George V. Denny, Jr.
| George V. Denny, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born |
George Vernon Denny, Jr. August 29, 1899 Washington, North Carolina |
| Died | November 11, 1959 (aged 60) Sharon Hospital, Sharon, Connecticut |
| Burial place | West Cornwall, Connecticut |
| Education | Bingham Military Academy (Asheville, North Carolina) |
| Alma mater | B.S. Commerce, University of North Carolina, 1922 LL.D. degree, Temple University, 1940 Ithaca College, 1951 |
| Occupation | radio personality, nonprofit director |
| Employer | League for Political Education, 1931–1951 |
| Known for | America's Town Meeting of the Air |
| Political party | Democrat |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Traill Yellott (m. 12 June 1924 – div. 1943) Jean Sarasy (m. 2 Apr. 1944–1959 [his death]) |
| Children | Mildred Nelson, George Vernon Denny III, Mary Virginia |
| Awards | Peabody Award, 1945 |
George V. Denny, Jr. (1899–1959) was the long-time moderator of one of radio's first talk shows, America's Town Meeting of the Air, as well as the executive director of the League for Political Education/Town Hall, which produced the program. Denny moderated America's Town Meeting of the Air from 1935 to 1952 and had a major role in choosing weekly topics.
Denny was born August 29, 1899, in Washington, North Carolina, graduating from the University of North Carolina (UNC) in 1922.
Denny was a professor of drama production at UNC from 1924–1926, and then moved to New York, working as an actor on Broadway for one season. He managed the W. B. Feakins lecture bureau for a year, and then became the director of Columbia University's Institute of Arts and Sciences from 1928–1930.
In 1931, Denny became the associate director of the League for Political Education, becoming full director in 1937.
In his role, by 1935 Denny worried that an uninformed public was bad for democracy; and that American society had become so polarized that the average person didn't listen to other points of view. His goal was to create a new kind of educational program, one that would be entertaining as well as mentally challenging, while exposing listeners to various perspectives on the issues of the day. He wanted to create a program that would replicate the town meetings that were held in the early days of the United States. He believed that a radio town meeting could enhance the public's interest in current events. Explaining the rationale behind a radio town meeting, Denny wrote that it was "... a device which is designed to attract [the average American's] attention and stimulate his [sic] interest in the complex economic, social and political problems which he must have a hand in solving."
Originally carried by the NBC Blue Network, it began as it began as a six-week experiment, and NBC itself didn't expect much from it. Broadcast live from New York City's Town Hall (the League for Political Education's headquarters), America's Town Meeting of the Air debuted on Thursday May 30, 1935, and only 18 of NBC's affiliates carried it. The topic for that first show was "Which Way America: Fascism, Communism, Socialism or Democracy?”
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