Huntley-Brinkley + Garroway-Blair Cover Kennedy-Nixon Election?
YES, because it is very early in the morning and the TODAY Show is starting and that makes for a very rare image! These four very familiar NBC talents work at different “ends of each day”, yet here they sit beneath the glow of studio lights: (l-r) Chet Huntley, Dave Garroway, Frank Blair, and David Brinkley. It is election night and NBC’s correspondents across America have been covering the event all night, nonstop since the polls closed— the kind of night when American television news grows taller, louder, and more certain of its purpose.
Before the anchor desk in Studio 8H, the cameras loom — RCA TK‑10s, marked with the classic NBC “snake” logo. Even for those who lived through the era, seeing that on monochrome cameras still feels slightly out of place.
The photo comes to us courtesy of Ken Johannessen, and like so many images from early broadcast news, it opens a window into a moment when television was still defining itself — still discovering how to cover a nation choosing its next president.
To see the video from which this image came, take a look at this clip from that night, cued to exactly the right spot.
OH, AND BY THE WAY…Something small but interesting that jumped out at me were the two Nifty notebooks resting on the desk. A tiny detail, but a perfect artifact of the era — the kind of everyday object that instantly transports you back to the early 1960s. Their two‑hole paper, the click‑shut top, the slot for a pencil. I started a grammar school year with one…did you?
Love the pics & comments. Was always NBC for me when I was “little” ….
The clip from A&E has Jack Lescoulie, Frank Blair and Dave Garroway all sitting on the ledge behind Chet Huntley. I’m assuming as coverage continued and it was obvious Today wasn’t going to make air that day they periodically let them come back in to join Huntley and Brinkley on set. If you can find the whole coverage on YouTube, worth the view.
My mother bought me an NBC News Guide to the 1960 Election which might have been my first exposure to news other than sports. The rest is history.
I find it surprising that NBC was still using TK-10’s in 1960, they had plenty of newer TK-11’s. Maybe the local WNBC had to live with the Network hand downs. When new tubes were in the TK-10’s and in the hands of experienced engineers, they made good looking pictures.
Sander VanOcur, Frank McGee, and Merrill Mueller worked the boards behind Chet Huntley et al. This was the 1950 Presidential Election.
Wow you are right! Those are Nifty notebooks! I bugged the hell out of my mom for one! The paper had 2 holes in the top. If I recall correctly, you could put a pencil/pen in the space at the top. It clicked to close and was trés cool. Mine was aqua.
I loved Dave Garroway…probably because he wore bow ties. He looked like a cartoon character I think…of course Chet and David were in our living room every evening …
Great photo!