''Hear It Now'', an American

radio program A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

, began on December 15, 1950, ending in June 1951. It was hosted by

Edward R. Murrow Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe fo ...

and produced by Murrow and

Fred W. Friendly Fred W. Friendly (born Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer, October 30, 1915 – March 3, 1998) was a president of CBS News and the creator, along with Edward R. Murrow, of the documentary television program '' See It Now''. He originated the concep ...

. It ran for one hour on Fridays at 9 pm Eastern Time.

The show's beginnings

The

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

album ''I Can Hear It Now 1933–1945'' (1948) was described in the book ''Biographical Dictionary of Radio'' as "a spectacular critical and commercial success". The boxed-set album consisted of five 78 rpm recordings, totaling about 45 minutes of sound, and it was the first documentary recording to become widely popular. A collaboration between Murrow and Friendly, it interwove historical events with speeches and Murrow's narration and marked the beginning of one of the most famous pairings in journalism history. The huge success of the record (and two follow-up albums released in 1949 and 1950) prompted the pair to parlay it into a weekly radio show for

, called ''Hear It Now''. Originally, the series was to have been titled ''Report to the Nation'', and was identified as such when it was announced as the following week's replacement for ''

Broadway Is My Beat ''Broadway Is My Beat'', a radio crime drama, ran on CBS from February 27, 1949 to August 1, 1954. With Anthony Ross portraying Times Square Detective Danny Clover, the show originated from New York during its first three months on the air. For ...

'' at the end of its December 8, 1950, episode.Ralph Engelman's book ''Friendlyvision: Fred Friendly and the Rise and Fall of Television Journalism'', says, "On November 9, 1950, ... the new broadcast team produced for CBS radio ''A Report to the Nation—The 1950 Election''. A CBS press release said that the program would be 'the first in a series of projected documentary productions which Murrow will do on CBS radio and TV.'" Before its premiere, though, CBS retitled it ''Hear It Now'' to capitalize on the popularity of Murrow's albums. The hour-long program was carried on 173 stations.

Format

The show had a "magazine" format. It sought to include a variety of sounds from current events such as an atom smasher at work or

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

fire from

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. It was the artillery fire that produced one of the show's more poignant moments as it backdropped the words of American soldiers fighting the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. The entire premise of the show was to include the "actual sound of history in the making," according to Murrow. Some of the show's audio was what ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

'' called "fairly routine" in 1950. Such soundbites as Communist China's General Wu and Russia's

Andrei Vishinsky Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky (russian: Андре́й Януа́рьевич Выши́нский; pl, Andrzej Wyszyński) ( – 22 November 1954) was a Soviet politician, jurist and diplomat. He is known as a state prosecutor of Jose ...

along with

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the permanent representative of the United States of America to the United Nations ...

Warren Austin Warren Robinson Austin (November 12, 1877 – December 25, 1962) was an American politician and diplomat who served as United States Senator from Vermont and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. A native of Highgate Center, Vermont, Austin was ...

were included among those routinely used. But ''Time'' also lauded the "vivid reality" created by the aforemention artillery clips, comments from wounded

U.S. Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary warfare, exped ...

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

's recital of his ''

The People, Yes ''The People, Yes'' is a book-length poem written by Carl Sandburg and published in 1936. The 300 page work is thoroughly interspersed with references to American culture, phrases, and stories (such as the legend of Paul Bunyan). Published at the ...

''. The legwork involved in producing the program often exceeded the amount of programming culled from the reporting. For an hour and a half of interviews in

Koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * K ...

the duo was able to use 21 seconds of the material on the air. The program also shied away from the traditional use of string music common to many radio shows of the time period. Instead the show relied on composers such as David Diamond and

Lehman Engel A. Lehman Engel (born September 14, 1910, Jackson, Mississippi - died August 29, 1982, New York City) was an American composer and conductor of Broadway musicals, television and film. Work in theatre, television and films Engel worked in a variety ...

to produce its music. Murrow anchored the show with news and editorial commentary but ''Hear It Now'' also featured regular oral columns and features. *

Red Barber Walter Lanier "Red" Barber (February 17, 1908 – October 22, 1992) was an American sports announcer and author. Nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", he was primarily identified with broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four d ...

: covered sports *comic

Abe Burrows Abe Burrows (born Abram Solman Borowitz; December 18, 1910 – May 17, 1985) was an American humorist, author, and director for radio and the stage. He won a Tony Award and was selected for two Pulitzer Prizes, only one of which was awarded. Ear ...

: covered drama *

Don Hollenbeck Don Hollenbeck (March 30, 1905June 22, 1954) was a CBS newscaster, commentator, and associate of Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly. He died from fuel gas inhalation as it was discovered that his stove and oven had been turned on but not lit ( ...

: covered the media * Bill Leonard: covered movies The show wrapped up each week's broadcast with a four to ten minute "closeup." An example of the subject matter of the closeup was General of the Army

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

Impact of television

The rising importance of

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

compelled a reluctant Murrow in 1951 to introduce a TV version of the radio show, called ''

See It Now ''See It Now'' is an American newsmagazine and documentary series broadcast by CBS from 1951 to 1958. It was created by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly, with Murrow as the host of the show. From 1952 to 1957, ''See It Now'' won four Emmy A ...

''. With the inception of ''See It Now'', ''Hear It Now'' ended its on-air run.

Recognition

''Hear It Now'' received an Honorable Mention in the 1950

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

s. The citation called the program "a brilliant application of tape-recording to the purpose of the news summary, by which the listener is privileged to hear the news from the very individuals who made it."

Notes

References

''Time Magazine'' article
December 25, 1950 {{Edward R. Murrow 1950s American radio programs American news radio programs Peabody Award-winning radio programs CBS Radio programs