Dave Garroway, who used to be a radio disc jockey on WMAQ-AM in Chicago, moved to the nascent television industry with his eponymous program called Garroway at Large through WNBQ.
When regular commercial television operations began in New York, many programs have incorporated theatrical proscenium concepts, separating the stage from the audience area.
Some programs came from Chicago, where Dave Garroway was a DJ on WMAQ-AM, after WWII.
For his own Garroway at Large television program, Dave Garroway defied television's early theatrical conventions 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.
The Merchandise Mart was the venue for Dave Garroway's Garroway at Large program.
NBC, which ran the WMAQ media assets, frequently aired Dave Garroway's eponymous Garroway at Large program at 10 p.m. on Saturday nights (later Friday nights and Sunday nights).
April 1949 was when Dave Garroway's eponymous and innovative, but short-lived Garroway at Large television program, which came from the WMAQ-TV studios, began its tenure.
Some of the television elements that Dave Garroway's Garroway at Large program pioneered are still being practiced across the United States and around the world.
These include fluid one-camera aesthetics, abstract designs, relaxed tones, studio mechanics, etc.
Jan Scott designed abstract set designs for Dave Garroway's eponymous and innovative Garroway at Large program.
News came, however, that Dave Garroway's Garroway at Large was cancelled in the early-1950's.
Having heard the news that his Garroway at Large program was cancelled after a short run that lasted 2 years, Dave Garroway decided to do something else.
Leaving Chicago in the aftermath of the news that his Garroway at Large program was cancelled, Dave Garroway took his Chicago Style with him to New York.
Sylvester "Pat" Weaver, who, during radio's golden age, worked for the Young & Rubicam agency, was also involved with NBC since 1949, and was creating something of a controversial innovation.
Early-morning television was Pat Weaver's innovative, but controversial dream for a few years, and he tapped Dave Garroway from Chicago to make this dream a reality.
Pat Weaver's successful dream of an early-morning television program was called Today (NBC).
When Today (NBC) began, television was completely absent from the early-morning hours, and critics believed that no one watched TV while getting ready for work.
Just before Today (NBC), Pat Weaver was also trying to find a location for its studio.
During the early-1950's era, parts of the floor of the RCA Exhibition Hall were being converted into an early studio space for Today (NBC).
Inside the floor of the RCA Exhibition Hall, portions of which were converted into the first ever studio venue for NBC's Today program, was the unique layout of a bullpen in a borderless room.
Jammed with workstations, teletypes and wall clocks, the borderless room being based inside the RCA Exhibition Hall for Today (NBC) was used to match Dave Garroway's approach.
The World Communications Centre was the name of this non-bound room being based inside the RCA Exhibition Hall floor for Today (NBC).
Pedestrians on the sidewalk looked through the windows of the RCA Exhibition Hall to experience the Today (NBC) broadcasts in action.
For this non-boundary room inside the RCA Exhibition Hall floor for Today (NBC), it was known as a Window on the World or a glass fishbowl.
Situated in the Rockefeller Centre complex, the RCA Exhibition Hall is likewise located directly across from the iconic and famous headquarters of the Associated Press at 50 Rockefeller Plaza.
Incidentally, the Associated Press headquarters at 50 Rock represented print journalism, whilst the RCA Exhibition Hall electronic media's fluid and transparent future.
Besides, the visual at the bottom of the television screen for Today (NBC) featured scrolling text, which depicted the news headlines (typewritten on paper), and the clock display, both for its debut.
This visual being used on Today (NBC) during its first broadcast was a direct translation of the physical clocks and teletypes surrounding the bullpen inside the floor of the RCA Exhibition Hall.
For Dave Garroway, his tenure as the first Today (NBC) host meant that the New York-centric network television scene embraced the innovations from Chicago.
Rooted in radio, Dave Garroway's relaxed style was adapted for television.
Plus, the first studio for Today (NBC) from the RCA Exhibition Hall served as an influence on modern broadcast design.
Some of the modern broadcast design elements that Today (NBC) pioneered are still being practiced in television news across the United States and around the world.
These include newsroom-as-set trends, downtown street-side studios, news tickers and clock displays.
Just before Dave Garroway, television news featured anchors who delivered the day's stories in a studio resembling a claustrophobic box/theatrical stage with journalists backstage in a bullpen.
However, Dave Garroway's innovations, including Garroway at Large and Today (NBC), tore down the walls, juxtaposing the main stage in the news studio with the backstage workspace bullpen.
By the mid-1950's period, the Chicago School of Television had begun to fade, since power, money and production facilities consolidated into New York and Los Angeles.
However, the DNA of the Chicago School of Television permanently altered modern television.
Many of the modern television studio trends, including abstract sets, windowed street-level studios and newsroom sets, can trace back to the experiments of the Chicago School of Television.
Due to Dave Garroway's innovations, Midwestern formats also changed television news.
WBBM-TV, WJW-TV and WCCO-TV are some of the noted Midwestern-based stations that changed television news scenic design, all connected to NBC's frequent rival CBS.
During the first of the 1960 presidential debates, a total of 380 reporters were inside Studios 3 and 4 at WBBM-TV's headquarters in the former Chicago Arena.
The pre-1973 era for the WBBM-TV news operation was a gap between the anchors in an isolated and enclosed news studio and the journalists in the bullpen hand-delivering stories.
However, in March 1973, the walls between Studios 3 and 4 at WBBM-TV's headquarters in the former Chicago Arena were being torn down, putting the news anchors in the bullpen.
Robert Wussler and Van Gordon Sauter, both involved with WBBM-TV, were the geniuses behind the creation of its regular newsroom-as-set trend in 1973.
For the regular newsroom-as-set trend that WBBM-TV had made, under both Robert Wussler and Van Gordon Sauter, it shattered the rigid and isolated television news studio set trends.
Using the raw and gritty feel of a newspaper, the WBBM-TV newsroom set, conceived by both Robert Wussler and Van Gordon Sauter, has a mantra: It's not pretty, but it's real news.
Just before the innovative news desks via WJW-TV and WCCO-TV, television news comprised a solo anchor in a solo desk and three separate segments (news-sports-weather).
However, WJW-TV and WCCO-TV built wider and unified news desks to bring anchors together.
Fred Harpman, an individual in Hollywood's science fiction genre, is involved with his work on NBC's science fiction spy television series Search and its 1972 pilot television film Probe.
Both Search and Probe use the Probe Control Centre, a high-tech, NASA-like nerve centre.
The Probe Control Centre, which Fred Harpman has created for both Search and Probe on NBC, is the direct inspiration for his studio set design for this network called the NewsCentre.
Plus, Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design is based upon his nerve centre design being used in the 1966 science fiction adventure film Fantastic Voyage, for which he is an assistant art director.
CMDF's nerve centre uses its high-tech and futuristic feel for Fantastic Voyage (1966).
With its roots in the cinematic Hollywood sci-fi scene, Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design serves as a radical departure from the austere news set designs, like the WBBM-TV bullpen set.
Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design is being created to have a working newsroom feel, doubling as an industrial factory for television news and information.
Plus, Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design paralleled the borderless room being located inside the RCA Exhibition Hall for Today (NBC) under Dave Garroway.
Chicago pioneered the Chicago Style concept being used on television via Dave Garroway, developed further in New York, where, in turn, the newsroom set/feel began on Today (NBC).
Still in Chicago, this newsroom-as-set trend (rooted through Dave Garroway) was also pioneered on a local/regional basis via WBBM-TV, Robert Wussler and Van Gordon Sauter in March 1973.
Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design features NASA-like banks of active video feeds/data monitors.
Using architectural geometry, angled desks and glass partitions, Fred Harpman's NewsCentre set design contrasted with traditional ones whose framing was flat, shallow and two-dimensional.
Mezzanine/stairs also add to Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design.
The NewsCentre is not simply a futuristic, high-tech and cinematic television news studio design being created by Fred Harpman, but a title/format on par with Eyewitness News and Action News.
Lee Hanna and Earl Ubell, both news executives involved with WNBC-TV, are the geniuses behind the creation of its NewsCentre concept, featuring Fred Harpman's high-tech design.
What inspired Lee Hanna to create the NewsCentre (NBC) was an episode of Search that he saw on his home television, featuring Fred Harpman's high-tech Probe Control design.
Jim Kitchell is the mastermind behind NBC's space broadcast unit to cover NASA events.
Due to his interest in NASA's nerve centres, Jim Kitchell managed the futurist, space-age and high-tech NASA-like aesthetics at NBC News, specifically Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design.
Before its NewsCentre format, WNBC-TV was in the ratings doldrums, falling behind WABC-TV and WCBS-TV.
However, with its NewsCentre format, WNBC-TV became a ratings success.
Los Angeles' NBC station KNBC adopted the NewsCentre to capture the same cinematic energy.
Given its proximity to Hollywood, KNBC used the multi-angle geometry and workstations banks for offering the NewsCentre in the Entertainment Capital of the World.
Whereas the original New York version of the NewsCentre format had an urgent and gritty feel, its Los Angeles version optimized this one with warmer lightning and polished acoustics.
In Chicago, in a poetic twist of television history, this NewsCentre traces back to Dave Garroway's old stomping grounds.
WMAQ-TV used the NewsCentre as a multi-tiered and active newsroom atmosphere that proved news reporting in the Midwest in an industrial and fast-paced nature.
Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., WRC-TV used the NewsCentre, which worked great for politics.
Fred Harpman's NewsCentre design is a flashy, high-tech and cinematic upgrade to the raw, gritty and unpolished newsroom set that WBBM-TV used.
North of the border, BCTV used the iconic newsroom-as-set trend until October 4, 2010.
Until December 2009, Tony Parsons had served as the primary news anchor for BCTV, delivering its flagship 6 p.m. newscast called the News Hour.
Enterprise Street, which is located in the Lake City Industrial Park, houses a purpose-built building for BCTV, but also its innovative and oft-imitated newsroom-as-set trend.
For its unique news studio layout, BCTV juxtaposed the regular newsroom backdrop (CBS) with Fred Harpman's NASA-like NewsCentre design (NBC) and its locally-owned indie station status.
Departing from the oft-used, yet derided philosophy that the studio is the newsroom, as emphasized by CBS/WBBM-TV, the philosophy, as emphasized by BCTV, was that the newsroom is the studio.
