Broadcasting the Local News: The Early Years of Pittsburgh's Kdka-TV [Paperback]

Lynn Boyd Hinds (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1995

Every day millions of Americans tune in to a newscast on one of their local television stations to learn what is new in their community. In fact, more people watch local news than network news, but surprisingly little is known about the early days of television when stations across the country searched for ways to do news in the new medium. In Broadcasting the Local News, Lynn Boyd Hinds, a former Pittsburgh broadcaster, introduces us to one station--KDKA-TV--which literally invented television news in Pittsburgh.Television came to Pittsburgh in 1949 when WDTV (the forerunner of KDKA-TV) went on the air. Whereas many television stations in the United States began reading news on the air only to comply with FCC requirements, WDTV treated news seriously from day one with its first regular program, a local news show called ''Pitt Parade.'' Today KDKA is still highly regarded among journalists for its news programming. Although television news may seem familiar to us, it was anything but familiar to the men and women of early television. Hinds shows how they borrowed liberally from newspapers, radio, motion picture newsreels, theater, and even magazines to create, by trial and error, suitable ways to present the news. Rather than instantly replacing radio, television news moved slowly from the ''rip and read'' radio-style format, which simply duplicated what came over the wire services and was in the newspapers, to the conventions of local newscasts we take for granted today--live remotes, lead and feature stories, sports and weather, all brought together by an in-studio anchor. Pittsburghers will recognize many familiar names in Hinds's account--Bill Burns, Paul Long, Florence Sando, Eleanor Schano, and others--veterans of Pittsburgh broadcasting whom Hinds has interviewed for this book. The story they tell is the story of dozens of other stations across the country. In the process, they tell us much about the early history of television in America.

Editorial Reviews

Review

''The book provides an excellent foundation of history and understanding for broadcast news professionals, broadcast news students, and those interested in the early days of communications. It is well researched, well written, and well structured.'' --Journal and Mass Communication Quarterly

About the Author

Lynn Boyd Hinds spent over twenty years in Pittsburgh television and radio before moving to Penn State University where he was an affiliate producer for WPSX-TV, the public broadcasting station in Central Pennsylvania. There he created and hosted the popular quiz show, ''The Pennsylvania Game.'' Today he is Associate Professor of Broadcast News in the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (Trd) (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271014393
• ISBN-13: 978-0271014395
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,606,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Broadcasting the Local News - Pittsburgh, January 27, 2010

By 

David T. Riedel (Providence, RI United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Broadcasting the Local News: The Early Years of Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV (Paperback)

Very interesting from an historical and factual point of view. A bit disorganized and not that well written.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good synopsis of the early years of television, March 14, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Broadcasting the Local News: The Early Years of Pittsburgh's Kdka-TV (Paperback)

My father was one of the sources quoted in the book and I have heard many stories similar to those outlined. I also worked part time (volunteer work) at the station in later years and see strong similarities. It's a solid working man's view of how things got done early in the formative years. I recommend it for those aspiring television journalists/producers/engineers who need humbled after being exposed to today's technological advances