Face The Nation

"Face the Nation" moves to the new CBS News Washington bureau

May 11, 2018 / 6:46 PM EDT / CBS News

A look back at over half a century of "Face the Nation" sets

Despite several set redesigns, "Face the Nation" has been broadcast for over half a century from the same ground floor studio in the CBS News Washington Bureau: 2020 M Street Northwest, in the nation's capital.

"Our bureau was an architecturally nondescript, three-story brick building on a stretch of M Street in downtown Washington," former CBS News correspondent and anchor Roger Mudd wrote in "The Place to Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News."

Vice President Al Gore talks to reporters outside the CBS News Washington bureau, after appearing on the November 14, 1993 broadcast of "Face the Nation" on CBS. Joe Marquette / AP

"CBS had bought the building in 1964 from the 'Army Times' and moved downtown from the far northwest, where the distance from the White House and the Hill had put us at a competitive disadvantage," Mudd wrote.

The move next door by CBS News was done in stages in early 2018. Dozens of engineers and technicians worked for months to support the move, troubleshooting bugs as they arose and training staff on new equipment.

A look at the new "Face the Nation" studio

On April 25, "CBS This Morning" was the first to fully produce and edit a package out of the new bureau.

"For all the technology, the remarkable thing about 'Face the Nation; is how little it has changed," Bob Schieffer, one of the longest-running moderators in the broadcast's history, said in 2014, as the show celebrated its 60th anniversary.

"We still do exactly what they did in the beginning: We sit down the key newsmakers of the week, turn on the lights, and ask them about the news of the day," he said.

Vice President Walter Mondale looks over his notes before appearing on the October 26, 1980 broadcast of "Face the Nation" on CBS. AP / Allen

"Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan says the broadcast will remain true to its origins.

"We will obviously have the graphics and music and movement on set, and I think we will continue to evolve over the next few weeks and months as we get used to these new toys," "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan said in an interview with Variety.

"We still view it as a refuge from the news deluge," she added, "when we get to Sunday, we still try to be picky and choosy about what rises to the level of asking Americans on their Sunday morning to sit down and chew on something."

The video above is a look at some "Face the Nation" broadcasts of years' past. The show will broadcast Sunday morning from a new studio, with a new theme song.

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