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Murrow's Boys

Murrow's enormous contribution to the growth of radio news at CBS was not limited to his own skills, for he was also an astute recruiter of other reporters. Indeed, some of the young men he hired in Europe to help him cover World War II would go on to forge distinguished careers of their own.

Known collectively as "Murrow's Boys," this corps of CBS correspondents included such illustrious talents as Eric Sevareid, Charles Collingwood, Howard K. Smith, and Winston Burdett.

The reporting by Murrow and his boys on the war in Europe – from the London Blitz to the final push across Germany – raised the craft of radio journalism to new levels of excellence and set an enduring standard for all those who followed in their footsteps.

Largely because of their work, the 1940s came to be known as the "Golden Age of Radio News." And the reason the Golden Age did not last much longer than that was because it was overwhelmed by the second revolution in electronic journalism.

Next: That Damn Picture Box

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Written by Gary Paul Gates

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