Chet Huntley

Huntley began his radio newscast career in 1934 at Seattles KIRO AM later working on radio stations in Spokane KHQ and Portland His time 193637 in Portland was with KGWAM owned by The Oregonian a Portland daily newspaper At KGW he was writer newscaster and announcer In 1937 he went to work for KFI in Los Angeles moving to CBS Radio from 1939 to 1951 then ABC Radio from 1951 to 1955 In 1955 he joined the NBC Radio network viewed by network executives as another Ed Murrow In 1956 coverage of the national political party conventions was a major point of pride for the fledgling broadcast news organizations NBC News executives were seeking to counter the growing popularity of CBS Walter Cronkite who had been a ratings success at the 1952 conventions They decided to replace their current news anchor John Cameron Swayze but there was a disagreement on who the new anchorman should be The two leading contenders were Huntley and David Brinkley The eventual decision was to have both men share the assignment Their onair chemistry was apparent from the start with Huntleys straightforward presentation countered by Brinkleys acerbic wit This success soon led to the team replacing Swayze on the networks nightly news program It was decided to have the two men coanchor the show Huntley from New York City Brinkley from Washington DC The HuntleyBrinkley Report began in October 1956 and was soon a ratings success Huntley and Brinkleys catchphrase closing of Good night DavidGood night Chet and good night for NBC News was developed by the shows producer Reuven Frank Although both anchors initially disliked it the signoff became famous Huntley and Brinkley gained great celebrity themselves with surveys showing them better known than John Wayne Cary Grant Jimmy Stewart or the Beatles The gregarious Huntley remained the same a friend commenting in 1968 that Chet is warm hes friendly hes unaffected heswell hes just so damned nice In April 1956 before that years political conventions that brought him to prominence Huntley began anchoring a new halfhour program entitled Outlook produced by Reuven Frank The program aired for seven years later changing its name to Chet Huntley Reporting and often covered racial segregation and civil rights In January 1962 the program moved from the Sunday evening news timeslot to prime time Huntley wrote a memoir of his Montana childhood The Generous Years Remembrances of a Frontier Boyhood published by Random House in 1968 He also became involved in a New York advertising agency Levine Huntley Schmidt Plapler Beaver gaining a 10 percent share in the agency in exchange for having his name on the letterhead and attending some agency meetings He maintained his own cattle farm in Stockton New Jersey which for a short time in 1964 included a beef line from the farms cattle promoted under his name before the network intervened due to conflict of interest and promotional concerns Huntleys last NBC News broadcast was aired on Friday July 31 1970 He returned to Montana where he conceived and built Big Sky a ski resort south of Bozeman which opened in December 1973