July 8, 1949 NBC Radio Network. Downs worked as a radio announcer and program director in 1939 at WLOK in Lima, Ohio, after his first year of college. In 1940, he moved on to WWJ in Detroit. Downs served in the United States Army during World War II in 1943 and then joined the NBC radio network at WMAQ as an announcer in Chicago, where he lived until 1954. Origination of the early Dave Garroway Show. While at WMAQ, Downs also acted, including as the "co-pilot", along with famed Chicago children's program personality Ned Locke, on the Uncle Ned's Squadron program in 1951  https://garrowayatlarge.com/index.php/2021/03/10/remembering-hugh-downs/