Evening star., 1934-08-12
WORLD FEATURES
CARRIED BY c. B. S.
Public Events Depar'r mt
Prepares Spot Rad
BroadcaStS.


~ events and special features
4 n department Of the Columbia
Broadcasting System.
Whether it's q descriptive broadcast
of the Presidents arrival in Honolulu.
the unveiling Of q monument In South
Africa or the Reichstag ceremonies
honoring the late Paul Won Hinden-
burg, It's just another Job for this
unique department headed by Paul
White
Snapshots of typical day:
A cable from Berlin states the time
of the Hindenburg funeral. Hurried
telephone calls TO production. master
control and the program department
set the broadcast. A conflrmatory
cable Is rushed to Cesar Saerchinger,
G. B. s. foreign director. A message
over Columbia's private teletypewriters
notifies the network stations. Con-
tinuity Is prepared Newspapers
throughout the country are notified.
A telephone rings In the Office OF
Joe Donohue OF the New York staff
Bob Trout. presidential announcer. is
calling from somewhere in Washing
ton State for the exact time OF Presi-
dent Roosevelt's speech in Glacier
National Park. kilograms are sent to
Ted Church Of the Washington staff
and to c. W. Myers or c. Roy Hunt
of KOL. Portland. Trout is phoned
as soon as the information is available.
Short Wave Arranged.
Another cable reports completion of
arrangements for George Burns and
Variety Hour of the British Broad
casting Corporation. Program. pro-
duction and master control are noti-
ned. Plans are perfected to short
wave" Burns and Aliens spot" on
the Variety Hour to the United States
for a special program over the Co
lumbia network.
Ted Husing and Paul White start
their annual argument about the foot
ball schedule. The early season games
to be broadcast are easily selected.
Then late October and early Novem-
ber, with their bewildering array OF
gridlron entertainment, present as diff
ficult a problem as ever faced a radio
executive. On october ~ a game
must be selected from Army Yale
Ohio te-Northwestern; Michigan
State Illinois; Notre Dame Wisconsin
and the Cornell Princeton battles
Realizing it's impossible to please
every one, White and Husing tenta-
lively select the Yale-Army game.
The public events and special fea-
lures department is a clearing house
for all broadcasts by civic and social
welfare organizations. Calls come
daily from representative groups vary
ing from the Society for the Preven-
tion Of Cruelty to Announcers to the
Home for INDECENT Field Mice.
AND there is the omnipresent fellow
with a swell idea" for broadcast.
Generally it's a trick program from a
falling parachute or a traveller who
wants to arrange an educational series
from far away places on the globe
provided some one else furnishes the
money. Some one suggests a broad
cast from a haunted house an
other wishes to link the Byrd Antarctic
Expedition and the hottest place in
America, Death Valley (cost facilities
for this idea would exceed $25 5,000) ." .
all kinds of stunts in connection with
aviation, many of them already done
- yet White or his staff members
patiently hear all, for often an obscure
idea is developed into a good show.
First Special Program i'm 1928.
In 1923, Just about six years ago,
Columbia arranged the first special
broadcast of note. Ted Husing came
to Washington and described the
funeral ceremonies for Floyd Bennett.
During the past five years the pub
lie events and special features de-
partment has arranged thousands of
programs. For the first six months
of 1884, special broadcaSts increased
over so per cent compared with the
same period last year. European pro-
grams are now an everyday job. Short
wave equipment has improved. The
receiving stations can generally de-
termine atmospheric conditions sew
eral weeks in advance. The reception
of q short-wave program today is
usually clear-a few years ago it was
a tumble of queer sounds. Every day
the microphone inVadeS new places
and lands for the entertainment and
amusement of the radio audience, and
the public events and special fea-
lures departments, operating behind
the scenes, arrangeS, schedules and
produces all such programs known
in the business as ''remoteS."