October 29, 1956…’The Huntley Brinkley Report’ Debuts On NBC

First, a note on the video clip…this is a short clip of the first pairing of this great team at the 1956 Democratic Convention. From August 13 – 17, Chet and David hosted NBC’s coverage from Chicago and were well received. The public liked them and the critics did too. Pairing them was NBC News pioneer Reuven Frank’s idea.

For many years, John Cameron Swayze had been NBC’s news face, but Douglas Edwards at CBS was beating Swayze and NBC had been thinking of a shift to new talent. Their convention success with the Huntley – Brinkley duo was a key in deciding who, but then came the question of where.

Bill McAndrew, NBC’s director of news (later NBC News president), had seen a highly rated local news program on NBC affiliate WSAZ-TV in Huntington, West Virginia, with two anchors reporting from different cities. It was his idea to put Chet in New York and David in Washington, and although Ruven Frank thought it was the dumbest idea he ever heard, it was done. The day of the debut broadcast, it was Frank that came up with the closing line…”Good night, Chet. Good night, David. And good night, for NBC News.” This exchange became one of television’s most famous catch phrases even though both Huntley and Brinkley initially disliked it. The New York segment with Huntley came from NBC Studio 3A but was moved to 8G in 1967.

As an aside, Huntley and Brinkley probably would have never even met if it weren’t for a big mistake on Brinkley’s part. Brinkley enjoyed writing as a boy, and in high school he obtained an internship at a local newspaper. His first story, according to his memoirs, was about the nonappearance of a bloom on a century plant and the crowd it drew. It was picked up by the Associated Press and printed in newspapers across the country. During World War II Brinkley moved to Atlanta to write news stories for United Press International (UPI), and he was soon transferred to Nashville to become a bureau manager. On a mistaken notion that he had been offered a CBS job in Washington, D.C., Brinkley moved to that city in 1943, but finding no job waiting for him, he landed a job as a reporter at NBC’s WRC Radio there. When NBC expanded from radio to television in the early 1950s, Brinkley became one of the first television reporters.
Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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

The TV era dismays Adlai Stevenson but expands the following for Sen. John F. Kennedy—and for NBC’s Huntley and Brinkley.

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