#18

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The National Association of educational broadcasters presents America's African
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heritage recorded in Africa by Skip West 12. Program
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18.
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Digging for diamonds in back Wango here is good Westfall
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our broadcast today is one I've been looking forward to for many weeks. The back one
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good industrial diamond mines in the Belgian Congo. Our host for this
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interesting tour of the mining area is Vernon van Winesburg a Belgian
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geologist now employed in the research department of the mining company at Bank
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One.
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Mr. Van whines very Suppose we begin with a brief discussion of some of the ways
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in which industrial diamonds are used.
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Well all right. The diamond two are used
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to make motors for use and their limbs for
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instance. I'm immune systems and many of the farms and
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precision dance on them.
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When would we be correct in saying that every automobile which runs on the highways of
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America and every airplane which files the skies has something of
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Africa in it.
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Oh yes definitely.
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Well aren't diamonds also involved in obtaining the gasoline and the oil to
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run the automobiles and the airplanes.
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Yes drilling tools for boring oil wells are made
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of diamonds and diamond too is a very important too
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for getting gasoline used to rules and plays What are some of the other
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uses of industrial diamonds. While tiny wires
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of filaments inside two light bills for instance drone
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through Diamond dies. Same is true of radio and
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television too.
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And also needles for High Fidelity recording are made of moment
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when the diamond plays an important part in our entertainment as well as in
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helping to provide some of the sensual means of everyday life.
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Yes that's true.
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I remember Mr. Van Weinberger just a few days before leaving home on this trip to
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Africa. My dentist showed me one of his diamond drill.
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Yes dentists use them but also so do doctors and surgeons
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using for instance diamond soles and additions
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use them to grow and losses in that amazing to
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realize how almost every phase of our daily lives is affected by
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diamonds from Africa.
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And by the way what percentage of the world's supply of industrial diamonds come
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from Africa.
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Well 60 per cent of the world's supply comes from
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right here at the back where in the mines 60 percent yes that's true. And they're
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going to grow over 95 percent of the world the world will do well
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this continent then supplies practically all of the world's industrial damage.
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Yes I think we tell the Africa there will be practically no in this room dynamics.
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Well one further question Mr. Van Rensburg prior to my departure from the state
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there was considerable publicity in the newspapers concerning an artificial
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stone which has recently been developed.
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How will this discovery affect diamond mining here at Bank One that
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well Mr. Murdstone.
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I don't think it will affect it in the present. The cost of
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manufacturing is still great to probably be
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a long time before Brazil will take the place of industry in the moment.
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In those three minutes Mr. Mann Winesburg gave us a very comprehensive picture of the
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importance of Africa's diamonds in the life of every American. We could
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spend the entire 15 minutes discussing Still other uses of industrial
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diamonds and then not even have begun to cover the subject. However our chief
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purpose in coming here to back when they used to visit the Mayans and to tell something of the
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story about how these precious stones are mine and only necessary for
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us to do a bit of hopping about from one area to another. And we hope you'll be
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able to follow it.
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Am I in Iowa or
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I'm you're not
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landing on the rim of a huge crater located about five miles from back one of
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the miners a half mile long and over 100 feet deep.
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The operation here at back more of it consists of surface mining or mining and this is the
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largest of nine big holes are across this huge gaping hole to the
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opposite side we can see it where the crane has been removed to a depth of about 60 feet
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in some areas that they found within a foot or so here it was necessary to
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dig down through the roof.
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Bird hops on hold for 60 feet into the reddish brown
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bluegill gravel which contains the names below that we see a large area of
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deep green is all kimberlite and is also rich in time.
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And all of the nine miners there are 15 bulldozers at work 15 units Greg Lyons.
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Well Caterpillar graders and 65 20 ton trucks hauling rocks.
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Almost all of this equipment is manufactured in America. Most of this machinery such as the
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Crips is worn out 15000 hours or more a. Year.
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So it must be constantly replace.
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Many thousands of factory workers an American have a part in helping to
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manufacture this machinery.
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At another pit about a mile from here is a monster of a machine the largest I've ever
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seen. It's a bucket excavator 90 feet high operated on a huge
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caterpillar treads. It elevates the Lluvia gravel from the bottom of a pit 30 feet
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deep and deposits it on a belt almost two miles long which whisks the dirt
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away to the sorting room. That machine was manufactured in Germany and
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cost eight hundred thousand dollars. Now let's get into the next main
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step in Diamond production from these nine pits huge trucks hauling gravel to the
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first separation center where it is worst and run through several disintegrators
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incentives. Then it is trucked to the picking or sorting room. We had previously
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visited the picking room so won't make a recording at that point and fact it we're not
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allowed to. When we started for the picking room I guy had informed me that pictures could not
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be taken under any circumstances but that I would be permitted to make a tape recording. When
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we arrived there however we were told that the tape recorder must be left outside.
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Well to go into a detailed description of all of the steps which are taken in the sorting room would
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require much more time than we have at our disposal. Briefly this is what
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happens. First the gravel is run over vibrating saves to remove some of the fine
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particles which have no value. Then it is worst in revolving tanks. The
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heavy stone such as a diamond sink to the bottom of the lighter gravel remains on top.
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This is called the sink and float process. Following that the gravel is run through a large
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electric dryers then over a cylindrical electro magnet which removes the
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particles containing iron. Such is you know midnight and magnetite the
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diamonds are not magnetic and passed on through to the grease tables. These
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so-called grease tables are vibrating tables covered with a special kind of grease
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from South America the diamonds stick to the grease while other minerals pass over
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it. Some of the diamonds however are encased in a kind of sandstone like a knot within the
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shell. They do not cling to the grease so these stones must be run through
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crushers or milling machinery to remove the shell. Once while walking
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through the plant a piece of dirt dropped down my neck. I suppose at night
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after taking my bath I should have made sure that diamond didn't warse down the
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drain. Well the final process is the picking room where 15
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skilled African workers hand pick the gravel which contains diamonds that
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somehow have slipped through the previous operation to prevent any smuggling. Each man is
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employed in approximately three month periods but no one knows the
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exact day when he will be removed from the line before he means the picking room he's
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required to take a shower under careful supervision and is then returned to the tribe from
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which he has come. It's rather interesting to observe the colors of the
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diamonds here in the sorting room there where almost every color blue green bright
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yellow at the back when the mines there are few Jim diamonds all but 1
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percent are industrial dives after the diamonds have all been started. They're
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packed in small boxes about the size of a three pound box of candy and wrapped in blue
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paper shipments of the diamonds in the small blue boxes are made only
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twice a month and with the greatest secrecy. Only one person in the entire company
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knows the exact time when the stone will be shipped. The
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final chapter in this diamond story will probably be the most interesting involves a
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visit to the prospecting area where men are engaged in the fascinating job of
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hunting for nine years. We will be speaking to you next from a Miners Camp in the
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prospecting area about 50 miles from back when that.
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Us.
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To. Thank.
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Us. Now one of the
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county where I am with all sides built and fixed beside a small stream.
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You no doubt can hear the voices of the men. They sift the gravel in the river for.
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Us.
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Thank. You.
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We have to travel over some very rough in the way roads to reach this place. Finally we came to the end
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of the road. Then we had to proceed on foot following a winding path through the brush and over
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several small screen to get to what is called the washing place.
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The sun is terrific Lehi as I stand under the shade of this tent. The weather's
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prickling down my face. But the heat doesn't seem to bother you. Come to Leeds prospectors
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on the roof. As they toil cheerfully at their job every now and then you
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hear some of them singing a bit of a few. And when they start shaking the big fish they
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do a chance to help keep the gang working in unison. In a minute we'll be able
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to pick up the sound of their chant.
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This is certainly one of the most interesting experience of the my entire trip through the Congo.
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As I look about and watch these men sweating and toiling designed the strain I almost
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feel as if I had been transported back to the days of the Klondike Gold Rush
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in Alaska. You have a feeling that here you are right down to the real
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beginning of dynamite. Here there are no groaning grey lions
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and roaring bulldozers just the toiling men with their picks and
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shovels and sifting life.
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Thank you. Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Out in the stream standing up to their knees in the water a group of men are shoveling out the sand
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on the bank of the stream is a series of six shifting boxes each attached to the
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end of a long plank. This apparatus has something of the appearance of a teeter
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totter at the opposite end of the plank stands a man ready to start jiggling
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it when the gravel is poured into the sifting box. Now the men have dumped the gravel into
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the boxes. Each man has a flat piece of tin about the size of the dinner
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plate which he strikes on the crossbar to help keep the rhythm of the chant.
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Now one of the men at the far end of the plank gives the signal to begin the
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operation.
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Yeah wonderful.
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Let's get right into it will make you feel like dancing right out of.
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It.
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This has been Program 18 of America's African heritage. These
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programs which are recordings made by world travelers get west wall on a recent trip to Africa.
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The series is made possible by a grand in aid to radio station WOIO Iowa State
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College from the educational television and radio centered production is under the direction of
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Norman be great. This is Ray he's speaking for the National Association of educational
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broadcasters.