"Into the Jaws of Death — U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire." Photo Credit: Chief Photographer's Mate (CPHoM) Robert F. Sargent.

World War II was the first major military conflict to be widely reported via radio broadcast. As a CBS affiliate, KMBC Radio syndicated episodes of The World Today and reported national and regional news stories including Feed Lot Chat, extended coverage of the Buy a Bomber war bonds campaign of 1942 and the 2nd Annual American Royal.

Listening copies of these discs are available in the Marr Sound Archives at Miller Nichols Library. Check the MERLIN Library Catalog for more information on these recordings.

The United States drops the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan August 9, 1945. Photo: Public Domain.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS REPORTS

• .D-Day Coverage and building world tensions
• .The American reaction to Pearl Harbor bombing
• .The Germans surrender to Allied Powers
• .The Atomic Bomb and the end of World War II

German Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel signs a surrender document at Soviet headquarters in Berlin, May 9, 1945. Photo Credit: The U.S. National Archives.

LOCAL AND REGIONAL COVERAGE

• Local personalities John Cameron Swayze, Larry Clark, and Walt Lochman report on the local Buy-A-Bomber war bonds campaign.
• Reporter Phil Evans reports on Post-War agriculture in the KMBC Feed Lot Chat.
• Raymond G. Barnett on corruption in KC politics.
• Kansas City Mayor John B. Gage bids for re-election.

PRESERVATION OF GLASS DISCS

During the war effort, radio stations stopped using metal-based lacquer discs to record their programs for airplay. Instead, they switched to glass-based format and the metal materials were used to build arms, fighter planes and other military vessels. The glass-based discs did not hold up as well as their metal counterparts. However, the majority of the glass-based discs in the Arthur B. Church Collection have been preserved for your listening enjoyment and research needs.