Television's Chicago School DNA for elections

When regular commercial television operations began in New York, many programs have incorporated theatrical proscenium/radio layouts, separating the stage from the audience area.

In other words, the early studio set designs used by many programs hailing from this New York-centric television scene were like a cardboard box, but also in a two-dimensional/2D situation.

Besides, New York-centric television also used fixed/static shots, together with loud talkers.

During the early post-WWII period, some of the television programs came from Chicago, where Dave Garroway was a radio disc jockey on WMAQ-AM.

For his eponymous Garroway at Large program, Dave Garroway broke television's old traditions for a more casual approach, in which the reality of the studio was acknowledged.

Using one camera, Dave Garroway walked around large studios and simple abstract sets as he directly talked to guests and television viewers for his eponymous Garroway at Large program.

Just over 2 years after NBC began Dave Garroway's eponymous Garroway at Large program, its fierce competitor CBS responded by launching See It Now with Edward R. Murrow in November.

Hear It Now, which is a former weekly radio adaptation of the I Can Hear It Now spoken-word album series from Columbia, is also the basis for Edward R. Murrow's See It Now (CBS).

The CBS television control room at Studio 41 in Grand Central Terminal houses Edward R. Murrow's innovative and groundbreaking See It Now television program.

Dave Garroway's Garroway at Large (NBC) used moving cameras and unpainted studio walls, whereas Edward R. Murrow's See It Now (CBS) had a monitor matrix.

For this monitor matrix in Edward R. Murrow's See It Now (CBS), it conveyed a high-tech look/feel.

Both Dave Garroway's Garroway at Large (NBC) and Edward R. Murrow's See It Now (CBS) rejected traditional box-like sets in favour of the ones being treated as three-dimensional/3D canvases.

Likewise, real technical television production was exposed due to the innovations involving both Dave Garroway's Garroway at Large (NBC) and Edward R. Murrow's See It Now (CBS).

NBC also pioneered a new formula of television: early-morning television, which is being offered via Today (NBC), initially coming from the RCA Exhibition Hall.

Situated in the Rockefeller Centre complex, the RCA Exhibition Hall is based directly across from the iconic and famous headquarters of the Associated Press at 50 Rockefeller Plaza.

Contrasting to the iconic headquarters of the Associated Press, which represented print journalism, the RCA Exhibition Hall represented electronic media's fluid and transparent future.

Inside the RCA Exhibition Hall, parts of which were converted into the first Today (NBC) studio, was a newsroom/bullpen being adapted from the Associated Press at 50 Rockefeller Plaza.

Juxtaposing print journalism's industrial past, via the AP at 50 Rock, with electronic media's transparent future, via the RCA Exhibition Hall, the Today (NBC) bullpen was a television innovation.

Next to the Today (NBC) bullpen at the RCA Exhibition Hall was a desk, based behind a backdrop with clocks and television monitors.

Besides, Today (NBC) featured pedestrians on the street looking through the glass windows of the RCA Exhibition Hall to watch this program.

Plus, teletypes that came from the Associated Press (AP), United Press (UP) and the International News Service (INS) were used inside the Today (NBC) newsroom/bullpen at the RCA Exhibition Hall.

The on-screen ticker being adapted from the wire services in the Today (NBC) newsroom/bullpen at the RCA Exhibition Hall, featuring a clock display being adapted from clocks, was used.

Due to technical difficulties and having lacked viewer traction, this on-screen ticker being adapted from wire feeds for Today (NBC) was dropped after just a few months.

Undoing the past, Today (NBC) under Dave Garroway births modern broadcast design elements.

Some of the innovations surrounding the RCA Exhibition Hall for Today (NBC) under Dave Garroway include a newsroom/bullpen, a street-side studio, a news ticker and a clock display.

This borderless room, located at the RCA Exhibition Hall for Today (NBC) under Dave Garroway, was made in-house by NBC's engineering units and RCA's corporate exhibition teams.

With the RCA Exhibition Hall as its first base, Today (NBC) doubled down on the Chicago Style being honed at Dave Garroway's eponymous Garroway at Large program.

Likewise, with Dave Garroway at the helm for Today (NBC), the RCA Exhibition Hall bridged the gap between the Chicago Style, the AP newsroom/bullpen and the See It Now control room.

For Today (NBC), under Dave Garroway, the RCA Exhibition Hall mixed Chicago's creativity with the industrial newsroom/bullpen (AP) and the technical network news nerve centre (CBS).

The early-1950's US presidential election was the second to use television for politics in the post-WWII period, but also the first on a modern network basis.

Engineering this nationally-televised US presidential election in the early-1950's, including the political conventions and the returns, was the American Telephone & Telegraph Company.

Chicago, in which Dave Garroway pioneered a casual television style being brought to New York, also hosted the political conventions in the early-1950's at the International Amphitheatre.

For the Republican National Convention in this early-1950's era, it was the first to be presented live on television on a national level.

Whereas past conventions, including the 1948 gatherings, were simply being televised all over the East Coast, Chicago's political conventions in the early-1950's were televised nationwide.

Using the air conditioning process being installed at the International Amphitheatre, Chicago's political conventions, held in the early-1950's, were the first to do so.

Just before Chicago's major political conventions in the early-1950's era, summer political conventions notoriously suffered heat in venues without A/C, making citizens sweaty.

However, the addition of the A/C process and the American Telephone & Telegraph Company's coaxial television uplink for Chicago's early-1950's political conventions helped modernize these rituals.

For these early-1950's political rituals, held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, the major US television networks erected makeshift broadcast booths inside the convention halls.

The television service with the most notice to cover Chicago's political conventions in this early-1950's period was CBS, which brought Walter Cronkite to national prominence.

Echoing Dave Garroway taking Chicago's techniques with him to New York for Today (NBC) upon its launch in the early-1950's, the Chicago political conventions led to the New York election nights.

Similar to the newsroom/bullpen being adapted from the print field by Today (NBC) for television, the major US television networks used this print-style trend for their early-1950's elections.

Walter Cronkite anchored 8 US presidential election returns on CBS from the early-1950's to 1980.

For his anchoring work on 8 of those nationally-televised US presidential election returns on CBS, plus many other defining events, Walter Cronkite was the "most trusted man in America."

Besides Walter Cronkite, other individuals being involved in CBS' nationally-televised coverage of this early-1950's US election were Edward R. Murrow and his recruits, like Charles Collingwood.

Plus, this nationally-televised coverage of the early-1950's US presidential election was the first to be assisted/driven by computers.

One of the computers being utilized for this nationally-televised early-1950's US presidential election coverage was the UNIVAC I from Remington Rand.

Standing for the Universal Automatic Computer I, the UNIVAC I was innovative in that it was the first American-made general-purpose commercial electronic digital computer.

With the real UNIVAC 1 iteration being deemed too heavy to carry from Philadelphia to New York, its mock-up prop was installed at CBS' unified Studios 41/42 in New York's Grand Central Terminal.

For this mock-up UNIVAC I prop, it featured blinking Christmas tree lights to create a futuristic visual effect for CBS' nationally-televised early-1950's US presidential election coverage.

Charles Collingwood, whom Edward R. Murrow recruited, was sitting next to the mock-up UNIVAC I terminal for CBS' nationally-televised early-1950's US presidential election coverage.

NBC adapted the newsroom/bullpen from the print scene for television under Dave Garroway.

CBS adapted this newsroom/bullpen element from NBC as a studio set feature being placed in a usual structure without street-side windows for TV journalism under Walter Cronkite.

In the early-1950's, CBS Television innovated the newsroom/bullpen trend for televised election night coverage, in the mid-1960's with an evening news twist, and in March 1973 with a local twist.

For Search/Probe (1972-1973), the Probe Control Centre is a fictional room based on NASA's Mission Control Centre.

What describes the Probe Control Centre for Search/Probe (1972-1973) is the fact that it uses a similar monitor matrix to the real-life NASA Mission Control Centre.

Designing the Probe Control Centre for Search/Probe (1972-1973) is Fred Harpman.

The Probe Control Centre, which Fred Harpman had created for Search/Probe (1972-1973), is a direct inspiration for his television design for its network NBC called the NewsCentre.

Using architectural geometry, angled desks and glass partitions, Fred Harpman's NewsCentre set design endures a contrast with traditional 2D cardboard box-like ones.

Besides, the NewsCentre design by Fred Harpman features NASA-like banks of active video feeds/data monitors.

In addition, mezzanine/stairs also add to Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design.

Rooted in Hollywood sci-fi, Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design has the newsroom/bullpen feel.

Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design echoes the Today (NBC) newsroom/bullpen at the RCA Exhibition Hall under Dave Garroway and the See It Now (CBS) control room under Edward R. Murrow.

Co-conceiving this NewsCentre concept for NBC, including Fred Harpman's ultra-modern sci-fi-rooted design, were Lee Hanna and Earl Ubell.

Incidentally, both Lee Hanna and Earl Ubell came to WCBS-TV in 1966, the latter having his science background. 

WNBC-TV hired both Lee Hanna and Earl Ubell from WCBS-TV, the latter having joined in 1972.

For BCTV, it has the NBC camp - Dave Garroway's print-style Today (NBC) newsroom/bullpen being adapted from the AP's 50 Rock hub directly across from its first venue: the RCA Exhibition Hall.

One of the noted Today (NBC) viewers was Ray Peters, who led BCTV.

Likewise, BCTV has the CBS camp - Edward R. Murrow's See It Now control room.

Incidentally, Edward R. Murrow's See It Now program serves as the CBS answer to Dave Garroway's eponymous Garroway at Large program on NBC.

Ray Peters, who led BCTV, was in New York when Edward R. Murrow's See It Now premiered.

NBC's print-style newsroom/bullpen camp, used by BCTV, evolved into the traditional print-style CBS newsroom/bullpen, featuring Walter Cronkite, who had his United Press roots.

Besides, the high-tech CBS monitor matrix, used by BCTV, evolved into the ultra-modern NewsCentre studio design, made for NBC by Fred Harpman and co-conceived by Lee Hanna and Earl Ubell.

During its first 30 years/3 decades, CNN used the newsroom/bullpen as a usual studio feature.

The juxtaposition for CNN's iconic BCTV-inspired newsroom/bullpen set feature is a print-style NBC newsroom/bullpen inside a high-tech CBS monitor matrix.

Having adapted the hybrid BCTV newsroom/bullpen-control room for CNN was Bunky Helfrich.

The 1977 Trinity and the 1981 IBM Personal Computer are the blueprints for personal computers being included in the newsroom/bullpen for television in the modern era, evolving from the UNIVAC I.

Using both the 1977 Trinity and the 1981 IBM PC, they shifted this newsroom/bullpen production from manual and paper-based workflows into fully automated digital hubs.

Modern 21st-century news studio designs cannot leave behind Dave Garroway's television traits; they instead use digital technology to merge and evolve them into flexible ecosystems.

Some of the innovative Dave Garroway traits that modern 21st-century news studio designs can never leave behind include a newsroom/bullpen, a street-side studio and a news ticker/clock display.

In addition, modern 21st-century televised election studio set designs could not also leave behind these similar Dave Garroway traits to those being used in the television news business.

Besides, modern 21st-century news studio designs cannot leave behind Edward R. Murrow's television traits; they instead use digital technology to merge and evolve them into flexible ecosystems.

Edward R. Murrow's innovative television trends that modern 21st-century news studio set designs can never leave behind include the multi-monitor control room and computers.

In addition, modern 21st-century televised election studio set designs could not also leave behind these similar Edward R. Murrow traits to those being used in the television news business.

The name for a modern 21st-century news ecosystem studio format is the Nexus.

For the Nexus, it has the Dave Garroway trends (newsroom/bullpen, street-side, news ticker and clock display) and the ones by Edward R. Murrow (multi-monitor control room and computers).