TELLING AMERICA ABOUT US
NBC Correspondent Is On The Job
N American film dealing with the A adventures of a newspaper correspondent in France before the fall, ended with a sequence showing him broadcasting to America from a studio which was not sufficiently sound-proof to keep out the drone of the engines of many bombers, the muffled crump of anti-aircraft fire, the thud of bombs. "The lights are going out," says the correspondent. "They are going out all over Europe. Keep yours burning in America." An heroic finale, but Mervin K. Slosberg, who arrived the other day to act as New Zealand correspondent for the National Broadcasting Company of America, deprecates heroics, and says: "Let’s not think about such eventualities. If the war does come to New Zealand certainly I’ll be on the job, but the way I see it is that Australia and New Zealand are the strongholds in the Pacific from which the democracies will fight back, and as such they are importarit to America. More than important enough to justify the NBC sending me here to tell America something about your country." An Australian Wife Mr. Slosberg, who is short and dark and has a good deal of restless nervous energy, is an American turned Australian to the extent of settling down in Australia and marrying an Australian girl. He is a graduate of the University of California, no, not Southern California, he protests. The one is in San Francisco, the other in Los Angeles. "'There’s some heat and rivalry, I can tell you." At the University of California (i.e., San Francisco) he graduated Master of Arts and also took a degree in political science. For a time he lectured on the political science staff of
the University, and was also editor of a literary agency in San Francisco. About four years ago he came to Australia. It was a vacation trip, and why he chose Australia he still doesn’t know. He had intended staying six months, but married and settled down. He broadcast regularly for the ABC, giving talks and American slants on the news. Recently he was invited to join the NBC, which now has four men stationed in Australia and New Zealand. Their chief is Martin Agronsky, an experienced correspondent who has covered battle fronts all over the world. Mr. Agronsky was up in a forward position during the fighting in Libya when one morning he received a cablegram telling him to pack up and proceed to Singapore, which was the first news he had of the outbreak of war in the Pacific. In Singapore, according to Mr. Slosberg, Mr. Agronsky "saw plenty," got out in time by the back door, and is now sending regular broadcasts from Australia to the 40,000,000 listeners who tune into the NBC’s news. It is a one-man organisation Mr. Slosberg is setting up in New Zealand. All he needs is a small room and a microphone. The Post and Telegraph Department looks after the rest. It is, in a sense, no small tribute to the "P. and T." that Mr. Slosberg is so little concerned over the technical difficulties attending on a hook-up between New Zealand and America. Mr. Slosberg’s job will be to feed into the microphone talks, news, and commentaries varying in length from two to ten minutes, probably from four to seven times a week. "I guess it is more important than ever it was to tell the people of the United States what New Zealand and New Zealanders are like," he says. "As you may realise, some Americans don’t ‘know very much about you. I may be able to remedy that a litle."
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 143, 20 March 1942, Page 11
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609TELLING AMERICA ABOUT US New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 143, 20 March 1942, Page 11
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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