Broadcast Pioneers

Marvin Kalb (1930-) is an American journalist who spent thirty years as an award-winning reporter for CBS News and NBC News. Kalb was the last newsman recruited by Edward R. Murrow to join CBS News, becoming part of the new generation of the "Murrow Boys." At NBC, he served as chief diplomatic correspondent and host of Meet the Press for two years in the mid-eighties. During Kalb's tenure at both networks, his brother Bernard Kalb worked alongside him. Kalb has authored or co-authored several nonfiction books, a few published by the Brookings Institution Press. His latest book, published in 2021, is "Assignment Russia." Kalb is the Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and is currently a nonresident senior fellow with the Foreign Policy program at Brookings.

Broadcast Pioneers

Roger Mudd (1928-2021) was an American broadcast journalist who was a correspondent and anchor for CBS News and NBC News. He was the recipient of the Peabody Award for his interview with Sen. Ted Kennedy, the Joan Shorenstein Award for Distinguished Washington Reporting, and five Emmy Awards. His smooth, comforting delivery added credence to his long-standing career of accurate and unbiased reporting. 

"Journalists, who are skeptical to begin with, simply do not like to be lied to or made fools of." ~Mudd

The Washington, D.C. native graduated from Wilson High School in 1945, later earning a Bachelor of Arts in History from Washington and Lee University. Mudd began his journalism career in Richmond, Virginia, as a reporter for The Richmond News Leader and for radio station WRNL. In the late 1950s, Mudd moved back to Washington, D.C., to become a reporter with WTOP News, the news division of the radio and television stations owned by Washington Post-Newsweek. Mudd quickly came to the attention of CBS News and joined the Washington bureau in 1961. For most of his career at CBS, Mudd was a Congressional correspondent. He also was the anchor of the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News and frequently substituted on the weekday and weeknight broadcasts when regular anchormen Douglas Edwards and Walter Cronkite were absent.

"The relationship between press and politician - protected by the Constitution and designed to be happily adversarial - becomes sour, raw and confrontational." ~Mudd

After losing the CBS sole anchor position to Dan Rather, Mudd went to NBC in 1980. He was co-anchor for the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw until Brokaw became the sole anchor. Beginning in 1987 Mudd was an essayist and political correspondent with the MacNeil–Lehrer Newshour and a primary anchor for over ten years with The History Channel. Though Mudd retired from full-time broadcasting in 2004, he remained involved with documentaries for The History Channel.

Broadcast Pioneers

Harry Reasoner (1923-1991) was an American journalist for CBS and ABC News. Known for his artful use of wording as a television commentator, he won three Emmy Awards and a 1967 George Foster Peabody Award.

The Iowa-born Reasoner developed an interest in journalism while attending High School in Minneapolis. He also started developing a dry wit that got him into a bit of trouble for an original class reading. He studied journalism at Stanford University before serving in the Army during World War II. Reasoner resumed his journalism career with The Minneapolis Times and wrote a novel, Tell Me About Women, written partly during his war service, and was first published in 1946. In two years he was working in radio for CBS. In ten years Reasoner was working for CBS News in New York. 

Reasoner teamed up with Mike Wallace to launch 60 Minutes in 1968. Reasoner was hired away from CBS by ABC as an anchor on the network's evening newscast alongside Howard K. Smith until 1975. He eventually took the sole anchor position while Smith moved into a commentary role. It was back to cohost status with the hire of Barbara Walters away from NBC. Her celebrity status did not sit well with the die-hard journalist. Perhaps by request, he was hired back at CBS in 1978 and returned to 60 Minutes in what would turn out to be his most memorable role. Reasoner retired in 1991.

Broadcast Pioneers

Howard K. Smith (1914-2002) was an American journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman, and political commentator. He was one of the legends of early television news broadcasting. His initial "K" stood for Kingsbury.

Smith's career blossomed by 1940, when he was sent to Berlin, joining the CBS network under Edward R. Murrow, making him one of the original members of the team of war correspondents known as one of Murrow Boys. Smith returned to Berlin to recap the German surrender in May of 1945.  went to London for CBS with the title of chief European correspondent. CBS sent him to London in 1947, to make a broadcasting tour of most of the nations of Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain.

Smith was embroiled in a contract dispute with CBS in 1962 for editorializing during a broadcast. He was subsequently fired. With his move to the ABC network, Smith reported on the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, moderated political debates, and assessed President Lyndon Johnson's presidency. Smith became the first national television commentator to call for Nixon's resignation over Watergate. Smith remained a co-anchor at ABC until 1975.

Smith was honored five times with various awards, spanning 1955 to 1963. He made a number of appearances in motion pictures and television as himself over nearly a twenty-year period starting in 1964.

Broadcast Pioneers

Douglas Edwards (1917-1990) was an American radio and television newscaster and correspondent and is regarded as the first "anchorman" of a nationally televised, regularly scheduled newscast by an American network. His four-decade career was contracted to the CBS network.

Born in Oklahoma, he and his widowed mother moved to Alabama in 1932. There the teenage Edwards was paid $2.50 a week to be a "junior announcer", a disc jockey, and to fill any lapses during broadcasts by reading poetry and even singing (after a fashion) occasionally. After college, he remained intent on working in radio, and between 1935 and 1940, he found employment at a small station at WSB in Atlanta and at WXYZ in Detroit where he served as a newscaster and announcer. His big break was an offer from CBS Radio in 1942 to move to New York as an assistant announcer and understudy to journalist John Charles Daly.

In the fledgling days of television of 1947, Edwards was chosen by CBS to host the 1948 Democratic and Republican national conventions. Edwards presented news on CBS television every weeknight for fifteen years, from 1947 until 1962. Initially aired as a 15-minute program under the title CBS Television News, the broadcast evolved into the CBS Evening News and expanded to a 30-minute format in 1963 under Walter Cronkite, who succeeded Edwards as anchor of the newscast. Edwards retired from CBS in 1988.

Television Talkers

Edward Roscoe Murrow (1908-1965) was an American pioneer of radio and television as a broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He joined CBS as director of talks and education in 1935 and remained with the network his entire career. In 1937, Murrow hired journalist William L. Shirer and assigned him to a similar European post on the continent. This marked the beginning of the "Murrow Boys" team of war reporters. 

Murrow flew twenty-five Allied combat missions in Europe during the war providing additional reports from the planes as they droned on over Europe. Murrow's skill at improvising vivid descriptions of what was going on around or below him, derived in part from his college training in speech, aided the effectiveness of his radio broadcasts. In 1945, Murrow and Bill Shadel were the first reporters at the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. He met emaciated survivors and the "bodies stacked up like cordwood" in the crematorium. In his report three days later, Murrow (extract) said: I pray you to believe what I have said about Buchenwald. I have reported what I saw and heard, but only part of it. For most of it, I have no words... If I've offended you by this rather mild account of Buchenwald, I'm not in the least sorry.

Many boomers will recall Murrow's second weekly television show, a series of live interviews entitled Person to Person. From 1953 until 1959, Murrow talked amiably, casually, and with no agenda, with celebrities and movers and shakers in their homes from a comfortable chair in his New York studio (with several packs of cigarettes handy, no doubt). The live playback transmission was literally wall-size. A revival of the series in 2012's two-episode broadcast was not successful. Few found the twenty-first-century guests that interesting in a land dominated by social media. Another was proposed in 2022.

Note: the image above is an interview with Senator Kennedy and his wife, Jackie.

Twentieth Century Talkers

 

John Charles Daly (John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly, 1914-1991) was an American journalist, radio and television personality, ABC News executive, TV anchor, and game show host. 

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, by eleven his home was in Boston, Massachusetts where he attended Tilton School, eventually graduating from Boston College. He became a reporter for NBC Radio and, later, CBS and was the first national correspondent to report the attack on Pearl Harbor and the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

With television on the brink, by 1950 he became the host and moderator on the CBS panel show produced by Goodson–Todman, What's My Line? The show lasted 17 years, with Daly hosting all but four episodes of the weekly series. During this time, Daly became the vice president in charge of news, special events, public affairs, religious programs and sports for ABC and won three Peabody Awards. There was no conflict with What's My Line? because he was employed by Goodson-Todman Productions, not CBS. Daly's closing line on the ABC newscasts was "Good night and a good tomorrow." In 1959, along with the Associated Press writer John Scali, Daly, above far left, reported from Moscow on the infamous "Kitchen Debate" between First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev and Vice President Richard M. Nixon.

He filled in occasionally on NBC's The Today Show, making Daly one of the few people to work simultaneously on all three networks. One memorable broadcast during the show was when Harpo Marx was promoting his book Harpo Speaks. Marx caused such on-camera chaos for Daly, he became completely convulsed in laughter during the live telecast. 

Note: He provided the voice of a CONELRAD for a 1954 broadcast of The Motorola Television Hour on ABC titled Atomic Attack, which showcased a suburban family dealing with the aftermath of a hypothetical H-bomb attack fifty miles away. It was later reflected in the 1962 film, Panic In The Year Zero. CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was a method of emergency broadcasting to the US public in the event of an enemy attack during the Cold War.

Be Careful Spending Your Million

 

On this date in 1955, The Millionaire anthology series premiered on CBS. Produced by Don Fedderson and Fred Henry, it explored the ways that sudden and unexpected wealth changed life, for better or worse. The episodes were more often dramatic than comedic. The premise is lifted from past Hollywood movies, 1932's If I Had A Million perhaps the earliest. The series opened up endless story variations. For viewers, it was a Hollywood who's who of guest stars wanting to be on the popular five-season hit. 

The stories revolved around those given one million dollars from a benefactor who insists he remains anonymous. The benefactor was John Beresford Tipton (voiced by character actor and voice artist, Paul Frees) who was never seen with the exception of his outstretched arm to give the cashier's check to Michael Anthony, his executive secretary. Tipton died a few years prior so the stories were told in flashback, as if from Anthony's case files. There might be stipulations on how the money should be spent. It was Anthony's job to deliver that check to its intended recipient. The character is rarely seen after this. Michael Anthony was played by veteran character actor and radio and television announcer, Marvin Miller (above). 

Series profile here

It's Durward Not Durwood

 

Durward Kirby (Homer Durward Kirby, 1911-2000) was an American television host and announcer. Born in Covington, Kentucky, his family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana when he was 15. He graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis before entering Purdue University to study engineering. The lure of being a radio announcer won out. 

Though Kirby appeared as a host, announcer, or guest on other television programs, most notably as co-host on Allen Funt's show, Candid Camera, his tenure as a regular on television's The Garry Moore Show brought him national attention as did another regular, Carol Burnett. The versatile performer acted in sketches, sang, and danced, transitioning with ease from slapstick to suave product pitchman. He and Moore joined forces for humorous skits, spoofing a historical event, or portraying any number of comical characters. The 6' 4" Kirby's mellow personality served him well, often becoming a foil in skits. Kirby authored three books: My Life, Those Wonderful Years; Bits and Pieces of This and That; and a children's book, Dooley Wilson.

A Noted Television Theme

 

As more commercials intrude into a network's time slot, not only has the episodes been trimmed, so has theme song length on various series. Gone are the one minute themes from the Sixties to the Eighties to introduce a show. One of the best short themes of the Twenty-First Century is for the long-running CBS hit series, NCIS. Electronic musicians, Matt Hawkins, Maurice Jackson and Neil Martin joined forces under the name, Numeriklab, to create the theme in 2002, though the arrangement has evolved slightly since then. A slick synthesized work with a melody that comes off as if played by classical mainstream instruments. Scroll down the linked page for the cool NCIS theme.

Note: Speaking of CBS, the original Magnum, P.I. series theme was another hit for Mike Post. The theme has been effectively edited for the new CBS revival series. A theme better shortened for an opening, yet it still captures all the memorable elements of the original.

Besting Professor Quiz

 

On this date in 1936, broadcasting's first ever quiz show, radio's "Professor Quiz." Hosted by Arthur E. Baird, as Dr. Craig Earl, with future CBS broadcast journalist, Robert Trout, as the announcer. Limited to Washington D.C. area at first, it was broadcast weekly on CBS Radio from 1936-1941, then weekly on ABC Radio from 1946-1948. Unlike later quiz shows, the contestants asked the host questions. If the host couldn't give the correct answer, the contestant won $25. Later broadcasts selected six contestants from the studio audience, and the winner of the session received, $25, with $15 given to the runners-up. On these broadcasts, listeners would send in six questions, and if they were used, they also won $25. 

Competition soon followed in 1937 with, Uncle Jim's Question Bee, hosted by Arthur Godfrey.

Everybody Wanted Moore

 

Garry Moore (Thomas Garrison Morfit 1915-1993) was an American entertainer, comedic personality, humorist and this versatility made him a force to be reckoned with in the 1950s and 1960s. Early in his career, he was recognized distinctly for his bow tie and his crew cut fashion and his on-air transparency. He hosted the hugely popular weekly prime-time panel show, I've Got a Secret, from 1952 until 1964. It was double duty for Moore with his variety series, the hour-long, The Garry Moore Show (1958-64) airing simultaneously. The show was a revival of his earlier 1950 30-minute talk-variety show. He was noted for promoting the careers of other entertainers, most notably, Carol Burnett. Moore later replaced the original host of To Tell the Truth, Bud Collyer, when the show was syndicated from 1969 to 1977. But health trouble resulted in numerous guest hosts during his tenure. After a forty-two-year career, Moore retired in 1977 after announcing on the show about his health. 

Before television, Moore recorded six of his radio monologues for Decca in 1944, including his incredible, triple-time speed reading of Little Ride Riding Hood, his classic “Hugh, the Blue Gnu,” and a calamity-filled version of “In the Good Old Summertime”. They were released as an album of three 78 rpm records titled “Culture Corner”.