About Herbert Morrison (journalist)
Herbert Morrison (May 12, 1905 – January 10, 1989) was an American journalist whose charged radio report on the Hindenburg disaster is recognized as a landmark in broadcasting. Decades on from his 1937 report, he became the first news director at Pennsylvania's television station WTAE-TV. The writer Craig M. Allen describes him as "an early pioneer of both radio and television news". Native to Pennsylvania, Morrison joined the WLS radio station in 1936. When the airship Hindenburg was set to conclude its maiden US trip of 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, he was sent there to report on its planned landing. He brought with him new, unusual recording equipment. As the airship neared the landing ground, it burst into flames, and Morrison's report turned emotional. He hyperventilated and wept, crying, "Oh, the humanity" out of grief for the lives lost, a phrase that has since been assimilated into popular culture. Morrison's report aired on WLS the following day, and parts of it featured on NBC. NBC had never broadcast a recording before but made an exception for Morrison's firsthand account. Millions around the world eventually heard it. The broadcast is credited, in part, with drawing much attention to the Hindenburg disaster compared with other calamities of that time. An early example of emergency, as-it-happened reporting, it altered how the relationship between the radio and news is understood. Its dramatic tone influenced the production of Orson Welles' radio drama "The War of the Worlds". Morrison's work as a journalist continued for several decades, first in New York City and then in Pittsburgh. He was also a trained pilot, serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and a politician based in Pennsylvania.
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