The Macon Telegraph from Macon, Georgia • A10

10A Monday, deceMber 7, 2009THE TELEGRAPHmacon.com When Maconites woke up that Sunday morning, the first head- lines they saw had no mention of the attack. because it be- gan at 7:48 a.m. Honolulu time, which was 1:18 p.m. Macon time. The front page of the regular morning edition of The Macon Telegraph and News had stories about the Nazi attack on Mos- cow and President stern message to Emperor Hi- rohito about concentra- tion of troops in French Indochi- na.

There was also a preview of a comedy show scheduled to take place at the Grand Theater. Although the Pearl Harbor at- tack was a surprise, the Unit- ed States was already on a war footing to some extent. Camp Wheeler near Macon held 20,000 conscripted troops from all over the country. Cochran Army Airfield, now known as Middle Georgia Regional Air- port, had been constructed in spring 1941 and had begun to train American and British pilots that summer. Sometime in the afternoon of Dec.

7, The Macon Telegraph and News hit the streets with a special edition reporting on the attack. A day later, the newspaper re- ported on the effect of this news. carefree young soldiers from Brooklyn, New York, or thereabouts, were strolling down Second Street Sunday afternoon, gagging and laughing and smok- ing They had just left the mov- ies and they were headed for a restaurant and a square meal be- fore returning to Camp Wheel- er. the little newsboy bellowed. at war with The quartet halt- ed abruptly.

kid one of them barked. The news- boy poked The Telegraph extra under the noses of the four. said one. Another fished for a coin to pay for the paper. There was a strange similarity of incredulity on the faces of Once the news had spread to Camp Wheeler, the soldiers there expressed the attitude that the war offered them a purpose they sorely needed.

As the Telegraph reported, soft-spoken Southerner drawled, suits me just fine. I never could see much sense in fooling around always felt that the sooner we get started on the sooner be The Marines at the local re- cruiting station requested an im- mediate transfer to Hawaii or the Philippines. By the end of the week, 154 men had enlisted at the Navy recruiting office a re- cord. The Telegraph reported that, despite the seriousness of the sit- uation, of the people in the city took the news of the out- break with comparative calm. Men and women continued win- dow shopping among the city streets and there was no let-up in theater One segment of popu- lation was definitely not calm those with loved ones near the fighting.

Telephone lines and the Western Union telegraph office were overwhelmed by frantic people seeking news. Bell Tele- phone called in four extra shifts of operators to deal with the traf- fic, and the phones were kept ringing late into the night of Dec. 7. Scores of Macon mothers had sons in the military, and it seemed like the Telegraph and News attempted to interview ev- ery one of them. To a woman, they expressed a combination of worry and patriotism.

Mrs. C.R. Smalling of Second Street had a son, Hugh Aldridge Smalling, doing duty as a ma- mate on the destroyer Parrot. should give the Japs all the war they she told a re- porter late in the evening of Dec. 7.

believe we can convince them they made a very unwise move in attacking our This theme was explored fur- ther by the anonymous author of an editorial titled Come that appeared in the Macon News of Dec. 8. may be a long the editor wrote. may last for years. It probably will involve us in actual fighting with Ger- many and Italy.

Nobody can tell how far it will spread nor how exhausting it will be. We must whip Japan, unmercifully, com- pletely and destructively, or we must face a future fraught with peril, unending discord, and slav- ery. We must stand together. There must be no more strikes. There must be no more inter- nal bickering.

There must be no more dissenting groups. There must be no more selfishness, greed nor obstruction to our out- put of the munitions and engines of war. We are at war. As long as it lasts it is total war. Let us hold back nothing that will help us win.

Our cause is right. Our conscience is clear. Armed thus as we are with a just cause, let the enemy beware, for we come a PEARL, from 1a ABC programming on those channels beginning next year. WGXA, the local Fox affili- ate, is in the process of clos- ing a deal with ABC to car- ry that network in the Macon market as well. But Lowell Register, presi- dent of Register Communica- tions the parent company for WPGA has a complete- ly different view.

Register said Friday he seen the legal notice in the paper and that his belief that erroneous. very he said. news to me. (Cox) has no grounds to take me off (Channel) 6. I prom- ise you, not going to Register said Cox had in- formed him earlier that they would remove WPGA from Channel 6 and keep programming there.

But he said he told them, think are not in a posi- tion to take me off he said. are misinformed. I think they are in for a heap of trouble if they remove me from Channel But Lynn Murphey, vice president of Cox Commu- nications, said the compa- ny has the right to make the switch, since Cox had entered a retransmission agreement with the cable company. In that type of deal, the cable provider provides compen- sation to carry a local sta- tion, but has some flexibil- ity where on the dial it can broadcast it. Murphey said she at liberty to discuss the specif- ic contract between Cox and WPGA, because the details are confidential, but that Cox has spent the past month re- searching the deal to make the transition.

well within our le- gal rights to do that for our she said. going to choose our line- up, going to stick with Murphey said it was an easy choice to make, since ABC programming includes highly rated and popular se- ries such as Anat- and With The On Web site, there is a grid of what the station will offer after the new year. Though it will no longer air ABC soap operas such as My in the af- ternoon, or ABC news pro- grams such as News and Morn- ing Register said much of the morning and af- ternoon programming change. The station still will carry syndicated fare such as tha and though the time slots on some of those programs may change, he said. The local news pro- gram Morning Mix With Kenny B.

Charles which is produced in partnership with The Tele- graph, will be expanded to three hours on WPGA TV. It currently runs three hours on the radio. Should WPGA not be carried by Cox and Murphey says there are no plans to carry it after Jan. 1 the fate of those syndicated programs in this market is in question. The most notable change to lineup will be the 9 p.m.

weekday hour, called Each day of the week will have themes, such as and ro- tating four older, syndicated TV series among those days. For example, Mondays will ro- tate between four programs Sheep and Register said he decided to drop programming in late October because he be- lieves current network pro- gramming In an Oct. 30 interview with The Telegraph, Regis- ter said: had somebody tell me running a good bit of gay and lesbian stuff on it. really just in-your-face, so to speak, and not sure appropriate. hap- pening in prime time.

not really happy with Register said only got- ten positive feedback since he announced the switch. providing program- ming that is good or better than he said. Meanwhile, at WGXA, gen- eral manager Keith True said the station is putting the final touches on the switch and ev- erything should be ready by Jan. 1. Based upon his conver- sations with Cox, True said he firmly believes that ABC will remain on Channels 6 and 706.

actually ahead of schedule, which is good con- sidering we only have nine he said. been notified by Cox that be on 6 and programming will make up about half of the schedule for WGXA. True said he is finalizing contracts with syndicated programs to fill in during the mornings, afternoons and late night. The station will be known as WGXA ABC-16. In addition, True said WGXA will air a local newscast at 6 p.m.

and 11 p.m. beginning March 1. He said there will be different production teams and on-air teams between the Fox 24 and ABC-16 news broad- casts, though there would be some crossover for areas such as sports and weather. Both news teams will oper- ate from the same building on Martin Luther King Bou- levard, he said. Register also will offer a lo- cal news broadcast at 6 p.m.

and 11 p.m. It has put together a deal with Independent News, a national company that pro- duces local newscasts around the country. WPGA used to have a deal with them, but that fell apart when the news company declared bankrupt- cy. It has since reorganized, Register said. Other Middle Georgia ca- ble companies will be keeping WPGA in the same place on the dial and are scrambling to find a spot for pro- gramming.

Watson Cable in Warner Robins, which also owns Suburban Cable in Macon, as well as Comsouth Cable in Perry, which is in the process of buying Valley Cable in Fort Valley, all have agreements with WPGA. Un- der those agreements, the ca- ble systems give any compensation for the sta- signal, and the station can choose which channel from 2-13 on which it will broadcast. Watson Cable Vice Presi- dent Robbie Watson and Rob Brooks, general manager of Comsouth Perry, are both trying to move around piec- es of their 2-13 channel line- up to fit in ABC. trying to accommo- date the new Watson said. know where it will be yet.

We plan on send- ing out a notice to our cus- tomers of the changes later this Brooks said a matter of reshuffling, but his custom- ers lose ABC program- ming. ABC is the greatest interest to our cus- he said. (Reg- ister) owns that spot. He can put what he wants Information from The archives was used in this report. wPGA, from 1a.