Robert Conley (May 8, 1928 – November 16, 2013) was an American newspaper, television and radio reporter.

Overview

Conley was a

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in the 1950s and 1960s,

bureau chief A news bureau is an office for gathering or distributing news. Similar terms are used for specialized bureaus, often to indicate a geographic location or scope of coverage: a ‘Tokyo bureau’ refers to a given news operation's office in Tokyo; ' ...

for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

, Africa, as well as a foreign correspondent for NBC News' ''

The Huntley-Brinkley Report ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' throughout the 1960s,

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

for and contributor to ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

'' magazine in the late 1960s to early 1970s,Conley, Robert A.M. "Locusts: 'Teeth of the Wind.'" National Geographic Magazine, August 1969, pp. 202-26. and first host of the groundbreaking and popular

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 ...

-winning

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

(NPR) radio news and cultural program ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'' in the 1970s. He appeared on and conducted interviews on such shows as ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

,'' ''

Face the Nation ''Face the Nation'' is a weekly news and morning public affairs program airing Sundays on the CBS radio and television network. Created by Frank Stanton in 1954, ''Face the Nation'' is one of the longest-running news programs in the history o ...

'' and on the channel

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

. In 2016 the first broadcast of ''

,'' hosted by Conley, was inducted into the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Career

''The New York Times''

Before going overseas for ''The New York Times'', Conley was first based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, reporting on national events, often for the front page. As major news events in Africa began to develop throughout the 1960s, ''The Times'' made Conley its foreign correspondent for Africa, based in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

, Kenya.

NBC News and ''The Huntley-Brinkley Report''

In the mid-1960s, NBC News hired Conley as bureau chief of its Africa bureau. From its base in Nairobi, Conley traveled across the African continent, covering events and filing stories for NBC News and its affiliated programs such as ''The Huntley-Brinkley Report.'' Conley's news beat took him from

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

, in a time when overseas

news bureau A news bureau is an office for gathering or distributing news. Similar terms are used for specialized bureaus, often to indicate a geographic location or scope of coverage: a ‘Tokyo bureau’ refers to a given news operation's office in Tokyo; ' ...

s for the United States were not so ubiquitous as in later times.

NPR and ''All Things Considered''

National Public Radio (NPR) was incorporated on February 26, 1970, following the passage of the

Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 () issued the congressional corporate charter for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private nonprofit corporation funded by taxpayers to disburse grants to public broadcasters in the United Sta ...

, passage of which was aided by Conley testifying before Congress, that established the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

and also led to the creation of the

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

(PBS). ''All Things Considered'' made its debut on May 3, 1971, broadcasting in 32 states, with the program's creator Conley as host. As described in an article by Hal Klopper for the Fall 2006 newsletter of the Carnegie Corporation of New York:

Inaugural broadcast of ''All Things Considered'' inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress

In 2016 that first show of ''All Things Considered,'' hosted by Conley, was inducted into the

of the

for its "cultural, artistic and historical importance to American society and the nation's audio heritage."

"All Things Considered," first broadcast (May 3, 1971) The National Public Radio flagship news program ''All Things Considered'' launched on May 3, 1971, one month after the network itself began broadcasting. With an emphasis on "interpretation, investigative reporting on public affairs, the world of ideas and the arts," in the words of programming head Bill Siemering, "All Things Considered" aimed to give voice to diverse segments of American society in a relaxed, conversational mode. The first broadcast, however, featuring recorded excerpts from a huge antiwar protest in the nation's capital that took place the same day, was "raw, visceral, and took listeners to the heart of America's agonies over the war in Vietnam," remembered Susan Stamberg, an NPR staffer at the time, who became a co-host of the show the following year. While the inaugural program was broadcast to approximately 90 stations across the nation, reaching only a few hundred thousand listeners, "All Things Considered" has since become, according to NPR, "the most listened-to afternoon drive-time news radio program in the country."

Personal life

He married Mary Jane (Samborski), and with her had five children—Jonathan, Dermot, Helen, Andrew, and Shelagh, and three grandchildren, Mark, Matthew, and Daniel.

Death

Born in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, Conley died at age 85 from

parotid cancer Salivary gland tumours, also known as mucous gland adenomas or neoplasms, are tumours that form in the tissues of salivary glands. The salivary glands are classified as major or minor. The major salivary glands consist of the parotid, submandibu ...

, in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. He is buried at

Quantico National Cemetery Quantico National Cemetery is a national cemetery in Triangle, Virginia for veterans who served in the United States Armed Forces. Adjacent to and originally part of Marine Corps Base Quantico, it was established as a national cemetery in 1983 wi ...

.Notice of death of Robert Conley
/ref>

References

External links

*Segments from the inaugural broadcast of ''All Things Considered'', and more on NPR'
Happy 40th To ''All Things Considered''

The National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, 2016 inductees
\ {{DEFAULTSORT:Conley, Robert 2013 deaths 1928 births American newspaper reporters and correspondents American television reporters and correspondents NPR personalities NBC News people The New York Times people National Geographic Society Deaths from cancer in Virginia People from Massachusetts Library of Congress Burials at Quantico National Cemetery