World War II – Newspaper Heroes on the Air: Recent Episodes
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Old-time radio's mild-mannered reporters & crusading editors wield the "flaming sword" of a free press
https://archive.org/download/nbc-broadcast-d-day-1944-06-06-16-11-15-tommy-taylor-sings/NBC%20Broadcast%20D-Day%201944-06-07%20%28106%29%2017_45%20Front%20Page%20Farrell.mp3On D-Day, one of America’s most famous reporters, Front Page Farrell, was not involved in the war coverage at all… But, of course, Dave Farrell was fictional.
Still, his June 7, 1944, episode above has hints of America’s mood on the day the troops landed at Omaha Beach, even if the script was written far in advance, with no knowledge of the war developments.
I’ve heard very few episodes of “Front Page Farrell,” a daily soap opera about romantic couple David and Sally Farrell, and mentioned the program briefly in an overview page on journalist characters in soap operas. (Coincidentally, one of those earlier episodes, from 1942, was about the possibility of David leaving his job to go to war, and former-reporter Sally going back to newspaper work! I wish I knew how that “to be continued” story concluded, days or weeks later.)
Daytime soaps aren’t as widely available in digital archives as “prime time” evening comedies and dramatic series. But this June 7, 1944, episode is caught up in archived recordings of NBC’s coverage of the invasion day, D-Day, and D-plus-one, 2:50 a.m. Eastern War Time June 6 to 6:00 p.m. the next day… The 106 quarter-hour and half-hour recordings would make fascinating listening, with their 79th anniversary approaching.
The NBC network’s full broadcast day of invasion news and more routine radio fare apparently was issued as a Radio Archives CD set and is now available at the Internet Archive, which I’ve linked to for this Front Page Farrell report… although it includes no “journalism practice” to discuss here.
Back in 1947, “The Voice of the Army” used radio-drama techniques to tell the history of the U.S. armed forces newspaper, Stars & Stripes, begun during World War I. https://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/U-V%20Series/Voice%20Of%20The%20Army/Voice%20Of%20The%20Army%20xx-xx-xx%20(363)%20The%20Stars%20and%20Stripes-A%20Newspaper.mp3 The radio show itself was a post-World War II Army … Continue reading →
“New World A-Coming” was a New York radio station WMCA series begun during World War II, based on a book by the same name by journalist Roi Ottley, exploring issues of patriotism and racial prejudice in the United States… including … Continue reading →
https://archive.org/download/Lux_Radio_Theatre_Digitally_Restored_Collection/42-06-08AriseMyLovelorettaYoung--rayMilland.mp3 The 1940 film Arise My Love was set at the start of World War II, with a woman reporter rescuing an American flier from a firing squad as the Spanish Civil War ended, just before the larger war began. … Continue reading →
https://archive.org/download/BiographiesInSound560515RecollectionsAtThirty/Biographies%20in%20Sound%2056-05-15%20Recollections%20at%20Thirty.mp3 In 1956, NBC radio’s “Biographies in Sound” featured veteran radio news commentator H.V. Kaltenborn and radio satirists Bob & Ray in the episode above, paying tribute to the first 30 years of commercial radio — news, music, drama and … Continue reading →
https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Lux_Radio_Theater_Singles/Lux_Radio_Theatre_43-04-26_393_The_Lady_Has_Plans.mp3 “The Lady Has Plans” has World War II’s favorite pinup Rita Hayworth (so described by host Cecil B. DeMille) in the role of a veteran newspaper reporter making a transition to radio news in Lisbon, and William Powell as … Continue reading →
The 1948-49 series Box 13 featured a former newspaper reporter, Dan Holiday, now a novelist. He had become a detective/adventurer, advertising for tips sent to his classified-ad box, to dig up plots for his works of fiction. The newspaper’s main … Continue reading →
Alas, the liberation story shown in this Google newspaper archive clip never made it to the radio, as far as I know, but it hints at the first-person style of husband-and-wife United Press correspondents Reynolds and Eleanor Packard. The “Soldiers of the … Continue reading →
“Christmas today is very extra-special,” the Man of Steel announced to listeners seventy years ago, at the start of the “Adventures of Superman” episode broadcast on the first Christmas Day after the end of World War II. With Germany and … Continue reading →
In the wake of World War II, radio’s fictional journalists were defenders of immigrants and religious and ethnic minorities. A Big Town Christmas episode about a Polish refugee newspaper editor, and Superman and The Daily Planet’s fight against “The Klan … Continue reading →
https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Soldiers_Of_The_Press_Singles/SoldiersOfThePress42-11-30004JoeJamesCuster-WithBattleFleet.mp3 This episode of the United Press World War II radio series Soldiers of the Press covers reporter Joe James Custer’s service from Pearl Harbor through the sinking of a U.S. Navy cruiser he was assigned to in the Solomon Islands … Continue reading →