The Murrow Boys

Our old car, Victoria (so named because she was a "... cream thingy" like Victoria Tennant's car in LA Story) was an '83 Civic wagon. Evidently in 1983, FM radio was a luxury of sorts, so the only onboard entertainment that came standard was an AM radio.

For a time, my work commute consisted of listening to Dick Estell, the Radio Reader as he read Stanley Cloud's book The Murrow Boys, a history of early broadcast journalism. Murrow's team of journalists were a very different breed than the pretty talking heads infesting our airwaves today. They actually knew things and had abilities beyond reading off a teleprompter.. I may have to go find a copy of this book again, as it was interesting enough to keep me listening on a commute for months.

George Clooney's new picture, Good Night, and Good Luck is also about Murrow, and his decision to confront McCarthyism. The trailer is gripping, and I like their choice of not hiring anybody to play McCarthy, just using him in stock footage. I'm not sure there's an actor today who could pull off the rantings of Tailgunner Joe.