Milton John Cross was a pioneer radio announcer who became famous as the voice of the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and as a popular authority on serious music. Cross enjoyed a distinguished announcing career that lasted for five decades on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and on the American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), where his most prominent role was hosting the weekly nationwide broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera. A one-time ballad singer on early wireless radio, Cross began his announcing career during broadcasting's pioneer days at WJZ in Newark, New Jersey. His tenure as a network announcer became one of the longest among all radio personalities. With his rare combination of announcing ability and knowledge of serious music, Cross occupies a unique place in radio history.

     Born in New York City, Milton Cross grew up in the rough Hell's Kitchen section and dreamed of a career in music. After high school, he enrolled at the Institute of Musical Art (now part of the Juilliard School of Music) to study under the direction of Dr. Frank Damrosch. At the institute, he earned a certificate to serve as a music supervisor for public schools. Although he frequently sang as a tenor for several excellent church choirs in New York, he never applied for a school position. Instead, he became interested in radio shortly after the new medium began.

     In 1921 Cross became aware of the new Westinghouse station, WJZ, in Newark and sought a position with the station as a singer. On 15 September of that year, while still attending the institute, he was given a chance to sing without pay on the station. The management liked his voice and quickly offered Cross its second announcing position, largely because of his excellent diction and his familiarity with foreign names and musical terms, and because he could fill in with a song whenever the need arose. Although he felt his future was in the music field, Cross accepted the position. His on-air duties included introducing speakers and performers, singing songs to fill time whenever speakers and other performers failed to show, delivering commercials for household supplies, reciting the Sunday funnies, reading children's stories, and other assorted announcing duties. He supplemented his small income from WJZ by singing in a Presbyterian church (his own faith), in Jewish synagogues, and in Catholic churches. Soon he was earning about $40 a week for his singing and announcing.

     Cross joined the NBC announcing staff when the network was formed in 1926. Station WJZ became the flagship for NBC's Blue network in New York, and many of NBC's programs originated at WJZ, where Cross had begun his professional career. As a staff announcer, Cross was called upon to announce many different programs for the NBC network. However, his most notable career achievement came with his assignment to serve as announcer and host commentator for the radio broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera.

     In 1931 NBC decided to broadcast the Saturday afternoon performances of the Metropolitan Opera on a regular basis, and the network selected Milton Cross to serve as announcer­ commentator. On Christmas Day 1931, Cross inaugurated NBC's Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts with a performance of the opera Hansel and Gretel. From that initial network broadcast until his death in 1975, Cross missed only two Saturday afternoon Met broadcasts, and those were because of his wife's death. In his 43 years behind the microphone, Cross provided commentary on every opera in the Met's extensive repertoire. He often attended rehearsals and was noted for careful preparation of his opera commentaries, as well as his exquisite descriptions of the color, costumes, and scenery on the opera stage. In January 1975, at age 77, Cross was working on his material for an upcoming opera broadcast when he suffered a fatal heart attack, ending his remarkable 43-year career as the voice of the Metropolitan Opera. Cross has been credited with doing more than any other individual ro make the Met a national institution. An estimated 12-15 million listeners tuned in from coast to coast each Saturday afternoon to hear the Metropolitan Opera's performances as explained by Milton Cross. To millions of opera fans, the resonant and cultured bass-viol voice of Milton Cross was said to have been more widely known than that of any other American, with the possible exceptions of President Franklin Roosevelt and Charlie McCarthy.

     Through the opera broadcasts, Cross was instrumental in introducing opera to millions of Americans and in educating them about the operatic form of music. During the intermissions, he developed such popular features as "Opera Quiz," presented members of the cast, and tried to explain often-convoluted opera plots. In addition, Cross contributed to the pub­ lic's knowledge of opera through well-known books such as Complete Stories of the Great Operas and Favorite Arias from the Great Operas.

     Cross received numerous honors for his excellence as a radio announcer. He was acclaimed for his pure diction, his mellifluous voice quality, and his fine delivery. In 1929 the American Academy of Arts and Letters conferred upon Cross a gold medal with the highest honors possible for a radio announcer. His distinctive voice brought instant recognition wherever he appeared, and his great ability to pronounce the foreign words so commonly associated with opera was frequently praised. This ability resulted from four years of studying German in high school and years of study of Italian at the Institute of Musical Art. He also studied French with tutors at NBC and diction at Columbia University. At the time of his death at age 77, Cross left a legacy of having introduced millions of Ameri­cans to live opera through the radio medium.