Radio and television mirror (July-Dec 1950)

Record Details:

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WTOP engineer Frank Somers, 1., newsman Joe Wershba and assistant Kim Gregory smile with relief after their harrowing flight. "THAT KID, HAMBURGER" News editor Joe Wershba, currently assigned to "City Desk" on station WTOP in Washington, D. C, can and does cover any assignment in the capital city from sex offenses to the weather. Although unsuccessful in its original purpose, one of Joe's biggest assignments since joining the CBS news staff in 1944, turned out to be quite a hair-raiser. Joe was to fly over the North Pole and make a series of broadcasts surveying U. S. defenses ih the Arctic region, climaxed by a broadcast from directly over the North Pole. All went well until they boarded the "Blizzard Wizard," one of the Army's B-29's, and headed for the North Pole. Three and a half hours from the pole, fire broke out in the plane. For fifteen minutes it was a question of life, death or crash-landing on the Polar ice-cap. However, the excellent training of the B-29 crew paid off. Things were brought under control and the plane's crew, the radio engineer, and the two newsmen (their hair standing on end), survived. Since joining WTOP in December, 1948, Joe has placed special emphasis on the use of tape recorders in reporting the news. He has run the gamut in his interviews, questioning the man in the street as well as officials and professional people. He makes good use of these tapes on the daily five-minute local news program, Washington City Desk, heard on WTOP at 6:40 P.M. Joe, who has been working as a reporter since 1937, feels he's still more of a writer than a broadcaster, but he was amply rewarded during the presidential broadcast of 1948 when CBS bossman, William Paley, called up and said, "That kid Hamburger is good — keep him on." Hamburger being, in Mr. Paley's mind, easier to pronounce than Wershba. R M 26 Joe and his wife Shirley interview two young neighbors for WTOP'.s daily newscast, Washington City Desk.