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August 15, 1948…CBS Debuts First, Live Nightly News Broadcast

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Eyes Of A Generation.com


August 15, 1948…CBS Debuts First, Live Nightly News Broadcast

On this day in 1948, Douglas Edwards became the first, live daily anchor of a network news show. In the 3 minute video below, Dan Rather tells the story nicely, so take a look.

Just to be clear, there was news on CBS and NBC before this, but CBS was first do go with a live, daily 15 minute report. Before this at CBS, Edwards and others had done a live news show twice a week.

NBC was actually first with a daily network news show, but theirs was not live. The most widely celebrated dates in NBC news history are February 16, 1948, and February 16, 1949.

In February ’48 “The NBC Television Newsreel” debuted as a 10 minute weeknight newsreel which was narrated off camera by John Cameron Swayze. The next year, on February 16, Swayze moved in front of the camera and that began “The Camel News Caravan” as a live 15 minute nightly news show.

CBS had put Douglas Edwards on camera on May 3, 1948 in the twice-weekly days of the newscast, making him the permanent host, as the prior “revolving” host format was abandoned.

Both networks had done earlier local news that goes back to 1939, but that is a story for another day. -Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzCjp8JAAgc

From CBS, an Evening News piece on the retirement of Douglas Edwards, the first CBS anchorman.

Source

10 responses to “August 15, 1948…CBS Debuts First, Live Nightly News Broadcast”

  1. Bob Sewvello

    I was a student at Portland State University in the late 1980s. I watched Douglas Edwards do the CBS Newsbreaks while eating lunch.

  2. Keith Nelson

    I remember him as the anchor for CBS Radio’s “The World Tonight”as my father listened every night.

  3. Joe Lightner

    Remember him doing those 15 minute newscasts. And I was just a snot nosed kid.

  4. Bruce Ferrell

    I remember when they shoehorned him into the CBS Mid-Morning News

  5. Randy Stewart

    Always thought he had one of the finest voices in the business.

  6. Edward Wittbrodt

    Mr. Edwards was full of class and graciousness…for he remained at CBS another 26 years, even AFTER being demoted from his Evening News anchoring assignment. Ever the loyal and dutiful soldier he was. For someone who was blessed with a knowledge of a vast vocabulary, ‘ego’ was certainly NOT a word which was synonymous of him. Also, his annual ‘reports from the North Pole’ at Christmastime on CBS Radio were treats to listen to.

  7. Jackson Douglas

    great broadcaster

  8. Kurt Toy

    I remember seeing Edwards do the “CBS Afternoon News” at 3:25 just after “To Tell The Truth” in the ’60s.

  9. Steve Newvine

    Douglas was honored at an RTNDA event later that day; I got to see him as he thanked Richard C. Hottelette, quoting, “thank you Richard, one of the last great middle initial correspondents at CBS.”

  10. John Holt

    He played a newsman in the NPR production of War of the Worlds in 1988. I also seem to remember him signing off his last newscast saying something like “the next part of life’s great adventure.”

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