October 90, 1956-May 31, 1957

Night beat was an hour-long talk/interview program hosted by Mike Wallace and broadcast on WABD-TV channel 5 in New York City. (Dumont). It was broadcast from 11 PM to 12 AM Tuesday through Friday evenings. Wallace served as host from October 1956 to May 1957. 

In this episode, Mike interviews Max Lerner of the NY Post who comments on the Middle East crises and makes a prediction that Adlai Stevenson will be elected the next President of the United States and New York City Mayor Robert Wagner will be a United States Senator from New York. He also predicts that John Foster Dulle's days as Secretary of State are over. Mike Wallace reviews current headlines.                                               

Night beat was an hour-long talk/interview program hosted by Mike Wallace and broadcast on WABD-TV channel 5 in New York City. (Dumont). It was broadcast from 11 PM to 12 AM Tuesday through Friday evenings. Wallace served as host from October 1956 to May 1957. 

Mike Wallace interviews Washington columnist Drew Pearson, who attacks Vice-President Nixon on his past actions, He discusses Eisenhower and Nixon, Harry Truman, and FDR.                                                          

October 9, 1956-May 31 1957

Night beat was an hour-long talk/interview program hosted by Mike Wallace and broadcast on WABD-TV channel 5 in New York City. (Dumont). It was broadcast from 11 PM to 12 AM Tuesday through Friday evenings. Wallace served as host from October 1956 to May 1957. 

Mike Wallace interviews journalist H.V. Kaltenborn, joined in progress.

NOTE: Phil Gries in conversation with Mike Wallace donated this "lost" much often sought after broadcast to Wallace. He had little recall related to what was talked about or subject matter, and was astonished when listening to the air check.                                                                                    

October 30, 1956-May 31, 1957

Night beat was an hour-long talk/interview program hosted by Mike Wallace and broadcast on WABD-TV channel 5 in New York City. (Dumont). It was broadcast from 11 PM to 12 AM Tuesday through Friday evenings. Wallace served as host from October 1956 to May 1957. 

In this episode, we hear the final 7 minutes of a Mike Wallace interview with conservative, and recent editor of the National Review, William F. Buckley Jr.    

Topics covered include:
-The refusal by New York City Colleges, with the exception of Columbia University, of which Buckley is in disagreement, to allow John Gates to speak on their college campuses. 
- William F. Buckley Jr. espouses on the purpose of education is to find out certain truths, including Communism. 
-The doctrine of Academic Freedom.
-Yale University being a "hot bed" of communist enrollments. 
-A character portrait of William F. Buckley Jr. read by Mike Wallace written by the editor of the Yale Daily News Oct. 15, 1951...and its response by Buckley Jr. 
-March 4, 1957 TIME MAGAZINE article, two weeks ago, about William Buckley Sr. described as a capitalist and that he is intending to create an elementary school to train children, including his own 28 grandchildren, to "resist the blight of liberalism and communism." William F. Buckley Jr. expands on his father's philosophy by which he grew up.                                                                                                                               

The guest is quiz show host Jack Barry. Barry discusses how people get on his quiz show.

Hosts: Tex McCrary and Jinx Falkenburg.                                      

A daily morning radio talk show heard at 8:30 AM weekdays on the NBC radio network. It was hosted by Tex McCrary and his wife Jinx Falkenburg. Although officially titled "New York Close-Up, it was often billed in newspaper radio listings as Tex and Jinx. 

Tex McCrary interviews columnist Eric Browder.  

Hosts: Tex McCrary and Jinx Falkenburg.   

Debut show.                                 

Tonight's topic: 

"Is There Anything Wrong with Motorcycling?"

To date there are one million motorcyclists in the USA.
During the past week 15,000 motorcyclists converged on the town of Laconia New Hampshire for the 46th annual New England motorcycle rally and race. A riot ensued and police and The National Guard were called to stop the riot. 

To discuss this topic are guests Harold Knowlton Police Chief of Laconia, Michael Sumner, journalist covering the story at the scene for Sports Illustrated magazine, and Bob Trapp President of the CCMC motorcycle club. He was in Laconia at the time of the rally. Nipsey Russell and Les Crane add their own points of view. 


LES CRANE TV  Late Night Talk Show Host.

The debut of Les Crane on WABC television in New York  was September 16, 1963. For the first month, the title of the telecast was NIGHTLINE...LES CRANE. Beginning on October 18, 1963, the title was changed to THE LES CRANE SHOW. 

These late-night LIVE broadcasts were aired Monday thru Friday. on local station WABC New York. Beginning December 6, 1963, late-night broadcasts aired Tuesday thru Saturday. Also, another time slot opened for Crane with a similar format airing on WABC in the afternoon...a one hour version broadcast from 1:30-2:30 pm, five days a week, and again returning to late-night broadcasting usually 1 am to 2:00 am after the WABC late movie, THE BEST OF BROADWAY. This TALK SHOW / PHONE IN version of The Les Crane Show concluded its final broadcast on July 31, 1964.

On August 3, 4, 5, 6, & 8, 1964 THE NEW LES CRANE SHOW premiered...a five program trial rivaling Johnny Carson's TONIGHT SHOW.  It was Nationally televised and it is considered the FIRST network talk show program to compete with THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON. On November 9, 1964, THE LES CRANE SHOW premiered and aired regularly weeknights on the ABC network, opposite Johnny Carson's TONIGHT SHOW.
After 14 weeks, and low ratings, this series ended with its last telecast airing on February 26, 1965. Les Crane's late-night network career was over, and never to be resumed Nationally.

ABC renamed their late-night time slot NIGHTLIFE, premiering on February 29, 1965. This one hour forty-five-minute weekly late-night talk series showcased guest hosts. This series run lasted four months, the last broadcast airing on June 25, 1965. Guest hosts included: Shelley Berman, Pat Boone, Jack Carter, Allan Sherman, Dave Garraway, Bill Cullen, William B. Williams (announcer of this series run), Eddy Arnold, Dale Robertson, Dick Shawn, Louis Nye, & Jan Murray. 

Form June 28 to October 22, 1965 Les Crane returned to this time slot...the series title remaining, NIGHTLIFE. Les Crane no longer was a solo host. He co-hosted with Dave Garroway, and Nipsey Russell.

Two years later, Les Crane returned to local late night television appearing for eight months on WNEW channel 5 in New York 11:15pm - 12:15am from January 15, 1968 changing time slots on July 8, 1968, 11:45pm - 12:45pm. Final show aired on September 6, 1968, and it was the last time Les Crane would host a late night television talk show.   

NOTE: A two hour radio broadcast profiling Les Crane, including TV Audio Air Check Crane highlights from the ATA archive can be listened to in its entirety. It appears on the ATA website under the link TV CONFIDENTIAL. The segment (SOUNDS OF LOST TELEVISION) was recorded in Pasadena California and aired in 2014 with host Ed Robertson, and guest Phil Gries. 

NOTE: Most all of Les Crane's cumulative 26 months of broadcasting as a talk show host is today non-existent. Tapes were destroyed, erased and whereabouts unknown. The 25 television air checks archived in the Archival Television Audio, Inc. library is the most known Les Crane broadcast records to exist in the country.
 
Extant examples existing elsewhere include two broadcast kinescopes archived by The Paley Center for Media (one from 1967, and the other, a broadcast from January 31, 1968 titled "Rich Jews." There is archived at UCLA FILM & TV ARCHIVE four extant examples related to Les Crane, including a 45 minute compilation demo/presentation reel with clips from the New Les Crane Show trial run (Aug. 1964).

NOTE: The Les Crane Show  late night talk program on ABC during the 1964-65 television season pioneered a format of television later embraced by icon Phil Donahue, Crane fell to NBC’s The Tonight Show, a national brand with a decade of broadcasting tenure, proved its dominance.  Donahue began his legendary career in Dayton in 1967, evolving into a daytime programming staple for nearly 30 years.

Les Crane’s daughter Caprice points out that her father used journalism to cover topics and people that others feared to explore.  “He created the shotgun mike,” says Crane of her dad, who passed away in 2008.  “He had guests who did not provide the typical fluff, for example, Malcolm X, Bob Dylan, and the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald.  He had the first publicly gay man on his show.  He was also an amazing listener who helped create a new television format that demanded more information for the listener.  
The Les Crane Show didn’t last long because the person who tries the new thing always gets penalized.  People are afraid of the unknown until it becomes mainstream.”

A renaissance media man for the second half of the 20th century, Crane held interests and influences beyond journalism.  “My dad gave The Mamas and the Papas group its name,” reminds Caprice Crane.  “Casey Kasem credited him with inventing the Top 40 radio format at KRLA.  He also got into the computer business before it was big.  His company was Software Tool Works, which produced the Chess Master computer program.  He was always before his time.”

Crane’s innovative format allowed one of baseball’s biggest heroes, Jackie Robinson, to debate one of conservatism’s biggest allies, William F. Buckley. Nowhere on television in the mid-1960s could audiences see this type of television fodder.  Unfortunately, The Les Crane Show fell victim to a common policy of television networks destroying tapes because of the shortsighted view that future generations would not be interested in. How wrong they were.                                                                                                                                                       

  Les Crane with David Susskind who tells a joke.                                                                           

June 28th 1965-October 22nd, 1965 (ABC)

Guest: David Susskind.                                  

June 28th 1965-October 22nd, 1965 (ABC)

Guest: Oscar Levant. 

                                               

  Les Crane interviews Oscar Levant.                                                                           

Six candidates, all running for the office of New York City mayor, meet in a TV debate.   
Major candidates include Congressman John V. Lindsay, city comptroller Abraham D. Beame, and journalist William F. Buckley, Jr.                      

Comic and civil-rights champion Dick Gregory explains his philosophy in a lecture filmed at the University  of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The talk (which takes pot shots at Democracy, non-violence, white history, black anti-semitism and black studies) is basically the same as "Dick Gregory:The Light Side;The Dark Side." The record was deemed by one critic as the "most lucid, forceful, and witty discourse about racism in America yet on record." Also Gregory's reflections on the younger generation he's aiming to reach.

1971-1979

Half-hour daytime talk show hosted by Barbara Walters. Hugh Downs later became a co-host and in 1976 Polly Bergen and Frank Field became co-hosts. Dr. Michael DeBakey is guest on this broadcast.