Morning TV Is Born on 49th Street

On the morning of January 14, 1952, NBC put a new two-hour program called Today on the air from the RCA Exhibition Hall, a ground-floor studio at 40 West 49th Street with a street-level window facing the sidewalk. Dave Garroway hosted, working alongside news editor Jim Fleming and announcer Jack Lescoulie, in a format NBC executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver had built around national headlines, newsmaker interviews, and light features aimed at people getting ready for work. No network had ever scheduled programming before 10 a.m.; Weaver's wager was that Americans would let a television set into the kitchen at breakfast. The reviews were rough, but the ratings held, and the crowd gathering outside that window on 49th Street became part of the show itself.