"Under Mayor LaGuardia of New York City, the municipal broadcasting station WNYC placed its entire announcing staff under the Civil Service. Applicants were required to take an extensive written test and a practical test before the microphone.  In 1938 over a thousand candidates applied for the position and they sat down to a six hour written quiz from which a few of the questions follow:
 
The best way to evaluate a radio program is to count the number of listeners.  Is this a valid statement? Why or why not?

Every radio program should be an entity which is complete in and of itself. Do you agree?

Silence is the best of all sound effects. Is this a valid statement? Why or why not?

List the methods of scoring used and the parts or intervals into which each of the following is divided: Football; hockey; basketball.

Write a fifty-word announcement in introduction to the radio presentation of a typical Army-Navy football game.

Can any radio program be entirely devoid of propaganda?

State the nature of three amendments to the New York State Constitution which were approved in the recent election.

Name three functions of the Federal Communications Commission.

Write a fifty-word announcement on the purpose of the Lima Conference in introduction to the radio presentation of a talk on Pan-American relations.

Write a fifty-word announcement on the extent to which New York has developed a public housing program in introduction to a talk on housing in New York City.

Write a fifty-word announcement on the provisions of the new Wages and Hours Bill in introduction to a talk on industrial legislation.

Explain briefly the following musical terms: Oratorio, concerto, fugue, symphony, sonata, tone poem.

Write a fifty-word announcement on Liszt suitable in introduction to the radio presentation of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

"The second part of the examination tested the candidates' knowledge of English. The candidate was asked to define a list of words such as: Diapason, bucolic, spoliate, succinct, etymology, etc."
 
Source: The Rape of Radio by Robert West, Rodin Publishing Co., 1941, pgs. 38-39.

See also: Do You Have What It Takes to Be a WNYC Announcer in 1938 or 1948?