Evening star., 1934-03-22
ROOSEVELT HELD
MASTER OF RADIO.
N. B. c. Head Declares He
Knows How to Get His
Personality Across.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, March % (NANA).
President Roosevelt was born with
the particular talent required for
radio broadcasting, but hard practice
has developed him into complete
master of the art, says Merlin H.
AylesWorth, head of the National
Broadcasting Co.
ANY one who has followed Mr.
Roosevelt's broadcasting career with
expert ears says Mr.. Aylesworth,
must realize the President has never
made the same mistake twice, and has
perfected by what must have been
constant attention to detail the intri-
cate business of getting his personality
across through microphone. 1t is
one thing to be sincere and friendly
and quite another to sound sincere
and friendly. Mr.. Roosevelt knows
how.
II believe the President is even
better before a microphone than he
is on platform. and that means he
is very good. In what have been
called his flreSide talks, he visits in
the Nations living room as a neigh
borhood guest. Though, out of neces-
sity, he conducts a monologue, the
effect is of intimate conversation And
the art of doing this is commanded
by very few.
Danish Thought of Audience.
How he achieves this effect is Mr.
Roosevelt's own secret, but other men
who have perfected the same technique
tell me they use a simple trick. When
they get before a .microphone they
Danish the radio audience from their
thoughts and sit down for talk
with Aunt Sophie or pa. Preferably
Aunt Sophie. l don't know whom the
President is thinking of when he
strikes out with his heart warming
my friends but it's my guess some
Aunt Sophie is very much in focus
in his minds eye
Mr.. Roosevelt has not had the
lingual difficulties of other men who
speak to Nationwide audiences, Mr.
AyleSworth believes
His accent is not a Stiffly local
one" explained the broadcasting chief
His voice is cultured, but its major
overtones are natural and easy. The
President talks with effortless clarity.
The S sound, to which the mike
does extraordinary things, holds no
terrors for him"
Mr.. Aylesworth was hanging on a
wall of his Radio City office framed
letter from President Roosevelt, eX-
pressing a keen appreciation of the
part radio plays in reaching the
public.
That" he said, pointing to the
letter with pride, is the bow of
master violiniSt to a Stradivarius.
The radio is a fine instrument. Few
people know how to use it we'll No
one uses it as we'll as Mr.. Roosevelt"
Spoke % Times.
Since his Inauguration the Presi-
dent has spoken 27 times to radio
audience But he requested air time
only on seven of these occasions.
THE rest of the time" Mr. Ayles-
worth said, I'VE picked him up when
he was addressing some particular
group. His audience is much greater
when he addresses himself to the
Nation. When Mr.. Roosevelt sits
down in his White House study to
explain affairs of state to the public,
the public tunes in.
Mr.. Roosevelt has had an advan-
tage over his predecessors in that
people are better trained now to learn
by ear than they were when radio
was in its infancy. He has used that
ADVANTAGE uD to the hilt ONLY a
he does it. His control of the micro
phone. believe, has played an i'm
portant part in keeping people look
ing to him for leadership"
(Copyright 1894. bv the North American
Newspaper Alliance. IncD