Your Home Front Reporter - May 11, 1943. Host Fletcher Wiley with tenor Frank Parker and soprano Eleanor Steber. Light opera, War News, and getting the most out of your Ration Points were the features of Your Home Front Reporter. The Owens-Illinois Glass Company came up with a way to inform housewives about ways they could help to win the War with Your Home Front Reporter. Created by the D'Arcy Advertising Agency with the cooperation of the Office of War Information, the show featured War news and music from tenor Frank Parker, Metropolitan Opera Soprano Eleanor Steber, and David Broekman and His Orchestra. Over the course of the program, production moved from New York to Hollywood and back to New York again. (More from OTRcat.com)...
The program was hosted by Southern California radio personality Fletcher Wiley. Often compared to Arthur Godfrey or Paul Harvey, Wiley specialized in speaking directly to women, so was a natural for the job.
After broadcasts began in May 1943, production moved to Hollywood in July. This was a homecoming for Wiley, and tenor Parker made the move as well. Ms. Steber and Broekman's outfit were replaced by Dianna Gayle, Phil Hanna, and Wilbur Hatch and his Orchestra. Reporter Wiley offered tips on scientific nutrition, general home economics, and creative menu tips to get the most out of a household's ration points. In the fall, production returned to New York without Fletcher Wiley.
