Graham McNamee

Who was Graham McNamee?

Graham McNamee was a pioneering broadcaster in American radio, the medium's most recognized national personality in its first international decade.

Graham McNamee's father John B. was an attorney and legal advisor to President Cleveland's cabinet, and his mother, Anne, was a homemaker, who also sang in a church choir. Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, McNamee had early aspirations of being an opera singer. He studied voice as a youth and sang in churches, and in 1922 gave a concert in Aeolian Hall, New York. In 1922, while serving jury duty in New York City, he strolled through the AT&T building. While going through the studios of radio station WEAF en route to the courthouse and, on a whim, went to see the station manager. Someone noticed his voice and asked him to speak through a microphone. He was given an audition and hired as a staff announcer on the spot.