Broadcast Pioneers

John Chancellor (1927-1996) was an American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC, serving as anchor of the NBC Nightly News from 1970 to 1982. He was noted for his comforting voice and on-air professionalism.

The Chicago-born Chancellor dropped out of high school and soon enlisted in the Army, serving in a public relations unit during World War II. He started his career in local television as a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times.  He replaced Dave Garroway as host of NBC's Today program for just over a year but was not happy with the "soft news" of the program. Chancellor later became a correspondent on NBC's, Huntley-Brinkley Report. He garnered a role as a political correspondent for NBC News along with Frank McGee, Edwin Newman, and Sander Vanocur. From 1971 to 1976, Chancellor became the sole NBC weeknight anchor. Although he was a respected and well-spoken journalist, Chancellor's broadcast ratings were overtaken by CBS's Walter Cronkite in the 1970s. Although no longer the anchor by 1982, Chancellor remained on NBC Nightly News, providing editorial commentaries until his retirement in 1993.

Note: Chancellor has the distinction of creating the idea of using red and blue colors to represent the states won by a Republican or Democrat during presidential elections. He also suggested to his NBC engineers that they create a large electronic map of the United States with its ability to light up the appropriate state won by either candidate.