The Charles A. Batson Collection reflects his forty-five year career as a radio and television broadcaster, as well as his distinguished record of military and public service. The collection consists of correspondence, photographs, speeches, publications, audiovisual media, artifacts, awards, and newspaper clippings, as well as manuals and reports that document the early history of television broadcasting.
Series 1 consists of biographical data, articles about Batson along with interviews and press. Promotional booklets from Lyles, Bissett, Carlisle & Wolff (LBC&W) Architects contain portraits of Charles Batson taken by Sydney M. Schonbrunn, photographer. News releases, newspaper clippings, correspondence, photographs and radio scripts document his military service during World War II.
Series 2 documents Batson’s professional life starting before WWII when he was a staff announcer for WFBC, then Greenville’s only radio station. There is also information from Batson’s time as Director of Information and Director of Television for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) as well as when he became Director of Television for The Broadcasting Company of the South (later Cosmos Broadcasting Corporation). Information on Batson’s time as General Manager for WIS-TV and as President of Cosmos Broadcasting Corporation, including the Cosmos-Politian newsletter from March 1969 to December 1975. Batson’s 1972 trip to Japan for the U.S. Broadcasting Executives Japan Tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department is documented. It was the first phase of an interchange program with Japanese broadcasters.
Series 3, Public Service documents the many boards and organizations he was active in from 1968-1985. Series 4 includes photographs from the 1930s to the 1990s, including a signed photograph of a President Nixon Briefing at the White House, August 16, 1972 of which Batson took part.
The printed material in Series 5 includes Liberty Corporation Annual Reports, 1970-2004 and several publications Batson was involved in as editor. Series 6 consists of tape, video, cassettes and LPs that include interviews of Batson. Artifacts in Series 7 are varied; examples include Batson’s Army insignia for rank of major, cuff links, tie tacks, Paul Harris Fellow Medal, mugs, paperweights and a gold watch from WIS-TV. Series 8 includes an Award of Appreciation, Microphone trophy from the USC College of Journalism, February 14, 1973; induction into the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, Hall of fame, 1981; and the Abe Lincoln Award from the Radio and Television Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, presented February 12, 1971.
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