SAG-AFTRA

Fall 2016

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84 SAG-AFTRA | Fall 2016 | SAGAFTRA.org Snapshot by Valerie Yaros Snapshot by Valerie Yaros SAG-AFTRA SPECIAL COLLECTIONS O nce upon a time … his voice was known to radio audiences nationwide. In 1946, after his election as national president of American Federation of Radio Artists, his success was such that Dial-Log, the newsletter of AFRA's Los Angeles Local, stated: "Ken Carpenter is so well known to radio that it almost seems redundant to tell about him." Radio Life magazine declared in 1947: "If his face were as familiar as his voice, Ken Carpenter would be recognizable on the streets of every hamlet or metropolis of America." Fans of Kraft Music Hall, The Great Gildersleeve, One Man's Family, Command Performance and more all knew Carpenter, who ranked among the top announcers in popularity polls. Carpenter deserves to be remembered today. A Peoria, Illinois, native, the then-28-year-old moved to California with his wife and infant son in late 1929, just after October's massive stock market crash, seeking warmer climes and a job in his field of newspaper advertising. In 1930, still unemployed as jobs dried up with the Great Depression, a friend suggested he audition for an announcer's job — for which his voice was amply suited. He was rejected, but an audition for KFI radio in Los Angeles did the trick and the microphone novice was hired. Carpenter joined AFRA at its 1937 founding, becoming a member of the L.A. Local in August 1937. In 1939, he joined Screen Actors Guild when hired to appear onscreen, uncredited, in Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring Jimmy Stewart. The busy in-demand announcer served as L.A. Local President in 1940-41 and again from 1944-45, as well as terms as an AFRA National Board member and officer. In 1961, AFTRA (as it became in 1952) honored Carpenter with the fifth George Heller Memorial Award, which continues to be given by SAG-AFTRA today. An interviewer once asked him to name an "idiosyncrasy" of his and he replied: "My wife says that I always rub my stomach when I read commercials. I guess I'm trying to push it in." His star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame is located at 6706 Hollywood Blvd., outside the Egyptian Theatre. He passed away on Oct. 16, 1984. Re-Introducing Ken Carpenter: AFTRA's First Announcer President Ken Carpenter at NBC in Hollywood in the late 1930s with the tools of his trade — a script and a microphone. He served two terms as national president of AFRA between 1946–48.

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