NEWS: THIS JUST IN ... NBC PIONEERED SEVERAL TV NEWS STAPLES, INCLUDING SOMETHING CALLED 'TODAY'.Byline: - Valerie Kuklenski TV's longest-running program makes ``Bonanza'' and ``Gunsmoke'' look like flashes in the pan. ``Meet the Press'' was just the beginning of NBC's commitment to news programming. ``Meet the Press'': Launched on radio and picked up for television in 1947 with Martha Rountree as moderator and feisty reporter Lawrence E. Spivak Lawrence Edmund Spivak (June 11, 1900 - March 9, 1994) was an American publisher and journalist who was best known as the host of NBC's Meet the Press from 1965 to 1975, a program he produced and co-created with original host Martha Rountree. as lead panelist, the show quickly caught on with Washington insiders. Power players sought to be interviewed, using ``Meet the Press'' to make big statements or fierce accusations against rival politicians and bureaucrats. For 55 years, guests have made good use of the national platform - and often been knocked off balance on it by no-holds-barred questions. Nightly news: In 1948, soon after CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. launched ``Television News With Douglas Edwards,'' NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. got into the evening news game with ``Camel Newsreel Theater,'' a 10-minute headline roundup presented by John Cameron Swayze John Cameron Swayze (April 4, 1906 – August 15, 1995), was a popular news commentator and game show panelist in the United States, during the 1950s. Born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of a wholesale drug salesman, Cameron first sought to make his way as an actor, but his . The network had reservations about the cigarette sponsorship of the show, which grew to 15 minutes and was renamed ``Camel News Caravan The Camel News Caravan was a 15 minute prime time American television news program aired by NBC from 1949 to 1956. Sponsored by the Camel cigarette brand and anchored by John Cameron Swayze. .'' For instance, Camel insisted that no newsmakers be shown smoking cigars (excepting only Winston Churchill) and made sure the newscast ended with a shot of Swayze's burning cigarette in an ashtray. Chet Huntley and David Brinkley first teamed up to cover the 1956 national political conventions. That fall they started the nightly ``Huntley-Brinkley Report,'' impressing viewers with a give and take that spanned the miles between them; Huntley was in New York and Brinkley in Washington. Their sign-off - ``Good night, Chet'' ``Good night, David'' - became a pop-culture phrase. Among the personalities NBC has groomed for news stardom is Tom Brokaw, who was just 26 when he became lead anchor at network-owned KNBC KNBC Kings Norton Bowling Club in Burbank. NBC tapped him for the White House beat in 1973, the height of the Watergate scandal. Brokaw moved to ``Today'' in 1976 to share co-hosting duties with 25-year-old network novice Jane Pauley, then in 1982 joined Roger Mudd on the ``NBC Nightly News NBC Nightly News is the flagship evening news program for NBC News and broadcasts from the GE Building, Rockefeller Center in New York City. It has been known by this name since August 1, 1970. .'' ``Today'': In 1952, the network blazed the morning news trail with ``Today,'' plunking Dave Garroway in front of a live camera in a bare-bones studio. He pointed out the top stories - literally - in his ``Today in Two Minutes'' news capsules, by standing in front of a board plastered with 8-by-10 photos and a newspaper front page. ``Today Girl'' Estelle Parsons chalked major metropolitan weather reports on a blackboard. Pat Weaver, then NBC president, boosted the show's ratings by adding a chimpanzee sidekick, J. Fred Muggs. The thinking - and the reality - was that kids wanted to watch the chimp, which in turn drew parents to watch the news and interviews. ``Today'' has come a long way since then, making news itself with new sets, live reports from around the globe, and host arrivals and departures, or in Katie Couric's case, hefty contract renewals. Despite competition from ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. , CBS, CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. and Fox News, ``Today'' averages 6 million viewers a day. Other news programs: The network that birthed morning information programming and Sunday newsmaker news·mak·er n. One that is newsworthy. panels was a latecomer late·com·er n. 1. One that arrives late: waited for the latecomers to be seated. 2. A recent arrival, participant, or convert: to prime-time newsmagazines, trying and failing 17 times before hitting its stride in 1992 with ``Dateline,'' co-anchored by Pauley and Stone Phillips. A few months later, the show made headlines with its controversial ``Waiting to Explode'' story about gas tanks on General Motors pickup trucks. The report showed footage of trucks exploding on impact but failed to mention that ``sparkers'' on the chassis had maximized the explosions. After an on-air mea culpa, ``Dateline'' repaired its tarnished image and went on to ratings success with up to five installments a week. CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1) Chet Huntley, left, and David Brinkley of ``The Huntley-Brinkley Report.'' (2 -- color) Matt Lauer and Katie Couric, the current hosts of ``Today.'' (3 -- color) Tim Russert, current host of the long-running ``Meet the Press.'' |
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