''The Walter Compton News'' is an American

television news News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or telev ...

series that aired from 1947 to 1948 on the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...

Monday through Friday from 6:45 pm to 7 pm ET.

Broadcast history

''The Walter Compton News'' premiered on DuMont station

WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA share ...

on June 16, 1947, then on the DuMont network on August 25, 1947, but was reportedly off the air by January 1948. This show had seasoned radio broadcaster and executive Walter Compton (1912-1959) reading news from a script with the occasional use of slides. Beginning on November 17,

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

became a sponsor of ''The Walter Compton News''. In 1942, Compton had been host of ''Quiz of Two Cities'', aired by Mutual Radio on

WOL-AM WOL (1450 AM) is an urban talk radio station in Washington, D.C. This is the flagship radio station of Radio One. It is co-owned with WKYS, WMMJ, WPRS, and WYCB and has studios located in Silver Spring, Maryland. The transmitter site i ...

in Washington DC, and on WFBR in Baltimore. The program is notable for having been "the first news series on a television network to originate from Washington." Premiering in January 1948, ''

Camera Headlines ''Camera Headlines'' was an early American television series that aired from January 1948 to 1949 on the DuMont Television Network. Broadcast history DuMont's previous national news program, ''The Walter Compton News'', had premiered on DuMont sta ...

'' was a second attempt by DuMont to present a TV news program, this time using newsreel film footage. ''Camera Headlines'' alternated with ''

I.N.S. Telenews ''I.N.S. Telenews'' was an American news program aired on the now defunct DuMont Television Network from 1948 to 1949. Broadcast history Each episode was 15 minutes long, made by International News Service, and aired weekly, each Tuesday at 7:45 p ...

''. It may also have been the first nightly television newscast to appear over a network, although it is possible that a television simulcast of

Lowell Thomas Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, actor, broadcaster, and traveler, best remembered for publicising T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). He was also involved in promoting the Cinerama widescreen ...

NBC Blue The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the N ...

Radio Network newscast in 1940 and 1941 may have been seen, at least occasionally, on

W2XB W, or w, is the twenty-third and fourth-to-last letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. It represents a consonant, but in some languages it r ...

Schenectady and/or W3XE Philadelphia, but records are also quite sketchy.

Episode status

As with many DuMont programs, no episodes of ''The Walter Compton News'' are known to survive.

Kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940 ...

s were not available until the fall of 1947, and were used sparingly in the early years. Little else is known about the series, even though it aired on a major United States television network.

References

Bibliography

*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia:

Temple University Press Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach t ...

, 2004) *Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York:

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...

, 1964)

External links

DuMont historical website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walter Compton News, The DuMont Television Network original programming 1947 American television series debuts 1948 American television series endings Black-and-white American television shows 1940s American television news shows Lost television shows DuMont news programming

Broadcast history

Episode status

See also

References

Bibliography

External links