How a Prison Fire Helped Create CBS News
4/29/202636 min
When CBS was founded in 1927, its radio programming focused on entertainment, music, and fun. That all changed when a horrific prison fire broke out at the Ohio Penitentiary in 1930. CBS aired on-the-spot coverage of the event, with Otto "Deacon" Gardner, an inmate in the prison, at the microphone. At the time, Gardner's gripping broadcast captured the attention of audiences across the country and started CBS on the path to creating the hard-hitting news that would define the network for nearly a century. Brooke sits down with historian A. Brad Schwartz, author of the recent piece CJR piece "The Eyewitness", to talk about this largely forgotten event in radio history and what it tells us about the type of radio reporting that speaks to listeners and builds trust with audiences.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMicah Loewinger· Host0:00
Hey, it's Micah. Before we get into Brooke's interview for the Midweek podcast, I wanna tell you about a brand-new original series that the team and I have been working on for months. It drops on Friday. Here's the trailer. [upbeat music] Storms, floods, and fires are ever more extreme, and yet the Federal Emergency Management Agency is fighting for its life.
Edward R. Murrow· Soundbite0:22
I've never been a big fan of FEMA. FEMA's very expensive, and it really doesn't get the job done.
Micah Loewinger· Host0:27
How did the agency tasked with saving America become so despised?
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:31
FEMA's a disaster.
Brooke Gladstone· Host0:32
FEMA's a dirty word.
Micah Loewinger· Host0:33
So distrusted...
A. Brad Schwartz· Guest0:35
People are waking up in droves to the FEMA camps ...
Micah Loewinger· Host0:38
and defunded? We could see the next Katrina level disaster based on the stripping away of FEMA that we have seen. Can the agency survive the stories that have been told about it? And can we survive without FEMA?
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:50
Whenever there's a disaster, the first thing people say is, "Where's FEMA?"
Micah Loewinger· Host0:54
American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA is a brand-new On The Media series reported by me, Micah Loewinger. First episode drops May 1st. See you then.
Brooke Gladstone· Host1:05
[upbeat music] [upbeat music] This is On The Media's Midweek podcast. I'm Brooke Gladstone. In late March, CBS News editor-in-chief Barry Weiss and President Tom Zabrowski sent out a memo that said they were shutting down CBS News Radio.
Speaker 2· Soundbite1:28
CBS News Radio