Category Archives: Television

20th Century, History, News, Television

Harry Reasoner Gets His Start in MN

Harry Reasoner-Army 1943-46-WW2-correspondent for Stars and Stripes military newspaper.https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/126593439500709413/

1954
Minnesota native Harry Reasoner reads the nightly news at KEYD in Minneapolis. Although Reasoner’s ratings don’t match those of the legendary Cedric Adams, he goes on to network fame as a host of 60 Minutes.*

An excellent source on Mr. Reasoner’s Minnesota years is written by author Douglass K. Daniel. Below is an informative condensation quoted from his book “Harry Reasoner: A Life in the News”. ** Enjoy, all you lover of vintage television and a golden era of news reporting!

“Harry spent many important years in Minneapolis. He moved there as a child from Iowa and graduated from West High School in 1940 (technically he was in the Class of 1939 but the principal punished him for a renegade school paper by putting off his graduation until January 1940).  After a year at Stanford, he attended the University of Minnesota until he flunked out and was drafted. After the war he worked for several years at the Times, then WCCO before moving to Manila, the Philippines, for a three-year posting with the U.S. Information Agency.
He apparently wasn’t employed when he first got to Minnesota, but he took his first TV news job here in Minneapolis in late 1954. He served as the first News Director at the new KEYD-TV, which was a member of the DuMont Television Network and precursor to KMSP-TV. His work at KEYD was his first in TV and set him on that path.
The Reasoners lived at 4085 Alabama Ave. in St. Louis Park from 1953 to 1956. He and his wife Kathleen Carroll “Kay” Reasoner (from Minneapolis) came with four of their eventual seven children.  During the family’s stay in St. Louis Park, former neighbor Betty Beach Barrus reports that the Reasoners were quite social, and kept some of their St. Louis Park friends for decades.
In 1956, the DuMont network shut down, KEYD was sold, and the news department was no more. That was the year Reasoner got the job at CBS in New York.”

At this point in the narrative, we pause for an acknowledgment of the Master. We thank You, El Deah, G-d of Knowledge who guides us into wisdom! We remember You, ho martys, ho pistos kai alēthinos; our “faithful and true witness”! How we love You Ruach Ha Emet; the Holy Spirit of Truth!

Before we remember this moment in the life of Minnesota and Harry Reasoner, we again pause to hear Your words on the concept of reporting.

“Go and report to John what you see and hear,” replied Jesus; Matthew 11:4
“Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area.” Luke 4:14
“Large numbers of people also came to Him. Their report was, “John did not work any miracle, but all that John said about this Teacher was true.”” John 10:41
“When they had arrived, and had gathered the assembly together, they reported all the things that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith to the nations.” Acts 14:27
“But they didn’t all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”” Romans 10:16

Though these are but five examples of reporting of the 127 occurrences in the Scriptures, there’s a lot to glean from them. Oblige me to elaborate?

Jesus believed in and commanded his disciples to report “what you see and hear”.
Real news travels far; with or without a reporter.
Honest reporting does not seek to titillate it’s listeners ears or egos; it tells the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Knowing first-hand news can make one a legal witness.
Even honest reporting may be rejected by its audience, and the gravity of good news not land on its hearers.
We need to let that simmer, Lord. Where will we go from here as we sit with You and observe the witness of Harry Reasoner in 1954?

At once, we see a man who strove valiantly and also failed. He had the temerity to start his own paper, but received punishment for his efforts. He went to incredible schools, but did not complete his studies. In the years before his first TV gig, he: went to war, returned from war, worked internationally, and in obscurity. Is this a key to his believability as a reporter, Lord; a heart with real life experiences?

It would be conjecture to suppose this, so we will commend to You what we know. Mr. Reasoner had a literally battle-hardened resolve, and we thank You for creating this in him. He spoke plainly, resolutely, and with an air of masculine authority. His demeanor conveyed a serious commitment to air the news without the tangle of emotional embellishments or verbiage. Perhaps all this preparation led to some of the most riveting breaking news coverage of the 20th century; the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963?

Lord, we thank You that our state could entrust its current events in this era to men like Reasoner! We thank You for the standards of journalistic integrity we enjoyed led by straight shooters like him. We thank You for a man who had both failed and succeeded. Who could convey the everyday and the tragic because he had lived both!

Will You bless his heritage of “give it to me straight” reporting? Will You provide us, in the present and the future, with: anchors, broadcasters, commentators, columnists, editors, correspondents, and reporters who align with Your standards of good news and reporting? Will You forgive us all our offenses when and where we have been false witnesses to the truth? Will You release us from the bitter roots of lies told, and truths rejected because “we can’t handle the truth”?

Make us a people in the L’etoile du Nord that loves honesty. Make us a people that have both a “yes” and a “no” in our vocabulary! Makes us a people that loves Your reality. Restore our broken faith with You, each other, and our media. Mr. Reasoner once said,

“We’re all controlled neurotics.”

Will You rewrite this legacy, and take our controlled or uncontrolled neuroticism up, out, and onto the Cross of Christ? Amen.

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20th Century, History, Intercession, Television, Uncategorized

1st TV Station in Minnesota

SEH

http://www.pavekmuseum.org/tctvchron.html

1948
KSTP TV becomes the first commercial television station in Minnesota, broadcasting the
Minneapolis Millers’ baseball game.*

Already a pioneer in Minnesota radio by 1928, Stanley E. Hubbard looked to a future when images would be sent or “broadcast” through radio waves.** His curiosity and thirst for discovery provided the groundwork for a career of innovation. Please peruse the following timeline from the company that still bears his name; Hubbard Broadcasting.

“In 1938, KSTP purchased the first television camera ever sold by RCA. Innovative as always, Stanley Hubbard immediately began experimenting with television technology.

Stanley E. Hubbard had always held 25% of the stock in KSTP. In March 1947, in an action following an arranged transfer of stock the FCC granted approval for Stanley E. Hubbard to acquire (with financing) the remaining 75% of the stock in the company.

KSTP-TV went on the air on April 27, 1948, as the first television station between Chicago and the West Coast. The TV station settled into its brand-new studios on the line straddling the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The station’s first slogan was “Where the Twin Cities Meet.” Commercially supported broadcasting, a strong commitment to local news coverage, and a mix of entertainment and public affairs programming were core to the station’s mission. Among many other firsts, KSTP was the first television station in the nation to have a full half-hour late newscast 7 days per week. KSTP-TV has been in continuous operation since 1948.” ***

So we turn to You, and contemplate the formation of KSTP so many decades ago. You are the One who created the laws of science, “How does X happen?”, and most importantly You gave meaning to science; “Why and for what purpose does X happen?”
May You be forever praised, our dear Mind of the Universe!

Will You remind us of parallels of the science of television in Your Word? We need to meditate on Your newscast, even if it’s projected to us from thousands of years past. What is on Your channel today, Yeshua?

“And when they came up out of the water, the Ruach of Adonai caught Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, for he was going on his way, rejoicing. And Philip was found at Ashdod; and passing through, he was proclaiming Good News to all the cities, until his coming to Caesarea.” Acts 8:39-40 MJLT NCS ******

Many before the author have struggled with the meaning of these verses. Mainly, what is meant by the text, “the Ruach of Adonai (the Holy Spirit) caught Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more”? Some have said that it simply meant the Holy Spirit prompted Philip to move on to the next town, and that the eunuch, totally immersed in a holy moment, was not to be disrupted.

Others hone in on the idea that Philip was “caught away” miraculously, in a moment, much like other messengers of G-d:
Elijah – I Kings 18:12, 2 Kings 2:11
Ezekiel – Ezekiel 3:12-14
Paul – 2 Corinthians 12:2-4
Were You functioning as a TV station, only in reverse, broadcasting Your prophets to disappear and reappear in new locations? We invite Your insights, and ask that lead us to think on the dazzling depths of Your knowledge! We praise You that either interpretation is easily within the framework of the the Author of Space-Time and Spacetime!

“Next, we ponder the miraculous appearance and disappearance of the Messiah to his disciples on the road to Emmaus. Cleopas and an unnamed disciple walked with the Master for about seven miles along this road, but neither recognized Him. Below we finish with the text:
“And when they came near to the village where they were going, and He gave the impression of going on further, but they constrained Him saying, ‘Remain with us, for it is toward evening, and the day has now declined,’ and He went in to stay with them. And it came to pass in His reclining (at mealtime) with them, that haven taken the matzah bread, He blessed it. And having broken the matzah, He was giving it to them, and their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, and He became unseen by them. And they said to one another, “Was not our heart burning within us as He was speaking to us on the road, as He was opening up the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:28-32 MJLT NCS ******

Like the first example, there are many ways these words have been interpreted over the ages. The crux of the matter lies in the meaning of the phrase, “…and He became unseen by them.” The Greek term used is the adjective “aphantos” which can mean: disappearing, invisible, hidden, non-manifested, or invisible. Lord, again we are astonished and perplexed; this time You simply non-manifest from the disciples’ table? Clearly, we have only scratched the surface of Your Omniscience and Omnipresence, but we thank You for these inklings recorded long before humanity’s discovery of telecasting!

By the same token, as citizens of Minnesota and of Your Eternal Principality, we applaud Mr. Stanley E. Hubbard! We commend his diligence and curiosity to You! Stanley, somehow, was a reflection of Your Brilliance and Divine Rationality in his trust of the science behind TV; irregardless of how impossible it seemed to his detractors, images could be projected over radio waves because it was logical!

It also makes sense that we express gratitude, as a people, for the work of the Hubbard family and the impact of KSTP. Why did You choose us, a sort of insignificant place in the middle of a huge continent, to receive the blessings of the pioneers of TV? We would be hard pressed to explore the daisy chains of lives impacted by the alternating currents projected from the tower at 3415 University Avenue Southeast! How many lives were impacted by a single news event, and how many secondary relationships are influenced in turn? Yet, we have inherited the advantage of thousands or millions of news and informational messages through the medium of KSTP?!

Undoubtably, we are so glad today that we are the inheritors’ of a reliable news source! We thank You that the Hubbard family has stewarded fair and even-handed news coverage for at least two generations; right up the middle, just give the people the real story! Will You bless their forthright honesty, and the integrity of our media present and future in Minnesota to “give to us straight”?

Additionally, we thank You for those who laid much of the theoretic foundations for television that Hubbard could build upon! Will You allow me to recount them to You, Lord, and recite their blessings to humanity? All heaven and earth who have ears to hear and eyes to see, will You join me in humbly honoring the scientific acts of acknowledgement of these scientists of the Mind of G-d?
We thank You for the mind of Paul Nipkow and his rotating disc!
We thank You for the mind of Heinrich Hertz that discovered how make radio waves!
We thank You for the mind of Sir Oliver Lodge and his transmission of a radio message!
We thank You for the mind of Philo T. Farnsworth and his TV scanning system!
We thank You for the mind of Vladimir Zworykin and his use of cathode ray tubes!
We thank You for the mind of John Logie Baird and his use of a Nipkow disc to broadcast images! *****

Speaking frankly Jesus, it seems true that all who accumulate observational scientific knowledge, regardless of their personal assessment of Your Ultimate Reality, simply bring humanity closer and more parallel to Your Eternal Thoughts! What say You, Lord?Will You bless the work past of these men, bring more discoveries to their fields’ present, and move us to attach those scientific discoveries to Your purposes? Amen.

* P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
The Minnesota Historical Society Web site, http://www.mnhs.org, is fantastic! Check it out! Images are from https://images.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl; again, an amazing resource!
** Marks, Susan. “Television in Minnesota, 1928–1961” https://www.mnopedia.org/television-minnesota-1928-1961
*** https://hubbardbroadcasting.com/our-company/history/
**** Want to know more? “KSTP Radio City family album.” Minneapolis, MN. KSTP. 1944. https://www.worldcat.org/title/kstp-radio-city-family-album/oclc/37656418&referer=brief_results
***** Woodford, Chris. “Television”, Internet. May 16, 2018. https://www.explainthatstuff.com/television.html
****** Scriptures cited using the “Messianic Jewish Literal Translation of the New Covenant Scriptures” based on “Young’s Literal Translation” by Robert Young LL.D. revised by Kevin Geoffrey. Perfect Word Publishing, Phoenix, AZ.

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