HISTORY’S Moments in Media: "Meet the Press" -- TV’s Longest Running Program Needs No Introduction

The pioneering Sunday morning political talk show debuted on the NBC television network on November 6 1947 73 years ago this month decades before Tim Russert coined the amp8220If itamp8217s Sundayamp8221 slogan and a seeming eternity before viewers could find a range of commentators and journalists dissecting the latest political news on any number of television networks at virtually any time of day or nightIts cocreators were Martha Rountree the showamp8217s first moderator and Lawrence Spivak a longtime panelist who in 1966 took over as moderatorMeet the Press originated as a radio program first broadcast in 1945 on the Mutual Broadcasting System It was originally designed as a way to promote The American Mercury a moneylosing magazine founded by HL Mencken and then owned by Spivak It moved to TV two years later before there were even 1 million sets in use across the country according to one report and in 1954 became the first news program to broadcast in colorWhen Meet the Press debuted the idea of politicians and public figures answering unscripted questions from a panel of journalists was entirely new And politicians were expected way back then to give honest answersamp8220I think it is important that the public should hear its elected officers speak out and take their stand in answer to direct questions without preparation or oratoryamp8221 Roundtree once said amp8220There is nothing so refreshing as unadorned conversationamp8221In the middle of the 20th century topical newsmakers regularly appeared on Meet the Press In 1949 a US general disclosed that the Soviet Union had likely built an atomic bomb In 1950 Republican Thomas Dewey famous for losing to Harry Truman in the previous presidential election no matter what the Chicago Tribune wrote said he wouldnamp8217t run again and first suggested Gen Dwight Eisenhower as his partyamp8217s nominee All three Kennedy brothers appeared on Meet the Press as did Martin Luther King Jr and countless Cold Warera foreign leadersThe success of Meet the Press prompted imitation CBS introduced Face the Nation in 1954 and in 1960 ABC countered with Issues and Answers The ABC show ran only until 1981 It was replaced by This Week with David Brinkley which lives on several host changes later as simply This Week featuring George StephanopoulosBy 1990 those rivals were outshining Meet the Press then hosted by the NBC stalwart Garrick Utley amp8220MTP is no longer at the top of the talkshow ratings raceamp8221 the Washington Post had written in 1987 amp8220and many observers feel its rivals have overtaken itamp8221 Viewership in 1990 was estimated at 26 million compared to 10 million in 1967Then in 1991 Tim Russert took over as moderator Russert who was also NBCamp8217s Washington bureau chief created the modern model of Meet the Press and not just because of that memorable sloganOn Russertamp8217s watch oneonone interviews usually with Russert playing his subjectamp8217s words back to him largely replaced the traditional panel format The show expanded from 30 minutes to an hour At Russertamp8217s sudden death in 2008 Meet the Press had been the toprated Sunday political talk show for 353 of the previous 354 weeksUnder current moderator Chuck Todd the reach of Meet the Press has continued to grow Today thereamp8217s a fivedaysaweek broadcast on MSNBC as well as newsletters podcasts blogs and even a film festival Last season was its fourth as the toprated Sunday talk showAll these years later Meet the Press continues to set the agenda Every president since Kennedy has appeared on the show in some cases before or after his presidency Donald Trump was on in February 2016 as a presidential candidate and then again in June 2019 from the White House Joe Biden who was not quite five years old when the show debuted was on in March of this yearClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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HISTORY’S Moments in Media: "Meet the Press" -- TV’s Longest Running Program Needs No Introduction

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HISTORY’S Moments in Media: "Meet the Press" -- TV’s Longest Running Program Needs No Introduction

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