Meet the Press

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Meet the Press with Tim Russert
Format News
Created by Lawrence E. Spivak

Martha Roundtree

Starring Tim Russert (1991-present)
Opening theme The Pulse of Events
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of episodes 4,765 as of October 14, 2007
Production
Running time 30 minutes w/commercials (1947-1992); 60 minutes w/commercials (1992-present)
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Picture format NTSC (480i)
Original run November 6, 1947 – Present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It started as a radio show in 1945 as American Mercury Presents: Meet the Press, created and produced by Lawrence E. Spivak, and first broadcast over the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Meet the Press made its television debut on November 6, 1947. It is now the longest-running television show in worldwide broadcasting history (though episode/airtime-wise SportsCenter has most air time with over 30,000 editions). Meet the Press is the highest rated of the American television Sunday morning talk shows, although its ratings are less than CBS News Sunday Morning, which airs in the same time slot in most markets.

Meet the Press airs in most markets at 9:00 AM ET, with some stations (including WRC-TV in Washington, DC, where this program is produced) delaying the broadcast until later. The show is also repeated Sunday evenings on MSNBC, early Monday morning on NBC as part of the NBC All Night block and is simulcast on radio stations by Westwood One.[1] It is also available as an audio or video podcast from iTunes.

Contents

Meet the Press set, November 1975.
Meet the Press set, November 1975.

Meet the Press and similar Sunday-morning interview shows specialize in interviewing national leaders on issues of state, economics and foreign policy. These shows help fulfill the obligations of the networks to provide a public service to the community.

The show was originally presented as a 30-minute press conference with a single guest and a panel of questioners. Its first hostess was Martha Rountree, to date the program's only female moderator. The original producer, Lawrence E. Spivak, who published the conservative political and cultural magazine The American Mercury until 1954, remained on the show as permanent panel member and then as moderator until November 1975.

Other moderators throughout the years have included Ned Brooks, Bill Monroe, Marvin Kalb, Roger Mudd, Chris Wallace and Garrick Utley.

Today, the show's format consists of an extended one-on-one interview with the host, followed by a roundtable discussion or one-on-two interview with figures in adversarial positions, either congressmembers from opposite sides of the aisle or political commentators. NBC's Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert, has hosted the show since December 8, 1991, under the full title Meet the Press with Tim Russert. The show expanded to 60 minutes in 1992. The final segment of the program, "The Meet the Press Minute," (time permitting) is often devoted to a topical clip from the show's extensive archives.

Russert's sign-off is, "That's all for today. We'll be back next week. If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press." During the football season, Russert, a native of Buffalo, New York and avid Buffalo Bills fan,[2][3] sometimes adds, "Go Bills!", and occasionally will ask panelists, "How 'bout those Sabres?" if the Buffalo NHL hockey team is doing well. Spoofs of the show on Saturday Night Live often reflect this addition.

Martha Rountree 1947 - 1953
Ned Brooks 1953 - 1965
Lawrence Spivak 1966 - 1975
Bill Monroe 1975 - 1984
Roger Mudd / Marvin Kalb
(co-moderators)
1984 - 1985
Marvin Kalb 1985 - 1987
Chris Wallace 1987 - 1988
Garrick Utley 1989 - 1991
Tim Russert 1991 - present

See also: Nielsen Ratings

As of April 2006, Meet the Press has been the number one Sunday-morning interview show for five years straight, beating CBS's Face the Nation, ABC's This Week, Fox News Sunday, and CNN's Late Edition.[4] It is the second-highest rated program airing on Sunday morning, behind CBS's CBS News Sunday Morning[5], which airs in the same time slot in most markets.

Meet the Press, Australian edition, is broadcast at 8:00AM Sunday (AET) from the TEN Sydney studios. It is hosted by Ten News chief political correspondent Paul Bongiorno, and has been broadcast since 1992.

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