Sweeping Up the Sweeps

In “CBS’ Bill Stout Getting Star Today” (Feb. 3) Dennis McDougal states that Edward R. Murrow “was a radio actor before he launched into his broadcast journalism career.”

I checked several sources, including A.M. Sperber’s definitive biography of Murrow, and none of them indicate that Murrow ever performed as a radio actor. Indeed, each source indicates that Murrow started as an executive and became a broadcaster only by accident when he was the only person available in Austria when Hitler entered the country in 1938.

McDougal’s article is correct, however, in suggesting that not even Morrow was above mixing a little entertainment with news. Murrow’s “Person to Person” show was not much better than “The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”

This, along with his failure to vigorously oppose the firing of William Shirer, constitutes the two major blemishes on broadcasting’s most distinguished career.

ROBERT G. CARLTON

Professor of History

Chaffey College, Upland