G. Emerson Cole

Emerson Cole moved his family from Connecticut to Pinehurst, North Carolina and on February 24, 1980 began his epic series of broadcasts, "The Big Bands Are Back" on radio stations WIOZ and WIOZ-FM which he continued to produce and broadcast on a weekly basis until his death in 2012; a record for longevity which is without equal in known radio broadcast history.

After Communication School at Harvard, Cole was sent to Melville, Rhode Island to train for PT boat duty. He sailed from San Francisco to the Philippines in 1944 to join the Pacific Task Force.

Cole was graduated from Cornell in 1941 with BAs In Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration. He joined the United States Navy on December 8, 1941.

Emerson Cole joined the Navy the day after the Pearl Harbor invasion on December 8, 1941 and was sent to General Electric to work with their radar development programs until he was called up for active duty in 1944.

Cole produced a four-hour radio documentary about the December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor invasion which has been required listening for some Moore County, NC school children.

After graduation from high school with honors in Peoria, Illinois in 1936 Cole entered Cornell University where he began his career in broadcasting by building and operating a wired college network station which has become the Cornell FM radio station. He was involved in the creation of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System to help other universities build similar stations.

George Emerson Cole (January 5, 1919 - March 31, 2012) was an American radio, television, and special events producer/announcer pioneer whose weekly radio program "The Big Bands Are Back" ran for over 32 consecutive years in Pinehurst, North Carolina. It is said to be the longest-running big band radio program in history.