1. Robert Trout was regarded by some as the "Iron Man of Radio" for his ability to ad lib while on the air, as well as for his stamina, composure, and elocution.
16 Facts About Robert Trout
1. 2.
Robert Trout added the Trout name early in his radio career.
3.
Robert Trout entered broadcasting in 1931 as an announcer at WJSV, an independent station in Alexandria, Virginia.
4.
Robert Trout was behind the microphone for many of broadcasting's firsts.
5.
Robert Trout was the first to report on live congressional hearings from Capitol Hill, first to transmit from a flying airplane and, by some definitions, the first to broadcast a daily news program, creating the news anchorman role.
6.
Robert Trout played a key role in Murrow's development as a broadcaster, and the two would remain colleagues until Murrow departed the network in 1961, and friends until Murrow's death in 1965.
7.
Robert Trout emceed not only news and special events but occasional entertainment programs during his first tenure at CBS, from 1932 to 1948, including a stint in London while Murrow was back in the United States.
8.
Robert Trout was the announcer on CBS' The American School of the Air and on Professor Quiz, radio's first true quiz program.
9.
Robert Trout anchored the network's live early morning coverage of the June 6,1944, Normandy invasion on D-Day by the allied forces and was behind the microphone when the bulletins announcing the end of World War II in Europe, and later Japan, came over the air.
10.
Robert Trout doubled as a network correspondent and as main anchor of local evening news at CBS' New York City television flagship, WCBS-TV until June 17,1965.
11.
Robert Trout remained on radio but did in-depth news features for the TV network, including field reports for the CBS News broadcast 60 Minutes.
12.
One overlooked aspect of Robert Trout's career was his annual appearance on bandleader Guy Lombardo's New Year's Eve specials on CBS-TV.
13.
Robert Trout later worked for ABC, serving mostly as a correspondent based in Madrid, where he lived for most of the last two decades of his life.
14.
Robert Trout was on the ABC News team that covered the election of Pope John Paul II in 1978.
15.
In 1979, Robert Trout received a Peabody Award for his distinguished broadcasting career.
16.
Robert Trout died at age 91 on November 14,2000, in the Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan; there were no immediate survivors.