Evening star., 1938-12-07
Christmas Broadcast
To Salute Achievement
OF Associated Press
Hours Pageant Of 80
Years Of News Is Part
Of New Building Rites
By the Associated Press.

| By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Dec. THE vivid
pageant of 80 years of news gath
ering crowd with drama and ex-
citement will be presented on the
air to Christmas Day audiences
throughout the Nation in a special
N. B. c. broadcast saluting the
Associated Press on the occasion
of the dedication of its new build
ing in Rockefeller Center.
The hour-long program will be
presented by the National Broad
casting Co. over its Blue network
from to 2 pm, Eastern standard
time, as a salute to the worldwide
cooperative gathering asso-
citation. A special feature will be
the annual dramatization of the 10
best stories of the year, as selected
by Associated Press editors.
1t will recreate number of the
great events which have made
thrilling history since the founding
of the Associated Press, in 1848,
when the telegraph was a 4-year-
old infant and newspapers had
meager news.
Big Stories to Be Retold.
The historical panorama includes
such outstanding stories of bygone
front pages as the beginning of the
Associated Press, the assassination
of President Lincoln, Gen. Clusters
celebrated last stand, the devastat-
ing Samoa disaster of 1889, the
sinking of the battleship Maine, the
great San Francisco earthquake,
the World War and the rapid march
of news down to the present time.
Byron Price. executive news editor
of the association, will speak of the
news gathering of today.
The new Associated Press Build
ing, nerve center for a 285 ,OOO-mile
system of leased telegraph wires,
represents the realization of long
cherished idea. For many years
Kent Cooper, general manager, has
looked forward to the day when
more adequate headquarters could
be obtained for the Nations only
profit. cooperative press asso-
citation.
The move to the modern new IT.
story building, which is just off Fifth
avenue at Fiftieth street, is the
fourth in the Associated Presss long
history. Back in 1848 small
cramped room up a flight of 78 steps
on lower Broadway housed the head
quarters The first general man
ager, Alexander Jones, and one
youthful assistant were the entire
staff, doubling as Office boys, re-
porters, telegraphers and messen-
gers, as the occasion demanded.
Last Move In 1923.
This original Office on the corner
of Broadway and Liberty street was
the organization's address until 1875,
when the staff moved into the dreary
eighth floor attic of the then new
Western Union Building, few blocks
away, at Broadway and Dey street
In 1924 the association sought larger
quarters at 81 Chambers street, not
far from New York's City Hall, and
in 1923 third move shifted the gen.
eral Offices uptown to 383 Madison
avenue.
In contrast with the one man staff
of 1848, the associations headquar-
tiers now has 400 employees.
The 285, 5,000-mile leased wire web
radiating from the new building will
carry the news to 140O member
newspapers in every State of the
Union. The headquarters will occupy
four floors, with the news center on
the fourth floor, where 1000 feet of
shallow trench has been laid in the
floor to accommodate 1000 pairs of
cables necessary for incoming and
outgoing dispatches. The giant con-
troll switchboard for the vast net
work has been described by engi-
neers as the most complex of its kind
in the world.
The difficult task of moving the
Associated Press's great array of
news printers, picture machines and
other equipment without an inter-
ruption in service is to get under way
within the next several days and
will be complete by Christmas.