The Early History Of NBC Television News
This 60th Anniversary video from 2008 starts with some of the only surviving footage of television’s first network news show, ‘The NBC Television Newsreel’ with the voice of Paul Alley. On that show, there was no on-camera anchor, only Alley narrating silent film clips provided by Fox Movietone News. The show aired Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights from 7:30 till 7:45. It began February 15, 1948, but within a few months, the name was changed to ‘The Camel Newsreel Theater’ when Camel cigarettes became the sponsor.
It was actually Camel, and the Esty Advertising Agency (who handled the account) that helped push the development of a nightly news show into being. Camel wanted a five night a week show with a live anchor, so, Esty created a competition between NBC and CBS for the lucrative Camel account. CBS got a wake up call, but NBC got the nod and thus was born ‘The Camel News Caravan’ with John Cameron Swayze as host.
In today’s next post, I’ll share some interesting background I’ve recently discovered on ‘The Camel News Caravan’, it’s host and his wig. Enjoy and share!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFvTrGDTCYU
Recorded from nightly news Insight from John Cameron Swayze to Brian Williams
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