Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

DON GODDAKD (LEFT), NBC COMMEN- TATOR. READS A D-DAY BULLETIN TO DE WITT MILLHAUSER, AN RCA DIREC- TOR, MAJ. D. H. DWYER AND CEN. SIR THOMAS BLAMEY, COMMANDER-IN- CHIEF OF THE AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL ARMY. from Washington with wives of famous military mt>n, including Mrs. Harold R. Stark. Mrs. Carl Spaatz, Mrs. James Doolittle and Mrs. Alan R. Kirk, and a message was read from Mrs. Eisenhower, wife of the Supreme Commander in Europe. From the Senate gallery, Morgan Beatty, one of NBC's Washington correspondents, gave the news as it developed from the nation's capital. In the Senate gallery, he inter- viewed Senator Barkley, Senator Hill, Senator White and Represen- tative Claire Booth Luce. With Richard Harkness, Beatty was on top of every possible news story in Washington, and did the first broadcast from the Pentagon Building. When it became certain that the invasion was actually under way, NBC made immediate preparations to bring to its microphones men from religious life to speak a word of inspiration and to voice a prayer for the preservation of those taking part in this military feat. There were Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Rabbi David Poole, Reverend Fran- cis X. Shea, Right Reverend Wil- liam T. Manning, Episcopal Bishop of New York, Dr. Douglas Horton and the voice of the President as he led the country in prayer. Then there was a broadcast of King George's address to the men of the Allied Armies, which was part of NBC's invasion coverage. i (L IflHOOH BtRLM NEW YORK HAWAII JJ« PARIS ROME UMI DANAMA AUUTIAN I& tok MOSCOW i»iBa) '——'-' rMHMmM MEIB II oiuNa Other NBC newsmen who kept this life line of bulletins and stories on the air, were Don Goddard; Elmer Peterson, who recently re- turned from London, and Don Hol- lenbeck, who knows what invasion is, as he faced the German shore patrols at Salerno. Alex Dreier told his stories from Chicago, and from the Pacific Coast, Louis Loch- ner, who spent six months as a German internee, gave a back- ground description of the German army and told how the landing would be successful. Facilities Are Expanded When Hitler crossed his first border, NBC actually laid the groundwork for its world-wide cov- erage of news. Covering an inva- sion, or any great military action, goes beyond the realm of simple reporting. First there must be per- fection of mechanical facilities: for, regardless of how good the story is, or of the risks involved in getting it, it will remain curled in THE PILE OF PRESS SERVICE COPY FROM THE EUROPEAN INVASION FRONT MOUNTS RAPIDLY AT THE SIDE OF MARSHALL SMITH IN THE NBC NEWS- ROOM AS HE RUSHES A NEW LEAD TO BE FLASHf:D OVER THK Nf:TWl>UK. the roller of a typewriter if there are no facilities to bring it to the waiting world of radio. Months ago, when invasion was first a mere ]iossibility, NBC set out to seek improved transmission facilities from the European thea- ter of operations. At that time, there was one regular communica- tion channel between the NBC News and Special Events Depart- ment and Great Britain. Contacts were made with the Army, the Navy, Censorship, RCAC, the AT&T, the British Post Office, which controls circuits out of Eng- land, the BBC and various officials in Washington and London who were charged with a part in the cen.sorship and dissemination of news once the invasion started. In cooperation with the other net- works the problem was explained and clarified. On D-Day, three com- munication channels linked Amer- ican broadcasting headquarters in London with home offices in New York. These new radio outlets enabled the radio audience to get a more complete picture of developing mili- tary action than was ever possible before. Background copy was pre- pared and ready both in New York and London. Special features were assigned for development both do- mestically and abroad. Prominent l)ersonages representing various countries in the occupied terri- tories were approached, and made ready to broadcast once the flash on the invasion came ' spe"eding over the ocean. [RADIO AGE 5]