Spotlight On: Joel Banow Spotlight On: Joel Banow
Veteran Broadcaster Uses Military
Training for White Christmas
In the spirit of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas
character Captain Bob Wallace, Joel
Banow entertained his army base as a
military disc-jockey while stationed in
Korea.
Banow enlisted after being drafted during
his first semester at NYU, where he
was studying broadcast television. After
basic training, Banow entered engineering
school to study photolithography.
“I learned about photography and printing,”
he said. “And before my assignment,
I got involved in the base’s theater.”
Banow’s affinity for the arts landed him
his first radio gig at his first assignment,
a base in Kansas.
“I played music by George Gershwin and
Irving Berlin, emergency information, and
ran the station overnight,” he said. “I took
broadcasting classes at a nearby university
and earned a military occupational
specialty in broadcasting.”
This led Banow to an armed forces radio
career in Seoul, Korea. After this post,
Banow was assigned to a television station
at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey.
“We did public service announcements,
broadcasts, film signals, classes, and
anything involving communications for
the Signal Corps,” he said.
After a long and successful career in
broadcasting, Banow is now retired and
an active volunteer with The Naples Players.
He is currently working on White
Christmas as an Audio Assistant.
“I’ll be solving problems, replacing batteries,
and getting the microphone battery
packs all set for the actors,” he said.
“My military training has carried through
my entire life—from my broadcast career
to giving back to my community.”
Volunteer Joel Banow stands in front of the timeline project
he helped facilitate for the 65th Anniversary season
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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