Starting today, the platforms of CBS News are honoring one of their own: the “CBS World News Roundup.”
The Roundup, a CBS News Radio program, is the longest-running news broadcast, first informing viewers in 1938 when the Nazis invaded Austria. 75 years later, and it is still going strong.
The “World News Roundup” is not only the longest-running newscast, but also the broadcast the revolutionized the format. Having an “anchor” who tossed to correspondents in the field for news and analysis? That was a “Roundup” innovation.
“It basically revolutionized news coverage as we know it,” Harvey Nagler, the VP of CBS News, Radio tells TVNewser. “On March 13, 1938, It was the first time in broadcast history that there were multiple reports from different capitals-London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna–and on that broadcast Edward R. Murrow participated.”
It was kind of crude by today’s standards, in that there was even 12 seconds of dead air before Murrow’s report, but the population at that point of time was under the spell of radio, and everyone was tuned into their radio to find out what was going on,” Nagler added.
Today and tomorrow, CBS News will be hosting champagne toasts throughout the day to mark the anniversary. “CBS This Morning” and the “CBS Evening News” will also mention the anniversary on their programs.
“CBS was and is the Tiffany Network, and with that there is an understanding and a huge pride within the CBS News organization with the role of radio,” Nagler says.
Of course, staying static is not a good strategy in the world of TV or radio, and the program is aware of that.
“While the times have changed the World News Roundup has changed with it,” Nagler says, noting that the roundup features more stories than it did years ago, and that the Roundup wants to be available online and in podcast form. “We are clearly cognizant of a lot of platforms that people get their news from, we hope to be as relevant on those platforms as we are on the radio.”