page_title: James F. Sirmons
section_title: CBS Radio Network
hierarchical_section_title: James F. Sirmons / CBS Radio Network
caption_attribution_description: English: Bronze "S" from the original Columbia Broadcasting Systems building mounted as a plaque for James F. Sirmons on the occasion of his 50 years of service to CBS Inc, 1992.
context_page_description: James "Jim" Franklin Sirmons was an American broadcasting executive who worked for CBS from 1942 to 2000, first in Radio Operations and later in Labor / Industrial Relations.
context_section_description: In early 1942 there was an opening for a Production Supervisor for the CBS Radio Network in New York City. Newly married, and with the U.S. entering World War II, he accepted the night shift and managed announcers, directors, musicians and other crew and talent for live radio broadcasts. He worked closely with CBS co-founder and president Dr. Frank Stanton as well as vice president of CBS News Edward R. Murrow, chief of CBS News Wells "Ted" Church, and broadcast journalists such as Eric Sevareid, John Charles Daly, George Herman, Richard C. Hottelet, William L. Shirer, Theodore "Ted" Koop, and Lowell Thomas. He helped to manage the live report on D-Day on June 6, 1944, and the first live televised presidential election in progress (Truman vs Dewey, November 3, 1948).
  In 1949 he was promoted to Operations Manager. During these years he also taught broadcasting courses at NYU. One of his students, Larry King, accredited Sirmons as one of the people who helped set him on the right path to becoming a broadcaster.
caption: Bronze "S" from the original Columbia Broadcasting Systems building mounted as a plaque for James F. Sirmons on the occasion of his 50 years of service to CBS Inc, 1992.
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