EDWARD MURROW

By the early 1940s, radio had become a fixture in most American households. The radio correspondents who ventured overseas to broadcast the war back home became household names—with Edward R. Murrow emerging as the most well-known.

With his signature line—“This…is London”—Murrow brought World War II into America’s living rooms.

Born on April 25, 1908, in Greensboro, North Carolina, Murrow joined CBS as a manager in 1935 and began to build the CBS News legacy.

Determined that CBS’s voice of authority should belong to a true authority, Murrow assembled a news staff that included Charles Collingwood, Eric Severeid, William L. Shirer and Howard K. Smith. Each was selected not because of radio experience, but because of his knowledge of the European political battlefields.

Murrow’s on-air reporting often involved great personal risk. He would broadcast from London rooftops during the 1940 German Blitz.

Returning home to America after the war, Murrow was made a CBS News Vice President in 1945. In 1948, Murrow narrated I Can Hear It Now, a record album chronicling World War II. The album was produced by Fred W. Friendly, with whom Murrow would soon make television history.

Edward R. Murrow died on April 27, 1965.

Edward R. Murrow was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.

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