covered every state in the union as well as many countries in An emergency mike in the NBC Neiv York news room con be used to cut in on any network program for an important bulletin. Here's John W. Vandercook, prior to his invasion assignment, putting a flash on the air. South America and Europe. He next became executive assistant to the general manager, executive news editor in charge of the AP morning news report, and in 1937 Brooks was sent to London as managing director of the AP in Great Britain, Ltd., supervising photographic coverage and news distribution in Europe, Australia and the Far East. He returned to the United States in 1940 to do radio and magazine work and joined NBC as director of news and special events in October, 1942. Francis C. McCall. Brooks’ New' York assistant and manager of operations, has heen sent to London where he will aid Stanley Richardson, NBC London head, in coordinating the invasion setup. McCall was born in Waxahachie, Texas, and after studying at the University of Texas, joined the New York office of the United Press in 1927. He covered local news for a short time and was then made assistant cable editor and later night cable editor. He left the LTP to join the Australian Associated Press as assistant bureau manager in New' York. His next newspaper job was with The Chicago Tribune as the paper’s New York representative. He joined NBC in March of 1937 as news editor. Another veteran newspaperman who will hold a key position for invasion coverage is Stanley Richardson. He will assign the correspondents to the various commands and supervise all new's broadcasts from the English capital. Richardson began his newspaper work in Atlanta in 1920. He joined the Associated Press in 1922 as night editor in Dallas and served with the news agency for 16 years in Oklahoma City, Chicago, Washington, New York and in Moscow. In 1938 he was made confidential secretary to Ambassador Davies in Russia. When war broke out he returned to the Linited States and was assigned to the State Department as special assistant to the secretary. He became Coordinator of International Broadcasting, serving as liaison between the government and the shortwave broadcasters in the United States. He joined NBC in September of 1942 and w as placed in charge of the London office. ( Continued on page 15)