Edmund A. Chester

Edmund Albert Chester Sr. (June 22, 1897 – October 14, 1973) was an American television executive and journalist. He served as a vice president and executive at the CBS radio and television networks during the 1940s. As Director of Latin American Relations he collaborated with the Department of State to develop CBS's La Cadena de las Americas radio network in support of Pan-Americanism during World War II. He also served as a highly respected journalist and Bureau Chief for Latin America at Associated Press and Vice President at La Prensa Asociada in the 1930s. He was awarded the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes National Order of Merit by the government of Cuba in recognition of his efforts to foster greater understanding between the peoples of Cuba and the United States of America.

Biography During the course of a journalistic career which ranged over two decades, he assumed a central role in the development of a viable international radio transmission network linking the United States of America with the developing nations of South America and Central America for the CBS network from 1940 through 1949. As Director of Short Wave Broadcasts for CBS he supervised the creation of this vast shortwave service which was widely known throughout South America as the Network of the Americas (La Cadena de las Americas).

Associated Press Prior to accepting William S. Paley's invitation to join the CBS network, Edmund Chester served as a journalist in Latin America for the Associated Press for twenty years. He first joined the Associated Press in 1930 in Louisville, Kentucky after leaving his position at the Louisville Courier-Journal. During this time he reported on several historic events including: the Lima Pan American Conference in 1938, the catastrophic earthquake in Chile during 1939 and the Havana Pan American Conference in 1940. Popular programs such as Viva America showcased professional musical talent of the highest caliber in live concert while preserving cultural authenticity

Chester presented prominent musicians from both North America and South America for extended appearances on these broadcasts. Included among these performing artists were Nestor Mesta Chaires (Mexican tenor aka "El Gitano De Mexico"); Eva Garza (Mexican songstress); Terig Tucci (Argentine composer/arranger); Elsa Miranda (Puerto Rican vocalist), the Los Panchos Trio, and members of the CBS Pan American Orchestra. By recruiting some of the best entertainment talent from throughout the hemisphere, Chester hoped to present an image of the American people as soulful romantics rather than mere "cogs in the national industrial machine", while also providing accurate and timely news programming.

In 1945, Chester also emerged as a Producer for the CBS broadcast of "Program of the Three Americas" which showcased the music of such noted American composers as: Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers on the La Cadena de Las Americas network. The broadcast illustrated Chester's collaboration with Alfredo Antonini (Conductor), Wendell Adams (Director) and Harry Kramer (Commentator).

In later years, Mr. Chester emerged as the director of news, special events and sports for the CBS Television Network (1948).

In 1949, Chester also collaborated with one of the original Murrow Boys Larry LeSueur, the media advisor Lyman Bryson and Benjamin V. Cohen (United Nations Assistant Secretary General) in yet another imaginative journalistic endeavor for CBS. In the course of supervising historic live television coverage of the proceedings of the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council from Lake Success, New York on the broadcast series "United Nations in Action" in November 1949, Mr. Chester demonstrated an enduring commitment to the lofty professional standards for excellence in broadcasting which served as the hallmark of the entire CBS network for decades to come. The series of broadcasts was honored with the George Foster Peabody Award for Television News in 1949.

Politics Following his retirement from CBS in 1952, Chester served as a consultant on economic and foreign affairs to his friend Fulgencio Batista in Cuba. Earlier in 1938, he reported on Batista's proclaimed vision for the preservation of democracy in Cuba. Subsequently, in 1954, Chester completed a more comprehensive biography which outlined Batista's rise from a sergeant in the army to the leadership of the Cuban government. Following Fidel Castro's successful rise to power in 1959, Batista's military dictatorship of 1952-1959 collapsed, and Edmund Chester joined the ranks of thousands of other American citizens and companies whose investments on the island were abruptly seized by Cuba's new Ministry of Ill-Gotten Goods.

Death Edmund Chester died at the age of 75 on October 14, 1973, in Mount Dora, Florida. He was survived by his wife Enna and their four children.