As usual, our luncheon will be at Sinbad's just south of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero near the foot of Mission St. We meet at 11:30 and are seated at 12:30. To make reservations call Paul Black at 925-827-9511 and leave a message on his machine.

The Scholarship is offered through the BEA. The BEA is a nonprofit higher education 501(c)3 association. Offering this scholarship through the BEA means it is an opportunity offered to students from institutions all across the country. The BEA membership includes 1,500 faculty and 250 university and college institutions. The BEA organization represents a diversity of media related Interest Division including: interactive multiple media; law an policy; communication technology; multicultural studies; production; research; writing; gender issues and internet.

We are asking for donations from all interested parties for the Farnsworth Scholarship. These donations can be individual contributions or we welcome your assistance in opening the doors of any possible corporate donors. Our goal is to raise $20,000 in order to permanently endow a Farnsworth Scholarship. The tangible benefits to donating.... first is the opportunity to assist a student in his or her education. Second, there is recognition for corporate sponsors making significant donations. These sponsorship are noted in BEA Newsletters, membership communication, scholarship posters, and award presentations themselves. Third, BEA provides the corporate donor the most extensive educational networking opportunity anywhere in the world. Of course, the greatest benefit is the ability to "give something back and watch those students grow."

All donations are made to the Broadcast Education Association.

Professor Donald G. Godfrey is the primary BEA contact for this scholarship. He can be reached at: Donald G. Godfrey, Ph.D. Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1305 Phone (480) 965-8661 e-mail: don.godfrey@asu.edu

Bob Morrison and Don Lincoln were joined at the hip when it came to humor. Once, when Bob was working at KRE in Berkeley in the 1950s and Don was working at the KGO-TV transmitter in the old Sutro mansion, Bob hatched one of his best gags. There was a minister who did a program on KRE who had no sense of time and often Bob would clip the remote line and wrap the show by doing his dead-on impression of the man. The minister actually appreciated Bobs inventiveness in getting him off on schedule.

At the time of this story, the telephone answering machine or automatic message machine was quite new and you had to order the service from the phone company for a monthly fee. The minister established one of the earliest dial a-prayer services. Upon dialing the number the response was: "Thank you for calling, now let us pray". The minister gave Bob some business cards that simply said:

In the late 1960s, I was taking a VTR class at Ampex in Redwood City. One day I visited Bob in his lab where the audio test tapes were made. Several stories came out of that visit. Bob did not suffer fools and he especially didnt suffer corporate foolishness. He told me he was on a routing list that would deliver messages like, Mr. John Jones of Ampex International will be in England until June. In his absence, anyone needing to contact him should call... etc.. Bobs assessment was if the earth had opened and swallowed the guy, no one would be the wiser. Therefore, Bob originated a note via the same routing that began, Mr. Robert K. Morrison of the Ampex Standards Tape Lab will be in the mens room from 10AM until 10:15AM Monday through Friday, in his absence... etc.. His theory was that no one read these memos, and he was right.

My sojourn in Redwood City corresponded with an AES meeting to be held in the Ampex cafeteria. Bob and I had dinner together before the meeting. I told him I was rather put off by certain AES Journal articles that had math sidebars with partial differential equations or triple integrals. The identities of the variables usually wasnt given as the emperors subjects should know what they are. The body of the article gave scant mention of the math if it mentioned it at all. Bobs response was, Didnt you know? Know what? They hire that out. The math is done by ghostwriters. He also made comments to the effect that some of what was then happening in audio had crossed over into pseudo science.

Once, when I visited Bob in his Kensington Home, he told me a story about a blue jay in his back yard. Blue jays can be pretty bold and his one would land on his arm and take food from his hand. He called the bird Farnsworth. The blue jay would respond to that name and fly to Bob when he heard it. One day, when so engaged, he carried on a conversation with the bird. Whats that you say Farnsworth, General Motors going up 2 points? Proctor and Gamble down one? This did not go unnoticed by Bobs next door neighbor who was a UC Prof.. One day the blue jays market predictions were amazingly accurate. Bob was having coffee in the kitchen the next morning when he heard the neighbor calling, Farnsworth, oh, Farnsworth! Pretty nervy having a neighbor try to co-opt your blue jay.

Prior to AES meetings there was a group of 10 or 15 who would get together for dinner on the peninsula. One night they tried a French restaurant and ran into a problem when the waiter told them it would be Imposiblee to get separate checks. Bobs response was that if they were in the regular dining room at separate tables, it would not be imposiblee. This argument was going nowhere. Those nominally in charge informed the rest that they were leaving. Everyone got up and left with the maitre d and waiter following them into the parking lot imploring them to return. I wasnt there but I wish I had been.

Roy also posts the current newsletter at home.earthlink.net/~rhtrumbull but the posting is without links.