NBC Monitor’s Communicators

When “Monitor” began in June 1955, it ran 40 consecutive hours each weekend, from 8 a.m. Saturday morning to midnight Sunday Eastern Time on NBC Radio. That meant lots of hosts — or “communicators,” as they were first called — were needed. (Sylvester L. “Pat” Weaver, NBC’s President and the man who created “Monitor,” had called his “Today Show” hosts “communicators,” and he used the same term for his “Monitor” hosts).

What follows is as complete a listing of those many hosts over “Monitor’s” 20-year run as we have been able to make. In addition to the hosts listed, it should be noted that Al “Jazzbo” Collins and Leon Pearson hosted Monitor’s “overnight” hours (midnight Saturday until the early morning hours on Sunday) until that segment was eliminated (see next paragraph).

“Monitor’s” broadcast schedule changed gradually over the years. In early 1956, the program’s midnight to 8 a.m. Eastern Time segment was dropped because it was too expensive to program for such a small overnight audience.

In April 1957, “Monitor” expanded to Friday nights from 8-10 p.m. ET. Then in 1959, “Monitor” expanded to a Monday-through-Friday 8-10 p.m. ET time slot, in addition to its weekend hours.

In March 1961, “Monitor” was reduced to 15 live hours each weekend — Saturdays 9 a.m.-noon, 3-6 p.m. and 7:30-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time. On Sundays the program aired from 3-6 p.m. and 7-10 p.m. ET.  The weeknight segments had disappeared. In 1964, Monitor added one hour to the Sunday afternoon segment, after which it aired from 2-6 p.m. ET. The show would continue this 16-hour-per-weekend pattern for many years.

In May 1970, the Saturday night “Monitor” segment was “upped” to 7-10 p.m. Eastern Time.

Then in January 1974, NBC, in a last effort to keep the show alive, changed “Monitor’s” live broadcast hours to Saturdays 9 a.m.-3 p.m. ET with 6 hours of repeats airing from 3 p.m.-9 p.m. EST and Sundays, live, from noon to 6 p.m. ET and 3-hours of repeats from 6-9 p.m.

What follows is what we can confirm as a schedule for “Monitor” hosts during its 20-year run. Note that from 1955 to early 1961, Monitor had “co-communicators” — two hosts — for each segment.

To see pictures of other Monitor “communicators” over the years, check out the NBC Radio Central page and the Promotional Material page.

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

(In 1961, Monitor’s broadcast schedule was reduced to 16 live hours a weekend. The “co-communicators” idea for each segment was dropped, and only one host handled each segment. Some of the hosts below are listed in more than one time slot because their schedules changed during the course of the specific year.)

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

(In May 1970, Saturday night Monitor began airing from 7-10 p.m. EST.)

1970

1971

1972

1973

(In 1974, “Monitor’s” schedule changed one last time. The program aired live on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. EST with same-day repeats airing from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays, live, from noon to 6 p.m. with same-day repeats airing from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.)

1974

1975

The final “Monitor” broadcasts aired on January 25-26, 1975. The program ended its live run at 5:58:50 p.m. EST on Sunday, Jan. 26, with John Bartholomew Tucker as the final host. The final sounds ever heard on “Monitor” were the NBC chimes.