Transmitter Bulletin of Special Collections in Mass Media and Culture at the University of Maryland Spring 2014

Symposium Friday, April 11 10am-5pm “Saving College Radio,” a symposium hosted by the University of Maryland Libraries, offers a day of insightful and interactive presentations on the themes of preserving active college radio culture as well as stations’ historical archives. In conjunction with our current gallery exhibit “Saving College Radio: WMUC Past, Present and Future,” the symposium brings academics, archivists and college radio participants together to highlight the vital contributions of college radio to campus, local and online communities, and to emphasize the value of college radio archival materials in history and scholarship. An exhibit documenting the rich istrative files, brochures and photographs. Keynote speaker Jennifer Waits, the history of the University of Materials in the WMUC Collection are College Radio and Culture Editor of part of the University Archives and docu- the blog Radio Survivor, founder and Maryland’s radio station is on ment cultural, music, sports, and news pro- display in Hornbake Library and editor of the blog Spinning Indie and grams. longtime college radio DJ, will open open through July 2014. Among the highlights of the exhibit the symposium with a presentation on are: early 1970s audio recordings of Viet- “Saving College Radio: WMUC Past, the importance of keeping college radio nam War protests on campus that drew alive in the United States. Present and Future” showcases the student- thousands of demonstrators; a station ID, operated station that has served as a train- She will be followed by Dr. Kip or short on-air promo, that John Lennon Lornell and Tori Kerr of George ing ground and creative outlet for students recorded for a WMUC deejay at the press since 1948, making it one of the nation’s Washington University. Dr. Lornell, conference accompanying the Beatles’ first Assistant Professor of Musicology, will longest continuously operating college ra- U.S. concert at the Washington Coliseum; dio stations. As a platform for alternative discuss his current research on WAMU’s station IDs recorded by other celebrities bluegrass programming, and Ms. Kerr, programming, WMUC remains the only including Fats Domino, Chubby Checker, alternative music station in the D.C. metro the Music Director of campus station Phyllis Diller and Frank Zappa, among WGRW will talk about the station’s role area. others; and information about Yesternow, “Radio stations are hubs of cultural as the voice of GWU. the station’s first ongoing program to both After lunch, guest speaker Dr. activity and embody local traditions and feature and target African Americans and culture,” says Laura Schnitker, curator of Maureen Loughran, who holds a Ph.D. other minority communities. in Ethnomusicology from Brown the exhibit and sound archivist at the Uni- The exhibit underscores the UMD Li- versity Libraries. “In addition to being the University and current Managing braries’ efforts to preserve the university’s Producer for NPR’s American Routes, voice of the campus community, WMUC is student radio heritage. Robin Pike, manager important because it provides an alternative will share her experience using of digital conversion and media reformat- college radio archives for her doctoral to commercial Top 40 or talk radio.” ting, leads a team of specialists working to Offering the student perspective of key dissertation on local music culture in digitize the station’s audio recordings and Washington, D.C. historical events and campus happenings, print materials, important to the university the exhibit draws from more than 1,800 She will be followed by Eric Cartier, audio recordings as well as reports, admin- continued on page 5 continued on page 2 Page 2 Transmitter Last of the An Announcement from the Curator ‘Murrow Boys’ The University of Maryland Broadcasting Archives, home of the Library of American Broadcasting (LAB) and the National Public Broadcasting Archives Talks to Merrill (NPBA), is now officially known asSpecial Collections in Mass Media & Culture (SCMMC). Students SCMMC has always been about more than over-the-air radio and television. Note: Special thanks to Mike Freedman, Material on community antenna or “cable” TV, distance learning, closed circuit TV, senior vice president of communications satellite technology, film and other related topics were present in the LAB when it at the University of Maryland University opened its doors as the Broadcast Pioneers Library in the early 1970’s. College, who is an old friend of Richard The Archives of The Children’s Television Workshop in NPBA contains hundreds C. Hottelet’s and made the conference of books and reports on early childhood education. Such resources might not appear call possible. Freedman was also a guest to have much to do with traditional television – but they have everything to do with speaker during the Historiography of Sesame Street, seen as very non-traditional television when it debuted in 1969. Broadcasting class. The inclusion of this kind of material in our holdings, when combined with the genre-spanning nature of the careers of many of our donors and rapid changes in the By Adam Kuhn viewing and creating of media in our “interconnected” age, have led to a decision Philip Merrill College of Journalism to formally expand our mission, and to change our name to reflect that broadened Class of 2014 focus. COLLEGE PARK, Md. – On Tuesday, A perfect example of why we made this choice is represented by the popular March 25, students enrolled in the Emmy-winning series House of Cards. This series, starring Kevin Spacey and Historiography of Broadcasting class had Robin Wright (and shot largely in the state of Maryland), cannot be viewed on any the unique opportunity to participate in a TV network or station, cable system or channel. It’s not available by satellite TV conference call with Richard C. Hottelet, a either. Netflix, a media streaming service that delivers content over the Internet, journalist who had a distinguished career produces it. House of Cards has no time slot. It has a release date, when Netflix with CBS. makes an entire “season” of thirteen episodes available, the better to please its Mr. Hottelet, 96, is the last surviving “binge watching” viewers. Netflix content can be watched on web-capable TV’s or member of The Murrow Boys, which through TV’s attached to web-capable devices, like Roku or the new Fire TV from refers to a group of young reporters who Amazon. It can also be watched on desktop and laptop computers, tablets, smart worked with legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow. phones and other like devices. It looks like a television show, but its economic During the 20-minute conference call, model and delivery mode make it very unlike television as we’ve understood it for Mr. Hottelet told stories from his career the last 65 years or so. that included covering World War II. On If the producers of House of Cards called tomorrow and offered the production one instance, he met Adolf Hitler at an records of their show to us, I would accept with alacrity. Though it’s a subscriber- airport. Mr. Hottelet was told of the German funded series streamed over the Internet, it has definitely made an impact on the chancellor’s intense blue eyes. But to Mr. broader culture. It’s also undoubtedly “mass media,” as Netflix has over 44 million Hottelet, the eyes were nothing out of the subscribers and adds more every day. It’s exactly the kind of program scholars ordinary. will be writing about, in both the near term and the future. I want our collection Mr. Hottelet also had the experience to be part of that scholarly conversation, and part of other conversations not yet of parachuting out of an airplane that was imagined. The changes I’ve outlined will help us accomplish that. damaged during a battle. Mr. Hottelet escaped with only a black eye, and President Chuck Howell, CA Franklin Roosevelt commented on how Curator, SCMMC fortunate the journalist was. On June 6, 1944, Mr. Hottelet reported an eyewitness account of D-Day. reception for the presenters and attendees. For today’s journalists, Mr. Hottelet Symposium We expect the symposium to reach a Continued from page 1 stressed that “writing what you know” is broad audience that includes academics important in order to be successful. He Digital Reformatting Specialist at UMD who study local culture, past and current also took questions from Merrill College Libraries, who will discuss the goals and participants in college radio, radio students about breaking into the field challenges of archiving WMUC’s audio enthusiasts and historians and archivists and the evolution of presidential press collection. Our final speakers are archival who work with amateur-created, multi- conferences from just a few reporters into a assistants Amanda Knox and Cara Shillenn, media formats. televised production. who will share some of the more valuable The symposium is free and open to It was certainly a phone call that the treasures from the WMUC Collection. the public. Please RSVP at the event students will remember. The symposium will be followed by website: http://www.lib.umd.edu/wmuc/ Reprinted with permission of the Philip a viewing of the WMUC exhibit in the events.html or by contacting curator Laura Merrill School of Journalism. Maryland Room Gallery at Hornbake, and a Schnitker at [email protected]. Transmitter Page 3 Reporter who witnessed JFK assassination spoke at journalism college

By Talia Richman (Reprinted from The Diamondback) On his way to cover President John F. Kennedy’s campaign for re-election, Sid Davis realized he had left his reporter’s notebook at home. During a stop at a San Antonio airport, he purchased a simple red notepad for 15 cents. It was on those pages that he would scrawl these historic words: “President John F. Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. CST today in Dallas.” Davis, who was working for Westinghouse Broadcasting Company at the time, shared his memories from Nov. 22, 1963, with a crowd of students and faculty members in Richard Eaton Broadcast Theatre in Knight Hall yesterday. The 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination is Friday. “There was nothing unusual about going to Dallas,” Davis said. “Secret Service was a little concerned because there had been two incidents where a Democrat was mistreated verbally, but that was the only thing we expected. We never expected anything like what happened.” Davis remembered seeing the president and first lady exit Air Former Group W and NBC reporter Sid Davis recently spoke Force One at Love Field. He noticed the couple was holding hands on campus, at an event hosted by the Philip Merrill College — a rare occasion, he said, as the commander in chief was very of Journalism and Special Collections in Mass Media and private about his marriage. Culture, University Libraries. His presentation on Monday, When he saw what fashion icon Jacqueline Kennedy was November 18 followed his coverage of the Kennedy wearing that day, Davis asked a female reporter what color her assassination 50 years earlier, as well as an overview of his outfit was. He planned on writing that it was pink, but she assured career. him it was raspberry. About an hour later, Davis was sitting on the press bus about eight car lengths behind Kennedy’s uncovered Lincoln when he Davis started his presentation by joking about his most recent heard three shots fired. experience speaking at a university. “We saw the car just take off,” Davis said. “We saw the raspberry “Last time I did a university speech, it was followed by a letter color of Mrs. Kennedy’s dress just disappear; they were going so that said ‘Dear Mr. Davis, if my doctor gave me only one hour to fast to get away.” live, I’d like to spend it in one of your lectures. One hour with you Davis was one of three reporters and 27 people total on Air is like an eternity,’” he said. Force One when Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in later that day. But senior journalism major Samantha Medney disagreed, In the iconic black-and-white photo of the ceremony, the left side saying his presentation was fascinating. of Davis’ face and his glasses are visible. “I was really impressed by the way he was able to convey “That was Johnson’s finest hour,” Davis said. “He was calm, the emotions and feelings of that horrible day. His stories were reserved; he knew what he had to do. His treatment of Mrs. incredible, and I was so happy I could be there. I would love to go Kennedy was very compassionate. There was nothing in his heart to another lecture like this one,” Medney said. “It really helps give at that time but to lead the country.” [students] perspective on historical events and gives journalism The hours after the assassination were difficult, Davis students an idea of the type of work we might do when we head said. Between rushing to Parkland Hospital and flying back to out into the real world.” Washington, there were moments when he broke down in tears. Carm Saimbre, a freshman journalism major, said Davis “If you stopped to think ‘Oh God, the president is dead,’ you knew how to tell a story, which kept the lecture enjoyable and couldn’t get through the day,” Davis said. enlightening. He called upon the final stanza from Robert Frost’s poem “It was awesome to get perspective about JFK’s assassination “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” to explain how he from a reporter who was actually involved with Kennedy’s inner felt. circle,” Saimbre said. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I Diamondback staff writer Talia Richman is a freshman sleep,” he recited. journalism major covering political advocacy and diversity. Page 4 Transmitter Author Hart Celebrates NBC’s ‘Monitor’ Monitor was a weekend-long radio So the website helped me “get the word program on the NBC Radio Network, out” about Monitor – and the response to broadcast from June 12, 1955, until January the site convinced me that there was still 26, 1975. Airing live and nationwide, the an audience for a book about “the last great program offered an eclectic mix of short radio show.” segments – news, sports, comedy, variety, The book sold far better than I ever music, interviews and even old radio stars anticipated. in new skits. Its length and format were Q: What happened between the first radical departures from the traditional and second editions of the book to make radio programming structure of 15- and you want to rewrite and revise so quickly 30-minute programs. after the first book? “It became the greatest show in network I was satisfied with the initial book radio history, the forerunner of talk radio and until I started receiving messages via the one of the most-copied formats ever… For website from people who had worked on more than a thousand weekends, Monitor Monitor but whom I either had been unable tied the country together electronically and to contact for the first book or who were provided news, sports and entertainment unknown to me. for a generation of Americans. It provided They had read that first book, and they the very best programming that American began telling me stories I’d never heard radio had to offer. In the process Monitor about Monitor. These were behind-the- became NBC Radio’s biggest success story scenes stories about, among other things, and kept the radio network alive for two how the program was produced, about the decades.” up-to-now untold foibles (and brilliance) of – From the Introduction to Monitor: The some hosts, producers and executives – and Last Great Radio Show by Dennis Hart. Some of those visitors included former about quirky, funny or emotional things Last spring, Dennis Hart donated the Monitor staff members who suggested that that happened on the broadcast. research materials for his books Monitor: I write a book and offered to put me into And for the first time, I was put into The Last Great Radio Show (2002) and contact with others they had worked with. contact with people who told me what Monitor: Take 2 (2003). We had the That began an extensive series of “really” happened behind closed doors chance to talk with him about his research weekend telephone calls with such people in NBC’s executive suites that led to recently. as Hugh Downs, Jim Lowe, Tedi Thurman Monitor’s demise. These people named (the legendary “Miss Monitor”), and names and told the tale of Monitor’s life Q: Which came first, the web page or numerous producers, writers and executives and death much better than I had been able the book? who had worked on Monitor. to relate just a few months earlier. The website came before the book, and And that resulted in the first book. They were wonderful stories – storie it actually triggered my writing. The first that more fully portrayed the Monitor incarnation of monitorbeacon.com – now, Q: What made you choose iUniverse? experience for listeners – and I decided that it’s .net – appeared in October 2001. Or was it a choice? Did conventional a new book was needed. It had, I believe, about 20 total minutes publishers decline the title? of audio available for anyone to listen to I researched a variety of publishing Q: We’re very glad to have both (our Internet hosting service only had room options and talked with several local editions of your book as well as your for a small amount of content). There were authors who had been both successful and research materials in our collection. no pictures, and only a few pages. unsuccessful in “traditional” publishing. Thanks so much for talking with us. I figured that, at most, a dozen orso I remember sending a proposal about the Anything you’d like to add? former Monitor listeners a year would find Monitor book best-selling potential. I was As you can tell, I love talking about us, and that it would remain a quaint, quiet nearly ready to drop the project when Monitor. I grew up listening to it and I went niche site. someone told me about iUniverse, which into broadcasting because of it. But through the mysterious ways of the was an early player in the self-publishing And when I did my research on it, I Internet, somehow people began finding game. came to realize the program’s importance out about the Monitor Tribute Pages almost I decided to give it a shot, because, to both NBC Radio – it literally kept the immediately. They began writing about frankly, I had waited years – decades – after network alive for 20 years – and to the their delight that someone, at last, was Monitor came to an end on NBC Radio for nation. About 30 million people listened to recognizing the program they’d grown up someone – anyone – to write the story of the Monitor each weekend in the mid-’60’s. and older with over those two decades of this incredibly innovative and important I was just lucky to be one of them. Monitor’s existence from 1955 to 1975. program. I felt the program’s history, They told their friends about the site, vitality and impact needed to be documented Dennis Hart spent three decades in and their friends told others. Within a so that readers could understand just how broadcasting. He also taught broadcast few months, the site had received several good American network radio could sound journalism at Cal State Fresno and at Iowa thousand visits. in the age of television. State University in Ames. Transmitter Page 5

DJ Kirk McEwan, 1991, seen in a photo display of student staff at WMUC through the years.

Saving College Radio Continued from page 1 because they are unique, at risk and irreplaceable. Quarter-inch, open-reel audiotape, for example, will be preserved according to national standards and practices and ingested to a digital collec- tions repository, ultimately to be made available to researchers. The exhibit features a mock studio with a vintage sound- Preserving the items is especially challenging, she says, be- board and a working turntable that visitors can use to listen cause of the rate at which the media degrades. to a selection of LPs. “We don’t have much time left,” says Pike says. “Most mag- netic audio tape has approximately 15 years left before it degrades On the bulletin board are reproductions of flyers made by beyond a point where the content can be saved.” students over the last 20 years to advertise their programs, One way to restore open-reel tapes so that they can be played showing the do-it-yourself nature of college radio culture. and digitized is to bake them in a special oven at 120 degrees for one to two days. The oven, she says, is similar to those used in science labs, with heat lower than that of a toaster oven. “We only get a few chances to play and digitize the tapes after baking them,” Pike says. “This doesn’t preserve the items, but it does temporar- ily help. ” University-sponsored radio started in the early 20th century, of- ten by engineering departments seeking to provide students with broadcasting experience in the experimental medium. After World War I, about 200 licenses were granted to educational institutions. By 1938, however, fewer than 40 college stations were still on the air due to the rise in commercial networks and the increasing value of airwave space. WMUC mostly emulated commercial radio until the 1970s, when new FM technology and the freeform movement offered more experimental approaches to broadcasting ushered an era of experimental, free-form radio. Schnitker, an ethnomusicologist, hosts a Thursday-morning WMUC radio show, Bohemian Challenge. She appreciates first- hand the significance of college radio. “It’s such a valuable cre- A display about the station’s struggle to get an FM license. It ative outlet, not only for those involved in its production but also took five years and two rejections from the FCC before they for the listeners,” she says. It really is a public service.” finally got 88.1 on the FM dial. Admission to “Saving College Radio: WMUC Past, Present and Future” is free and open to the public during the Maryland On the cover: WMUC track jacket from the 1987 WMUC Room Gallery’s open hours (Monday - Friday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Alumni Reunion. On loan from Lee Chambers. Wednesday 10 a.m. – 8pm, Sunday 1 p.m. - 6 p.m.). Page 6 Transmitter 2013 Giants of Broadcasting The Library of American Broadcasting Richard Leibner, founder and president Foundation presented its 11th Annual of N.S. Bienstock and talent agent; Giants of Broadcasting honors at a Carole Cooper, talent agent. ceremony and luncheon held Oct. 16 in The Library of American Broadcasting New York City. LABF honored eleven Foundation has been honoring leaders in people for their “excellence in the electronic the broadcasting industry annually since communications arts.” They were: 2003. The current list will bring the total Morley Safer, 60 number of inductees to 170. Minutes correspondent Our staff member Michael and CBS Reporter; Henry attended again this year, Dick Cavett, talk and displayed several items show host, comedian from the LAB collections, and writer; including a four-panel display Alex Trebek, host highlighting the radio program of Jeopardy; Vox Pop. Joining Michael from David E. Kelley, the University of Maryland creator of Picket Libraries were Heather Foss, Fences, Chicago Director of Development and Hope, The Practice, Dan Mack, Director, Collection Ally McBeal, Boston Management & Special Book Notes Public, and Boston Legal; Collections. Our friend and colleague, Cary Barry Diller, Chairman and Senior O’Dell has written a book that asks Executive of IAC, creator of Fox and USA LABF is chaired by Virginia Hubbard us to take a closer took at the way Broadcasting, former CEO of Paramount Morris, president of Hubbard Radio, based women were characterized on 1950s Pictures; in Minneapolis-St. Paul; the president/ and 1960s television. Anne Sweeny, co-chair of Disney Media CEO is Donald West, broadcast journalist “From smart, savvy wives and re- Networks, president of the Disney/ABC and former assistant to the president of silient mothers (including the much- Television Group; CBS Inc.. maligned June Cleaver and Donna Jeff Smulyan, founder, CEO and The Library of American Broadcasting Reed) to talented working women president of Emmis Communications; is a signature collection in the University (long before the debut of Mary Ty- Robert L. Johnson, founder and former of Maryland Libraries’ Special Collections ler Moore) to crimebusters and even CEO of BET, founder and chairman of The in Mass Media and Culture. The dean of criminals, American women on tele- RLJ Companies; libraries at the University of Maryland is vision emerge as a diverse, empow- Richard E. Wiley, FCC former chairman, Patricia Steele, and the curator is Chuck ered, individualistic, and capable lot, commissioner and general counsel; Howell. highly worthy of emulation and ap- preciation” (from the publishers’ de- scription). In a review of the book, Commu- Special Projects & Activities nication Booknotes Quarterly com- mented: “O’Dell has clearly done his NPR — For much of the last year and a of Broadcasting-related titles from our homework.” And we’re pleased to half, staff was heavily involved in moving holdings have been scanned for inclusion say he did much of it here. tapes and archival material from NPR’s old on the site. These include: “June Cleaver Was a Feminist building in preparation for their move to Sponsor (8 volumes); would not be the book it is — cer- new headquarters. More than 27,000 reels Columbia Program Book (11 volumes) tainly no way as inclusive in its scope of 10.5 inch analog audio tape from NPR’s Radio Showmanship (8 volumes) — without the vast library and collec- News and Information division were boxed Broadcaster’s Victory Council (36 tions of the LAB,” Cary told us in an and transported to Hornbake Library, as email. well as several filing cabinets and seven volumes) US Radio (5 volumes) “Access to the Library’s holdings pallets of photos, files, books, artifacts, forever impacted the book’s central CD’s, DAT’s and promotional items. Large Media History Digital Library — thesis, and my own understanding of items, including back-lit member station Related to the above, SCMMC staff met the subject I was studying.” maps from the lobby and the iconic NPR with David Pierce of the Media History Cary O’Dell is with the film, video sign from the front of the old building, Digital Library to discuss our participating and recorded sound division of the were delivered by truck before demolition in that project — we have contributed Library of Congress. He has worked on NPR’s former home began. our digital scans of the complete run of as an archivist for the Museum of Internet Archive Project — as part SPONSER magazine, which are now on Broadcast Communications in Chi- of UMD Libraries ongoing relationship the MHDL http://mediahistoryproject.org/ cago and for the LAB. He lives in with The Internet Archive, a number continued on next page Culpeper, Virginia. Transmitter Page 7

former President of an Arthur Godfrey fan club during her teen Donations of Note: years, Dawes donated her large collection of Arthur Godfrey- related material and memorabilia. • Media historian Christopher H. Sterling, Associate Dean and Emeritus Professor of Media and Public Affairs at George • Jerry Berg, President of the Committee to Preserve Radio Washington University, is making an ongoing donation of the Verifications (CPRV), Lexington, MA: large addition to CPRV media-related titles in his private library, as well as donating his Collection of QSL postcards. personal papers – to date, more than 1,400 book and journal titles and 75 linear feet of papers have been transferred. • Dr. Michele Hilmes, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, donated one box of • Washington, DC television producer Bruce Martin made broadcasting-related titles not in our additional donation of rundown sheets collection from her personal library. and other production elements for a number of programs, including Meet • Mark Sebastian: Donated the The Press, The Chris Matthews Show, papers of his late mother, Jane Bishir Face The Nation, The McLaughlin Sebastian. This gift contains many of her Group and It’s Academic, as well as writings for radio, theater, and television trade magazines and a large number of in both draft and final form, including off-air video tapes. her scripts for the NBC radio show The Honeymooners, with Eddie Albert and • Michael Freedman, senior Grace Brandt (1933-36). vice president of Communications at University of Maryland University • Dr. Donald Godfrey, Arizona College and former general manager State University: 6 linear feet of records of CBS Radio Network News: books, pertaining to Dr. Godfrey’s work as periodicals, recordings, photographs, a member, director of the Board and and various ephemera documenting the President of the Broadcast Education history of CBS. Association, 1972 to the present. • Arch Campbell, D.C. area fixture • Dr. Saul Rockman of Rockman et al as entertainment reporter and critic for Research and Evaluation; Dr. Rockman, WRC and WJLA TV and cable’s News formerly of Apple Computer’s Education Channel 8, has donated additional Division and the Agency for Instructional material documenting his long career – Television, donated hundreds of books, including an artist’s rendition of him in studies, reports and guides relating to clay (right). instructional television and television for • Judy Dawes, Swampscott, MA: children.

Special Projects television programming produced by local Library of Congress is working to develop public media and national producers alike. a non-invasive methodology for testing Continued from opposite page The American Archive will ultimately magnetic tape for binder hydrolysis (sticky The American Archive of Public provide a system-wide video and audio shed syndrome). At present, the only way to Broadcasting — We also began work asset inventory of Public Broadcasting. know if a tape is compromised is to attempt on a large new project on the public The tapes we selected for inclusion playback, which is potentially damaging broadcasting side of SCMMC’s holdings include our entire collection of programming to both tape and equipment. Mr. Breitung – we have contributed over 3300 hours of from the National Educational Radio is experimenting with real time mass public and educational radio programming Network – a college and university-based spectrometry as well as microscope-aided on R/R tape for inclusion in The American NPR predecessor that was phased out upon visual inspection as alternative means of Archive of Public Broadcasting. NPR’s creation. identifying affected tapes. The American Archive is, at once, the Additional tapes filling out our allotment very history and future of public media. came from the DC metro area’s public radio UMD College of Information Science This comprehensive effort was begun by powerhouse, WAMU-FM, and include live — We are assisting Assoc. Professor Kari the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in bluegrass recordings from the 1960’s and Kraus from the College of Information the Spring of 2010. It has since been handed 70’s as well as some early Diane Rehm Science in her seed grant project to develop off to the Library of Congress and PBS programs. The tapes will be digitized, and a database of Electric Network Frequency station (and public broadcasting archiving returned along with digital surrogates for signatures for use in forensic research. pioneer) WGBH in Boston. our collection. These unique signals, left on any audio This project represents the next step tape recorded using power from one of the in the archival and public broadcasting Library of Congress Collaboration three U.S. grids will (hopefully) enable her community’s commitment to locate and — Another project we are participating in team of electrical engineers to determine preserve the vast legacy of radio and began last summer. Eric Breitung of the recording dates of unidentified recordings. Page 8 Transmitter

We have about 80,000 total NPR tapes. They are overwhelmingly Just How Much NPR 10.5” reels. The average length of tape on a 10.5” reel is 3,600 feet. 80,000 x 3,600 = 288,000,000 feet or 54,545.45 miles of tape Stuff Do We Have? The distance from Washington, D.C. to Timbuktu is 4,645 By Ashley S. Behringer miles. So if we wanted to make round trips to Mali on our NPR Tape Frequent Flyer Miles, we could go on: We have lingered in the chambers of the ‘chives 54,545.45 / 9,290 = 5.87 trips to Timbuktu. By boxed-reels wreathed with tape red and brown Till broadcast voices wake us, and we drown. One of the main components of Special Collections in Mass Media & Culture is the National Public Broadcasting Archives. Our NPR holdings sometimes feel like a depthless ocean of tapes and papers. Too often we only skim along the surface lest we sink the bottom. We do not fear that we cannot return from the warm and still abyss of this never silent sea but rather than we may not want to return. What if the siren call of Terry Gross lures us to an eternity of listening to Fresh Air and we therein find sweet oblivion? What if some unprocessed papers rankle our spirits and we seek the elusive perfect order forever, forever? (That said, we currently have three NPR finding aids online and have begun work on our most recent pickups. We are industrious divers.) The admiral of the fleet recently sent this ensign in a bathysphere on a hubristic mission to measure all the drops of water in the NPR ocean. The figures I produced are not comprehensible to So what of the volume of our holdings? The aforementioned mortal minds, the least my own. To make them understandable, I reels measure 6,136.25 cubic feet. Our paper holdings of NPR had to convert them into familiar units. Therefore, I will explain papers are paltry compared to the audio, a mere 1,236 linear feet, the weight, length, and volume of our NPR holdings in easily almost all of it in boxes which are ten inches high. understandable terms: Edsels, trips to Timbuktu, and Mærsk Mc- 1236 x (10/12) = 1,030 cubic feet of NPR papers. Kinney Møllers. In addition, we have 203.5 cubic feet of CDs, 47.64 cubic feet of VHS and Betas, 39.86 cubic feet of DATs, and 1.25 cubic feet of tee shirts, plus a few smaller components. In total, the volume of our NPR holdings is 7461 cubic feet! (This should be taken as an exact, certain, scientific measurement which is in no way an approximation.) The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, a large container/cargo ship, holds 18,270 TEU of freight. That’s a Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit. The most common volume for a 20 foot long shipping container is 1,360 cubic feet. Thus Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller carries up to 24,847,200 cubic feet of cargo. 7,461 / 24,847,200 = 0.0003, therefore our NPR holdings take up 0.03% of Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller.

So now you should On the ground floor, we have 1,627 boxes of dense packed NPR be able to grasp the size tapes. We weighed one of these boxes on a scale with a maximum of our NPR holdings! weight of 70 pounds, and it topped it out. So we can safely say each box weighs 70 pounds or more. 1,627 x 70 = 113,890 pounds of dense packed NPR tapes. The curb weight of the lightest Edsel Corsair is 4,300 pounds. 113,890 / 4,300 = 26.5 Edsels. Ashley is certainly one of the most hard-working and resourceful staffers we’ve ever had, first as a student and then as a contract employee. Here she is at NPR in a flack jacket worn in Iraq by Guy Roz (I think). — Chuck Howell Transmitter Page 9

Broadcasting History As the 1950’s ended MCA’s share of NBC’s weekly prime-time programming was still at eight and a half of the total Who was Lew Wasserman? twenty-four and a half hours. MCA sold two of its new 1959-60 shows — Riverboat and By Douglas Gomery Laramie — to NBC without even making a pilot (a film made to show prospective When discussing TV of the 1950’s and customers what the series would be 1960’s we usually think of three big names like). Robert Sarnoff — with his father’s — David Sarnoff of NBC, William Paley approval — stated publicly that he dealt so of CBS and Leonard Goldenson of ABC. much with MCA because he and his father A fourth man needs to be added to that figured MCA produced the most profitable list — agent, then studio boss (Universal) shows on television. Lew Wasserman, who died in 2004. The Wasserman usually managed to get networks were still king, but needed a a very sizable share of any TV’s show’s supplier of programs. Through the 1950’s income. The first three years of Wagon and 1960’s he developed strategies whereby Train, starring MCA client Ward Bond, the core of the Hollywood studio system was budgeted at about $100,000 a week, was its TV production. bringing MCA about $17 million. Earnings By October 1957, MCA-TV — of this magnitude explain why production according to Television Magazine — was so important to MCA. For the company ranked behind only CBS and NBC in terms to gross $17 million in agency commissions of television power. MCA represented more it would have to get 10 per cent of $170 top TV stars than any other agency. But in million of client salaries. (MCA movie addition to actors and actresses, MCA also star clients Marlon Brando, Gregory represented top-flight writers, producers, Peck, Jimmy Stewart, and Clark Gable directors, musicians, and singers, whom combined probably did not earn that much MCA agents packaged for TV broadcasts, in commissionable income in their entire and later made- for- TV movies. In fact, lifetimes.) MCA was the only company there was a better than even chance during that was at once a talent agency, a producer, the late 1950s that any time a viewer in the This caricature of Wasserman exagger- a selling agent, and a lessor of production USA saw a television show, MCA’s Lew ates the prominence of his trademark facilities. This gave MCA a tremendous Wasserman had had a hand in it. oversize glasses, but not by much…. advantage. It attracted new clients among NBC was MCA’s top client with Wagon actors who figured that if they used MCA Train, This is Your Life, M-Squad, Truth as their agent they stood a better chance of or Consequences, Tales of Wells Fargo, Wasserman dealt with corporations directly getting parts in series produced by MCA The Restless Gun, Suspicion, and Dragnet. and offered them TV shows with audiences subsidiary Revue Productions. The power of MCA often brought about advertisers wanted to reach. One television executive who did strange TV programming circumstances. While Paley maintained a degree not want his name used told Television On September 22, 1957 (a Sunday) for of independence from Wasserman magazine in the late 1950’s: “It’s on these example, NBC’s Robert Sarnoff decided (although some of his top talent, like package deals that MCA is really making to use The Steve Allen Show to display Jack Benny, were Wasserman clients), the money. Through its subsidiary, Revue the network’s wares for the new season. NBC in particular relied upon MCA Productions, MCA produces the package. It was an impressive lineup — and most and Wasserman’s skills. Sylvester “Pat” On shows destined for network use, after of it was provided by MCA. What made Weaver, now a programming legend, was Revue makes the pilot, the network will Wasserman and company uncomfortable long gone when one spring night in 1957 usually finance the rest of the production, was that Ed Sullivan, who was practically the aforementioned Robert Sarnoff — son but Revue adds 20 per cent to the total MCA’s favorite son, occupied the CBS of the network’s founder — called a meeting estimated cost for production overhead. time slot opposite Allen. Variety gleefully of the network’s programming executives. But then MCA will get another 10 per cent headlined the predicament, “It’s MCA They were planning the upcoming 1957- for selling the package. And later, if it’s Versus MCA!” 1958 TV season. syndicated, MCA-TV gets another 10 per Advertisers loved MCA programs: After they had assembled, the door cent for distributing it.” Wagon Train (sponsored by National Biscuit, opened and in walked MCA Vice President Ed Sullivan stated in 1957: “Here’s an R. J. Reynolds, and Ford), Riverboat (Corn David A. (Sonny) Werblin. Wasserman had example of how a big agency like MCA can Products), General Electric Theater and primed Werblin. Without any preliminaries, be of tremendous help to you. This summer Bachelor Father (American Home Products Sarnoff said: “Sonny, look at the schedule [1957] I went over to Europe for two weeks. and American Tobacco), Alfred Hitchcock for next season; here are the empty spots, There’s a nightclub in Paris called the Lido; Presents (Bristol-Myers), Tales of Wells you fill them.” The rest of the evening the the best shows in Europe play there. There Fargo (Procter & Gamble and American NBC executives meekly watched Werblin was an act called the Nit-Wits, a musical act Tobacco), and Ford Startime. They were rearrange their schedule and insert new from London. They do pantomime; it’s sort glad to work with Wasserman to fashion MCA shows. When finished, the schedule of the English equivalent of Spike Jones. I shows they could then sponsor. Gradually, showed fourteen MCA-produced series in advertising agencies lost their power as prime time. continued on page 10 Page 10 Transmitter

Who Was Wasserman? Mr. Vanocur had come to Lew’s have a big blockbuster on television akin paperless office seeking his reaction to the to The Exorcist or [The] Sting or Jaws or Continued from page 1 phenomenon of Roots — the unexpected Towering Inferno you are going to have that TV hit of January 1977. Vanocur asked him translated into enormous viewing. Roots wanted to get them over here on the show. what impact Roots would have on future certainly fits that category. And without The first step was to arrange with the Lido, patterns of television programming. “Well,” taking anything away from ABC, you had which holds a year’s contract for them, to let he said, “Roots is an extension of what people locked in because of the weather.” them come over here for a couple of weeks. happened a year ago with Rich Man, Poor Finally Vanocur asked him if he was This I worked out with the Lido through Man [which was produced by Universal against efforts to bust up the domination by friendships and past favors. Then we had TV]. It was well done and brilliantly NBC, ABC, and CBS. Wasserman ended to get an okay from [the musicians union], programmed. That, combined with a thing the short interview by saying: “Yes. I’m too because technically the Nit-Wits coming called the weather [an exceptionally cold old [then 64] to fly blind. What will they here could cost some American musicians January], developed the largest audience in put in their place?” Short sweet and to the some employment. So MCA, with its the history of television.” point -- then Vanocur was escorted out of offices in London, worked out a deal for How did Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man the office so Lew could get back to work. me with the British musicians union so an tap into the American television audience? Barry Diller later summed up Wasserman equal number of American musicians could “Well,” Wasserman said, “both of them the TV and film mogul. “He could act coldly, appear in Europe. It happens that Spike became events that were out of the routine harshly, hardly benevolently,” stated Barry Jones has nine men, the same number as television viewing pattern. Television has Diller, who grew up with Wasserman’s the Nit-Wits. So MCA booked Spike Jones evolved greatly in the 30 years it’s been only child, Lynne, in Beverly Hills, Calif. in Europe while the Nit-Wits are here. around. In the early days, it was almost “This is a very honest and honorable man, They’re going to be on the show here 24 a carbon copy of radio. Then, as events but a tough, tough guy.” November 1957 and 1 December 1957. An developed in television...the long form of individual agent couldn’t swing a deal like television, such as 90-minute programs, Douglas Gomery is Resident Scholar at that.” became much more similar to movies than the Broadcasting Archives at the University Wasserman was “unknown” because he to radio. Therefore, the event on television of Maryland and Professor Emeritus at the rarely gave interviews. An exception came is going to parallel or exceed, as Roots has, Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the in March 1977 when noted TV journalist the event in the movie business, if you can University of Maryland in College Park. Sander Vanocur called and Wasserman agreed to give him 60 minutes. Vanocur was impressed -- titling his short piece: “Is He the Smartest Man in Hollywood?”: “After an hour with MCA Inc. chairman Lew Wasserman, a reporter has two options,” he wrote. “He can lie down and rest his brain or he can award himself an instantaneous Ph.D. in mass communications. Wasserman is regarded by most people in the entertainment business as the smartest and most powerful man in Hollywood. He sits in his office in Universal City behind an antique desk that is always devoid of paper.” (Note to underline the obvious: the deals and the figures were all in Wasserman’s head). Vanocur continued: “{M]ost of us spend our lives at desks filled with the night soil of paper — unanswered phone messages, long memoranda that lead to meetings One final note: Shawn VanCour, Visiting Assistant Professor of Media, where grown men and women sit around Culture, and Communication at New York University, gave a talk March making indecisions, and letters that will 6 on “Making Radio: Inventing the Art of Aural Broadcasting, 1920-1930,” never be answered and never should have tracing the development of early radio production practices and their impact been sent. Wasserman sits behind his desk on twentieth century sound culture. This is the first in a planned series of making decision and offering his opinions presentations by visiting scholars. when asked.”

Special Collections in Mass Media & Culture — formerly (and still infor- mally) known as the “Broadcasting Archives” — is located on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park. Housed in Hornbake Library, the National Public Broadcasting Archives and the Library of American Broadcasting are our signature collections.