In 1947, Stewart had been a part of the “I Speak for Democracy” contest disc. By 1949, the name of the contest had been changed to “Voice of Democracy.” Jimmy’s 1947 speech was edited and used again on this new recording (D9-QM-10597).
The article below appeared in the September 12, 1949, edition of Broadcasting magazine. It not only mentions Stewart’s involvement on the recording, but also the fact that he would serve as a judge of the high school student’s entries. Entries were written and delivered by students and were limited to five minutes in length.
This article from the January 19, 1948 edition of Broadcasting also mentions that Stewart was a judge.
Although the record was produced mainly to play in the school classroom, some radio stations did broadcast all, or some of the segments. Below is an article from the November 1, 1949, issue of the Portsmouth News, Portsmouth, OH. It mentions that the Stewart segment had been broadcast on Monday at 1:55 p.m. The date would have been October 31, 1949.
Taken directly from the original 16-inch transcription disc, here is what Mr. Stewart had to say to students:
Of special interest is the fact that a winning speech from the 1948 contest was included on the b-side of the recording. That winner was Charles Kuralt who would later become a popular CBS TV newsman and host of the Peabody Award winning On the Road. We’ve also included his speech.
We are adding another article from Broadcasting magazine, this one published in the October 24, 1949, edition:
The final paragraph mentions that five transcribed messages, including Mr. Stewart’s, were set to be broadcast between October 30th and November 5th.
