Harold Wampler Arlin was an American engineer and foreman and was arguably the world's first full-time and salaried announcer in broadcast radio.
29 Facts About Harold Arlin
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On November 2,1920, Arlin made history as the radio's first announcer when he read over-the-air the returns to the 1920 presidential election between Senator Warren G Harding and Governor James M Cox.
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Harold Arlin interviewed many celebrities on the air, including Babe Ruth, Will Rogers, Lillian Gish and William Jennings Bryan.
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Harold Arlin spent five years at KDKA, where he was nicknamed the "Voice of America".
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Harold Wampler Arlin was born December 8,1895, in La Harpe, Illinois to parents Byron Addison Arlin and Emma.
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Harold Arlin graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Kansas in 1917 and soon after moved to Pittsburgh where he obtained a job as an electrical engineer for the Westinghouse Electric Company.
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Harold Arlin did, and because his voice proved clear, crisp, resonant, friendly and appealing, Harold Arlin was hired as a full-time announcer, making him the first radio announcer in the world.
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Harold Arlin read the results on a makeshift microphone in a shack on the roof atop the K Building of the Westinghouse Electric Company "East Pittsburgh Works" in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania.
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Harold Arlin sat in a converted ground-level box seat at Forbes Field and provided play-by-play analysis of the game using a converted telephone as a microphone and some jerry-rigged equipment set up behind home plate.
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Harold Arlin announced the quarterfinals of the match which began on the 4th.
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Dempsey won the fight and Harold Arlin did a recreation of the events over the radio from a wire report sent to him from the ringside in New York City.
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Just as Harold Arlin told listeners, "Firpo threw a terrific right, knocking Dempsey out of the ring", his line to New York broke.
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That same year, Harold Arlin announced the first short-wave broadcast to Great Britain.
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In 1924, Harold Arlin was voted most popular radio announcer and in 1925, he helped organized the Radio Announcers of America.
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Harold Arlin is believed amongst many historians to be the first to utilize the celebrity interview.
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Harold Arlin later recalled in an interview conducted in 1952 that Ruth had such a terrible case of "mike fright" that Harold Arlin had to take the script out of his hands and read it himself.
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Harold Arlin left Pittsburgh taking his wife and children and moving to Mansfield, Ohio, the following year.
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Harold Arlin returned to engineering becoming the personnel manager for Westinghouse's Mansfield manufacturing plant.
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Harold Arlin became very active and productive in the city of Mansfield.
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Edward S "Ed" Arlin was born on July 8,1924, in Pittsburgh.
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Harold Arlin graduated from Mansfield Senior High School in 1942, served as an Ensign in the United States Navy during World War II before returning home and graduating from the University of Cincinnati.
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Ed Harold Arlin was a member of the 1946 University of Georgia National Football Championship team.
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Ed Harold Arlin died on November 12,2011, age 87 at the Fisher-Titus Medical Center in Norwalk.
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Harold Arlin was a member of the Norwalk First United Methodist Church.
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On November 4,1952, Harold Arlin temporarily returned to radio, announcing his first radio broadcast in twenty-seven years.
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In 1972, Harold Arlin announced his first professional baseball game in more than 50 years.
27.
Announcer Bob Prince invited Harold Arlin to come back to the broadcasting booth.
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Prince and Harold Arlin announced the game together as the Padres won.
29.
Harold Arlin was in Bakersfield when he suffered a major heart attack on March 2,1986.