1953, David and Lee were still using Beznor in their public business work, until they switched too for consistency. An interest in radio The family's interest in radio began with Gerald Bartell's time at the University of Wisconsin during the 1930s, when he was on the student staff of university-owned station WHA. As one university history states, Gerald was "a talented student with natural ability for acting and producing." After graduating in 1937 with a B.A. in economics, he remained a staff member there as he entered graduate school, gaining a master's degree in 1939. During his time in school he also sometimes worked in Chicago as an actor in network radio soap operas. He also barked like a canine in a commercial for Red Heart dog food. Gerald subsequently became part of the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, being named an assistant professor of radio education in the Department of Speech in 1940. While on the faculty he took advantage of a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship and worked at NBC in New York in sales, merchandising, and production tasks. Melvin also was on the student staff at WHA and was a popular figure on the air through his graduation in 1938. An aspiring opera singer, he then went to the University of Rochester to attend its Eastman School of Music, from where he gained a degree in 1941. While in Rochester he worked at radio station WHAM. Rosa too was a student at the University of Wisconsin and on the staff at WHA, where she was a singer, songwriter, program produceer, and music librarian. There she met Ralph Evans, an electrical engineering student who worked at the station as a broadcast engineer, and they subsequently married a couple of years later. Family in World War II Captain Melvin Bartell served in the United States Army in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II as part of the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS). This operation was running the Far East Network through the Pacific, which provided important morale support to the armed forces engaged in the U.S. island-hopping campaign. Bartell was attached to the headquarters command of General Douglas MacArthur. Following the formal Japanese surrender that concluded the war, Bartell was part of the occupation of Japan. Bartell was put in charge of the takeover of JOAK, Tokyo's 50,000-watt radio station that had featured the broadcasts of Tokyo Rose.