Final 'Huntley-Brinkley Report' on NBC / July 31, 1970

[@Garbanzo884]

Less than 35 years later American journalism became a cesspool. Chet, you were a good man.

[@karlc2869]

Blame Rupert Murdoch.

[@taratupa73]

The end of an era. This actually brought tears to my eyes. To coin a well-worn, and overused expression, but one that is ohhh so true: They don't make 'em like this, any more.

[@bealestcat]

media are not professional - only propaganda machines.

[@lox_5017]

@@bealestcat You are so full of it.

[@bealestcat]

@@lox_5017 No No dear. It is propaganda.

[@lox_5017]

@@bealestcat social media propaganda and fake news!

[@oldjack-mi8gk]

Best evening newscast the U.S. ever had. From those days of broadcast journalism we have fallen oh so far.

[@wilnerolivier7971]

The news has become too corporate & at the same time very polarizing with hot takes instead of actual info!!

[@karlc2869]

@@wilnerolivier7971 IKR. I mean, the late CBS/NBC newsman Roger Mudd (R.I.P.) once said in 2013: THERE IS AN IGNORANCE OF WHAT'S GOING ON (aka the media shunning real blow-by-blow news in favor of sensationalism, including journalists humiliating celebs in interviews (I'm looking at you, Matt Lauer)).

[@JimmieJoeMeeker]

Very well stated.

[@tjmusa]

holy crap, what happen to NBC news. we trusted huntley and brinkley . thanks for posting, i forgot the music.

[@sethc4758]

i was born 21 years after Chet Huntley died yet he made a lasting impact in my life, not by his famed reporting career but by the incredible community and resort he would build at his Montana home, Big Sky. My favorite place in the world. He had some vision.. its such a place

[@IWuzStereotyped]

As a child, I probably saw them and heard that music hundreds of times. I didn’t fully understand the significance back then. I do now.

[@thecardsaysmoops]

You are absolutely correct. This was recorded in the videotape room of WTVJ, Channel 4, then a CBS affiliate. It was recorded from the signal of what was then WCKT (now WSVN), Channel 7, then the local NBC affiliate. I personally asked our people to record this on 2" video-tape (then the industry standard), and I kept the original.

[@teresatheme7110]

Thank you

[@TexasNorthDFW]

Thank you so much for doing that.

[@MrT8599]

Watching Chet tear up at the end made me tear up. I was never alive, but man what a team they were Huntley and Brinkley. I wish news was like this these days.

[@citizenterryk]

at the end, you can tell that Chet was trying mightily to keep from breaking down......back in the days when broadcast journalism could be taken seriously and trusted....

[@caseyedward2890]

Huntley was very emotional. Watch the 11-22-63 live coverage. He was having a melt down on the air. Bill Ryan saved the day.

[@saris961]

When journalist were real Americans and could trusted. my childhood watching the news with my parents. Goodnight Chet, Goodnight David. Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings... sigh.

[@kentonclarkson1449]

I was playing basketball at a friend's house and I asked his mom to let me know when it was 5:30 (I lived in the central time zone then) so I could watch Chet's last broadcast. Books, newspapers, 3 channels of TV, moms who stayed home and took care of the kids and cooked dinner, dads who knew how to fix a toaster and change the tires on your bikes, telephones with a cord and making a long-distance call was an event. A different world. In most ways a better one.

[@morgan8757]

what about harry reasoner

[@rockvilleraven]

morgan8757 My late mother didn't take ABC news seriously until Roone Arledge took over their news department.

[@connielaws1674]

Also Frank Reynolds. 😢

[@patrickfennell6372]

@@rockvilleraven We grew up in a small town that got NBC and CBS poorly. We all watched Chet and David nightly. Back then they smoked while reading the news . Always thought they were good friends. Too bad we don't have guys like them anymore.

[@ftsjr]

This was an era when giants ruled broadcast news. People like, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, Eric Severeid, Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner.

[@thecardsaysmoops]

Great catch! You are absolutely correct. I was watching this show live when that happened. In those years, a studio camera was actually placed in front of a 'roller' on which the printed names of the crew (the credits) were attached. As the roller was turned, the credits appeared to be moving upward on the screen. During the scroll of credits on this final 'Huntley Brinkley Report,' an unnamed crew member walked between the camera and the roller and his silhouette was seen by millions of people.

[@sauquoit13456]

On this day in 1956 {October 29th} "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" premiered on NBC-TV network... The nightly news broadcast ran for 14 years until July 31st, 1970... Chet Huntley passed away on March 20th 1974 at age 62 and David Brinkley died on June 11th, 2003 at the age of 82... R.I.P. Mr. Huntley and Mr. Brinkley...

[@XMLarry]

Thank you so much for posting this, it does bring back memories of a better time and better journalism. I remember watching this (I was 12) and remember thinking how Huntley-Brinkley set the standard for journalistic reporting. There has never been nor ever will be anyone quite like them. They are both gone now but their legacy and our memories of them remain. Good night Chet, good night David.

[@Brace67]

An era of superb broadcast journalism had come to an end. The most popular newscasting team on TV was finally saying goodbye. I used to watch the Huntley-Brinkley Report all the time and really missed it when it finally ended and we heard music from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony ring down the curtain. “Goodnight Chet”, “Goodnight David and Goodnight for NBC News”.

[@TimBabcock64]

Very classy ending. Our family watched Huntley Brinkley when it was on. I don't know if my Great Grandmother being Chet's gradeschool teacher in Libby Montana had anything to do it. That was the days when news journalism was at it's best.

[@ShitboxHeaven]

I'm 26 now, I looked this video up just to see what genuine journalism looks/feels/sounds like.

[@thecardsaysmoops]

You've got to be kidding me. It was 1970, not 1870. It's called an air-check. It was personally requested by me and recorded on my own quad videotape at the date and time I indicated. And yes, we were a CBS station at the time. That did not prevent us from recording what was then the local NBC affiliate at the time, WCKT, channel 7 (now WSVN Fox).

[@WhistlefanBill]

Thoughts of my much younger days. I remember when my brother was serving in Viet Nam seeing every night on the Huntley-Brinkley Report the board with the casualty numbers on it. I'll never forget those columns of numbers. U.S. KIA WIA MIA ARVN KIA.... Man....... Good night, Chet Good night, David. And goodnight from NBC News Thanks for the post. You just gave me a whole new box of memories to go over.

[@altfactor]

The fact that most local TV stations have co-anchors sharing the news-reading duties on local newscasts stems from the success of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. But Huntley and Brinkley worked not because they were a team, but: (1) Huntley usually anchored from New York and Brinkley normally was in Washington; (2) Huntley was relentlessly serious, while Brinkley had a sharp wit, and, (3) Brinkley handled stories in or near Washington and humorous bits, Huntley read the other news.

[@lyndanelson4303]

Just found this, thank you for posting! Brings back memories

[@thecardsaysmoops]

I was lucky enough to have had use of an RCA 2" Video Tape Machine, which this originally was recorded on. I've dubbed it down first to 3/4" umatic, then beta, then DVC pro and finally to DVD. I always loved the credits. On CBS we got to hear the chatter of wire service machines and the announcer saying: Direct from our newsroom in New York, IN COLOR, this has been the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.' Cronkite would then pull out his pipe, sit back and puff away as the credits rolled!!

[@JRF1961]

Amen Brother. I used to watch HB Report every night from M-F when I was just a little kid. Those days are sadly long gone.

[@bmasters1981]

Replaced, also sadly, by today's breed of mostly political-flavored media that spins it to whatever side of Washington one believes in (MSNBC, Huffington Post et al. on the left, and FOX "News," Newsmax and OAN on the right).

[@TimelordR]

A consummate professional that Chet Huntley. Unlike schlock journalists like Glenn Beck! Thank you for posting this.

[@MrSteve280]

I'm a "boomer" and don't get offended or melancholy easily over days gone past. Journalism was among the most honorable of professions back in the days of men like this (which includes Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor). It no longer is. With very few exceptions, journalism has become little more than on-air personalities, entertainment of an ever-decreasing denominator, and an extension of degrading social media. This wouldn't matter too much except for the fact that our society takes its cultural cues and directions from what we now call news despite the fakery, click-bating, and religious or political manipulation. We need to look no further that what will undoubtedly be in the future the galactically embarrassing reaction to COVID. What does a society do when the factuality of information available to it is all questionable? We become the bodyguard of lies. Not that I have an opinion on this.

[@thebestisyettocome4114]

It was a wonderful time and missed. Goodnight for NBC News

[@duanearcher7576]

If you were there - as I was - you will find it difficult to believe it was over 50 years ago. Even more difficult to believe is how far this country has fallen culturally and intellectually in that half-century.

[@Grundig305]

Saw this live as a teenager, total class.

[@thecardsaysmoops]

Huntley really did retire voluntarily. He was not pushed out!

[@harryborsalino1276]

Growing up primarily in the 60s (I was not quite 6 months old when H-B first became a journalistic tag-team), much of the national news coverage I recall from those turbulent years featured these two gentlemen. We were mostly an NBC household, at least as far as news went, and my Dad would never miss Chet and David. Chet's solid, somewhat solemn style combined with David's more acerbic delivery to create a chemistry unmatched then, before, or since.

[@sd31263]

@ignatzmuskrat3000 He did not use Bach. Olbermann's MSNBC show used the first six notes from the second movement of Beethoven's Ninth. He acknowledged on-air that he took it from the Huntley-Brinkley Report's closing theme. That version was recorded by the NBC orchestra in 1952.

[@muffs55mercury61]

Chet died in 1974 the same year as his colleague, the great Frank McGee who's coverage on the JFK assassination was spectacular. I watch it at least once a year.

[@Nicksonian]

Frank McGee was a superb TV reporter and presenter and it’s unfortunate that today, few will remember him.

[@muffs55mercury61]

@@Nicksonian Fortunately their coverage of the JFK assassination survives and Frank and Chet can be seen. They did it so well. I don't think we'll ever have journalism like that ever again but I hope I'm wrong.

[@meridethtohayes]

Wow, 41 years ago today. I remember watching this live, and feeling really badly for them. I really liked Brinkley's move to Sunday morning, and especially when he let a few choice words fly, (as if the veteran newscaster didn't know the mics were on) at the end of his career.

[@JWC-AirWalker]

Good night, Chet.

[@rockvilleraven]

Good night, David and goodnight for NBC News.

[@hjpngmw]

I was not quite five years old when this aired, but I remember it quite well. I see you have uploaded a "better" version. I shan't look at it because this version is what I remember as the quality of television we received using the aerial antenna and the box on top of the tv!

[@hoss73ford]

Chet died only 4 years later if I remember right. They made such a great team. I was only 15 at the time of this broadcast but always kept up with the news. Also totally sad was that NBC destroyed much of their early film and videotape library as they claimed they didn't have the room for it. Such waste!!!

[@rockvilleraven]

Chet did commercials for American Airlines after he left for a few years, at the end he said "Maybe I'll see you on the plane!'

[@johnfrederickson4859]

Great journalism back then. Sadly, almost every major net work today should learn. They have Zero credibility and are devoid of professionalism and ethics.

[@1985OldSkool]

Chester Robert Huntley passed away on March 20, 1974 at the age of 62. Frank McGee, one of his successors in the NBC News anchor chair, died four weeks later, on April 17, 1974 at age 52.

[@jehobden]

Happy 56th Anniversary, HB-Report!

[@sauquoit13456]

Chet Huntley died on this date in 1974. {Mar. 20th} May he R.I.P.

[@teresatheme7110]

That is so sad..only a few years later. He didn't look old either..

[@akathekjb]

The video and audio appear to have been recorded off of a large screen of some kind, using a camera and not some kind of tuner. That may have been the only way to get an over the air signal into the quad machine in 1970, especially if this wasn't being recorded by an affiliate. Still good to know the footage exists! Thanks for sharing it!

[@pacmanindy]

50th Anniversary of the final broadcast of the Huntley-Brinkley Report.

[@allenjones3130]

A fitting farewell to one of the greatest newscasters of all time.

[@italic2494]

Cool, thank you. All the more cool that this was recorded live in front of the TV, and not direct, which gives it a realism that sounded like I was there again, 16 years old.

[@kurtdanielson993]

Chet Huntley and David Brinkley must be spinning in their graves. They would be very upset with the state of their avocation today.

[@kurttoy5035]

I remember seeing the broadcast exactly 50 years ago today.

[@cliffsaxon7408]

Back When TV News Was Worth Watching.

[@mca1218]

In 1970, I was eight. But I *do* remember seeing this. Oh, well... A lovely, moving finish by H & B, nicely capped off by the program's closing signature, Beethoven's 9th, movement 2. NBC news rocks!!

[@JRF1961]

Man it was the times. I was 9 years old in 1970 and I still remember the first 'Earth Day' specials on the tube and it was all the same message. The hippies & do gooders all made it seem like the end was right around the corner.

[@davidlightfoot348]

The end of an era, nightly news has never been the same.

[@johnhonein]

Boy if they could see journalism today!!! So sad what it's become!

[@stephenb4164]

When news was news! I am glad I lived in a time to know the difference.

[@Mike1614YT]

Chet proudly speaks of the greatness America used to have- we were all proud of it.

[@LogoAttitude]

Huntley died less than 4 years later at the age of 62

[@jaybennett236]

was a heavy smoker

[@timboslice1979]

So sad NBC news is utter garbage now. Rest in eternal peace Chet and David... pioneers of true, objective journalism.

[@southerndigest8996]

I’d forgotten the music they used at the close of the program! Great memories...

[@texasjohnnyboy]

It is unfortunate that there is, hardly, and longer such a thing as journalism. With the magnetism of money profits, today it has become a much lesser item called "sensationalism".

[@SteveFlanigan]

+texasjohnnyboy Well stated indeed.

[@dcb99filmz]

Indeed.

[@pmboston]

When the news was purchased by the corporate world, there was a massive reduction in the news force, and very little independence allowed. That’s almost always forgotten now, but it really wasn’t that long ago. Doesn’t mean journalists aren’t doing their jobs, if they are let to. And the corrosive attacks by the attack dog Fox News combined with an insane clown president have diminished legit media’s power to be credited with good faith. This video was like chicken soup. I feel better.😀

[@sambradley2975]

And pushing political ideology....

[@sambradley2975]

@@pmboston plus other politically charged stations like MSNBC & CNN

[@wmbrown6]

I seem to recall that a silhouetted individual was seen during the end credits as displayed on the 'Vizmo' on this final broadcast, having seen it twice at what is now the Paley Center for Media.

[@MikeNube]

The very next day, Frances Farmer died. He was a fellow student with her, and remembered her well, from when they were both students in journalism and drama school at the University of Washington in the early 1930s. I didn't realize until now that his retirement and her death were one day apart.

[@Nicksonian]

Vietnam. I have a distinct memory, from about age ten, of watching Huntley and Brinkley giving the weekly casualty reports from the Vietnam War.

[@jimwagoner4741]

My brothers and I use to watch the Huntley Brinkley report pretty much every night growing up. Remember the weekly Vietnam war body count reports each week, I think those were on Fridays.

[@jaybennett236]

Those were my Jr. High and High School years. The body count made it look like we were winning! NOT!

[@Grundig305]

Remember seeing this as a teenager. Total class

[@Soulthinker2007]

When Huntley died,the NBC Nightly News did a tribute for him. I have not forgotten it. They were a great team.

[@liammckeown9167]

David was at a Elvis show at Vegas & when Elvis was saying out the celebrities he said everyone apart from davids as he forgot his 2nd name but when his show ended and the curtains was coming down he came out with "Goodnight David" the whole place went crazy lol 😂

[@dobermanpac1064]

One of the last guys not to inject his personal views into the news.

[@skmccuen]

Well, as intelligent as Chet Huntley was he couldn't have imagined the devastation Fox News would cause, could he and how many Americans would willingly fall for it.

[@keno8spot]

the sad thing is that he died shortly after he retired

[@sambradley2975]

I wish I was old enough to remember Chet Huntley, I remember the NBC Nightly News, which still runs. I remember when David Brinkley was still on NBC, before he moved to ABC, Sadly, David Brinkley, Chet Huntley, & Frank McGee are reunited in the great anchor booth in the sky.

[@dougayers5441]

this was the best news.

[@StevenLewis-u1j]

A month before this broadcast (June 25) Chet was a guest on the Dick Cavett Show on the ABC network. Also on the show was Janis Joplin and Raquel Welch. Chet had a good time.

[@mcparla1]

The thing I always heard is that Chet Huntley left NBC simply because he wanted to relax out in Montana. He did not have a long retirement and died in 1974.

[@Delatta1961]

Back when the news was trustworthy I don’t think we’ll ever see this again

[@jeffbangkok]

Just watched a John Deere field chopper commercial Chet did in 1967..Born in 1955 I'd seen them all my years as we only got NBC and CBS on our farm..

[@Moionfire]

I wish they would go back to the two anchor format on the network evening news. They do it all the time with local affiliate news.

[@bmasters1981]

And I wish WNT would go back to the 3-anchor format of the late 70s (one in London, one in Chicago, one in Washington [like Jennings, Robinson and Reynolds were]).

[@NVRAMboi]

Thanks for posting this.

[@williamgregory1848]

Although both anchors initially disliked it, the sign-off 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.

[@xxTrumpetBoyxx]

I wish all broadcasts ended with Beethoven's 9th!!!!

[@doloreshuntoon7698]

Now's there's something you don't see everyday. I think.

[@charlesschrader2988]

My GOD, NBC has left the building.

[@Tommy-76]

One of the two directors was Frank Slingland (Washington segments with Brinkley) who moonlighted as the director of the Notre Dame replays with Lindsey Nelson and Paul Hornung for C.D. Chesley

[@MKIVWWI]

Man, but does this bring back memories! Even the end music. My folks watched NBC's news for Chet Huntley, and only "tolerated" David Brinkley. After this show, when Chet departed, they switched to ABC's news with Frank Reynolds and Howard K. Smith.

[@rockvilleraven]

MKIVWWI I always liked David's dry sense of. humor

[@alanstrong3295]

Hurts to see a good thing come to a close.

[@reelgirl8544]

Still waiting for good news and better days.

[@husker80]

@swarze - You're making the mistake of judging yesterday by today's standards. Women really didn't start entering the workforce until the '50s and '60s and going to college and studying journalism until the '70s. The major networks weren't going to plug someone in right out of college. These were guys who had covered World War II and the Korean War and had paid their dues - there weren't nearly enough dues-paying women yet.

[@Juliaflo]

@dnm72863 I second that. This year, lest you are interested, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Chet Huntley.

[@hollyb6885]

I miss the days of true, unbiased journalism.

[@efan2011]

I felt bad for Chet at the end, he was actually crying

[@jaroncreed]

July 31st 1970 Exactly 39 years ago today!

[@ftsjr]

@Juliaflo Yes, that was a time when network news people seemed to be more trustworthy. At the height of his popularity, the public actually voted Walter Cronkite the most trusted man in America.

[@Lafayette320]

I think Cronkite was voted "most trusted" some time in the '70's; not while "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" was being produced. 'The Huntley Brinkley Report" was always rated No. 1 during its tenure.

[@springvalleyVIDEO]

@thecardsaysmoops I would say you did not read the credits well. The following names appear to be female names: Christie Basham (Associate Producer), Pat Minerva (Film Editor), Pat Hibson (Unit Manager), Patricia Williams (Production Assistant). They are all in the credits.

[@Lafayette320]

40 years later, (I was 17 at that time) I remain loyal to NBC News and the NBC Nightly News due to my families attachment to 'The Huntley-Brinkley Report." Goo memories.

[@F40PH-2CAT]

Not the same anymore

[@wiedep]

someone walked in front of the credit roll!!! back when nbc ran credits...

[@Lafayette320]

Great memories from my youth, always enjoyed "The Huntley-Brinkley Report." Stuck with NBC due to Huntley and Brinkley, watching Brian Williams and his lefty associates even now just to see what's going on in the "lame stream," before turning to Fox News.

[@BayardAugust]

Fuck "Faux" News and fuck tRump.

[@Lafayette320]

@@BayardAugust, Fox News Channel number one watched cable channel. Not just exceeding the Clinton News Network and PMSNBC, (Fox News doubles the audience of both these Leftist networks combined) but Fox News is No. 1 among all cable channels. The Democrap National Convention is being held now in Portland, Oregon. When is that idiot Biden going to announce the results of "Super Thursday?"

[@EricandDish]

pacmanindy, that's a good question: Which famous newsman would be made into a movie first: Huntley or Cronkite? Because I can see who could play Uncle Walt: Robin Williams since he's got the impersonation (and as already play another famous American-Theodore Rooselvelt.

[@jamesanthony5681]

"Good night, Chet." -----"Good night, David....and good night for NBC News" went on for 14 years, until July 31, 1970. Chet Huntley started in the business in 1934.

[@stephenadamsmusicalinterpr4203]

Goodnight, Chet. Goodnight, David.

[@williamdunphy352]

Exactly 50 years tonight.

[@thecardsaysmoops]

Actually, it wasn't peculiar at all at the time. Remember, this was 1970. Newsrooms were ALL occupied by chain smoking men clanging away on manual typewriters. At WTVJ in Miami, where this was recorded, the only woman was the assistant News Director. The first female news reporter wasn't hired until 1971. Yes, baby, we've come a long way!

[@snidelywhiplash]

Giants, the both of them.

[@6828Lu]

What a great news team; today's reporters and anchors would do well to take note. And Beethoven's Ninth Symphony rocks. :)

[@HickysBoy]

Difficult to believe this was 45 years ago. I was something of a new hound as a teen and watched all three networks, alternating, sometimes flipping back-forth. MY favorite was Harry Reasoner until Baba-Wawa became a co-anchor.

[@wilnerolivier7971]

It's about to 51 years!!

[@QuadVideoTapeGroup]

Thanks for the clarification. Most connect station-made recordings with the station and its affiliated network. I didn't make that leap without your help. What aspect of WTVJ were you part of. Perhaps you can help identify some WTVJ Standard Operating Procedures Circa 1964 regarding program preservation. I was looking at part of program about Jackie Gleason coming to Miami-Original film-then either tape or direct to air and in this case-Kinescope. What was WTVJ's usual practice back then?