Thursday, August 30, 2018

On The Air: CBS News Sunday Morning (1979)

For all of the changes CBS has made with their morning news programs over the years, one constant has been their Sunday Morning news magazine, which launched in 1979. In the course of nearly 40 years on the air, the program has had just three anchors. Co-creator Charles Kuralt was the first (1979-94), giving him something to do besides his legendary On The Road pieces for the CBS Evening News. Charles Osgood succeeded Kuralt in 1994, and retired in 2016. Jane Pauley (ex-The Today Show) was lured from retirement to succeed Osgood and is the current anchor.

Designed in a way to be a visual "Sunday supplement", something you wouldn't find in, say, the New York Times, Sunday Morning mixes hard news with softer, lighter pieces, and sets the table for Face The Nation, which follows.

While CBS runs dead last in the weekday morning race, rivals NBC & ABC have developed Sunday editions of Today & Good Morning America, respectively, in recent years. I don't know what the ratings are on Sundays, but this might be the only day where CBS prevails.

In this clip from 2014, Mo Rocca (The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation) takes a look at the wit of "The Great Communicator", the late Ronald Reagan, with help from Drew Carey (The Price is Right):



Current President Donald Trump aspires to make America great again, just as Reagan did during his administration (1981-9). Unfortunately, Trump lacks Reagan's charismatic presence, wit, and humility. Would Trump use self-depreciating humor? Nope. His loss.

Rating: A.

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