Wednesday 15 August 2012

Shri Nathji's Broadcast over WNAC Radio



Shri Nathji and Priya Nath drove down to Boston to the WNAC Radio Station on the morning of June 23, 1964. Priya Nath had informed the Radio Station about Shri Nathji's visit to America and they had invited him to give a broadcast to the nation on the 23rd of June itself. Shri Nathji broadcast to America over WNAC Radio in Boston. He appeared as a guest on the Gus Saunders’ programme. Shri Nathji arrived at the radio station in a spotlessly white shervaani and an orange turban. Lois Morgan, who was also managing the programme, exclaimed: "Oh, I am absolutely intrigued at your white robe! How do you manage to keep it so clean!"
There were the usual questions:
"What brought you to the United States?" "I came to visit my son who is a student at
Harvard," said Shri Nathji. "You ought to be proud of your son," said Gus Saunders, and then said to Priya Nath, "You ought to be proud of your father!" Priya Nath had earlier played Indian music on his guitar over the radio and had come to know Gus Saunders and Lois Morgan. "Is it true that New Delhi is a very dirty city?" the radio interviewer had asked Priya Nath at that time, and he had replied jokingly, "I thought Boston was very dirty!" What impressed the interviewers about Shri Nathji was the manner of his visit. A father had come to visit his son. It was very different from the globe-trotting visits of other spiritualists who came to America as sponsored guests of organisations and groups. Shri Nathji expressed his great appreciation for the hospitality that the people of America had shown him, and spoke about his own mission in life. When he called himself Ghulam Rue' Zameen and explained what it meant, the interviewers marveled at his humility. Many listeners in various parts of the country heard Shri Nathji speak. For them, it was a passing phase of the radio programme. Little did they know they had been listening to the Voice of God.
WNAC was founded in 1922 by John Shepard III, a Boston businessman whose father John Shepard Jr. had a department-store empire throughout New England and saw the potential of radio to publicize himself and his stores enough to finance his son's venture. In 1927, WNAC became one of the sixteen charter members of the CBS Radio Network, and remained a CBS affiliate for the next decade. In July 1929, WNAC moved into new studios inside the basement of the Hotel Buckminster. Later that same year, using a 100-foot antenna connected by a clothesline to the building's roof, WNAC arranged the first network broadcast in radio history with station WEAF in New York City. In 1947, the FCC denied a request to allow WNAC to move to 1200 kHz and boost its power to a directional 50,000 watt signal. In the pictures are the1961 Advertisements of the WNAC Radio.
Gus Saunders was the host of the program in which Shri Nathji appeared. Gus Saunders, is remembered as a food critic and  radio host. He died at 85. Long before he became a restaurant critic and the host of a radio program that made him a guest in kitchens throughout New England, Gus Saunders acquired culinary expertise by necessity. Many people listened to the "Yankee Kitchen" radio show hosted by Gus Saunders which becomes one of the longest-running, Boston-based radio program. This is photograph to Gus Sauders and that of the record of his famous show - Yankee Kitchen.
Louise Morgan was managing the program in which Shri Nathji appeared. She and Gus Gauders knew HH Priya Nathji as he was regular at their radio and T.V. shows at WNAC. They appreciated his guitar skills and hilarious notes. There are two photographs of HH Priya Nathji in the Mahagranth – God Incarnate which shows him playing Guitar at WNAC broadcasts.
Louise Morgan was born in 1904 at Salem. Ms. Morgan graduated from LaSalle Junior College and the Leland Powers School, where she taught speech and drama for a time. Louise Morgan was the First Lady of Television, going on the air in 1949 with a women's show that had already been a success on Boston radio. It was called "Shopping Views," then "Dear Homemaker" and finally the "Louise Morgan Show," all broadcast on WNAC-TV.  But she was not just a typical women's show host.  She was also a celebrity interviewer, and she got interviews with them all — movie stars, politicians, singers and fashion experts. Known for her beautiful diction, her elegant sense of style, and her theme song “Every Little Breeze Seems to Whisper Louise,” Morgan was one of Boston's most popular personalities for more than 25 years. Louise Morgan led the way for future generations of women in media. She died on March23rd 1995, in Pines of Sarasota Nursing Home in Sarasota, Fla. She was 91. Here is a photograph of her, broadcasting on WNAC.

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