Frederick Blantford Bate (13 November, 1886 – December 24, 1970) was an American journalist and radio broadcaster for the NBC network in Europe in the 1930s. He was a representative for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

in United Kingdom and Western Europe before and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was the husband of Vera Bate Lombardi, the British socialite, and the father of

Bridget Bate Tichenor Bridget Bate Tichenor (born Bridget Pamela Arkwright Bate) (November 22, 1917 – October 12, 1990) was a British surrealism, surrealist painter of fantastic art in the school of magic realism and a fashion editor. Born in Paris, she later e ...

, a surrealist artist.

Family

Frederick Blantford Bate was born to an English father Harry B. Bate in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1886. His first marriage was to the Chicago candy-manufacturing heiress Sally K. Plows (1889-1947), that ended in divorce on the grounds of his desertion.

Early career

He was active with the first automobile ambulance service during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was a mechanical officer, involved with the organization of the first American Ambulance that became an

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

service connected with the First World War armies in the field.American Ambulance in WW I
/ref>Andrew, Adam Piatt: Friends of France: The Field Service of the American Ambulance Described By Its Members, Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916, Chapter XV. During his time in France he met Vera Arkwright, who was serving at the American hospital in Paris. They married in 1916. Their daughter Bridget was born in France in November 1917. Fred and Vera divorced in 1929.

NBC

Bate had served on a War Reparations Committee headed by

Owen D. Young Owen D. Young (October 27, 1874July 11, 1962) was an American industrialist, businessman, lawyer and diplomat at the Second Reparations Conference (SRC) in 1929, as a member of the German Reparations International Commission. He is known for th ...

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

, and it was through Young that he had come to the attention of the NBC. Bate was hired by the network as NBC's European manager in summer 1932. Bate's key objective was to expand NBC presence in the European market and to develop international broadcasting into a viable business for the network. Shortly after he was stationed by the NBC in Paris and then moved to represent the network in London. During this time Bate worked closely with his colleague

Max Jordan Max Arthur Jordan (later Father Placid Jordan) (April 21, 1895 - November 28, 1977) was a German-American foreign correspondent for the International News Service and pioneering radio journalist for the NBC network in Europe in the 1930s. Staatsa ...

who represented NBC in the Central European countries. Bate came to know Edward, Prince of Wales, as a result of his marriage in 1916 to Vera Arkwright, who was known to the Prince. This connection became significant for NBC when Edward's relationship with

Wallis Simpson Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Spencer and then Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986) was an American socialite and the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (former King Edward VIII). Their intentio ...

threw the British Government into a constitutional crisis. Because of Bate's connections, NBC provided more up-to-the-minute radio coverage of that story than any rival networks.Max Jordan and NBC
Bate was the NBC representative in London at the time and had access to the King.
''New York Times'', May 23, 1937 When the story of the king's affair with Wallis Simpson and the possibility of an abdication suddenly broke on a startled world, Bate was on holiday in New York. The fastest way back to London then took five days. He telephoned

Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke, Order of the British Empire, KBE (né Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the Unite ...

and asked him to go immediately to

Broadcasting House London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

and beam over a news dispatch for NBC before the midnight circuit, which the rival radio network,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, had booked. Cooke did so, and for the next 10 days of the abdication crisis he broadcast to

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

six or seven times a day.Obituary: Alistair Cooke
/ref> In 1940, Bate was wounded by shrapnel when a bomb hit NBC's offices in London during

. He returned to work after spending 10 days in a hospital. At the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Bate moved back to the United States. He died, at Waterford, Virginia, in October 1970.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bate, Frederick Blantford American male journalists 1880s births 1970 deaths American journalists American radio reporters and correspondents