NRR Project: Edward R. Murrow reports from London (Sept.
21, 1940)
CBS Radio
4:14 min.
Everything essential about this selection is limned in Bob Edwards’ comprehensive essay on it for the National Recording Registry, which you should read here.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) was a heroic journalist. He broadcast from London during Germany’s attacks on it, insisting on broadcasting from open squares, rooftops, and basements even as he was getting bombed out of them. His eloquent and descriptive solemnity fit the perilous nature of the situation he found himself in and made the experience vivid for millions of listeners. And it was all done live -- CBS didn't do taping back then.
Murrow was a descriptive master. At a time when most ran for shelter, he toughed it out on the rooftops of London. Listen to it here. He hung in there and told us the truth, becoming a paragon of journalistic guts and integrity. The correspondents he later corralled together with him on CBS Radio were known as “Murrow’s Boys,” and they were legendary.
The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: the Carousel of American Music.
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