1950s Family Watching the News
Broadcast News:
From Radio to TV
The news world of today is so vastly different from today it's almost incomparable. From social media and other short form content dominating how people obtain news. To streaming become a more appealing option for the dying market of local broadcast news. However it wasn't always like this. Without the information age, people had to find other ways to find news. Radio and later broadcast news came to the resue.
Radio news was first introduced in the 1920s. The National Broadcast Company and the Columbia Broadcast Company did news segements and even radio dramas. Radio really started to hit it's stride during the 1930s when people were seeking happier times due to the depression. Comedy shows like Easy Aces and The Adventures of Gracie helped people have a bit of humor during the trying times
Rural areas weren't just left out in the dust either. Radio shows like The National Farm and Home Hour saw lot's of engagment when being provided by WLS in Chicago. Even the music and entertainment sphere appealed to the rural areas as well. The longest live broadcast radio show: The Grand Ole Opry was broadcast by WSM out of Nashville and is still running today.
During World War 2, the public wanted constant updates on what was occuring. Newspapers couldn't get printed fast enough and were always a day late. Thus war reporting took off. The White House did place restrictions on reporting special operations (such as the atomic bomb) on reporters and they agreed to supress the information until the war had concluded.
Despite the war ending, news people were optimistic about the future of radio. This is ironic as a whole new technology was about to take center stage. Higher ups at CBS and NBC were already looking into TVs to be a great unifying force for all of America.
The "big two" had already been broadcasting in the late 30s after Lowell Thomas did the first television broadcast for CBS. Thus TV was poised to be massive for sharing news all over the country or what's going on in your community.
However local news orginizations were not using the technology to it's fullest effect. It wasn't until the tragic accident of Kathy Fiscus who fell into an abandoned well, that local news changed forever. A 50 hour resue effort was broadcasted locally to families in California. It unified the states and they became "an instant family of the nation."
From this point every major incident was publicily viewable via local news channals. Long term coverage of national events were the norm. From John F. Kennedy's assasination to 9/11 it became the expectation of the people and the reason that local news remains valuable even in our fast paced information age.
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