Newscasters, Radio

Sam Litzinger & Michael Freedman

When news breaks, many hear it first on radio. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers learned of the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when WCBS AM traffic reporter Tom Kaminski, on what had been a routine helicopter flight, described what he'd just seen as he flew near the twin towers. Millions of Americans learned that World War II was over when CBS radio anchor Robert Trout announced: “This, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of the Second World War.” This entry provides both a brief history of American radio news and representative profiles of network broadcasters who helped create it. In a sense, Guglielmo Marconi, one of the pioneers of broadcasting, can also be considered the medium's first “newscaster.” In September 1898, he placed wireless equipment on two steamships that were part of a welcoming parade in New York harbor for American Admiral George Dewey ...

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