(excerpted from a variety of chapters...)
WLW--James Shouse and Public Service
Before electronic news
gathering equipment! And there, up on that hill overlooking downtown Cincinnati, is what is called Mount Olympus: a complete facility, studios, control rooms, rest rooms, tower, the works, equal to most television stations and better than many. Avco rents the whole thing to educational station WCET for a dollar a year. For another dollar a year Avco rents FM transmitting facilities to the University of Cincinnati. WLW's weather radar installation is a part of the U. S. Weather Bureau's severe warning system--and it doesn't cost us taxpayers a dime.
But this sense of public service did not blossom of itself. Some of it came from Powel Crosley. Some of it came from those two gents who came upstream from St. Louis: Robert Dunville and James Shouse.
Mary Wood wrote of her friend in her newspaper column: "When Jimmy Shouse came from St. Louis radio to take over the management of WLW and WSAI, he began to change the whole picture of local broadcasting. It was Jimmy's feeling that a radio station had a definite responsibility to the community in which it operated, and to that end he began to build a new public service image for the two Crosley stations.
"To Jim, public service meant serving the public, not just racking up points with the FCC. He hired responsible reporters to cover the news and write it. He was also the first to point up and dramatize local issues with radio documentaries, which won award after award for WLW. During the lean years of the thirties and forties, Shouse gave WLW's support to Cincinnati's Symphony Orchestra and its Summer Opera, along with any other cultural effort which could benefit the community. And during the war years, Crosley's powerful shortwave broadcasting facilities at Bethany were invaluable to our government."
In a special presentation about James Shouse broadcast over WLW on August 25, 1965, listeners heard: "James D. Shouse, a quiet man, who had projected himself through the programs broadcast on WLW for over twenty-eight years. Jim thought that 'We must be a considerate and constructive guest in America's Homes or we will not be invited back.' That was his philosophy, and in 1961 James Shouse stood before an audience in New York and accepted the Broadcast Pioneer's First Annual 'Mike Award' in behalf of WLW. It was for 'dedicated service to its community, encouragement to radio artists and craftsmen, integrity and leadership.'
"It was at that moment James Shouse knew he had accomplished what he had set out to do: 'make WLW Radio and WLW Television considerate and constructive guests in America's homes.'
"He was a man who 'moved,' a man who never stopped in his desire to contribute every drop of energy he possessed to that which he loved best, 'Giving people something to remember.' In a sense he was an entertainer himself, not as a performer before a mike or camera, but rather as a 'quiet influence' that hovered just outside the rim, gently prodding people into giving their best.
"A perfect example of this took place in 1944, not in the field of entertainment, but in the field of war. At the time, Mr. Shouse was serving on a subcommittee of the U. S. Board of War Communications. He was suddenly called to Washington to attend a meeting. The committee asked his advice on building a series of 50-kilowatt shortwave stations to be used for broadcasting overseas. Mr. Shouse knew that Germany already had shortwave power in the neighborhood of 100 kilowatts, so he recommended that we use stations of 200 kilowatts power each! Not one manufacturer represented on the committee believed this to be technically feasible. Well, the meeting would have ended right then and there if James Shouse had agreed. Instaed, he stepped out into a coridor, made a phone call to Chief Engineer Rockwell in Cincinnati, and asked if a series of 200-kilowatt transmitter could be built. Mr. Rockwell, with a moment's hesitation, said, 'Yes'--and within ten minutes, Mr. Shouse convinced the committee that Crosley could build the new power shortwave facility. And that facility was bulit in Bethany, Ohio, an engineering feat unsurpassed at that time for its daring and sheer power.
"To sum up his philosophy, he was a man who would never say 'No." He was always willing to listen and more willing to act upon his convictions."