The station then donated its original set of recording discs to the National Archives,[1] giving it a rare and complete artifact from an era frequently called the Golden Age of Radio.

[3] Before this project took place members of the National Archives such as John Bradley, the chief of the Division of Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings, and R. D. W. Connor, the Archivist of the United States, discussed the matter with the staff at WJSV, including Ann Gillis, WJSV Publicity Director, and Harry C. Butcher, Vice-President in Charge of the CBS Washington Office.

In addition, NBC's nighttime series Information Please had just begun recording its shows onto instantaneous discs so that the program could be re-aired later that night on the West Coast.

It would also require having somebody available every fifteen minutes to set up and execute each transcription, and to perform this task a somewhat daunting seventy-six consecutive times over a nineteen-hour period.

This day began as usual with 2+1⁄2 hours of local programming which featured a mixture of news, talk, commercials and recorded music, much of which was presided over by Arthur Godfrey who, in 1945, became a famous national network radio (and then later television) personality.

The adjustments required on this day ranged from dealing with technical difficulties to managing the schedule changes which were both occurring locally and coming down from the network.

In light of the events, President Roosevelt was calling for the repeal of the current arms embargo provisions of the country's Neutrality Acts.

The importance of this event was appreciated at the time, and WJSV newscaster Hugh Conover cited it during his 1:00 p.m. Sunshine Reporter newscast as the reason that this particular broadcast day was selected for recording: A recording, covering a full day of broadcasting at station WJSV, is going to be placed in the files of the National Archives.

This is station WJSV, owned and operated by the Columbia Broadcasting System, with studios in the Earle Building at 13th and E Streets, NW, in the City of Washington.

Our transmitting facilities are on the Mount Vernon Memorial Boulevard in historic Alexandria, Virginia, on property leased from the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railway company.