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: The NBC Three

Edwin Newman (1919-2010) was an American newscaster, journalist, and author, known for a 23-year career in television news with NBC beginning in 1961. Newman specialized in reporting breaking news, reporting for Republican and Democratic conventions, and as a moderator for Presidential debates. He was also known for his dry wit on and off camera.

Sander Vanocur (1928-2019) was an American television journalist who focused on U.S. national electoral politics, primarily for NBC News and ABC News. He served as White House correspondent and national political correspondent for NBC News in the 1960s and early 1970s. After his service in the United States Army, he began his journalism career as a reporter on the London staff of The Manchester Guardian and also did general reporting for The New York Times.

Garrick Utley (1939-2014) was an American television journalist and reporter, joined NBC News in 1963 as a researcher in Europe for The Huntley-Brinkley Report as a Foreign and Principal correspondent. His reporting on the Vietnam War has the distinction of being the first full-time television correspondent to cover the war on-site. The versatile Utley was also an anchor, frequently substituting for NBC's John Chancellor. 

From left to right above, Edwin Newman, Sander Vanocur, and Garrick Utley

Broadcast Pioneers

Frank McGee (1921-1974) was an American television journalist, best known for his work with NBC News beginning in the late 1950s. McGee had a great talent for descriptive language, often giving viewers a vivid word picture of the day's events. 

McGee began his broadcast career with Shawnee radio station KGFF, working as an advertising salesman, commercial copywriter, music librarian, disc jockey, and news editor. He joined WKY-TV in Oklahoma City in 1950 and is remembered by a generation of Oklahomans as Mack Rogers, the name he used as the local newsman. McGee moved to Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 to head the WSFA-TV news operations. This led to a post on NBC’s Washington, D.C. news staff in 1957. NBC transferred McGee to New York where he was an anchor on major assignments and such NBC programs as World Wide 60, Today, and the Nightly News show. In 1960, he moderated the second debate between presidential candidates John Kennedy and Richard Nixon in Washington, D.C. 

During the middle to late 1960s, The Frank McGee Report was a well-known program broadcast early Saturday and Sunday evenings. It was set up to be a traditional newscast and it would include topics and McGee's commentary. After Chet Huntley's retirement in 1970 ended the Huntley-Brinkley Report, McGee became one of three anchors on the newly renamed NBC Nightly News, along with John Chancellor and David Brinkley. McGee moved to The Today Show in 1971, replacing Hugh Downs. He attempted to transition Today into a more serious news presentation, not an entertainment show. McGee was once acclaimed for his "exemplary leadership in his profession in dealing candidly and constructively with the cutting edge of change and controversy."

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.

Twentieth Century Talkers

 

Dew Pearson (Andrew Russell Pearson 1897-1969) was one of the best-known American columnists and radio commentators of his day. He was known for his fearless approach toward high-level politicians, often creating friction. Pearson saw journalism as a means to challenge those he thought to be working against the public interest. He has been quoted as saying, "I just operate with a sense of smell: if something smells wrong, I go to work." Though he sounded fierce in print, in life was gentle, even stately.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, to Quaker parents, Pearson served with the American Friends Service Committee from 1919-1921, directing postwar rebuilding operations in Peć, which at that time was part of Serbia. In 1924, he taught industrial geography at Columbia University, and from 1925 to 1928, continued reporting on international events. By late 1932, Pearson and Robert S. Allen secured a contract with the Scripps–Howard syndicate, United Features, to syndicate a column called Washington Merry-Go-Round. Pearson's column not only revealed embarrassing news items but expanded his criticism of the Roosevelt administration's conduct during World War II. He dug into post-war investigations about the FBI, Preston Tucker, and Senator Joe McCarthy. At the time of his death, his column was syndicated to more than 650 newspapers, more than twice that of others.

In addition to radio, Pearson appeared as himself in a number of Hollywood movies, most notably in the 1951 science fiction classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still. Character actor Robert F. Simon, who somewhat resembled Pearson, played him in the 1977 NBC television movie Tail Gunner Joe, a biopic of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Television Talkers: The Early Years

 

John Cameron Swayze (1906-1995) was an American news commentator 
during the 1940s and 1950s who later became best known as a product spokesman. Born in Wichita, Kansas, Swayze initially sought to work as an actor. However, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 curtailed acting roles on Broadway and he ended up in radio by 1933.

Swayze hosted the radio program Stranger Than Fiction. In addition, he worked in sports, writing about and broadcasting football games, and took part in early experimental television broadcasts. By 1940, Swayze was working full-time doing news updates for Kansas City's KMBZ. He broadcast news items prepared by United Press Kansas City bureau overnight editor Walter Cronkite. By 1946, Swayze was hired by NBC as director of news and special events for its Western Division. Two years later, NBC produced The Camel Newsreel Theatre, a 10-minute program of daily events using newsreel film, which Swayze narrated and often scripted.

Eventually, NBC executives tired of Swayze's flamboyant delivery style, in contrast to anchorman Douglas Edwards's comparatively low-key delivery on CBS. The ouster offered him various television roles as a game show panelist and product pitchman. For twenty years beginning in 1956, Swayze became widely known as the commercial pitchman for Timex watches, subjecting Timex watches to grueling physical tests. After retrieving the watch, his authoritative delivery was perfect for the company's slogan, "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking." 

This is Jim Rockford

 

It's Dr. Soter's office again, regarding that root canal? The doctor's in his office...waiting. He's beginning to dislike you ...

Jim's answering machine: Piece Work, 1976
Guest star: Michael Lerner

This is Jim Rockford

 

Tompkins of Guaranty Insurance. About your burglary claim...major loss, all right. Funny...you remembered to file, but you didn't pay your premium.

Jim's answering machine: Return to The Thirty-eighth Parallel, 1976
Guest star: Ned Beatty

This is Jim Rockford

 

Gene's 24-Hour Emergency Plumbing. Your water heater's blown? We'll have somebody out there Tuesday -- Thursday at the latest.

Jim's answering machine: Rattlers' Class of '63, 1976
Guest stars: Elayne Heilveil, James Wainwright

Note: Angel nearly gets married but chickens out after a past scam on his potential inlaws when the truth is revealed.

This is Jim Rockford

Dr. Soter's office. This is the third time you've canceled. Now, you have to have that root canal -- a sort foot has nothing to do with your mouth!

Jim's answering machine: So Help Me God, 1976
Guest star: William Daniels

This is Jim Rockford

 

It's Shirley at the Plant and Pot. There's just no easy way to tell you this, Jim--we did everything we could. Your fern died.

Jim's answering machine: Coulter City Wildcat, 1976
Guest star: John Anderson

This is Jim Rockford

Hi, this is the Happy Pet Clinic. Your father gave us this number when he left town. The calico stray had six kittens. Please come and get them --- today?!?

Jim's answering machine: Feeding Frenzy, 1976 

Guest stars: Eddie Firestone, Susan Howard

This is Jim Rockford

Hey, Jim, it's Frank. Me and Ellie's down here for our convention. Can't wait to see you. [Hiccups] We should be over at your place around 1:00 a.m. Bonzai, buddy!

Jim's answering machine: The Family Hour, 1976

Guest stars Burt Young, Ken Swafford, and Kim Richards

The Peacock's Celebrity Chimp

 

J. Fred Muggs (1952-) is a chimpanzee born in modern-day Cameroon. Muggs rose to stardom as the mascot on NBC's Today show from 1953-57. A New York pet store offered a "name that chimp" contest which led to his being named Mr. Muggs. Two former NBC pages bought him when he was 10 months old and the Today show simply added "J. Fred" to his name. Despite his off-set tantrums or violent behavior, he was a rating boost in the early years of the show. Muggs was a sensation with children, and later their parents. Muggs received countless letters from fans and, for a time, was more popular than the show's host, Dave Garroway (above). For saving the floundering Today show, he was given a monthly salary of $2000. Stuffed dolls were created of Muggs and those still in excellent condition, have become collector items. But by the end of the 1950s, the chimpanzee fad fell out of favor with television audiences and executives.

Note: Muggs worked in several television shows, toured the world and worked at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. He officially retired at age 23. Shown above in the left photo with Muggs is his "girlfriend" Phoebe B. Beebe. As of March 2018, Muggs was still living in Citrus Park, Florida.

This is Jim Rockford

 

Hi. Just want to put your mind at rest --- found your address book in the theater last week. It's in the mail. By the way, Carol's okay. But Linda...?

Jim's answering machine: 
The Fourth Man, 1976; written by Juanita Bartlett
Guest star: Sharon Gless

This is Jim Rockford

 

Uncle Jim? It's Ralph! I got your letter -- but I moved out here anyway. I really want those detective lessons ...

Jim's answering machine: 

A Bad Deal in The Valley, 1976; written by Donald L. Gold and 

Lester William Berke
Guest star: Susan Strasberg

This is Jim Rockford

 

Jim? It's Eddie. You were right about Sweet Talk in the 7th --- he breezed in, paid $7,250. But I didn't get your bet down...

Jim's answering machine: 

Foul On The First Play, 1976; written by Stephen Cannell
Guest star: Lou Gossett, Jr.

This is Jim Rockford

 

Jim -- Madame Arcana at the Zodiac Restaurent. You don't pay that dinner tab, we're gonna repo your birthday...

Jim's answering machine: 

Where's Houston? 1976; written by Don Carlos Dunaway
Guest stars: Lane Bradbury

This is Jim Rockford

 

Jim -- Sally. Hey, I just found out you're an Aries. Listen, if you have Virgo rising, give me a call.

Jim's answering machine: 

The Italian Bird Fiasco, 1976; written by Edward Lakso
Guest stars: William Daniels, Camilla Sparv

Note: Rockford's first meeting with the arrogant Thomas Caine (Daniels) is a joy to watch.