Excerpts of 1973 "CBS Morning News"

[JPhands]

This reminds me of PBS news hour. If you like mellow, rational, news. I'd reccomend PBS news hour.

[WhatsAYak]

What a disastrous first week...Sally Quinn actually collapsed w/the flu only 90 min before airtime and required valiant effort to make it through the premiere, and then Hughes Rudd's mother died the next day!

[vintagehaynesflute]

A little kidness, remember Sally Quinn was thrown on the air with ZERO training, no staff meetings, nothing. I think it's a credit to her that she's this good!

[ScooterpupReljac]

Gosh, this takes me back.....I forgot all about reporter Mariah McGloughlan.

Thanks for posting this vid.

[OrthodoxAnarchy]

What is there to dislike about this? Really, is it the news which was covered? or something else? Don't really understand how 6 people disliked this video.

[ScooterpupReljac]

Sally Quinn is by far the worst TV news reporter ever. This is agonizing to watch. A good news reporter doesn't necessarily have to have charisma but it was definitely lacking here.

[Injustice360]

Sally Quinn used to be hot. WTF happened to her?

[linusvanpelter]

@Injustice360 Uh, she got older?

[toeazy34]

OMG check out Leslie Stahl at 1:22. Talk about an early 70's hottie. I'm guessing she's about 30 in this shot, yowser!!

[altfactor]

The reason the time was anounced as "5 minutes after the hour" was that there may have been some Central time zone stations that aired the "Morning News" at 6 A.M. CDT!

It was only an hour, from 7-8 A.M. Eastern.

It was SO obvious Sally Quinn was miscast!

Lesley Stahl should have gotten the female co-anchor slot, even then.

[Mcnzlea]

The anti-litter spot with Iron Eyes Cody wasn't a commercial; it was considered a public-service announcement.

CBS had lots of strengths in programming, but was never real successful first thing in the morning. They did alright with "Captain Kangaroo" but getting their parents to digest basic news with their breakfast was way tougher.

To this day CBS still can't find an AM audience.

[elc1960]

I would like to correct a remark I made a few months ago pertaining to Ms. Quinn: the movie "All the President's Men" claims that Sally was the woman Ken Clawson confessed to about writing the infamous "Canuck Letter" that was typed on Edmund Muskie's stationery in an attempt to make Muskie sound racist. The book that the movie is based on credits Marilyn Berger as the woman Clawson made that claim to, so there's seriously conflicting info between the two sources.

[swami1]

This was from Monday, August 6, 1973.

[RRaquello]

On the Indian/Pollution commercial, it sounds like Bill Conrad doing the voice over. How about a lady news reporter actually wearing her glasses on TV?

[glasscitadel12]

doesn't look like the 70's, looks more like the 80's.

[rbsvy91368]

Leslie Stahl looked great then. I love the way Journalists looked and acted. Mostly professionally. I miss the 1970's. Everything was much different. Today I get sick of the porno star look like this one woman on CNN. She looks like she goes home to do porno movies after she does the news. Everything thing was very serious journalism and well researched.

[getyoid]

I LOVE those huge earphones these used to wear!

[altfactor]

This incarnation of the "CBS morning News" was heavily hyped, and many thought that it would give NBC's "Today" it's first-ever serious competition.

Sally Quinn's short stint at CBS was considered the biggest blunder ever made at a network news division.

Unlike some print reporters who made successful transitions to network TV, Quinn didn't.

Quinn returned to the Washington Post and in the years after her return to the paper, built up a solid reputation as a print reporter.

[NORTHERNKONFLIKT]

the 70's were so laid back and happy... now its fear 24/7... :(

[VintageTelevision]

@NORTHERNKONFLIKT

I suppose the yellow smiley face is an fitting icon of this decade!

Aside from the Watergate scandal, society seemed to be on the upswing and making progress during the 1970s. Also, despite fewer networks and channels, television programming was considerably better then than it is now.

[mattfirebird]

@VintageTelevision - I was a young boy in the 70's. I totally agree. Compared to today television, and society in general, was so innocent. The really strange paradox is that in spite of immense strides in technology, namely computer technology, society is far more violent and stressed to the max. America is more divided politically than it's ever been, and yet, because of my memories of growing up in that era I believe the best elements of humanity will prevail.

[dynagravitomagnetic]

@NORTHERNKONFLIKT The seventies were okay in the United States because our industries were still in production from the last world war, and we still manufactured goods to sell to foreign markets. In other countries, there was poverty and starvation because of the same set of circumstances. Now the securities exchange in conjunction with the central bank has taken over the government. We can expect to see a run-up to a totalitarian state. This happens Inevitably in capitalism.

[70sman4ever]

@NORTHERNKONFLIKT We need to restore that "laid back" attitude because we are only working ourselves to death for no reason. Long live the 70s!!!! Dig it?!

[andrewdtrigg]

I love the sweetness of the presenters. Contrast this with today's Fox. Huge sigh.

[dandydonaldo]

The Indian in the commercial played by Iron Eyes Cody.

[FRSFreeState]

1973 was a great time to cover National News because of the Watergate Scandal

[jsteiger2228]

3:38 - how about some kind of transition????

[VintageTelevision]

@jsteiger2228

This is a compilation of clips from the full broadcast. Elements have been edited down.

[gootenslog]

Sally Quinn.....possibly the WORST television jounalist of all time.

This is painful to watch.

[getula1964]

@gootenslog OOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!! (CRINGE!!) TALK ABOUT AWKWARD!!!

[rxstarh]

@gootenslog It's not her fault. If you google "We're going to make you a star" by Sally Quinn it's a whole story explaining how CBS did not prepare her for anything and she was not getting any advice and was just thrown into this. Also, this day she was sick and had been rushed to the hospital right before this aired. Everything is explained in the reading, I feel bad for her actualy.

[elc1960]

The man I referred to in that earlier comment is named Ken Clawson. He was a member of Nixon's staff and also of CREEP (Committee To Re-Elect the President). Supposedly he was the man who authored the "Canuck Letter" and managed to make it look official by doing it on Muskie's letterhead stationery.

[elc1960]

Sally Quinn, according to "All The President's Men", was the person who revealed the name of the man who wrote the "Canuck Letter" that damaged Edmund Muskie's run for the Presidency in 1972. I don't remember the man's name, but supposedly he and Sally were having drinks in her apartment and he bragged to her that he wrote the letter (presumably to impress her into sleeping with him). Big mistake to put her in front of the camera though. Beautiful woman, but zero camera presence.

[getula1964]

@elc1960 HA!!!! i don't know if i'd go as far as to say 'beautiful', but i'm definitely with you on the 'zero camera presence'!!

[Soulthinker2007]

I hope you bring footage of the CBS Morning News with John Hart soon.

[thatmuse76]

Wow, Pat Bucannan really looks like a square for those times.

[anchorman87]

Hughes Rudd? haha what a name

[elc1960]

@anchorman87 Ha ha! Better than "Harmon Slank", I guess. (As far as I know, that's not a real name.)

[sixtiksix]

LOL...she escaped from Stepford

[mcdonchris]

God Sally Quinn is atrocious...lmao

[fromthesidelines]

Bill Gilliand was also "60 MINUTES"'s announcer until his death several years ago.

[susannreno]

Sally Quinn is as bad here as I remember. What an airhead. She returned back to the WP, married shack-up Ben Bradlee, and became the Hostess with the Leastess.

[MarkJ1961]

The announcer is Bill Gillian (or is it Gilliam?), who'd been with CBS (Radio and TV, and WCBS as well) "forever"! He was still announcing at CBS in the 80s/90s, and was announcing for CBS (New York) since the 1950s/60s! The outcue/promo for the "New Perry Mason" didn't mention that Monte Markham was now the (Fall 73) Perry. Raymond Burr was now Ironside on NBC.

[wmbrown6]

@MarkJ1961 - It was Bill Gilliand, and he also, from what I understand, hosted the recurring special "Award Theatre" presentations of first-run prestigious films (I presume on-camera) sponsored by Schaefer Beer that ran on major holidays in place of "The Late Show" (the long-running movie series, not the David Letterman gabfest) from 1959 to 1968 and again as a once-a-month offering in 1970 (the short-lived revival consisting of "prestigious" off-network film titles).

[MarkJ1961]

I finally get to see Mariah McGlaughlin (sp?)! I'd hear her do reports on CBS Radio's hourly newscasts throughout the 1970s (and I do miss the CBS Radio Mystery Theater), but I just don't remember seeing her much on CBS-TV news back then.

And when I saw the Indian in the canoe, the first words out of my mouth were "Hey, it's the crying Indian!"

[wmbrown6]

@MarkJ1961 - Marya McLaughlin reported for CBS between 1965 and 1988; she died of meningitis in 1998 at age 68.

[MarkJ1961]

I can take old cranky Hughes Rudd, but Sally Quinn makes me want to switch over to Babwa Walters, Hugh Downs, Frank Blair, Joe Garagiola, and of course Gene Shallit with the electrified hair, all over at the NBC Peacock for the TODAY show!

[blank77]

At 1:34 and 3:48,when the CBS appears,is it that when local stations put up their graphics with the time and temperaure?

[Theospeak1]

Oh, man, the Indian commercial at 3:52, that is classic! I remember that from when I was a kid. I was only like 5 years old. That's amazing!

[BRUC2016]

@Theospeak1 I didn't know they had Indians in Pittsburgh back in 1973.

Very educational.

[FiberMania]

@Theospeak1 That "indian" was actually an Italian actor. Check it out. We've been scammed!!! LMAO

[elc1960]

@FiberMania He's not the only Italian that played a Native American. The wrestler Chief Jay Strongbow was actually an Italian as well (his real name is Joseph Luke Scarpa).

[MrRocker04]

I agree with the other posters, Quinn and Stahl are still gorgeous. Exactly my type of women, and young, oh my. WOW!

[tommiej3]

at 3:45 a real rudimentary weather map!!

[tommiej3]

OMG I remember watching them! They were my first AM people!

[BigStick3456]

Leslie Sthal and Sally Quinn are still really attractive looking woman. But boy, they we're straight up babes in their younger days.

[BigStick3456]

Wow, how beautiful was Leslie Stahl & Sally Quinn back then? I mean they are still very attractive, but wow. They we're dreamy when they we're younger.

[mphs95]

Sally just seems so hoity toity, especially @ 1:32 when she introduces the child labor story as "some hands down on the farm". There's a book out published in 1978 that told the story of CBS News, even the bad stuff. A whole chapter is devoted to Sally Quinn. Very good book

[swami1]

This looks like a bad audition tape from a very bad broadcast school.

[wmbrown6]

@swami1 - It did seem that the "CBS Morning News," especially in this period, had that kind of aura.

[mstatz]

I remember the Indian commercial. They played that one all the time when I was a little kid. In fact, it played all through the 70's.

[tommiej3]

Yep - love the Indian!! People start pollution - people can stop it!

[RUSH2LIMBAUGH]

Wow, was Sally ever beautiful! I remember watching this when it first aired. Hughes was great, too!

[PupuTheClown]

that was a McDonalds "unhappy meal" that woman threw out of the Pontiac that landed on the Italian Indian man's feet & made him cry. (yes he's Italian not Native American)

[musicom67]

3:55 The LONG version of the infamous "Crying Indian" PSA ad. "People can start pollution - People can STOP it!"

[musicom67]

7:40 Pat Buchanan... could never picture him as a young man. Ever.

[phlogiston08]

The crying Indian! That PSA brings back so many memories from childhood. I remember the crying Indian PSA well.

[phlogiston08]

I can see the difference against today's approach. Much less glossy and high-end. More real-world.

[noahf67]

Not a bad "Captain Kangaroo" lead in

[jkminnich]

Leslie Stahl was pretty

[gootenslog]

Hughes Rudd was a true journalist and professional. Sally Quinn is still a trainwreck.

[upinflamezzz]

Lesley Stahl from 60 Minutes?

[catholicpriest1]

True professionals don't talk about their "sore throat and fever." Maybe this was the beginning of "Me Centered TV", Walter never talked about himself.

[brithgob]

No, Walter just took entire summers off and let Roger Mudd fill in.

[wmbrown6]

@brithgob - And at some points in a year, Cronkite would anchor from Washington rather than New York - sort of like Johnny Carson, in his first decade hosting "The Tonight Show," doing a few weeks a year from Burbank when he was based in New York. (Only twice after the May 1972 move to Burbank, in November 1972 and May 1973, did Johnny and the show make return visits to New York.)

[tcatmd]

It is amazing to see this after having read her book.

[fctchk]

How little things have changed: female TV anchors chosen on the basis of their bimbosity; Pat Buchanan, here looking like Stephen Seagal, engaging in double talk; exploitation of migrant workers; the US military bombing and killing; the US military bombing and killing civilians by mistake -this news item meriting barely 20 seconds of image free attention.

[swami1]

But you "support the troops", right?

[fctchk]

As a matter of fact I do support the troops.

If politicians were as forthright and honourable as the men and women they send, as pawns in their game, into harms and harmings way there would be a lot less war and suffering.

[dasenuff]

its still entertainment and ratings.... bimbosityLOL good one.

[catholicpriest1]

No frills....just the news.

[gootenslog]

I do miss when the news was just the news, with no fancy computer graphics....now its all glitz and no gravitas

[catholicpriest1]

Not a computer in sight in the newsroom.

[dwalex97209]

I think I needed one of those Excedrin tablets after watching this- and Alka-Seltzer because my stomach ached from all that laughing I did Man, was this painful to watch!

[tcbluecollarguy]

Dreadful....absolutely dreadful!

[gootenslog]

Sally Quinn was HORRIBLE as a morning news anchor....sick or not. Whoever thought she was a good fit for television news was out of their mind.

[wmbrown6]

The one who suggested Ms. Quinn was CBS's vice-president for hard news, Gordon Manning - and within a year of this aircheck, he was replaced in that position by Bill Small.

[fromthesidelines]

Read all about her experiences in co-anchoring the "CBS MORNING NEWS" in Sally's book, "We're Going To Make You a Star". It's available on library shelves, flea markets, thrift shops, and a yard sale near you...

[ukendcx2000]

and she blames this all on CBS? I could have done a better job.

[flyguy359]

probably you could write a better book (had to pile on)

[ukendcx2000]

Had I worked there I probably could have, if I see the book I may have to check it out for myself.

[n0gar]

Bucanan is clearly one of those native/Asian infused whites who is more fanatical about racism than the straight up white man.

[IntelProperty]

That will certainly come as news to his strictly Irish ancestors.

[flyguy359]

yeah, the Irish ain't white

[n0gar]

I like watching what was. You get to see another time period. Leslie Stahl(?) more or less looks the same today. This Quinn woman was looking good!

[glm1964]

A fascinating time capsule. I remember watching Rudd as a kid in the mid 70s. But what I will remember most from this clip is Dan Rather's hair!

[flyguy359]

eyebrows to match!

[catholicpriest1]

Looks like cable access tv

[wmbrown6]

Actually, the zero-budget doctrines that skinflint RKO General accorded its TV stations (including New York's WOR-TV) for locally-originated programming (such as its news broadcasts, for example) had more of that "cable-access" look than this. (It was that among many other factors that led to RKO being deemed an unfit broadcast license holder in the late 1980's.)

[EarlSnohomish]

I remember Mike Lupica's first appearance on WOR's early afternoon news program during the '70s. It looked like he was reporting out of a broom closet.

[collegeman1988]

This looks like an amateur production done in someone's basement compared to even a local morning news program.

[sammyreed]

It's Hughes Rudd, of "CBS Radio Nitwork" blooper fame!

[jfppjfpp]

Sally Quinn made it big afterwards, she is still the matriarch of the Washington social scene.

[torgman]

For a second, I was expecting Pat Buchanan to yell, "HEY AAAAAAHBHAAAAAAT!

[joebradio]

..I was only about 11 when this aired, but I remembered seeing it then -- but viewing it again now, I have a much deeper understanding about how awful the whole thing was...

[flyguy359]

I was 10 and I remember asking my Mom to please turn the channel.

[tkaye2]

The Harold Dow report on migrant workers in the middle of this clip must have been the one that preceded Quinn's infamous remark that child labor "was how I felt when my mother and father made me do the dishes."

[AstringOfPoloponies]

I am glad I watched this ! A broadcast that was shown in the area I grew up in. Complete with the "Keep America Beautiful" Indian commercial ! Never thought I'd ever see that commercial again.

It also makes me yearn for the slow-paced, non-glitzy, non-teaser format of the news from yesteryear. This was great to watch.A real interesting trip back in time.

[brithgob]

A Red Barn restaurant! One of the great old defunct fast food chains.

[autodrivex]

Unbelievable video. Dan Rather and Pat Buchanan from 35 years ago!!  Hilarious!

[McCainis4me]

Lesley Stahl was HOT! WOW!

[wmbrown6]

Ironically, Ms. Stahl was an early candidate for the co-anchor stint, but she said no, because in her mind she wasn't yet ready for that whole business. It wasn't until 1978 that she finally took the plunge on the "Morning News."

[EarlSnohomish]

I thought she was the prettiest of the network reporters back then.

[GoodsonTodman]

She sucked!

[wmbrown6]

Ms. Quinn's disastrous stint with the "CBS Morning News" was also a factor in the replacement, in 1974, of CBS News' vice-president for hard news, Gordon Manning, with William (Bill) Small, as it was Manning who recommended Sally be hired. Rudd, meanwhile, continued on the news broadcast until 1977-78. As for Manning, he moved to NBC in 1975 and stayed there for the next 20 years in various capacities. Small also served briefly in 1980-81 as president of NBC News.

[WhatsAYak]

It also didn't help that on the morning of the first show, Quinn was suffering from the flu and had to make a valiant effort to get through it.

[swami1]

What an incredibly annoying delivery Quinn had. She's still annoying, imo.

[VintageTelevision]

I just watched a few recent video clips of Sally Quinn. Her presentation seems to have improved markedly since 1973.

[wmbrown6]

Actually, the "CBS Morning News" had been on the air since 1963, with Mike Wallace as the first anchor. It ran at 10 A.M. until 1965 when it was placed directly opposite NBC's "Today." After Wallace left the "Morning News" in 1966, he was succeeded by Joe Benti, followed by John Hart in 1970 and, at the point of this aircheck, Mr. Rudd and Ms. Quinn. And the announcer was Bill Gilliand.

[byrd56]

Bill Gilliand's voice was the only constant on the "CBS Morning News" amidst the frequent changes in anchors from about the 1960's through the '80s.

[IntelProperty]

After Ms. Quinn's short-lived television baptism-by-fire, she was replaced by the more staid, but far more qualified Bruce Morton, who co-anchored from Washington, while Hughes Rudd remained the anchor in New York.

[MarkJ1961]

Announcer Bill Gilliand (sp?) was heard announcing on CBS Radio's last daytime soaps (Ma Perkins, etc) in November 1960, and on CBS-TV Sixty Minutes throughout the 70s and 80s as well. And he frequnently announced during CBS-TV's weekday daytime line-up in the 70s and 80s as well.

[byrd56]

Bill's voice was also heard introducing CBS News' live primetime coverage of political conventions and election nights during the 1970's.

[wmbrown6]

Mr. Gilliand also announced a few episodes of "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar" on some occasions what that program's last regular announcer, Art Hannes, was off. (Others in CBS's announcing pool, such as Pat Connell, were also heard on other times when Hannes wasn't heard.)

[mobilene]

This is great! I'd forgotten that Sally Quinn was on here. Boy, she needed more practice.

[kresblain]

That's pretty cool.  Hard to believe that it was roughly only 35 years ago when CBS' morning news program hit the airwaves. Thanks for posting this, man.