Gabriel Heatter was an American radio commentator whose World War II-era sign-on, "There's good news tonight," became both his catchphrase and his caricature.
15 Facts About Gabriel Heatter
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The son of immigrants from Austria, Heatter was born in New York's Lower East Side and raised in Brooklyn.
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Young Gabriel Heatter, who found school difficult but had a passion for reading, became a sidewalk-campaigner for William Randolph Hearst during Hearst's 1906 mayoral campaign.
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In December 1932, he was invited by Donald Flamm, the owner of New York's WMCA, to debate a Socialist on radio, and when the Socialist was unable to make the date, Gabriel Heatter had the program almost to himself.
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Gabriel Heatter's audience expanded when in 1934, WOR became the flagship station of the newest network, Mutual Broadcasting.
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Gabriel Heatter covered the trial of Bruno Hauptmann, the man accused of kidnapping the infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
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In December 1948 Gabriel Heatter signed a five-year contract, effective January 1,1949, with Mutual for radio and television services.
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The New York Times reported that Mutual was experimenting with several TV programs for which Gabriel Heatter would be the "key personality".
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Heatter began hosting the Gabriel Heatter Opportunity Show, a talent showcase, on October 1,1949, on Mutual.
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Gabriel Heatter was already well known for trying to find uplifting but true stories to feed his commentaries.
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Gabriel Heatter remained with Mutual until, like many of the Depression and wartime broadcasters and commentators, his influence gave way to a newer generation of broadcasters, who made the transition to television or started in television and bypassed radio entirely.
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Gabriel Heatter wrote a column for The Miami Beach Sun newspaper six days a week.
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Gabriel Heatter's nephew Merrill Heatter was a television writer and producer.
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In 1944, Gabriel Heatter appeared as himself uncredited in the wartime Cary Grant film Once Upon a Time.
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Gabriel Heatter was heard but not seen as one of four broadcast journalists portraying themselves in the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still.