WASHINGTON, DC -- NBC's Meet the Press, the longest-running program ever on network television, will be the television inductee into the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame at the NAB2007 Television Luncheon on Monday, April 16 in Las Vegas. Current moderator and managing editor Tim Russert will be on-hand to accept the award.
"For over half a century, Meet the Press has served as the benchmark for public-affairs programming," said NAB President and CEO David K. Rehr. "NAB is proud to recognize this institution of excellence in journalism and we are honored to present the award to the program's longest serving moderator, Tim Russert."
Meet the Press will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2007, making it the longest-running program ever on network TV. Since it premiered on November 6, 1947, the program has continually featured headline-making interviews with world leaders and U.S. newsmakers every Sunday morning on NBC. Prior to its acclaimed television run, the show aired on radio with Martha Rountree and Lawrence Spivak as producers.
Every sitting president from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush has appeared on the program. So too has every vice president, starting with Alben Barkley in 1952, every Secretary of State from John Foster Dulles to Condoleezza Rice, and every Secretary of Defense from Robert McNamara to Donald Rumsfeld. First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Reagan, Rosalynn Carter, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush have all been interviewed on Meet the Press.
Boasting foreign policy as a programming staple, Meet the Press has featured world leaders such as Fidel Castro, Francois Mitterrand, Indira Gandhi, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Ferdinand Marcos, Jean Monnet, Mikhail Gorbachev, Anwar el-Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin, King Hussein of Jordan, Hamid Karzai, Pervez Musharraf, King Abdullah of Jordan, Tony Blair and Ghazi al-Yawar.
Tim Russert, the program's current moderator and managing editor, is the ninth person to serve as permanent host. Russert, who also serves as senior vice president and Washington bureau chief of NBC News, has served as moderator of Meet the Press since 1991, making him the longest serving moderator in the history of the show. Prior to Russert, the show's moderators included: Martha Rountree, Ned Brooks, Lawrence Spivak, Bill Monroe, Marvin Kalb, Roger Mudd, Chris Wallace and Garrick Utley.
Russert joined NBC News in 1984. In April 1985, he supervised live broadcasts of Today from Rome, coordinating the first American TV appearance by Pope John Paul II. TV Guide selected his use of a white dry-erase board during NBC's 2000 presidential election coverage as one of the "100 Most Memorable TV Moments" in history. The Washington Post credits him with coining the phrases "red state" and "blue state" to explain the nation's political divide. Russert is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Emmy for coverage of the funeral of President Reagan. He is a native of Buffalo and a graduate of John Carroll University and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
Previous NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame television inductees include Regis Philbin, The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, Ted Koppel,M*A*S*H, 60 Minutes, The Today Show and Star Trek, among others.
About NAB2007
NAB2007 will take place April 14 - 19, 2006 in Las Vegas (exhibits open April 16). It is the world's largest electronic media show covering the development, delivery and management of professional video and audio content across all mediums. Complete NAB2007 details are available at www.nabshow.com.
About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association that advocates on behalf of more than 8,300 free, local radio and television stations and also broadcast networks before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and the Courts. Information about NAB can be found at www.nab.org.
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