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

WITH MOTORCYCLES TUNED UP, RCA MESSENGERS ARE READY TO PICK-UP Uli DELIVER URGENT RADIOGRAMS. RIGHT: THIS SWISS OPERATOR, SHOWN IN AN RCA RADIOPHOTO, RELAYED THE JAP SURRENDER MESSAGE AS IT PASSED THROUGH BERNE ON ITS WAY FROM TOKYO TO WASHINGTON, D. C. FAST, RELIABLE, COLORFUL SAounted on Motorcycles, RCA Messengers in Washington, Are a Familiar Sight as They Weave Their Way Through Capital Streets. FOR the pick-up and delivery of its international messages in Washington. D. C, RCA Communi- cations, Inc., maintains a corp of efficient motorcycle messengers. Dressed in the familiar RCA uni- form trimmed with red they may be seen dashing through the streets of the nation's capital at all hours of the day or night. While these boys are well paid, particularly when the frequent over- time is considered, it does not seem to be the pay which attracts them so much as the excitement of tear- ing madly through traffic as though their messages concerned matters of life and death. In fact, they fre- quently do. Since RCA Communica- tions, Inc., numbers among its cus- tomers practically every Embassy or Legation in Washington, as well as the Departments of the United States Government, it often hap- pened during the war that the mes- sages carried by these boys con- cerned the most vital phases of our war effort. The messages exchanged between the Swiss Legations in Washington and Berne relating to the accept- ance by the Japanese of the surren- der terms were handled by RCA messengers. The final message from the Japanese, for which the world was so anxiously waiting, was held up for fully ten minutes by an en- counter with an arm of the law. Realizing the importance of this particular message, it was entrusted to two boys with instructions to get it up to the Swiss Legation as quickly as possible. One was driv- ing while the other gave his exclu- sive attention to the precious mes- sage. In an effort to gain a few seconds time the driver made a U-turn where prohibited and was pounced upon by a waiting traffic officer who listened with consider- able boredom to their explanation of the urgency of their errand. "A lot of horsefeathers!", he is said to have replied, writing out a traffic ticket and delivering a lecture on traffic safety which he considered appropriate. The boys completed their errand as quickly as possible and hoped it would be kept very ((uiet that ten precious minutes had been lost. Unexpected Results However, it was not to be so. All day long the gentlemen of the press had been on the look-out for this message and in some mysterious way known solely to newspaper re- porters only a few minutes had elapsed before RCA phones began to ring. The story made the front pages of most of the nation's news- papers next day, with two unex- pected results. First the traffic offi- cer decided to tear up the ticket and then, the messenger, a former mem- ber of Chennault's Flying Tigers, was invited to New York to appear on the "We The People" broadcast the following Sunday night. The rather independent spirit of these impetuous drivers does not make them too popular with the traffic officers. While the boys' in- structions are to comply strictly with all traffic rules and regulations, nevertheless they have a real appre- ciation of the need for speed in picking up or delivering messages. A motorcycle needs little urging to cover the ground quickly and from time to time the boys are nabbed for speeding. But just as each mes- senger provides his own motorcycle and provides for its upkeep, he must stand on his own feet. He pays his own fine if he violates the law. Their independent spirit also shows itself in their tendency—un- less rather firmly held down ■— to adorn their uniforms with wide, fancy cowboy belts, to wear avia- tor's helmets instead of the stand- ard caps, etc. And while a well- adjusted motorcycle can run very quietly indeed, some of them seem not exactly displeased when a de- fective muffler or some other mal- adjustment causes the machine to make a noise louder than a machine- gun. But all in all they are a fine cross section of American youth and they perform an important function in enabling RCA Communications to serve the public. The day may come when every customer will have a tel- etype or facsimile machine in his office or home to provide instantane- ous pick-up or delivery, but until it does, the speedy motorcycle messen- ger provides the fastest known con- tact between the ultimate user and the radio company. [RADIO AGE 9 ]