G. Emerson Cole

Last updated

George Emerson Cole (January 5, 1919 - March 31, 2012) was an American radio, television, and special events producer/announcer pioneer whose weekly radio program "The Big Bands Are Back" ran for over 32 consecutive years in Pinehurst, North Carolina. It is said to be the longest-running big band radio program in history. [1] [2]

Contents

College

After graduation from high school with honors in Peoria, Illinois in 1936 Cole entered Cornell University where he began his career in broadcasting by building and operating a wired college network station which has become the Cornell FM radio station. He was involved in the creation of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System to help other universities build similar stations.

Cole was graduated from Cornell in 1941 with BAs In Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration. He joined the United States Navy on December 8, 1941.

WWII

Emerson Cole joined the Navy the day after the Pearl Harbor invasion on December 8, 1941 and was sent to General Electric to work with their radar development programs until he was called up for active duty in 1944.

After Communication School at Harvard, Cole was sent to Melville, Rhode Island to train for PT boat duty. He sailed from San Francisco to the Philippines in 1944 to join the Pacific Task Force.

On the way to Balikpapan, Borneo the last invasion of WW II, Cole joined Squadron 10, the remainder [3] of John F. Kennedy's PT-109 boat squadron, on PT-171. [4]

On one of his 13 patrols the boat's radar malfunctioned and the operator was unable to get it back on the air. By coincidence it was the same General Electric model SO-2 that Emerson had helped to develop at General Electric and he was able to restore it in less than a minute.

During his tenure in the Navy Emerson Cole took many historic photographs and sketches of the people and places in Pacific wartime and some have found their way into private and public collections [5] as valuable relics of life in the wartime Navy in the South Pacific.

At the end of the war, PT-171 with Lt.(jg). Emerson Cole as skipper patrolled the coast for holdouts with a Japanese prisoner on the bow of the boat who called out to the shoreline over a speaker saying "It is over, don't shoot!"

Surrender terms for the Dutch West Indies were signed on an Australian cruiser and then skipper Lt.(jg) Emerson Cole sailed PT-171 back to the Philippines where the boats were burned to the waterline while their crews awaited the trip home.

Television

After the war, Cole became a television commercial writer, director, and producer at Benton & Bowles Advertising Agency working directly under Shepherd Mead, author of the best-selling book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying . Cole claims he was featured in chapter 7, which did not appear in the movie that was made from the book.

In those days television shows were produced live and some of the programs he worked on included The Colgate Comedy Hour , The Jackie Gleason Show , Life Begins At 80 , Ford Star Time, Omnibus , Captain Video , and The Gale Storm Show .

Civic

For 35 years Emerson Cole lived in Darien, Connecticut. While serving as president of the YMCA, which had no building, Cole found an opportunity to acquire property of 7.5 acres on Long Island Sound from an estate sale, and with community donations spearheaded the remodeling of existing structures into a state-of-the-art Darien Community YMCA facility that features a 6-lane swimming pool looking out to the sound. There is an underwater window for checking on divers.

Property and construction costs were paid off in only five years and a second campaign resulted in the addition of another pool, handball courts, and gymnasium that were also paid off in five years.

Big Band Radio

Emerson Cole moved his family from Connecticut to Pinehurst, North Carolina and on February 24, 1980 began his epic series of broadcasts, "The Big Bands Are Back" [6] on radio stations WIOZ and WIOZ-FM which he continued to produce and broadcast on a weekly basis until his death in 2012; a record for longevity which is without equal in known radio broadcast history. [1]

Cole produced a four-hour radio documentary about the December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor invasion which has been required listening for some Moore County, NC school children.

The Pearl Harbor special includes original recordings of famous speeches, and eclectic sketches such as a rare Armed Forces Network recording of Glenn Miller broadcasting to the German troops in what Mr. Cole called "terrible" German.

Related Research Articles

PT boat World War II patrol torpedo boat

A PT boat was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the war by ineffective torpedoes, limited armament, and comparatively fragile construction that limited some of the variants to coastal waters. In the USN they were organized in Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons (MTBRONs).

United States Asiatic Fleet Military unit

The United States Asiatic Fleet was a fleet of the United States Navy during much of the first half of the 20th century. Before World War II, the fleet patrolled the Philippine Islands. Much of the fleet was destroyed by the Japanese by February 1942, after which it was dissolved, and the remnants incorporated into the naval component of the South West Pacific Area command, which eventually became the Seventh Fleet.

They Were Expendable is a 1945 American war film directed by John Ford, starring Robert Montgomery and John Wayne, and featuring Donna Reed. The film is based on the 1942 book by William Lindsay White, relating the story of the exploits of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, a PT boat unit defending the Philippines against Japanese invasion during the Battle of the Philippines (1941–42) in World War II.

Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three Military unit

Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three was a United States Navy squadron based at Cavite, Philippines, from September 1941 to mid-April 1942. It was commanded by Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley and made up of six motor torpedo boats: PT-31, PT-32, PT-33, PT-34, PT-35, and PT-41, the last as the squadron flagship. The other six boats of the squadron remained at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and were there when war broke out, eventually being shipped to the Solomons.

Operation K Bombing of Oahu by Japanese flying boats during WW2.

Operation K was a Japanese naval operation in World War II, intended as reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor and disruption of repair and salvage operations following the surprise attack on 7 December 1941. It culminated on 4 March 1942, with an unsuccessful attack carried out by two Kawanishi H8K "Emily" flying boats. This was the longest distance ever undertaken by a two-plane bombing mission, and one of the longest bombing sorties ever planned without fighter escort.

WFNC (AM) Radio station in Fayetteville, North Carolina

WFNC is an AM radio station in Fayetteville, North Carolina broadcasting on frequency 640. The station has a conservative talk format and is under ownership of Cumulus Media. Its studios and transmitter are co-located in Fayetteville.

USS <i>Whitman</i>

USS Whitman (DE-24) was an Evarts-class destroyer escort constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. It was promptly sent off into the Pacific Ocean to protect convoys and other ships from Japanese submarines and fighter aircraft. By the end of the war, when she returned to the United States, she had accumulated four battle stars.

WFAY Radio station in Fayetteville, North Carolina

WFAY is a radio station licensed to serve Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States. The station is owned by Jeffrey Andrulonis' Andrulonis Media. WFAY serves the Fayetteville area.

I-17 was a Japanese B1 type submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy which saw service during World War II. This long-range submarine cruiser spent the early months of the war in the eastern Pacific and was the first Axis ship to shell the continental United States. She later supported the Imperial Japanese Army in fighting around the Solomon Islands and remained active in the southwest Pacific until she was sunk in August 1943.

SS <i>President Roosevelt</i> (1921)

SS President Roosevelt was an ocean liner in service in the 1920s and 1930s. Originally built as a Harris-class attack transport towards the end of World War I, she entered commercial service after her completion. Having been built as Peninsula State, she was soon renamed President Pierce and then President Roosevelt. Requisitioned for service as a troopship with the US Navy during World War II, she was renamed USS Joseph T. Dickman (APA-13) and served in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, being scrapped postwar in 1948.

USS <i>Niagara</i> (PG-52)

The seventh USS Niagara (CMc-2/PG-52/AGP-1) was an auxiliary ship of the United States Navy during World War II.

Huckins Yacht Corporation is one of the oldest boat builders in the United States. The company is located on the Ortega River in Jacksonville, Florida, and is run by its third-generation owners, Cindy and Buddy Purcell. Huckins manufactures custom yachts ranging from 40 to 90 feet that combine classic design and traditional workmanship with modern technology and amenities. It has built a total of 457 yachts during its 80 years of operation, crafting vessels one at a time.

Patrol torpedo boat <i>PT-20</i>

PT-20 was the first PT-20-class motor torpedo boat of the United States Navy that served during World War II.

Patrol torpedo boat <i>PT-30</i>

PT-30 was a PT-20-class motor torpedo boat of the United States Navy American that served during World War II.

Patrol torpedo boat <i>PT-29</i>

PT-29 was a PT-20-class motor torpedo boat of the United States Navy American that served during World War II.

Patrol torpedo boat <i>PT-42</i>

PT-42 was a PT-20-class motor torpedo boat of the United States Navy that served during World War II.

Patrol torpedo boat <i>Q-111 Luzon</i>

Q-111 Luzon was a motor torpedo boat of the United States Army during World War II as part of the Offshore Patrol based at Manila.

Q-112 Abra was a motor torpedo boat of the United States Army during World War II as part of the Offshore Patrol based at Manila.

Japanese submarine <i>I-171</i> 1st class submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy

I-71, later I-171, was a Kaidai-class cruiser submarine of the KD6 sub-class built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the 1930s. She served in World War II, and took part in operations supporting the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway, and the Aleutian Islands campaign. She was sunk in February 1944.

I-123, originally named Submarine No. 50 then renamed I-23 from before her construction began until June 1938, was an I-121-class submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy that served during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. During the latter conflict, she conducted operations in support of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, the Battle of Midway, the Guadalcanal campaign, and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. She was sunk in 1942.

References

  1. 1 2 "20 Years of Big Bands in the Sandhills" by Michael Futch, The Fayetteville Observer, March 19, 2000
  2. ↑ "Obituary: G. Emerson Cole, 93, former Darien resident, WWII veteran, broadcaster". The Darien Times. 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2012-05-09.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ PT Boat Squadron 10
  4. ↑ PT-109 and PT-171
  5. ↑ Sketches and photos
  6. ↑ "Big Band Broadcast Takes Listeners Back" by Michael Futch, The Fayetteville Observer, January 2, 1990
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.