Herbert H. Maxwell(1925-1977)
- Sound Department
Herbert "Bert" Maxwell was one of the pioneer sound men with NBC
Television. He He enlisted in the Navy during WWII and served on a
special Radar Project which blocked German aircraft. After the war Bert
went to work as an audio engineer for RCA Radio, in New York City,
which owned WNBC-TV at that time. He worked for both WNBC Radio and
NBC-TV at the same time, as most people did back then. Most of the
television programs were broadcast live back then. Bert did the sound
for the original Tonight Show with Steve Allen and then Johnny Carson.
He worked on the original Today Show and then with NBC Evening News. He
worked on special programs such as the Howdy Doody Show, made for TV
movies such as The Littlest Angel and did the audio sound track for
Victory at Sea. He did the pooled sound for television broadcasts for
the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo moon missions at Cape Canaveral. He was
the audio man on the ground for NBC News & Sports. He had a heart
attack while doing the sound for the inauguration of President Jimmy
Carter. He finished the broadcast then went to the hospital and died.