CBS. In 1928, William S. Paley first acquires and links16 independent radio stations
(United Independent Broadcasters Inc.) under the umbrella of the Columbia Broadcasting
System. CBS’s 75th Anniversary was celebrated on Nov. 2, 2003 with a 3 hour show.
Here is a list of firsts that CBS claims:
1931, 1st regularly scheduled TV broadcasting in country on experimental station
W2XAB in New York.
1933, 1st network news operation, The Columbia News Service.
1936, 1st battlefield broadcast (in radio), from Spanish Civil War.
1936, 1st radio quiz show, Professor Quiz.
1938, 1st news report from multiple locations around the world linked by a central
Anchor. (The term Anchor isn’t used until 1952.)
1938, CBS Mercury Theater Of The Air broadcasts Orson Wells’ adaptation of
The War Of The Worlds.
1941, 1st instant news special report on TV, the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1946, 1st TV broadcast of an NFL football game.
1948, 1st regularly scheduled TV news program, The CBS-TV News with Douglas
Edwards.
1948, The CBS Television Network is formed and in…
1951 is split from radio as a separate division.
1951 The CBS Eye logo is introduced.
1952, the term “Anchor” is coined to describe Walter Cronkite’s role in the
coverage of the Democratic & Republican National Conventions.
1954, CBS News is officially created becoming the 1st autonomous news
organization in network TV.
1954, 1st network radio and TV editorial.
1955, 1st adult TV western, Gunsmoke.
1956, 1st TV soap opera, As The World Turns.
1956, 1st broadcast of the Masters golf tournament and becomes the longest
running annual sports event presented on a single network.
1956, CBS
1960, 1st network broadcast of Olympics.
1961, CBS Sports becomes a separate division of the CBS Television network.
1961, 1st remote football pre-game show, Pro Football Kickoff.
1961, 1st slow motion replay. (Though it wasn’t exactly “instant”.)
1963, 1st instant replay, from the Army-Navy game.
1965, 1st color broadcast of an NFL game on Thanksgiving day.
1966, CBS presents its 1st all in color primetime lineup.
1967, CBS presents Superbowl I.
1968, 1st network news program done via satellite.
1975, 1st NFL pre-game studio show, The NFL Today.
1979, 1st flag-to-flag coverage of a NASCAR race including 1st use of an in-car
camera.
1984, CBS Sports’ 38 hrs. of U.S. Open Tennis becomes the longest continuous
of a sporting event.
1987, Cathy Barreto is 1st woman to direct a network level NFL game.
1993, 1st made-for-TV movie based on a Broadway musical, Gypsy.
1996, 1st gavel-to-gavel, internet, video coverage of Democratic and Republican
Nation Conventions by a network.
1998, 1st HDTV broadcast of a primetime series episode, Chicago Hope.
1998, 1st HDTV broadcast of a live sports event, NY Jets vs Buffalo Bills NFL
game.
1999, 1st HDTV network news program.
2000, Firsts involving SAP (Second Audio Program) include: mini-series, Jesus;
primetime special, The Latin Grammy Awards; and the Presidential and Vice-
Presidential Debates.
2001, 1st daytime soap with SAP, The Bold And The Beautiful.
2001, 1st daytime soap produced and broadcast in HDTV, The Young And The
Restless.
2003, 1st major awards show broadcast in HDTV and 5.1 surround sound, The
45th Annual Grammy Awards.
Information taken from Viacom’s weekly newsletter, Update, Vol. 7, #304, October 30,
2003.