Steve Fruend
"sticking it" to Honorary Chief Dan Bernath
Sun Oct 21, 2007 4:32PM
24.20.228.217

 
Background: Dan used to read the news on the 1MC each day at noon. He had done some 'broadcasting' in high school before but he was generally only aweful to acceptable as the Yorktown's newscaster.
Dan would get the wire copy from AP as the boys in CIC would snatch it out of the air. He'd then compile it, rehearse it and then take the same 1MC microphone that announced General Quarters and "...this is the Captain speaking" read a 5 minute newscast.
Dan was a mere high school drop out when he entered the Navy at 17 and not very sophistocated. Indeed, he remembers hearing the song by Ray Stevens called, 'AHAB THE AAAAAA RAB, SHIEK OF THE BURNING SANDS..."
So when he came across the word, "arab" in the news copy, he naturally read it like this to the 3,000 plus audience (that couldn't get away, couldn't turn off their 1MC),
"Today, the President met at the White House with aaaaaa-rab leaders. The aaaaaaa-rabs told the President....etc., etc."
Bernath finished his newscast for the day and one of the navigators on the bridge answered the phone and grabbed Bernath after the newscast and said, "Its the Captain, he wants to talk to you."
 

GULP.

Dan: "Yes Captain, this is Bernath."
 

Captain: "Yeah, Dan, the word is pronounced AIR ub, not aaaaaa-rab. Can you fix that in the future."


Dan, "yes sir, I mean, yes skipper, opps, I mean yes Commanding Officer, I mean yes Captain, sir."


Captain: "click."

Now comes the story from PH2 Steve Freund on how he screwed future Hon. Chief Dan:

Remember old evil Steve setting you up on the news stories with the arabs? Every time I hear some
story about the damn arabs on tv I think of you calling them aaarabs (don't know how to type that with a long sounding a).
anyway, the Capt. called down after the first time telling you about how they were our allies or some shit and that you should learn to pronounce their name a little better.
Next night I did my best to pick every damn story we had that talked about arabs. Sure enough,
either by accident or purpose you called them aaarabs. You hadn't gotten back to the lab before the phone rang, 'tell Bernath to get to my cabin on the double'.

Didn't know if I should laugh or feel sorry for you."


Dan Bernath left the Navy in 1970 and got into radio news casting in Detroit and by 1978 was the Second biggest radio station in all the world, WHN in New York City. But his start was on the 1MC on the USS Yorktown on the bridge.





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