(When NAFB Hall of Famer Wey Simpson read John Winfield’s career story in the February 2018 issue, he was moved to write the following.) “I was intrigued by John Winfield’s note that he always wanted to be in radio. That's exactly what I wanted, too. In the mid-1930s when we were riding into Spokane from our Deer Park, WA, farm I announced to my parents that I wanted to be a radio announcer. That focus never wavered. I even got my first chance to do so while in high school. Our band, some other talent, and some of the student body went to Spokane to a radio studio, and I was asked to announce the numbers that were to be played. I remember being insulted when the band director told me how to pronounce the name of one of the composers. By then, it was World War II and after high school, the draft scooped me up, dumped me in Texas for basic training, gave me a few days at home en route to our departure point for the Pacific Theater. The last months of the war I spent on Luzon in the First Cavalry Division and was half way down the nets on the side of a troop ship preparing for the invasion of Japan when it was announced Japan would surrender. We quickly shipped out and were in Yokohama the day the surrender was signed on the Missouri. We were the first Division into Tokyo, where I spent another year as an occupier of our former enemy. I came home November of 1946 and enrolled in Washington State College the next February and I never looked back. In the fall of 1946, I was in my second semester as a freshman when I walked out of the building where most of the speech classes were held. I overheard a conversation between one of the college radio station announcers and another student. He said announcer auditions would be held at a certain time. My reaction was, ‘Well, why not.’ So, I signed up for an audition. I remember the professor doing the auditions asking me, ‘Where did you learn to read like that?’” There were, of course, no answers. It apparently came naturally. I think this was the first time that a freshman became part of the station’s announcing staff. I spent three full years doing that while getting my degree in three and a half years. I’d lost time in the service, and I was in a hurry to get into life. I had a job before I graduated and a long life in broadcasting was under way. Of course, at that point I never dreamed of being a farm broadcaster. But, after nearly 10 years learning and honing my news skills, I was offered the job, and that was it for the next 40-plus years. There were a few road bumps, but there was always something new waiting for me. All these years later, I have no regrets. It was a marvelous ride. I’m now less than 5 months from my 92nd milestone. While nothing is in stone, my health is good for my age, my mind seems to still function, so I’m looking for what joy I can find.”
