Bob Trout Ends World War II
In one of Trout's NPR reminiscences, airing July 9, 1999, he admitted that an oft-played recording of his announcing the end of World War II ("my greatest hit, as it were") on August 14, 1945 was actually a fake. In 1948, he had to re-create his broadcast of his announcement of Japan's surrender so a "cleaned-up" version of that announcement could be included in the first of Ed Murrow and Fred Friendly's I Can Hear It Now historical albums. It was thought the recording of the original broadcast had too many scratches and pops, and was too messy to use.
Trout told, and played for the NPR listeners, what actually happened on CBS Radio at that moment...his live introduction of a surrender announcement by British Prime Minister Clement Attlee...followed, not by Attlee, but by the Big Ben chimes. Then the network switched back to New York, where Trout was standing near the teletypes outside CBS Radio's Studio 9, and listeners heard CBS news director Paul White (listening on a phone line to the White House) cue Trout that the Administration itself announced the surrender. This allowed Trout to announce the news a few seconds before Attlee made the announcement in his radio speech. Trout's broadcast is also believed to be the first broadcast news report confirming that the surrender was official; beating ABC Radio, the Mutual Broadcasting System, and NBC Radio by a few seconds.
Trout then intoned:
- "The Japanese have accepted our terms fully! That is the word we have just received (newsroom cheers) from the White House in Washington and (Trout chuckles) I didn't expect to hear a celebration here in our newsroom in New York, but you can hear one going on behind me. We switched to London, I don't know what happened, I'm not even sure whether you heard the first words of Prime Minister Attlee or not. I couldn't hear anything in our speaker here, with the confusion. Suddenly we got the word from our private telephone wire from the White House in Washington. The Japanese have accepted FULLY the surrender terms of the United Nations. THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of the Second World War! The United Nations, On Land, On Sea, On Air are United......And Are Victorious!".
Read more about this topic: Robert Trout
Famous quotes containing the words bob, trout, ends, world and/or war:
“It was because of me. Rumors reached Inman that I had made a deal with Bob Dole whereby Dole would fill a paper sack full of doggie poo, set it on fire, put it on Inman’s porch, ring the doorbell, and then we would hide in the bushes and giggle when Inman came to stamp out the fire. I am not proud of this. But this is what we do in journalism.”
—Roger Simon, U.S. syndicated columnist. Quoted in Newsweek, p. 15 (January 31, 1990)
“There’s no taking trout with dry breeches.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)
“Who makes ends meet, who’s taking the knock,
Government tariffs, wages, price of stock.
Smoke hangs under the light.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“What is he buzzing in my ears?
‘Now that I come to die,
Do I view the world as a vale of tears?’
Ah, reverend sir, not I!”
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)
“I do not mean to exclude altogether the idea of patriotism. I know it exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But I will venture to assert, that a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward.”
—George Washington (1732–1799)