Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 1 Radio and Television Museum News Volume 10, Number 4 December 2004 Radio Announcing is Invented “Those who watch television in this last quarter of the twentieth century,” writes radio historian George Douglas, “cannot possibly imagine what an important individual the radio announcer once was. He was a genuine American hero who touched the lives of people everywhere....When commercial broadcasting began, the radio announcer was radio.” 1 In 1923, AT&T’s broadcasting manager, William Harkness, described the announcer at a broadcast- ing station as “its principal point of contact with the public.” He added, “The public know his voice and try to picture him to fit it. If he is not married or not well-balanced he is apt to become light-headed from the mash notes sent to the station by ladies of the audience or by the humorous notes sent in by men whose wives have fallen in love with the announcer’s voice and have neglected their household duties to listen to the radio.” 2 During the Golden Age of radio, well-known announcers were sometimes nearly as popular as the stars of the shows on which they appeared. By the 1940s and ’50s name recognition was extreme- ly high for radio personalities such as Don Wilson “And now a word from our sponsor...” Early Radio Announcers by Brian Belanger Pioneer Pittsburgh radio station KDKA’s Harold Arlin was the first radio announcer to achieve nationwide fame.
Transcript
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 1
Radio and Television
Museum
News
Volume 10, Number 4 December 2004
Radio Announcing is Invented
“Those who watch television in this last quarter ofthe twentieth century,” writes radio historianGeorge Douglas, “cannot possibly imagine what animportant individual the radio announcer once was.He was a genuine American hero who touched thelives of people everywhere....When commercialbroadcasting began, the radio announcerwasradio.”1
In 1923, AT&T’s broadcasting manager, WilliamHarkness, described the announcer at a broadcast-ing station as “its principal point of contact with thepublic.” He added, “The public know his voice andtry to picture him to fit it. If he is not married or notwell-balanced he is apt to become light-headedfrom the mash notes sent to the station by ladies ofthe audience or by the humorous notes sent in bymen whose wives have fallen in love with theannouncer’s voice and have neglected theirhousehold duties to listen to the radio.”2
During the Golden Age of radio, well-knownannouncers were sometimes nearly as popular asthe stars of the shows on which they appeared. Bythe 1940s and ’50s name recognition was extreme-ly high for radio personalities such as Don Wilson
“And now a word from our sponsor...”
Early Radio Announcersby Brian Belanger
Pioneer Pittsburgh radio station KDKA’s HaroldArlin was the first radio announcer to achievenationwide fame.
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 2
(Jack Benny’s announcer) and Harlow Wilcox(who did the Johnson’s Wax commercials forFibber McGee and Molly). Both had integral rolesto play in each week’s script.
When radio broadcasting began in the early 1920sthere were no announcer role models to emulate,nor did the stations know what skills to demandfrom their job seekers. Practitioners had to inventthe job as they went along, and the new disciplineevolved as broadcasting evolved. Most 1920sannouncers became announcers more or less byaccidentＦthey happened to be in the right place at the right time. Of course there were no schools totrain them. This was a period of trial and error todetermine approaches that best satisfied the listen-ing audience.
Naturally, having a mellifluous voice was an asset.Successful announcers enunciated clearly and hadexcellent diction. Douglas noted, “One announcerwith splendid diction could have a more beneficialeffect on the national literacy than ten thousandschoolmarms with their drills and chalkboardgrammar lessons.”3 A congenial personality wasalso an asset. Radio is an intimate medium, andannouncers who exuded a natural friendliness weremore likely to achieve popularity than those whocame across as “stuffy.”
Most early announcers performed other tasksbesides announcing performers and programs.Often they took the lead in lining up live talent toperform on the station, and in some cases theyperformed themselves when the scheduled talentfailed to show up. At smaller stations, they mighthave swept the floors and taken out the trash.
Harold Arlin
Westinghouse advertising employee LeoRosenberg, who broadcast the Harding-Cox presi-dential election returns when Pittsburgh’s pioneerstation KDKA came on the air late in 1920, let itbe known that he did not wish to continue in thatrole. But Harold W. Arlin, a Westinghouse elec-trical engineer, was fascinated by radio and hungaround the station during its initial weeks. Hejumped at the chance to try announcing and earnsome extra money, too. He became KDKA’s firstregular announcer and program director early in1921. Between phonograph records, Arlin read
news headlines and community service bulletins.Like a number of other early stations’ announcers, heregularly wore a tuxedo, presumably to convince theguest performers that radio was a serious medium.Of course, unless listeners saw a photograph of theannouncer in a newspaper or magazine, they had noidea that such formality graced the primitive studios.
For a short time KDKA’s initial studio was a tent onthe roof of a Westinghouse factory building, whichcreated special challenges for Arlin. Programs had tostop when a freight train passed. One night a bugflew into the mouth of a singer’s open mouth andArlin had to snatch the microphone away as the tenorlet fly with a string of obscenities. His popularitygrew. “Harold Arlin becameradio station KDKA,”claimed Douglas.3
In April 1921 Arlin became one of the first sportsannouncers when he broadcast a prize fight. As wascommon then, someone else at ringside kept intelephone communication with Arlin at the studio tofeed him the blow-by-blow.
Tommy Cowan
Another early Westinghouse station, WJZ, located ina factory building in Newark, New Jersey, served theNew York City area. This station launched thecareers of a number of famous announcers, sugges-ting that its principal announcer and program direc-tor, Thomas Cowan, must have been an excellentmentor.
Before being hired by WJZ, Cowan had worked atThomas Edison’s N.J. laboratory and inWestinghouse’s test department. He told the stationmanagement that he knew a lot about music, whichwas an exaggeration, but no one had the expertise totest him. WJZ, like most early stations, relied on liveperformances by local musicians to fill much of itsair time, so announcers, like later disk jockeys, werekept busy introducing the performers and theirmusical selections. Traveling frequently fromNewark to New York City, Cowan recruited singers,pianists, and violinists, who were not paid forperforming, but enjoyed appearing on the air, giventhe novelty of this new medium called radio. Whenannouncers could not find live performers, theysubstituted phonograph records.
Irving Settel relates a story from bandleader Vincent
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 3
Lopez’s autobiography about a time in 1921 whenCowan had asked Lopez to bring his band to WJZon short notice to fill in for a program that had beencanceled. Cowan could not offer to pay, but toldLopez “There’ll come a day soon when we’ll bothget paid—plenty. Wait and see.”4
Lopez described how Cowan ushered him into theWJZ studio, housed in a shabby upstairs cloakroomin Westinghouse’s Newark factory. It was all theband members could do to schlep their instrumentsup the rickety narrow stairway. In 1921 programswere not precisely timed—as they would be later inthe decade when national networks demandedaccurate start and stop times. They began wheneverthe performers were ready, and ended when theperformers felt like finishing. “If something weregood, it went on and on. Our show lasted an hourand a half,” said Lopez.
Cowan introduced a number of performers wholater acquired considerable fame on the radio, suchas singer Vaughn de Leath, a soprano who hadsung on Lee de Forest’s experimental broadcastsaround 1916, and Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, ateam who, as the “Happiness Boys” later becamepopular nationwide.
Cowan enjoyed a long career in radio, laterbecoming station manager at New York stationWNYC.
Major J. Andrew White
In 1921, RCA’s station WDY in Roselle Park, NewJersey, hired the founder ofWireless Agemaga-zine, Major J. Andrew White, to be its stationmanager. White had become one of the first sportsannouncers earlier that year when he broadcastfrom ringside the Dempsey-Carpentier fight fromJersey City through a jury-rigged transmitter and atemporary station in Hoboken licensed as WJY.White, wearing a starched white shirt and tie on amiserably hot and humid July day, endured agrueling initiation to the rigors of live sports broad-casting. As Douglas describes the event, MajorWhite experienced a “moment of truth” when “herealized that he had never really given any thoughtto how to use words to describe a fight as it wasgoing on. For a few seconds he was almostspeechless, but then he managed to form a fewwords, and began to move onward gamely, getting
into the spirit of the thing. In the fourth round, whenCarpenrtier was on the ropes, White had reason tofear that he himself might be knocked out as well.When Carpentier was knocked down and fellagainst the single rope that separated him from thefirst row of spectators, there was a strong likelihoodthat the radio broadcaster, his telephone, and hiscranium would be smashed by the heavyweightcontender. Luckily, when Carpentier came down forthe last time he fell in another direction. Whitecalmly described the final count over the air and fellback in his seat, the broadcast over. Seconds laterthe transmitter in Hoboken blew, and one of thegreat broadcasts of early radio passed into history.”1
But White continued. He had excellent contacts inthe radio and entertainment industries as well as insporting circles, so he was in an ideal position toline up top-flight talent for WDY. Eddie Cantor wasone of his early “catches.” When RCA bought outrival station WJZ, and shut down WDY, Whitemoved to WJZ. He and his colleague NormanBrokenshire made up one of the teams ofannouncers who provided radio coverage of theRepublican and Democratic National Conventionsin 1924. White later continued his radio career atCBS, when that nationwide network began.
Milton J. Cross
Announcer Milton Cross specialized in classicalmusic. In August 1922, Cross, a young tenorlooking for work, sang on station WJZ. ProgramDirector Tommy Cowan realized that Cross’ voicewas well suited to announcing and offered him ajob at $40 a week (four nights). Cross wanted to bea musician, not an announcer, but he needed moneyto continue his musical education, so he became anassistant to Cowan. Having grown up in New YorkCity’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, he had to learnto suppress his harsh New York accent.
In addition to announcing musical numbers, Crossread the Sunday comic strips and sometimes playedthe organ to fill time slots. While he occasionallywas called upon to report sporting or other events,classical music was his forte, and that is where heearned his place in radio history.
His long career broadcasting the MetropolitanOpera on Saturday afternoons beginning in 1931 seta standard of quality that was seldom duplicated.
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 4
Graham McNamee.
Another early announcer whose name became ahousehold word, especially for sportscasting, wasGraham McNamee. Beginning at AT&T’s NewYork City station, WEAF, he quickly becamepopular with radio audiences. Like several otherearly announcers, McNamee intended to be aprofessional musician and took the announcing jobsimply to tide him over until a better musicalopportunity came along.
McNamee announced (and was a straight man for)Ed Wynn’s Texaco Fire Chief program in the1930s. He was one of the reporters at the 1924Democratic National Convention. For a number ofyears he broadcast the running of the KentuckyDerby. He described vividly for radio listenersCharles Lindbergh’s triumphal return from Francefollowing his trans-Atlantic flight, as well asAdmiral Byrd’s return from an Antarctic expedi-tion.
Douglas says of McNamee: “A man of quickresponse and vivid imagination, McNamee couldfill the air with constant and rapid chatter, even
Announcer Milton Cross specialized in classicalmusic. His weekend Metropolitan Operabroadcasts earned him a well-deserved reputationfor excellence.
Graham McNamee (below right) interviewsbaseball legend Babe Ruth. McNamee is bestremembered for his sports broadcasting.
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 5
during a slow-moving baseball game when nothingwas going on between innings”.7
Norman Brokenshire
While alcoholism later nearly ruined NormanBrokenshire’s career, he had a distinctive radiovoice, was a terrific ad-libber, and consequentlyachieved great popularity. According to Settel, theCanadian-born Brokenshire was working for a NewYork advertising firm when he got his break inradio. His boss had sent him on an errand to“Broadcast Central” at 33 West 42nd Street, whichhoused the offices for stations WJZ and WJY. On alark, he inquired about jobs in radio, but was toldthere were none. Fired by the ad agency shortlythereafter (in 1924), he noticed a “help wanted” adfor an announcer’s job at Broadcast Central. Inspite of the fact that he did not meet thequalifications (college graduate, knowledge ofmusical terminology), he applied. Station managerCharles Popenoe asked him to read some newscopy, read foreign dispatches with difficult-to-pronounce names, and ad lib. Impressed, Popenoehired him.8
Ad-libbing was a necessary skill. In those earlyyears when performers were not paid, it wascommon for talent to fail to show up. As Douglasreported, Brokenshire had one awful day whenthree consecutive acts didn’t appear. He sang andplayed the ukulele and piano. Having exhausted hismusical repertoire and desperate to fill theremaining time, with ingenuity and quick thinking,he pried open a window and dangled the micro-phone out the window. “ ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’he said, ‘I give you the sounds of New York.’Remarkably, a large number of people wrote in tosay that they had enjoyed the city noises.”9
In 1924 Brokenshire was paid $65 per week. Whena deluge of fan mail began arriving, the stationfeared that his ego would become inflated, causinghim to demand a much higher salary. So WJZ’smanagement withheld the bulk of his fan mail,giving him only samples. Suspecting that this wasoccurring, Brokenshire went to the post office andchanged his address to a post office box, therebyensuring that he received all of his mail fromadoring radio listeners.Gerald Nachman noted Brokenshire’s renowned
signature greeting to his listenersＦ“How do you do, ladies and gentlemen, how DO you do?”10
For some unknown reason, station WJZ initially didnot allow its announcers to use their names on theradio. Instead, a three-letter code was used: Cowanwas ACN, Brokenshire AON, Cross AJN. Butannouncers on competing stations like WEAF hadpermission to use their names, so WJZ eventuallyhad to follow suit.
Floyd Gibbons
CBS’ Floyd Gibbons was one of the very firstannouncers to do on-the-spot remote broad-casting.He lost an eye as a correspondent in World War Iand so wore an eye patch. He was noted for beingan extremely fast talker. It was said that he couldread copy at the rate of almost 220 words per
Announcer Norman Brokenshire invariably greetedhis listeners with “How do you do, ladies andgentlemen, how DO you do?”
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 6
minute.
In 1930 Gibbons was a popular evening newsbroadcaster. One night Lowell Thomas substitutedfor him. Audiences responded so well that Thomassoon got a program of his own, and quickly becamea radio star in his own right.
Ted Husing
Ted Husing is yet another early radio announcerwhose name became a household word. He broad-cast the arrival of theGraf Zeppelinover NewYork on its first trans-Atlantic flight, and he alsoreported the 1928 election returns.
Sports broadcasting was his forte, though, andespecially prize fights. It was Husing who inter-viewed Joe Louis after the famous 1936 Louis-Sharkey fight.
Network Radio Announcers
During broadcasting’s infancy, when there werefew stations on the air, powerful stations like WJZand KDKA attracted listeners from far away. Still,it was not until NBC and CBS began nationwidenetwork operations that announcers attracted loyalnationwide audiences. Around 1930, CBS estab-lished a school for announcers, headed by ProfessorFrank Vizetelly, who trained announcers to developvoices that were “clear, clean-cut, pleasant, andcarry with them the additional charm of personalmagnetism.” NBC published standard pronuncia-tion guidelines for its announcers.
Announcer Andre Baruch recalled that NBC used totest potential announcers by giving them copy filledwith tongue twisters and foreign names. Forexample, “The seething sea ceased to see, then thussufficeth thus.”11 A candidate who could read thatline without stumbling was likely to be a fineannouncer! Another test during a job interviewmight be, “Describe the studio in which you areseated so that a listener can readily visualize it.”
Announcers sometimes had to contend with stationcolleagues’ practical jokes. At Detroit’s WXYZ,trying to get an announcer to break up while on theair was a favorite game. Leonard Maltin relates astory about how announcer Fred Foy was in themiddle of a 15-minute newscast when a colleagueslipped into the studio. “Foy heard what soundedlike rain on a tin roof; it was one of his colleaguesurinating into a wastebasket. ‘I was finished!’ helater wrote. ‘Convulsed with laughter, I quickly cutoff the mike and did the only thing possible to fill inthe silence. I grabbed a record and in panic spun theturntable. Even to this day I remember the wildcoincidence. The record I had so hurriedly pickedup wasApril Showers.’ ” 12
During the first decade and half of radio, announ-cers frequently worked long hours, often six daysper week. In 1936 announcers banded together toform the American Guild of Radio Announcers andProducers, essentially a union, that fought for, andeventually won, a 40-hour work week.
While there were a number of female announcersduring the 1920s; by the 1930s and 1940s, theywere extremely rare. Gender discrimination pro-bably increased as announcer’s salaries increased.
Floyd Gibbons wore a patch over his eye becauseof a World War I injury.
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 7
Bertha Brainard was a successful announcer in theearly years of WJZ. Judith Waller was the firstannouncer and station manager at Chicago stationWGU, later WMAQ, even doing remote broadcastsof the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
As network radio gave way to television in the1950s, some popular radio announcers made thetransition successfully, but others did not. A newgen-eration of TV “star” announcers emerged.Johnny Carson’s Ed McMahon is a good exampleof a TV announcer known far and wide.
Popular announcers from the Golden Age of radioand the programs for which they are best remem-bered include:
Mel Allen (sports, especially Mutual’sGame ofthe Dayand New York Yankees broadcasts)
Hy Averback (Bob Hope) Art Baker (Bob Hope, Pot of Gold) Jackson Beck (Superman) Andre Baruch (American Album of Familiar
Music, Andrews Sisters, many other shows) Ken Carpenter (Bing Crosby) Bud Collyer (many soap operas,Cavalcade of
America) Kenny Delmar (Fred Allen Show) Ralph Edwards (Truth or Consequences, This
is Your Life) George Fenneman (Groucho Marx’sYou Bet
Your Life) Fred Foy (The Lone Ranger, Challenge of the
Yukon) Art Gilmore (Dr. Christian, Sears Radio
Theater, many other shows) Bill Goodwin (Burns and Allen, many other
shows) Harry Von Zell (Fred Allen Show, Eddie
Cantor’s Show, Burns and Allenon TV)
Some announcers’ voices are so firmly imprinted inthe memories of those of us who grew up listeningto the radio that decades later in our senior citizenyears, when so many other things are hard toremember, their announcements have instant recall.As the theme song (Yankee Doodle Boy, blendinginto Love in Bloom) winds down, Don Wilsonsays, “It’s the Lucky Strike Program, starring JackBenny, with Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Dennis
Day, Rochester, and yours truly, Don Wilson.”And who among us oldsters could ever forget FredFoy’s Lone Ranger announcement—“A fiery horsewith the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a heartyHi-Yo Silver!” I can hear it now. Can you?
Endnotes
1. George H. Douglas,The Early Days of RadioBroadcasting(Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.,1987), p. 52.2. Michele Hilmes,Radio Voices(Minneapolis,University of Minnesota Press, 1997), p. 593. Douglas, p. 52.4. Ibid, p. 53.5. Irving Settel,A Pictorial History of Radio(NewYork: Grosset & Dunlap, 1967), p. 41.6. Douglas, p. 115.7. Ibid, p. 59.8. Settel, p. 61.9. Douglas, p. 63.10. Gerald Nachman,Raised on Radio(New York:Pantheon, 1998), p. 264.11. Leonard Maltin,The Great American Broadcast(New York: New American Library, 1997), p. 13612. Ibid, p. 140.Ŷ
TV announcers seldom achieved the nationalcelebrity status of some early radio announcers.The best-known TV announcer during the past fiftyyears arguably was Ed McMahon (left), shown herewhen he and Johnny Carson were beginning theirlong run on The Tonight Show.
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 8
Election Results
The four candidates for election to the Board thisfall (see the September RHS Newsletter, p. 5) wereduly elected by the membership:
John Holt Bill McMahon Rusty Wallace Tony Young
Our thanks to all four for their willingness to serveour organization for another term. All have beenactive contributors to RHS. Rusty Wallace is ourcurrent president. John Holt is our currentsecretary. Bill McMahon has organized a numberof special events for us and is our liaison to theMetropolitan Washington Old Time Radio Club.Tony Young is our “Tube Czar.” (He spendsconsiderable time sorting, testing, and sellingdonated tubes. Not only is this a good money-maker, it is a valuable service to the radiorestoration community. Tony also is a regularvolunteer at the museum during the week.)
The proposed bylaws changes on the ballot werealso approved by the membership. Our currentbylaws can be found on our Website:www.radiohistory.org
The Board appointed Connie Adams to fill anothervacant position. Connie has had a long career inradio in the Washington area. For years she workedat WMAL with the popular radio personalities,Frank Harden and Jackson Weaver. Connie owneda radio station in Annapolis and has beensuccessful in the field of advertising and publicity.She will definitely be an asset to the Board, and wewelcome her.
DuMont Special Event Well Attended
Author David Weinstein was at the museum onSept. 18 to speak about his new book,TheForgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth ofAmerican Television.The attendees thoroughlyenjoyed his insight into DuMont history and had anopportunity to see TV programs from the early
days shown on vintage sets, including a newly-acquired DuMont console.
Last Newsletter Problem
Some copies of the September Newsletter had thepages stapled together in the wrong order. If youwere one of those unfortunate souls who receivedsuch a copy, we apologize for the inconvenience.
Donations
Some splendid donations arrived during the pastquarter. A noteworthy item is a rare RCA engin-eering prototype receiver from the mid-1930s,donated by Allan Ropper and Steven Seeche. LeighBassett has volunteered to restore it to operatingcondition so we can hear this magnificent consoleplay.
Unfortunately we have filled our storage space andhave to be hard-nosed about what we can accept,especially large items. If you have (or you knowsomeone who has) clean dry warehouse space andwould be willing to donate the use of it to themuseum, please let our curator know.
Donations received since the last newsletter:
Brian BelangerRockville, Md.Philco Model 39-116 radio with remote controlHeathkit IT-18 transistor testerBook –Inside ABC
Walter CrawfordFairfax, Va.Heathkit electronics courseVideonics switcherBooks
Juliette DunardGlen Burnie, Md.RCA Model TC 167 TV set
Peter EldridgeAlexandria, Va.DVDs of old TV shows, old magazines
Museum News
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 9
Dale GrantBowie, Md.RCA Model 7-T-123 TV set
Dwight HeastyOxon Hill, Md.Four boxes of old radio booksTelegraph practice key
William JanyskaLinthicum, Md.Tape recorders and tapes of old programsHeathkit tunerOther radio items
James MaceGaithersburg, Md.DuMont Model RA-103 TV set
Richard MarksGambrills, Md.Ken-Tech TVP 45 TV set
Bill McMahonHarpers Ferry, W.Va.Grunow Model 589 console radio
Ken MellgrenRockville, Md.Posters, radio station promotion items, transistorradios
Dorothy MilsteadBowie, Md.Philco Model 46-1213 radio/phonograph
John PattiEllicott City, Md.Majestic Model 92 console radio
Craig RobertsGreenbelt, Md.Admiral Model 30B1 radio/phono/TV
Allan Ropper and Steven SeecheNewton, Mass.Circa 1936 RCA prototype receiver
Christopher SterlingAnnandale, Va.Book –TV Broadcastingby Lohr
Joyce UtmarFinksburg, Md.17 radio and TV books
James WhitelyConcord, Ca.Seven radio books and manuals
Other news
A couple of years ago, the museum program of theCity of Bowie hired a weekend staff person tosupplement our volunteer docents. That positionhad been discontinued due to budget shortfalls, butonce again the city is helping us in this manner. Thecity recruited candidates, and Tony Young (whowill still continue on as an active volunteer, as wellas our Tube Czar) was selected to be on duty onSaturdays. Having this extra help will ensureadequate staffing.
The city also provided funds to repaint the exteriorof the building this fall. All this help from the city isgreatly appreciated! We could not have come as faras we have without its strong support. In addition toleasing us the building at modest cost, the citymows the grass, plows snow, and keeps the facilityin good repair.
When you are visiting our museum, pick up abrochure about the other interesting museums inBowie: The Bel Air Mansion, the Stables Museum,the Genealogy Museum, and the HuntingtonRailroad Museum.Ŷ
Mark your calendars for the specialChristmas event at the Museum on
Saturday, December 18.Enjoy listening to old Christmas radio shows
and watching vintage TV programs.
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 10
M arianna Woodson Cobb was one of onlytwo female registered broadcast engineers
in the D.C. area in the 1950s. She died earlier thisyear, and a March 28 obituary inThe WashingtonPost(p. C10) lauded her.
When she began her career she worked for Kearand Kennedy, a local broadcast engineering firm.At the time, “female engineer” was almost anoxymoron. Far too often males viewed femaleengineers as intrinsically less competent than theirmale counterparts. Cobb did much to dispel suchnarrow thinking.
Her company was hired by station WBOK in NewOrleans to do a field strength survey of its antennasystem. When recent graduate Cobb reported forwork, the shocked station mangers complained toKear and Kennedy about sending “a girl” to do thecomplex job, and requested a male engineer. Thecompany told the station that Marianna was fullycompetent and that it would take a long time tobring in a replacement.
With great reluctance, the station agreed to allowher to begin. She donned rubber hip boots and withher instruments began wading through the murkysnake-infested swamp where the antennas werelocated. She not only completed the project twoweeks ahead of schedule, but she showed theinitially incredulous station managers how theycould re-adjust the phasing of their antennas so asto beam more of their signal toward the intendedaudience rather than toward the Gulf of Mexico.At the end of the project, the station, greatlyimpressed with her work, threw a “forgive me”party, and perhaps from that point forwardeschewed negative gender stereotyping.
Cobb often had to scale high radio and TV towersto check antennas or make measurements,including the antennas atop the Empire StateBuilding, 1,300 feet above the street. Not a job forthe faint of heart! As a soft-spoken “ladylike”young woman with “Southern debutante looks,”she said the hardest part of her job was convincing
station mangers that she knew what she was doing.
For a time her family owned station WBCI inWilliamsburg, Va., and WEMD in Easton, Md.Before her retirement, she worked for Moffet,Larson, and Johnson in Falls Church. She receiveda Broadcast Pioneers award in 1991.Ŷ
Remembering a Local Broadcast EngineerMarianna Woodson Cobb
Marianna Woodson Cobb, who helped todispel negative gender stereotypes.
December Milestones in Radio and TV
[Mike Koste has assembled a database of historicradio and TV events by month. Thanks to Mike forsharing this information with us!]
DECEMBER 25, 1906: Reginald AubreyFessenden sends the human voice by wireless fromBrant Rock, Mass., and is heard by ships at sea.
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 11
DECEMBER 13, 1910: Dr. Leede Forest makes an experimentalopera broadcast from the stage ofthe Metropolitan Opera, featuringEnrico Caruso performingsegments fromCavalleriaRusticanaandPagliacci.
DECEMBER 4, 1923: NationalCarbon Company introducesTheEveready Houron WEAF, NewYorkＦthe first major musical variety program.
DECEMBER 3, 1928: Initialbroadcast of the pioneeringconcert music programThe Voiceof Firestone. (Unlike mostsponsors, the Firestone familytook an active role in the program.Tire magnate Harvey Firestoneappeared on the first broadcast.)
DECEMBER 1, 1931:According to a survey, two out offive American homes now haveradio. Two weeks later, TheNational Association ofBroadcasters reports that morethan half of the nation’s radiostations are operating withoutprofit.
DECEMBER 25, 1931: Thebeginning of weekly radiobroadcasts ofThe MetropolitanOpera, hosted by Milton Cross.
DECEMBER 1, 1932: Feelingthe heat from the Federal Trade Commission, GEand Westinghouse agree to divest themselves oftheir stock control of RCA, which becomes anindependent company. RCA retains licensingrights for patents of all three.
DECEMBER 1, 1934: The Benny GoodmanOrchestra gets its big break as one of three featuredbands on the late-night Saturday broadcasts ofLet'sDance.
DECEMBER 25, 1934: In what was to become anannual holiday presentation, Lionel Barrymore
stars in a radio adaptation of Dickens’A ChristmasCarol.
DECEMBER 5, 1937: Bill Stern joins the Bluenetwork’s Sunday morning schedule as host ofTheColgate Sports Newsreel.
DECEMBER 12, 1937: FCC’s first challenge of“indecent” programming follows a provocativeexchange between Mae West and Charlie McCarthy.
DECEMBER 27, 1939: Replacing the PaulWhiteman Orchestra, Glen Miller’s big band starsonChesterfield Time, remaining on the air until
1922 ad from Radio Broadcast magazine. Like many 1920s radiomanufacturers, Tresco did not last long.
Radio and Television Museum News December 2004 Page 12
Miller's induction into the Army in 1942. (Theprogram was later known by Miller’s theme song“Moonlight Serenade.”)
DECEMBER 7, 1941: Radio goes to war as CBSnewsman John Daly announces the bombing ofPearl Harbor.
DECEMBER 11, 1944: Premiere of the dailyChesterfield Supper Club.Over the years, thisfifteen-minute musical variety program featuredvocalists Perry Como, Jo Stafford, and Peggy Lee.
DECEMBER 27, 1947: New York DJ “Buffalo”Bob Smith stars inPuppet PlayhouseonWNBT-TV, introducing a new generation toHowdy Doody.
DECEMBER 15, 1950: Following the success ofa series of similarly titled phonograph albums,
Edward R. Murrow’s documentary seriesHear ItNowbegins its six-month run on CBS radio.
DECEMBER 5, 1955: Combined radio andtelevision revenues top $1 billion.
DECEMBER 1, 1957: Zenith unveils the Royal1000, the first transistorized Trans-Oceanic radio.
DECEMBER 16, 1957: FCC approves use ofCONELRAD for storm warnings. One weeklater, CBS shells out a record $20 million forPhiladelphia's WCAU-AM/FM/TV.
DECEMBER 19, 1966: NBC, ABC and CBSpool their money and pay professional football$9.5 million for four Super Bowl broadcasts.
DECEMBER 27, 1968: The final broadcast ofThe Breakfast Clubwith Don McNeill. Inaddition, the industry reports that 1967 sales ofAmerican-made color televisions outnumbered
