Into the Blue

On war-news coverage, CBS and NBC have lately been Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Last week the balance of power shifted to include Tweedleblue.

When war came in 1939, CBS was probably the network best prepared to cover it, with Edward R. Murrow ready in London, William L. Shirer in Berlin, and other good men on call in many capitals. But as the war wore on, many CBS correspondents came home to cash in on books and lecture trips. The Government paid the network a costly compliment by requisitioning its top commentator, Elmer Davis. Meanwhile NBC quietly cut away some deadwood and built its foreign roundups to a point where they were as good as any on the air.

To the Blue Network last week went the two fattest news "show" contracts of the year: a 15-minute commentary by Raymond Gram Swing for Socony-Vacuum four times a week at 10 p.m., and a 15-minute newscast by Earl Godwin for Ford Motor Co. at 8 p.m. daily.

Swing's swing from Mutual to NBC to Blue was one of the fastest double plays radio has seen. When it was announced last month (TIME, June 15) that Swing would go to NBC in September, two questions were raised: What time was available for him and what would happen to H. V. Kaltenborn? No time was available and nothing happened to H. V. Instead Swing was handed over to Blue.

The End Man. Bumbling Earl Godwin's sudden emergence as one of radio's high-priced newsmen is a triumph for corn. His reports from Washington for NBC have always sounded as if they were delivered from a cracker barrel near the stove in the general store. He used to end a local broadcast with a "God bless you one and all." Once, he omitted the tag line and received ten indignant letters from as many old ladies. Washington newsmen believe that it was Henry Ford himself who picked Godwin's raspy drawl to supplant William J. Cameron (TIME, Feb. 2) as the Voice of Ford.

To Washington correspondents, Godwin is known as Punkinhead and The End Man (because he was the one who always ended White House press conferences with a "Thank you, Mr. President.")

On his new job, Godwin will receive $200 a broadcast. For the first month he will work seven days a week, after that five days. He broke into radio in 1935 when the Washington Times gave him $10 a week extra to broadcast its news program. Three years later he found a $100-a-week sponsor, Thompson's Dairy, but was expected to kick back 40% of his check to the paper. Godwin asked the dairy to make out two checks, one for $60 and one for $40. "Then I thought it was unfair for Cissie [Patterson] to take my money so I put the $60 check in my pocket and let the paper take its 40% out of the $40 check."

Both sentimental and pennywise, Punkinhead is keeping his $100-a-week morning broadcast as well as his new $200-a-day Ford contract. Ford doesn't expect him to turn back $40 a week.

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