The Milwaukee Journal – Aug 25,
1940
Radio Widow Loves Life
By Harriet Stern (Wife of Bill Stern)
I AM A stranger to the radio
audience but my husband is probably better known to you than he is to me you
see, he never comes home.
When we were first married several
years ago, I realized that it was like marrying traveling salesman who was always traveling. But I never thought that my only
look at my husband would be either in
the early morning or very late at night.
Long ago I gave up inviting people
over for dinner. You see, I soon ran out of excuses as to why Bill was late.
But please do not misunderstand. I love it! It’s like being on merry-go-round
and always trying for the brass ring.
Bill is busy morning, noon and
night, but I, at least, have one advantage over other wives. All I have to do
is turn on the radio and I know at once where my wandering boy is tonight. Nor
am I amazed any longer to find him on one coast of this grand country of ours
one night, and on the air the next night from the opposite end.
So much for the complaint
department. You say: “Why do I stand it?” Well, that’s easy to answer I just
happen to love the guy. But seriously, it’s not entirely as bad as I’ve painted
it. True, Bill does work seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year. But his
work is so interesting that even I, who knew nothing about sports a few years
back, am now all wrapped up in Joe DiMaggio, Joe Louis, etc. To me they’ve
become real people instead of imaginary persons one might read about.
Bill is always dropping in with
some celebrity and casually saving: “Honey, I want you meet Alfred Gwvnne
Vanderbilt or Alice Marble,” depending on what event he’s describing that day.
I like it, and I think all women would, too. Then, too, you should hear all the
gossip hear about famous people it’s
wonderful. Sometimes I think Bill makes some of it up just to amuse me but it’s
still interesting and I never let on that I know the difference.
Bills average week is like someone
auditioning for a nervous breakdown. Each morning he’s down at NBC by 9:30,
getting his daily show ready, that is, Mondays through Fridays. On Saturdays he
usually has a football game, track meet or something else in the afternoon.
All week long he is watching to
see that NBC covers the right sports event, and making plans and arrangements
for his broadcasts not to mention writing his material. In the evenings all he
has are two MOM newsreels (“News of the Day”). To make one reel he starts at
9:00 in the evening and works through until 3:00 the next morning. They are
made on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Hardly a week goes by that he
doesn’t work with Sam Taub on the fight broadcasts and Sunday evenings are
filled with the Bill Stern Sports broadcasts. There are two of them you know,
the second one is heard out west.
Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? But it
isn’t. it’s fun, fun for him or he wouldn’t be doing it and a for me well, I
guess I kind of like it, too.
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