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Huntley/Brinkley vs. Cronkite

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installLSC

In the early 60s "The Huntley/Brinkley Report" on NBC totally dominated its competition, a major reason CBS replaced Douglas Edwards with Walter Cronkite as anchor. But Cronkite took a while to get going; in one of the 1964 political conventions he was dumped from the lead spot. By the time Huntley retired in 1970, CBS had surpassed NBC in ratings. Why? And which of the anchors did you or your families prefer?
 
My parents were Cronkite (and CBS) all the way. My father was a died-in-the-wool left winger, and IIRC - he didn't like Chet Huntley because he was a conservative.

I also recall that he had a low opinion of Howard K. Smith (ABC) because Smith supported the war in Vietnam.
 
Silkie said:
My parents were Chet Huntley/David Brinkley viewers.
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So were mine (also of KYW-3's Eyewitness News with Vince Leonard). My paternal grandparents (my maternal grandparents both died before I was born) watched Cronkite (and John Facenda on WCAU-10).

ixnay
 
Back then you had to walk over to the television set to change the channel.
 
During my childhood(I'm 41), I only remember my dad watching ABC(Frank Reynolds and later Peter Jennings, although by the '90s, he'd given up on broadcast network news for CNN, and, later, Fox).
Dad told me he used to watch Huntley-Brinkley, up until later in the '60s, when Jennings and then Reynolds had their first, brief, stints as anchors.(I think he just wanted a change of pace from NBC, but he never could stand Cronkite, so CBS was out; he remembered watching Douglas Edwards before Cronkite or H-B were on in the evenings). He also liked Howard K. Smith, and, to some extent, Harry Reasoner when they were on ABC; however, he didn't care for Barbara Walters(neither did Harry!)
By the time I was old enough to remember, 'World News Tonight' was underway, and, other than maybe catching 'NBC News Digest' breaks in prime time, that was the only network he watched for news in the '80s. He was glad to see Brinkley join ABC, and watched ''This Week' regularly.
 
my folks always watched Peter Jennings at night and Charles Gibson in the morning they never liked Brokaw or Gumbel so or Dan Rather maybe because they were liberals
 
i might add we always watched WLOS(ABC station) for the news 'Monday Night Football" "China Beach" and "Wheel Of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" as far as WYFF(NBC station) i only watched game shows "On Scene" and the NFL and that was it in terms of that station oh i might add also on WLOS i watched "American Gladiators"
 
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...my widowed grandmother was hopelessly in love with Chet Huntley in the early '60s. :) She also had a backup crush on Floyd Kalber, who did the local news on WMAQ-TV/5, the NBC O&O in Chicago...
 
installLSC said:
In the early 60s "The Huntley/Brinkley Report" on NBC totally dominated its competition, a major reason CBS replaced Douglas Edwards with Walter Cronkite as anchor. But Cronkite took a while to get going; in one of the 1964 political conventions he was dumped from the lead spot. By the time Huntley retired in 1970, CBS had surpassed NBC in ratings. Why? And which of the anchors did you or your families prefer?
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As with most things, there were several factors. Cronkite's passion for the American space program made him the guy to watch during launches and splashdowns in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. No doubt some of those people ended up watching the CBS Evening News as a result. The March, 1967 AFTRA strike was also critical. Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley refused to cross the picket line. Chet Huntley crossed the line and went to work. In an interview years later, Brinkley said he thought viewers interpreted his and Huntley's different views on the strike as a sign that they weren't really a team and didn't get along, changing the dynamic and allowing Cronkite, who'd been close, to catch up and overtake them.

My take, after a few decades in broadcast journalism? Chet was pretty dull and David could come off like a total smarta**. Together, early on, it worked...but over the long haul, Walter Cronkite's warm and direct delivery paid off. The closest NBC had to that was John Chancellor, and that's who they turned to when Huntley retired.

I grew up in an NBC home. Huntley-Brinkley all the way. Interestingly, my parents were liberal, like Llew's, but had a completely different choice in evening newscasts.
 
michael hagerty said:
My take, after a few decades in broadcast journalism? Chet was pretty dull and David could come off like a total smarta**. Together, early on, it worked...but over the long haul, Walter Cronkite's warm and direct delivery paid off. The closest NBC had to that was John Chancellor, and that's who they turned to when Huntley retired.
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...actually, when Huntley quit, NBC went to a rotating trio of anchors -- Chancellor, Brinkley and Frank McGee. That lasted for about a year before McGee was given Hugh Downs' spot on Today (to Barbara Walters' notable dismay) and Brinkley was pulled back to being mainly a commentator, not unlike Eric Sevareid's function on Cronkite's newscast. In '76, NBC went back to a two-anchor structure using Chancellor and Brinkley; in '79, Brinkley was again taken off the anchor's chair. When Chancellor stepped into his own commentator role in '82, NBC replaced him with another duo, Tom Brokaw and Roger Mudd...
 
...and Mudd lasted about a year before being moved to, yes, 'commentary', plus hosting a few of NBC's many failed newsmagazines.
 
michael hagerty said:
As with most things, there were several factors. Cronkite's passion for the American space program made him the guy to watch during launches and splashdowns in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. No doubt some of those people ended up watching the CBS Evening News as a result.
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Agreed. CBS's space coverage in the 1960's and early 1970's was light years ahead of the competition, and Cronkite's enthusiasm was a key reason. His teaming with former astronaut Wally Schirra for Apollo moon mission coverage was top notch.

CBS's political coverage during the turbulent 1960's also was a step above NBC and ABC.

The March, 1967 AFTRA strike was also critical. Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley refused to cross the picket line. Chet Huntley crossed the line and went to work. In an interview years later, Brinkley said he thought viewers interpreted his and Huntley's different views on the strike as a sign that they weren't really a team and didn't get along, changing the dynamic and allowing Cronkite, who'd been close, to catch up and overtake them.
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A strike which infamously gave Arnold Zenker his 15 minutes of fame anchoring the CBS Evening News. Zenker is still alive, now in his mid 70's.

My take, after a few decades in broadcast journalism? Chet was pretty dull and David could come off like a total smarta**. Together, early on, it worked...but over the long haul, Walter Cronkite's warm and direct delivery paid off. The closest NBC had to that was John Chancellor, and that's who they turned to when Huntley retired.
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Chet Huntley always came across as "old" and not in a positive way like Cronkite, who had a certain degree of charm, hence the "Uncle Walter" nickname.
 
Arnold Zenker, yet! Now there's a championship trivia question. Wasn't it Allan Sherman who sang (to the tune of "Love and Marriage,") "Hunt-ley, Brink-ley, Hunt-ley, Brink-ley; one is solemn and the other's twink-ly"?
 
If i was NBC, I'd would have kept Frank McGee on Nightly News, had John Chancellor at the White House, and made Barbara Walters host of Today. Brinkley would have been a commentator, while also being the main backup to McGee, and they would have done Election Night, etc. And in another what if scenario, Brokaw does Nightly News starting in 74, rather than 82, and Walters is host of Today until maybe 82.
 
danderson6500 said:
If i was NBC, I'd would have kept Frank McGee on Nightly News, had John Chancellor at the White House, and made Barbara Walters host of Today. Brinkley would have been a commentator, while also being the main backup to McGee, and they would have done Election Night, etc. And in another what if scenario, Brokaw does Nightly News starting in 74, rather than 82, and Walters is host of Today until maybe 82.
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Any solution involving Frank McGee would have been short-lived, in that he died in 1974 at the age of 52. I remember being quite shocked!
 
Huntley/Brinkley started anchoring way before Cronkite (1956 compared to Cronkite in 1963). However, Cronkite was probably most responsible for H/B going from 15 minutes to 30 minutes in '63. The 60's were definitely a two-way race between NBC and CBS, though ABC also offered an evening news product. Peter Jennings actually anchored ABC in the mid 60's, before coming back in that role in the late 70's, though shared with Max Robinson and Frank Reynolds, eventually becoming solo anchor.

My family preferred Huntley/Brinkley, but mostly because they liked NBC KING-TV Seattle for local in the 60's and 70's. And who could resist their signature sign-off: "Goodnight Chet, Goodnight David, and Goodnight for NBC News".
 
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