February 16, 1949…A Red Letter Day In NBC News History

The most widely celebrated dates in NBC news history are February 16, 1948 and February 16, 1949. In ’48 “The Camel Newsreel Theater” debuted as a 10 minute weeknight newsreel. The film was provided by Fox Movietone News and was narrated off camera by NBC Radio’s John Cameron Swayze.

On February 16, 1949, Swayze moved in front of the camera and that began “The Camel News Caravan” as a live 15 minute weeknight news show, some 10 months after CBS had put Douglas Edwards on camera May 3, 1948.

BUT…this was not the start of news at NBC. In fact, almost immediately after their first regular TV service began April 30, 1939, news had begun to be reported on W2XBS (WNBT).

Newscaster Lowell Thomas had occasionally simulcast his NBC Radio show locally from Studio 3H as early as December 1939 and from February till July of 1940, he regularly simulcast his “Sunoco News” show to New York viewers.

There was also the weekly, live “Esso Television Reporter” from March until May of 1940 hosted by William Spargrove, who narrated off camera. The live Esso program used organ music and on camera was a mix of newswire photos, maps and graphic miniature depictions of news event locations, as on-the-scene film reports were nearly impossible to get because no one had TV news departments.

Although the USA was not involved in WW II yet, Europe was fully engulfed in 1940. As we will see, the war severely curtailed television in every way, but there is more to the pre war story.

From July of 1941 till May of 1942, Sam Cuff hosted a weekly news commentary called “Face The War”, but the show ended as RCA and NBC cut television operations down to next to nothing five months after Pearl Harbor. The same was true at CBS.

On February 21, 1944, things started to stir a bit as “The War As It Happens” came to television on a weekly basis, and NBC News has been on the air more-or-less continuously since then.

“The War As It Happens” began as a local program, but NBC records indicate that in April of 1944, it was fed to Schenectady and Philadelphia on the fledgling NBC Television Network and became the first news cast regularly seen in multiple cities.

At the time, even the great NBC Radio news department was tiny compared to the wire services and newspapers and newsreels. Television was even less able to gather news because they didn’t even have local film crews. The first breakthrough came in 1944 when John Royal, the first head of television at NBC, acquired the rights to Army Signal Corps film.

Using this footage, “The War As It Happens” followed what was basically a newsreel format, using the film with Paul Alley narrating and Ray Forrest in the studio with commentary, maps and wire photos.

In August 1945, the war was over and the Sunday “The War As It Happens” newscast was renamed “The NBC Television Newsreel”.

In mid 1946, it gained a sponsor and became “The Esso Newsreel” and was rescheduled to two nights a week, Monday and Thursday.

On February 16, 1948 Esso bowed out and a new sponsor came to the show which became “The Camel Newsreel Theater”.

In December of ’48, NBC took over an 11 story Pathe studio building at the Pathe complex at 106th Street and this was the start of NBC’s Uptown Studios. The complex included Pathe’s labs and this was a big plus for NBC in many ways.

R.J. Reynolds, makers of Camel cigarettes, was ready to spend big money on a news show and had CBS and NBC competing for the account. They wanted as much film from as many places as possible, and Camel chose NBC because of the network of staff photographers Paul Alley had put together for “NBC Television Newsreel”.

NBC had 4 film cameramen in New York, 2 in Washington, one in Florida and stingers around the country with 38 cameras, 18 mobile units and 16 reporters. AND, through Pathe, NBC had immediate access to film from around the world.

Camel paid NBC $2,600 per program, compared to the $1,000 CBS got for their Oldsmobile sponsored show. This money from Camel changed TV news in a big way and supported the entire world wide structure of NBC News.

“The Camel News Caravan” was broadcast live each weeknight from 7:45 -8 PM from Studio C at NBC’s Uptown Studios, with the film being projected from Studio F in that building.

Around 1952, Caravan moved to a small 3rd floor studio at 30 Rock, and from that year, here is an entire edition of Caravan from September 19, 1952…just days before Vice President Richard Nixon’s famous “Checkers” speech. As you see, the story is starting to break. By the way, behind the books at the corner of Swayze’s desk, there is a red light that signals when he should narrate over the film.

Also included here is NBC’s January 1949 press release on the new news show. Notice the stations that were aboard the network at the bottom of page two.

In 1956, Swayze was replaced by Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. I think you know the rest of the story, but here is NBC’s tribute to their news heritage on the 60th Anniversary.

P.S. The Origins Of Television News In America  by our friend Mike Conway at Indiana University is the best book on early television news I have ever read!  -Bobby Ellerbee

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