HomeMy WebLinkAboutConrad Baring on Vox Pop Transcript, WTAW First 100 YearsProject HOLD
WTAW Interview
Conrad Berring | Former Texas A&M On-Air Student
Tom Turbiville | WTAW Radio Host
Laura Quezada | Transcriber
00:00:01 Dick Bolin (DB)
[Music] College Station, Texas, April 24th, 1947…
00:00:04 Speaker 2
Now let's go to the bonfire site where WTAW's Tom Turpin...
00:00:07 Speaker 3
WTAW election night coverage. All eight voting centers in Brazos County have been counted…
[Unintelligible sports broadcaster with crowd of screaming fans]
00:00:14 Speaker 4
Today on WTAW, we're joining with businesses from across the Brazos Valley to support our …
00:00:20 Speaker 5
…1620 WTAW.
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00:00:22 Tom Turbiville (TT)
This is WTAW, The First 100 Years, I'm Tom Turbiville. It was World War II, and like the rest of
the country, the folks in Aggieland were hungry for not just war news, but a diversion from the
war. And WTAW provided both. The late Conrad Berring was a student on-air guy who told me
years ago about one of the most popular shows in the country. It was a live variety and quiz-type
show, and it came to WTAW on the A&M campus.
00:00:54 Conrad Baring (CB)
Program called Vox Pop, Voice of the People. And it was the first time radio had been taken out
on the street, and they interviewed people. And when the war came along, and he said, you know,
if you could get us an invitation, we'd like to bring the pro-- by then, it was the top program on
CBS at night. We would like to bring Vox Pop to A&M. So, they came May 5th, 1942, and put
on a terrific show interviewing Aggies.
00:01:21 (TT)
Now, sorry we could not find that show that was broadcast live from A&M, but Vox Pop must
have sounded a lot like this show from South Dakota.
00:01:31 Vox Pop South Dakota (VPSD)
And here comes Vox Pop with Clarks Johnson and Wally Butterworth, broadcasting direct from
the Crowder Grand Center of the Days of '76 celebration in Deadwood Goat, South Dakota. Vox
Pop is dedicated to the grand and glorious order of pipe smokers, and it comes to you every
Thursday in honor of Kentucky Club Pipe Tobacco.
00:01:49 (TT)
Today we call that a remote broadcast. Vox Pop was a big deal in Aggieland. This is WTAW, the
first 100 years.