History & Timeline

Sept.
1928 		During the month he turns 27-years-old, William S. Paley acquires United Independent Broadcasters Inc., a network of 16 independent radio stations, changes name to Columbia Broadcast System and becomes President of the Company.
Nov.
1928 		CBS Radio covers presidential election night – Herbert Hoover vs. Alfred E. Smith. Ted Husing, one of CBS’s earliest announcers, reports returns from a microphone in the city room of The New York World from 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM. CBS receives 12,000 telegrams of congratulations.
Jan. 8,
1929 		Paley appears on the air for the first time to announce that CBS now has the largest regular chain of broadcasting stations in radio history. In the three-and-one-half months since Paley took the helm, CBS has tripled its broadcasting coverage, and now serves 49 stations in 42 cities throughout the country.
July 21,
1931 		CBS begins the first regularly scheduled television broadcasting in the country on experimental station W2XAB in New York City. By year’s end, CBS is broadcasting seven hours daily, seven days a week. Programming includes "Bill Schudt’s Going to Press," an interview show with correspondents, columnists and editors. It was the first regularly scheduled program to be simulcast on radio and television.

1933 		CBS News Editor Paul White organizes the Columbia News Service, the first network news operation, with bureaus in New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles and stringers, who are newspaper reporters, in most of the country’s large cities.

1935

CBS becomes the nation’s largest radio network with 97 stations.


1935

Edward R. Murrow joins CBS.

1935 		Frank Stanton, a 27-year-old instructor of psychology at Ohio State, receives a telegram urging him to join CBS. He moves to New York and joins CBS as number three in a three-person research department. His early work focuses on audience measurement – program ratings, geographical studies of CBS station coverage and effectiveness studies on radio’s ability to sell goods.

1936

Introduces the first radio quiz show, "Professor Quiz."

1936 		H. V. Kaltenborn reports on the Spanish Civil War from French/Spanish border. This is the first battlefield broadcast in radio news history.

1936

Dr. Peter Goldmark joins CBS as chief television engineer.

1937 		The daytime drama "Guiding Light" premieres on radio.

1937 		CBS is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

1938 		CBS opens a new $2 million studio and office building in Hollywood.
March 13,
1938 		CBS broadcasts a 35-minute special report from multiple locations around the world as the pre-war crisis mounts. It is the first time that on-the-scene European field correspondents are linked with a central anchor in New York for a daily national radio broadcast. The program is later named "World News Roundup," and it remains the longest running news presentation in the history of broadcasting.

1939 		Studio equipment for CBS television broadcasting in New York is installed in Grand Central Terminal and transmitters are installed in the Chrysler Building tower.
Aug.
1940 		First color television broadcast from CBS transmitter atop the Chrysler Building is received in the CBS building at 485 Madison Avenue.

1941 		CBS gets its first FM station, WCBS in New York. After the war, CBS picks up its other FM frequencies.

1941 		Dr. Stanton persuades Arthur Godfrey to move from a local Washington, D.C. station to do a radio show from WCBS in New York.
July 1,
1941 		Fifteen hours a week of black and white television programming begins at New York station WCBW (later renamed WCBS). News is prominent in the schedule.
Dec. 7,
1941 		John Daly of CBS News interrupts network programming to announce that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (CBS experimental station WCBW in New York goes on the air with a nine-hour broadcast on the attack on Pearl Harbor, which is the first television news instant special.) CBS broadcasts nearly 35,700 programs connected with the war effort throughout the war.

1942 		WCBW television cuts programming back from 15 hours a week to four for the rest of the war.

1943 		Paley takes a leave of absence from CBS to serve as a colonel in the U.S. Army. Attached to General Eisenhower’s staff in London, Col. Paley heads the Office of Psychological Warfare. Paul Kesten, whose genius for promotion was critical in making CBS competitive, is named Executive Vice President and heads CBS during Paley’s absence. Dr. Stanton, now Vice President and General Executive, is one of CBS’s top four executives.

1944 		CBS Radio Network has 147 stations.

1945 		Back from the war, Paley becomes Chairman of the CBS Board; Paul Kesten requests a less active role and Dr. Frank Stanton is named President of the Company.