Almanac of Story Tellers: The Today Show

   Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of January 14th.

_______________________________________________________________________________

     

    It is the 14th day of the year, leaving 351 days remaining in 2022. 

    On this date in 1952, The Today Show premiered on the National Broadcasting Company network.

    It was the first show of its kind, an early morning news program featuring various formats of story telling -- hard news with interviews and morning updates, light news features, lifestyle news, and, for a few years, a mascot.

    That mascot, a chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs, was born two months after the show debuted. He first appeared on Today in February 1953. It had been doing poorly and brought in the chimp in an effort to spice up the ratings. It worked. The show took off, and was largely unchalleged as the top morning news show until the mid-1970s, when Good Morning America started on ABC. Still, it took that show 13 years before overtaking Today in the ratings.

    The veteran journalist David Garroway was the first host of Today. Garroway started his reporting career at KDKA radio in Pittsburgh in 1939. After a stint in the U.S. Navy during World Ward II, Garroway worked as a news readers, disc jockey, a radio host, and was one of the pioneers of the television talk show.

    Garroway hosted his programs in a relaxed manner with a conversational style, in contrast to  previous radio men who all used an authoritative voice.  He remained with the program until 1961, when he resigned and was replaced with John Chancellor.