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Monitor (NBC Radio)
Encyclopedia
NBC Monitor was an American weekend radio program broadcast from June 12, 1955, until January 26, 1975. Airing live and nationwide on the NBC Radio Network, it originally aired beginning Saturday morning at 8am and continuing through the weekend until 12 midnight on Sunday. However, after the first few months, the full weekend broadcast was shortened when the midnight-to-dawn hours were dropped.
The program offered a magazine-of-the-air mix of news, sports, comedy, variety, music, celebrity interviews and other short segments. Its length and eclectic format were radical departures from the traditional radio programming structure of 30- and 60-minute programs and represented an ambitious attempt to respond to the rise of television
as America's major home-entertainment medium.
The show was the brainchild of legendary NBC radio and television network president Sylvester (Pat) Weaver
, whose career bridged classic radio and television's infancy and who sought to keep radio alive in a television age. Believing that broadcasting could and should educate as well as entertain, Weaver fashioned a series to do both with some of the best-remembered and best-regarded names in broadcasting, entertainment, journalism, and literature taking part. Monitor and the Sunday-afternoon TV documentary series Wide Wide World
were Weaver's last two contributions to NBC, as he left the network within a year of Monitors premiere.
The Beacon introduced the show and was used in transitions, for example, to station breaks, accompanied by the tag line: "You're on the Monitor beacon."
and a routine by Bob and Ray
, Garroway cued Monitors opening music remote: live jazz by Howard Rumsey and the Lighthouse All-Stars
at the Lighthouse Café
in Hermosa Beach, California
. It was the first of many jazz remotes in the weeks to come.
On the following Saturday, June 18, Monitor began broadcasting 40 consecutive hours each weekend, from 8am on Saturday to midnight on Sunday. Monitor aired from a mammoth NBC studio called Radio Central, created especially for the program, on the fifth floor of the RCA Building
in midtown Manhattan (the same space which is now home to MSNBC
). NBC unveiled Radio Central to the national television audience during a segment in the October 16, 1955 premiere of Wide Wide World, including a Monitor interview with Alfred Hitchcock
(seen through glass in an adjacent studio and minus audio) and a Monitor newscast (with audio). Built at a cost of $150,000 the glass-enclosed studios of Radio Central were described by Pat Weaver as "a listening post of the world".
From Radio Central, anchors and hosts, initially dubbed "communicators", presided over three or four-hour segments of the show. As well-known entertainment and broadcasting figures, they gave Monitor an impressive marquee. Cindy Adams
, Johnny Andrews
, Jim Backus
, Red Barber
, Frank Blair, Bruce Bradley
, David Brinkley
, Ed Bryce, Art Buchwald
, Al "Jazzbo" Collins, Brad Crandall, Bill Cullen
, James Daly, Jerry Damon
, Dan Daniel
, Hugh Downs
, Frank Gallop
, Dave Garroway
, Peter Hackes,
Bill Hanrahan
, Bill Hayes
, Bob Haymes
, Candy Jones
, Durward Kirby
, Jim Lowe
, Frank McGee
, Barry Nelson
, Leon Pearson, Tony Randall
, Peter Roberts
, Ted Steele, John Cameron Swayze
, Tony Taylor
and David Wayne
were all communicators during the 20-year run.
Many hosts and announcers of game shows were also communicators, including Mel Allen
(Jackpot Bowling), Ted Brown
, Bill Cullen
(The Price Is Right; Eye Guess), Hugh Downs
(Concentration), Clifton Fadiman
(Information Please), Art Fleming
(Jeopardy!), Art Ford (Art Ford Show), Allen Funt
, Joe Garagiola (Sale of the Century), Ben Grauer
(Information Please
), Monty Hall
(Video Village; Let's Make a Deal), Wayne Howell
(Concentration), Walter Kiernan
(Who Said That?), Hal March
(The $64,000 Question; What's It For?), Ed McMahon
(Concentration; Missing Links; Snap Judgment), Garry Moore
(I've Got A Secret; To Tell The Truth), Henry Morgan
, Bert Parks
(Break the Bank), Gene Rayburn
(The Match Game), Don Russell and John Bartholomew Tucker
.
In later years Don Imus
, Murray the K
, Robert W. Morgan
and Wolfman Jack
helmed the Saturday evening segment until it was eliminated. The last hosts of Monitor in 1975 were Big Wilson and John Bartholomew Tucker. Behind the scenes, Monitors executive producers included Jim Fleming, Frank Papp, Al Capstaff and Bob Maurer.
Regular segments included "Celebrity Chef", "Ring Around the World", and "On the Line with Bob Considine". On-the-spot live remote broadcasts from New York City jazz clubs on Saturday evenings included both jazz groups and vocalists, such as Al Hibbler
.
In the show's early years, weather reports were delivered in a breathy, sexy voice by actress Tedi Thurman
in the role of Miss Monitor. Various broadcasting personalities heard delivering reports and segments included Jerry Baker (the Master Gardener), Morgan Beatty, Joyce Brothers, Al Capp
, Paul Christman
, Marlene Dietrich
, Len Dillon, Chris Economaki; Arlene Francis
, Betty Furness
, Curt Gowdy
, Skitch Henderson
, Chet Huntley
, Graham Kerr
(the Galloping Gourmet), Joe Kirkwood, Jr.
, Fran Koltun; Sandy Koufax
, Bill Mazer
, Lindsey Nelson
, Kyle Rote
, Gene Shalit
, Jim Simpson
, Barbara Walters
, Ted Webbe, Tony Zappone
and many NBC News
correspondents.
, Bill Cosby
, Selma Diamond
, Phyllis Diller
, Bob Hope
, Ernie Kovacs
, Bob Newhart
, Jean Shepherd
and Jonathan Winters
. The comedy team of Mike Nichols
and Elaine May
appeared on Monitor, as did Jerry Stiller
and Anne Meara
. Bob and Ray
, who won a 1957 Peabody Award
for their Monitor comedy routines, often remained at NBC during the weekend to step in if technical problems developed with remote segments.
In addition to Bob and Ray, several Monitor regulars in its early years helped the show bridge the classic and modern radio eras. Henry Morgan
had been a controversial radio comedian in the 1940s. Clifton Fadiman
was the legendary host of Information Please
, the highbrow quiz show. Mel Allen and Red Barber were familiar baseball voices (respectively, the New York Yankees
and the Brooklyn Dodgers) since the 1940s. Garry Moore
rose to fame as Jimmy Durante
's radio sidekick. Bert Parks
was host of the radio hits Stop the Music and Break the Bank.
Several radio comedy shows were revived in the form of regular five-minute Monitor segments, including Duffy's Tavern
. Jim and Marian Jordan, better known as old-time radio favorites Fibber McGee and Molly
, held down a regular Monitor segment and were said to be negotiating a new, long-term commitment to the show when Marian died of cancer in 1961. Peg Lynch and Alan Bunce, vintage radio's Ethel and Albert
, also performed five-minute Monitor vignettes from 1963-1965. Lynch made several of the vignettes available on compact disc for OTR collectors.
By 1961, however, the weeknight Monitor was gone and the weekend schedule cut in half - from 32 to 16 hours each weekend. (This was not quite as drastic a cut as it seems, as some programming that had been counted as part of Monitor's 32 hours--such as Sunday morning religious broadcasts and the radio version of Meet the Press
--continued to air on NBC outside of the Monitor schedule.) This was further shortened in 1974 to only 12 live weekend hours (plus nine repeated hours).
Radio stations, especially in large markets, had increasingly adopted personality-driven formats featuring local disc jockey
s and sought to establish a clear-cut musical or talk identity for themselves. Because of this, Monitors "something-for-everyone" programming often did not fit in with schedules and viewpoints of stations, and fewer affiliates carried the program in major markets. Due to this, many of the show's sponsors also pulled away, requiring a shortening of the schedule to keep costs low.
NBC, however, refused to get rid of its biggest money-making show without a fight. The network introduced new music formats and changed hosts (hiring Don Imus, Wolfman Jack, and Robert W. Morgan to alternate on Saturday-night segments) to make the format faster-paced; NBC also created a "custom package" to allow stations to carry certain portions as they saw fit.
Despite NBC's efforts, it had appeared that Monitors time had come and gone. The network finally gave up fighting the trend by Fall 1974 and simply continued planning and programming the show's six-hour blocks for each Saturday and Sunday.
On January 26, Wilson hosted from noon to 3pm while Tucker hosted from 3-6pm. The program's last guest was Hugh Downs, who talked about his earlier days on Monitor with Tucker. During the show's final minutes Sammy Cahn
sang about the show's history ("Monitor: It's Been a Long, Long Time"), followed by Tucker thanking the viewers and staff, after which he said his last farewell. The final sound heard on Monitor was of the "Beacon", followed by the NBC chimes at 5:58:50pm.
Approximately 125 stations still carried the program on its last day; however, very few were in major markets.
The program offered a magazine-of-the-air mix of news, sports, comedy, variety, music, celebrity interviews and other short segments. Its length and eclectic format were radical departures from the traditional radio programming structure of 30- and 60-minute programs and represented an ambitious attempt to respond to the rise of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
as America's major home-entertainment medium.
The show was the brainchild of legendary NBC radio and television network president Sylvester (Pat) Weaver
Pat Weaver
Sylvester Barnabee "Pat" Weaver was an American radio advertising executive, who became president of NBC between 1953 and 1955. He has been credited with reshaping commercial broadcasting's format and philosophy as radio gave way to television as America's dominant home entertainment...
, whose career bridged classic radio and television's infancy and who sought to keep radio alive in a television age. Believing that broadcasting could and should educate as well as entertain, Weaver fashioned a series to do both with some of the best-remembered and best-regarded names in broadcasting, entertainment, journalism, and literature taking part. Monitor and the Sunday-afternoon TV documentary series Wide Wide World
Wide Wide World
Wide Wide World was a 90-minute documentary series telecast live on NBC on Sunday afternoons at 4pm Eastern. Conceived by network head Pat Weaver and hosted by Dave Garroway, Wide Wide World was introduced on the Producers' Showcase series on June 27, 1955...
were Weaver's last two contributions to NBC, as he left the network within a year of Monitors premiere.
Monitor Beacon
The enduring audio signature of the show was the "Monitor Beacon" - a mix of audio-manipulated telephone tones and the sound of an oscillator emitting the Morse code signal for the letter "M", for "Monitor". It was described by one source as "a tape loop made from a sequence of 1950s AT&T telephone line switching tones generated by analog oscillators".The Beacon introduced the show and was used in transitions, for example, to station breaks, accompanied by the tag line: "You're on the Monitor beacon."
Anchors and hosts
When Monitor began on June 12th, 1955 at 4pm, the first hour of the program was simulcast on NBC-TV. That initial June 12 broadcast lasted eight hours, from 4pm through 12 midnight. Following the Monitor beacon, Morgan Beatty was the first voice ever heard on Monitor. After an introduction by Pat Weaver, news headlines by Dave GarrowayDave Garroway
David Cunningham "Dave" Garroway was the founding host of NBC's Today from 1952 to 1961. His easygoing, relaxed, and relaxing style belied a battle with depression that may have contributed to the end of his days as a leading television personality—and, eventually, his life...
and a routine by Bob and Ray
Bob and Ray
Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding were an American comedy team whose career spanned five decades. Their format was typically to satirize the medium in which they were performing, such as conducting radio or television interviews, with off-the-wall dialogue presented in a generally deadpan style as...
, Garroway cued Monitors opening music remote: live jazz by Howard Rumsey and the Lighthouse All-Stars
Howard Rumsey
Howard Rumsey is a Californian bassist primarily known for his leadership of the Los Angeles group the Lighthouse All-Stars in the 1950s.-Life:...
at the Lighthouse Café
Lighthouse Café
The Lighthouse Café is a nightclub located at 30 Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach, California. It has been active as a jazz showcase since 1949 and, under the name "The Lighthouse", was one of the central West Coast jazz clubs from the 1950s through the late 1970s....
in Hermosa Beach, California
Hermosa Beach, California
Hermosa Beach is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 19,506 at the 2010 census, up from 18,566 at the 2000 census....
. It was the first of many jazz remotes in the weeks to come.
On the following Saturday, June 18, Monitor began broadcasting 40 consecutive hours each weekend, from 8am on Saturday to midnight on Sunday. Monitor aired from a mammoth NBC studio called Radio Central, created especially for the program, on the fifth floor of the RCA Building
GE Building
The GE Building is an Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the midtown Manhattan section of New York City. Known as the RCA Building until 1988, it is most famous for housing the headquarters of the television network NBC...
in midtown Manhattan (the same space which is now home to MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
). NBC unveiled Radio Central to the national television audience during a segment in the October 16, 1955 premiere of Wide Wide World, including a Monitor interview with Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
(seen through glass in an adjacent studio and minus audio) and a Monitor newscast (with audio). Built at a cost of $150,000 the glass-enclosed studios of Radio Central were described by Pat Weaver as "a listening post of the world".
Cindy Adams
Cindy Adams is an American gossip columnist and writer. She is the widow of comedian and humorist Joey Adams.-Early life and education:Born an only child in New York City, she was one year old when her parents divorced...
, Johnny Andrews
Johnny Andrews
Johnny Andrews is an American songwriter, producer, and vocalist based in Atlanta, Georgia, and Nashville, Tennessee. Several of Andrews’ songs have reached the Top 20 on Billboard’s rock charts, most notably “I’m Not Jesus” and “End of Me” .-Partial Discography:World’s Collide: Apocalyptica Book of...
, Jim Backus
Jim Backus
James Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr...
, Red Barber
Red Barber
Walter Lanier "Red" Barber was an American sportscaster.Barber, nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", was primarily identified with radio broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four decades with the Cincinnati Reds , Brooklyn Dodgers , and New York Yankees...
, Frank Blair, Bruce Bradley
Bruce Bradley
Myron Bruce Bradley is a retired water polo player from the United States, who competed in two consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1968. He won the bronze medal with the Men's National Team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. Now he is living at...
, David Brinkley
David Brinkley
David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997....
, Ed Bryce, Art Buchwald
Art Buchwald
Arthur Buchwald was an American humorist best known for his long-running column in The Washington Post, which in turn was carried as a syndicated column in many other newspapers. His column focused on political satire and commentary...
, Al "Jazzbo" Collins, Brad Crandall, Bill Cullen
Bill Cullen
William Lawrence Francis "Bill" Cullen was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades...
, James Daly, Jerry Damon
Jerry Damon
H. Jerome D'Amato , known professionally as Jerry Damon, was an American radio and television announcer and actor.-Biography:Damon was a staff announcer for NBC in New York from 1954 until his death...
, Dan Daniel
Dan Daniel
Dan Daniel may refer to:* Dan Daniel , American sportswriter* Dan Daniel , U.S. Representative from Virginia* Dan Daniel , "Dandy Dan", American radio disc jockey...
, Hugh Downs
Hugh Downs
Hugh Malcolm Downs is a long time American broadcaster, television host, news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, and music composer; and is perhaps best known for his role as co-host the NBC News program Today from 1962 to 1971, host of the Concentration game show from 1958 to 1969, and...
, Frank Gallop
Frank Gallop
Frank Gallop was an American radio and television personality.-Radio:Frank Gallop went into broadcasting by chance...
, Dave Garroway
Dave Garroway
David Cunningham "Dave" Garroway was the founding host of NBC's Today from 1952 to 1961. His easygoing, relaxed, and relaxing style belied a battle with depression that may have contributed to the end of his days as a leading television personality—and, eventually, his life...
, Peter Hackes,
Bill Hanrahan
Bill Hanrahan
William A. "Bill" Hanrahan , was an American radio and television announcer, perhaps best known as the "Voice of NBC News."...
, Bill Hayes
Bill Hayes
William "Bill" Foster Hayes III, born on June 5, 1925 in Harvey, Illinois) is a long-time American actor and Billboard Hot 100 #1 artist. Following a 20 year-long career as a musician, he achieved fame once again when he began playing Doug Williams on NBC's long-running Days of Our Lives in 1970. ...
, Bob Haymes
Bob Haymes
Robert Haymes , also known under the stage names Robert Stanton and Bob Stanton, was an American singer, songwriter, actor and radio and television host. He is best remembered today for co-writing the song "That's All", considered part of the Great American Songbook...
, Candy Jones
Candy Jones
Candy Jones, originally known as Jessica Arline Wilcox , was an American fashion model, writer and radio talk show hostess....
, Durward Kirby
Durward Kirby
Homer Durward Kirby , known professionally as Durward Kirby , was an American television host and announcer...
, Jim Lowe
Jim Lowe
Jim Lowe is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1956 number-one hit record, "The Green Door". He also served as a disc jockey and radio host and personality, and has been considered an expert on the popular music of the 1940s and 1950s.-Biography:Born in Springfield, Missouri, Lowe...
, Frank McGee
Frank McGee (journalism)
Frank McGee was an American television journalist.Born in Monroe in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, McGee began his broadcast news career at WKY-TV in his hometown. In 1955, the owners of WKY purchased WSFA-TV in Montgomery, Alabama, and sent McGee there as news...
, Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond.-Early life:...
, Leon Pearson, Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
, Peter Roberts
Peter Roberts
Peter Roberts may refer to:*Peter Roberts , inventor of the quick release socket wrench*Sir Peter Roberts, 3rd Baronet, British Conservative Party MP*Peter Scawen Watkinson Roberts , English recipient of the Victoria Cross...
, Ted Steele, John Cameron Swayze
John Cameron Swayze
John Cameron Swayze was a popular news commentator and game show panelist in the United States during the 1950s.- Early life :...
, Tony Taylor
Tony Taylor
Antonio Nemesio Taylor is a former second baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1958 through , Taylor played for the Chicago Cubs , Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers...
and David Wayne
David Wayne
David Wayne was an American actor with a career spanning nearly 50 years.-Early life and career:...
were all communicators during the 20-year run.
Many hosts and announcers of game shows were also communicators, including Mel Allen
Mel Allen
Mel Allen was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions...
(Jackpot Bowling), Ted Brown
Ted Brown
Ted Brown is an American and former collegiate and professional football player. He attended High Point high school, before attending North Carolina State University.-Football career:...
, Bill Cullen
Bill Cullen
William Lawrence Francis "Bill" Cullen was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades...
(The Price Is Right; Eye Guess), Hugh Downs
Hugh Downs
Hugh Malcolm Downs is a long time American broadcaster, television host, news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, and music composer; and is perhaps best known for his role as co-host the NBC News program Today from 1962 to 1971, host of the Concentration game show from 1958 to 1969, and...
(Concentration), Clifton Fadiman
Clifton Fadiman
Clifton P. "Kip" Fadiman was an American intellectual, author, editor, radio and television personality.-Literary career:...
(Information Please), Art Fleming
Art Fleming
Art Fleming was an American television host, most notably the original host of the TV game show Jeopardy!.-Early life:...
(Jeopardy!), Art Ford (Art Ford Show), Allen Funt
Allen Funt
Allen Funt was an American television producer, director and writer, television personality, best known as the creator and host of Candid Camera from the 1940s to 1980s, as either a regular television show or a television series of specials...
, Joe Garagiola (Sale of the Century), Ben Grauer
Ben Grauer
Benjamin Franklin Grauer was an US radio and TV personality, following a career during the 1920s as a child actor in films and on Broadway. He began his career as a child in David Warfield's production of The Return of Peter Grimm. Among his early credits were roles in films directed by D.W....
(Information Please
Information Please
Information Please was an American radio quiz show, created by Dan Golenpaul, which aired on NBC from May 17, 1938 to April 22, 1951. The title was the contemporary phrase used to request from telephone operators what was then called "information" but is now called "directory assistance".The series...
), Monty Hall
Monty Hall
Monte Halperin, OC, OM , better known by the stage name Monty Hall, is a Canadian-born MC, producer, actor, singer and sportscaster, best known as host of the television game show Let's Make a Deal.-Early life:...
(Video Village; Let's Make a Deal), Wayne Howell
Wayne Howell
Wayne Clay Howell Chappelle , known professionally as Wayne Howell, was a voice-over announcer for the NBC television and radio networks from 1947 through 1986...
(Concentration), Walter Kiernan
Walter Kiernan
Walter J. Kiernan was an American radio, television, and print journalist and author, as well as television game show host during the early days of the medium.-Career:...
(Who Said That?), Hal March
Hal March
Hal March was a Jewish-American comedian and actor.-Early career:March first came to note as part of a comedy team with Bob Sweeney. The duo had their own radio show for a time and performed, in the early 1950s, as "Sweeney & March." He also partnered with actor/comic Tom d'Andrea in the early...
(The $64,000 Question; What's It For?), Ed McMahon
Ed McMahon
Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995...
(Concentration; Missing Links; Snap Judgment), Garry Moore
Garry Moore
Garry Moore was an American entertainer, game show host and comedian best known for his work in television...
(I've Got A Secret; To Tell The Truth), Henry Morgan
Henry Morgan (comedian)
Henry Morgan was an American humorist. He is remembered best in two modern media: radio, on which he first became familiar as a barbed but often self-deprecating satirist, and on television, where he was a regular and cantankerous panelist for the game show I've Got a Secret...
, Bert Parks
Bert Parks
Bert Parks, born Bertram Jacobson , was an American actor, singer, and radio and television announcer, best known for hosting the annual Miss America telecast from 1955 to 1979....
(Break the Bank), Gene Rayburn
Gene Rayburn
Gene Rayburn was an American radio and television personality. He is best known as the host of various editions of the popular American television game show Match Game for over two decades....
(The Match Game), Don Russell and John Bartholomew Tucker
John Bartholomew Tucker
John Bartholomew Tucker is an American radio and television personality, as well as an author.Along with Big Wilson, Tucker was one of the last two "communicators" of the long-running NBC Radio program Monitor; he was on the air when the show signed off for the last time on January 26, 1975...
.
In later years Don Imus
Don Imus
John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.-Personal life:Imus was born in...
, Murray the K
Murray the K
Murray Kaufman , professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s...
, Robert W. Morgan
Robert W. Morgan
Robert Wilbur Morgan was an award-winning morning radio personality best known for his work at several stations in Los Angeles, California, in particular KHJ-AM....
and Wolfman Jack
Wolfman Jack
Robert Weston Smith, known commonly as Wolfman Jack was a gravelly voiced US disc jockey who became famous in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early career:...
helmed the Saturday evening segment until it was eliminated. The last hosts of Monitor in 1975 were Big Wilson and John Bartholomew Tucker. Behind the scenes, Monitors executive producers included Jim Fleming, Frank Papp, Al Capstaff and Bob Maurer.
Features and personalities
Remote segments originating from locations around the country were a regular part of Monitor, setting it apart from studio-bound broadcasts and taking advantage of network radio's reach. A weekend might include reports from a festival in Tucson, a golf championship in North Carolina, NBC's correspondent in Moscow, or on preparations for the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.Regular segments included "Celebrity Chef", "Ring Around the World", and "On the Line with Bob Considine". On-the-spot live remote broadcasts from New York City jazz clubs on Saturday evenings included both jazz groups and vocalists, such as Al Hibbler
Al Hibbler
Albert George "Al" Hibbler was an American baritone vocalist, who sang with Duke Ellington's orchestra before having several pop hits as a solo artist. Some of his singing is classified as rhythm and blues, but he is best classified as a bridge between R&B and traditional pop music...
.
In the show's early years, weather reports were delivered in a breathy, sexy voice by actress Tedi Thurman
Tedi Thurman
Theodora Thurman, better known as Tedi Thurman, was a fashion model and actress who found fame in the 1950s as Miss Monitor on NBC's Monitor, programmed by Pat Weaver as an innovative 40-hour weekend radio show....
in the role of Miss Monitor. Various broadcasting personalities heard delivering reports and segments included Jerry Baker (the Master Gardener), Morgan Beatty, Joyce Brothers, Al Capp
Al Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin , better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips Abbie an' Slats and Long Sam...
, Paul Christman
Paul Christman
Paul Joseph Christman was an American football player and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. He played college football for the University of Missouri and professionally for the Chicago Cardinals and Green Bay Packers.-Collegiate career:A St...
, Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
, Len Dillon, Chris Economaki; Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...
, Betty Furness
Betty Furness
Elizabeth Mary Furness was an American actress, consumer advocate and current affairs commentator.-Early years:...
, Curt Gowdy
Curt Gowdy
Curtis Edward "Curt" Gowdy was an American sportscaster, well known as the longtime "voice" of the Boston Red Sox and for his coverage of many nationally-televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:The son of a manager for the Union Pacific railroad,...
, Skitch Henderson
Skitch Henderson
Lyle Russell Cedric “Skitch” Henderson was a pianist, conductor, and composer. His nickname reportedly derived from his ability to quickly "re-sketch" a song in a different key.- Biography :...
, Chet Huntley
Chet Huntley
Chester Robert "Chet" Huntley was an American television newscaster, best known for co-anchoring NBC's evening news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, for 14 years beginning in 1956.-Early life:...
, Graham Kerr
Graham Kerr
Graham Kerr is a cooking personality who is best known for his television cooking show The Galloping Gourmet.- Biography :...
(the Galloping Gourmet), Joe Kirkwood, Jr.
Joe Kirkwood, Jr.
Joe Kirkwood, Jr. is a former professional golfer on the PGA Tour, and a motion picture actor.Kirkwood was born in Melbourne, Australia. His father Joe Kirkwood, Sr., who was a golf pro and who taught him to play golf, is acknowledged as having put Australian golf on the world map. In 1948, he...
, Fran Koltun; Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax
Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...
, Bill Mazer
Bill Mazer
Bill Mazer is an Jewish American television and radio personality.Winning numerous awards and citations, including three Sportscaster of the Year awards for New York from 1964–66....
, Lindsey Nelson
Lindsey Nelson
Lindsey Nelson was an American sportscaster best known for his broadcasts of college football and New York Mets baseball.-Early life and career:...
, Kyle Rote
Kyle Rote
William Kyle Rote, Sr. was an American football player and sports announcer.-Early life:Rote attended Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio, Texas, where he was an all-state basketball and football player....
, Gene Shalit
Gene Shalit
Gene Shalit is a film and book critic. He has filled these roles on NBC's The Today Show since January 15, 1973. He is known for his frequent use of puns, his oversized handlebar moustache, and for wearing colorful bowties.-Career:...
, Jim Simpson
Jim Simpson (sportscaster)
Jim Simpson is a retired American sportscaster, known for his smooth delivery as a play-by-play man and his versatility in covering many different sports. In 1997, he won the Sports Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2000 he was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters...
, Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters
Barbara Jill Walters is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. She has hosted morning television shows , the television newsmagazine , former co-anchor of the ABC Evening News, and current contributor to ABC News.Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news...
, Ted Webbe, Tony Zappone
Tony Zappone
Tony Zappone , became at age 16 the youngest credentialed journalist to lend press coverage to a major national political convention. He was also the youngest contributor of evidence during the Warren Commission hearings into the slaying of President John F. Kennedy...
and many NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
correspondents.
Comedy
Many comedy talents appeared through the years including Woody AllenWoody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
, Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
, Selma Diamond
Selma Diamond
Selma Diamond was a Canadian-born American comic actress and radio and television writer, and is known for her high-range, raspy voice and her portrayal of Selma Hacker on the first two seasons of the NBC television comedy series Night Court.-Life and career:Diamond was born in Montreal, Quebec,...
, Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes jokes about a husband named "Fang" while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder...
, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs was a Hungarian American comedian and actor.Kovacs' uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comedic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his death in an automobile accident...
, Bob Newhart
Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart , known professionally as Bob Newhart, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery, Newhart came to prominence in the 1960s when his album of comedic monologues The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was a worldwide...
, Jean Shepherd
Jean Shepherd
Jean Parker Shepherd was an American raconteur, radio and TV personality, writer and actor who was often referred to by the nickname Shep....
and Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Winters
-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
. The comedy team of Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
and Elaine May
Elaine May
Elaine May is an American film director, screenwriter and actress. She achieved her greatest fame in the 1950s from her improvisational comedy routines in partnership with Mike Nichols...
appeared on Monitor, as did Jerry Stiller
Jerry Stiller
Gerald Isaac "Jerry" Stiller is an American comedian and actor.He spent many years in the comedy team Stiller and Meara with his wife Anne Meara...
and Anne Meara
Anne Meara
Anne Meara is an American actress and comedian. She and Jerry Stiller were a prominent 1960s comedy team, appearing as Stiller and Meara, and are the parents of actor/comedian Ben and actress Amy Stiller.- Personal life :...
. Bob and Ray
Bob and Ray
Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding were an American comedy team whose career spanned five decades. Their format was typically to satirize the medium in which they were performing, such as conducting radio or television interviews, with off-the-wall dialogue presented in a generally deadpan style as...
, who won a 1957 Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
for their Monitor comedy routines, often remained at NBC during the weekend to step in if technical problems developed with remote segments.
Henry Morgan (comedian)
Henry Morgan was an American humorist. He is remembered best in two modern media: radio, on which he first became familiar as a barbed but often self-deprecating satirist, and on television, where he was a regular and cantankerous panelist for the game show I've Got a Secret...
had been a controversial radio comedian in the 1940s. Clifton Fadiman
Clifton Fadiman
Clifton P. "Kip" Fadiman was an American intellectual, author, editor, radio and television personality.-Literary career:...
was the legendary host of Information Please
Information Please
Information Please was an American radio quiz show, created by Dan Golenpaul, which aired on NBC from May 17, 1938 to April 22, 1951. The title was the contemporary phrase used to request from telephone operators what was then called "information" but is now called "directory assistance".The series...
, the highbrow quiz show. Mel Allen and Red Barber were familiar baseball voices (respectively, the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
and the Brooklyn Dodgers) since the 1940s. Garry Moore
Garry Moore
Garry Moore was an American entertainer, game show host and comedian best known for his work in television...
rose to fame as Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante
James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
's radio sidekick. Bert Parks
Bert Parks
Bert Parks, born Bertram Jacobson , was an American actor, singer, and radio and television announcer, best known for hosting the annual Miss America telecast from 1955 to 1979....
was host of the radio hits Stop the Music and Break the Bank.
Several radio comedy shows were revived in the form of regular five-minute Monitor segments, including Duffy's Tavern
Duffy's Tavern
Duffy's Tavern was a popular American radio situation comedy which ran for a decade on several networks , concluding with the December 28, 1951 broadcast....
. Jim and Marian Jordan, better known as old-time radio favorites Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...
, held down a regular Monitor segment and were said to be negotiating a new, long-term commitment to the show when Marian died of cancer in 1961. Peg Lynch and Alan Bunce, vintage radio's Ethel and Albert
Ethel and Albert
Ethel and Albert was a radio and television comedy series about a married couple, Ethel and Albert Arbuckle, living in the small town of Sandy Harbor...
, also performed five-minute Monitor vignettes from 1963-1965. Lynch made several of the vignettes available on compact disc for OTR collectors.
Later years
The innovative approach of Monitor made it a profitable success for NBC Radio over many years, helping to sustain the network in an era when network radio was collapsing. Its strong start and high popularity led the show to air on Friday nights from 8pm to 10pm in 1957, followed by an expansion to weeknights in 1959, all in addition to its 32 weekend hours (reduced from 40 in late 1955).By 1961, however, the weeknight Monitor was gone and the weekend schedule cut in half - from 32 to 16 hours each weekend. (This was not quite as drastic a cut as it seems, as some programming that had been counted as part of Monitor's 32 hours--such as Sunday morning religious broadcasts and the radio version of Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
--continued to air on NBC outside of the Monitor schedule.) This was further shortened in 1974 to only 12 live weekend hours (plus nine repeated hours).
Radio stations, especially in large markets, had increasingly adopted personality-driven formats featuring local disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s and sought to establish a clear-cut musical or talk identity for themselves. Because of this, Monitors "something-for-everyone" programming often did not fit in with schedules and viewpoints of stations, and fewer affiliates carried the program in major markets. Due to this, many of the show's sponsors also pulled away, requiring a shortening of the schedule to keep costs low.
NBC, however, refused to get rid of its biggest money-making show without a fight. The network introduced new music formats and changed hosts (hiring Don Imus, Wolfman Jack, and Robert W. Morgan to alternate on Saturday-night segments) to make the format faster-paced; NBC also created a "custom package" to allow stations to carry certain portions as they saw fit.
Despite NBC's efforts, it had appeared that Monitors time had come and gone. The network finally gave up fighting the trend by Fall 1974 and simply continued planning and programming the show's six-hour blocks for each Saturday and Sunday.
The final weekend
On January 25 and 26, 1975—just four-and-a-half months shy of celebrating its 20th anniversary—Monitor spent its last 12 hours looking back on its 20-year history (approximately 20,000-plus hours) with hosts Big Wilson and John Bartholomew Tucker. Many clips were played, including Dave Garroway's interview with Marilyn Monroe on the show's first day, Frank McGee's talk with Martin Luther King Jr. in the early 1960s, Bob and Ray spoofing "Miss Monitor" and reporter Helen Hall riding on a roller-coaster.On January 26, Wilson hosted from noon to 3pm while Tucker hosted from 3-6pm. The program's last guest was Hugh Downs, who talked about his earlier days on Monitor with Tucker. During the show's final minutes Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
sang about the show's history ("Monitor: It's Been a Long, Long Time"), followed by Tucker thanking the viewers and staff, after which he said his last farewell. The final sound heard on Monitor was of the "Beacon", followed by the NBC chimes at 5:58:50pm.
Approximately 125 stations still carried the program on its last day; however, very few were in major markets.
Listen to
- Monitor Beacon
- NPR: Liane Hansen talks with Dennis Hart on the 50th anniversary of Monitor (6/12/05)
- Miss Monitor (Tedi Thurman) (RealPlayerRealPlayerRealPlayer is a cross-platform media player by RealNetworks that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, Windows Media, and multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo formats.-History:...
) - Monitor (June 6, 1959, 11am to noon ET, Saturday with Bob and Ray, Ernie Kovacs, Miss Monitor, Bob Wilson, Monty HallMonty HallMonte Halperin, OC, OM , better known by the stage name Monty Hall, is a Canadian-born MC, producer, actor, singer and sportscaster, best known as host of the television game show Let's Make a Deal.-Early life:...
, Herb Kaplow, Longines Chorus and Orchestra, segment on airline ticketing via "electronic brain" in Copenhagen (MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format) - "Miss Janitor", the Joy Boys' parody of Miss Monitor (February 10, 1961) (MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format) - Monitor: Nichols and May (September 1964) (MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format)