CBS News Sunday Morning

CBS News Sunday Morning
Logo used since 1999
Format	Newsmagazine
Created by	Charles Kuralt Robert Northshield
Directed by	Ken Sable (1979-1999) William M. Brady (1999-2011) Nora Gerard (2011-present)
Presented by	Charles Kuralt (1979-1994) Charles Osgood (1994–present) Anthony Mason (substitute)
Theme music composer	Don Smithers (1979-1998) Doc Severinsen (1998-2004) Wynton Marsalis (2004-present)
Opening theme	Abblasen
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	34
Production
Executive producer(s)	Robert Northshield Linda Mason Missie Rennie (1979-1999) Rand Morrison (1999-present)
Running time	90 minutes
Production company(s)	CBS News Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	480i SDTV 1080i HDTV
Original run	January 28, 1979 (1979-01-28) – present

CBS News Sunday Morning is an American television news magazine program created by Robert Northshield and original host Charles Kuralt. The program has aired continuously since January 28, 1979, on the CBS Television Network, airing in the Eastern US on Sunday from 9:00 to 10:30 A.M. The current host of the show is Charles Osgood, who took over from Kuralt upon his retirement on April 3, 1994, and has since surpassed Kuralt's tenure as host.

The program was originally conceived to be a broadcast version of a Sunday newspaper magazine section, most typified by the Sunday New York Times Magazine. The format was conceived as the Sunday equivalent of the CBS Morning News, which following Sunday Morning's debut was retitled to reflect each day of the week, such as Monday Morning, Tuesday Morning, etc. (the Sunday edition, long after these daily editions ended, continued to display all seven days of the week in the opening sequence into the early 2000s). The weekday broadcasts, which emphasized hard news as opposed to Sunday Morning's focus on features, were originally anchored by Bob Schieffer (Kuralt eventually took over the daily role, and was for a short time joined by Diane Sawyer as co-host). However, the weekday show's then-limited 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. ET air time (the long-running Captain Kangaroo was entrenched in the 8 o'clock hour) hampered its ability to compete with NBC's and ABC's rival two-hour morning shows, though it expanded to an hour and a half in 1981. The Sunday version, however, survived, and remains in its original form. The CBS weekday program, now a full two hours on the East Coast, is now known as CBS This Morning. On Sunday, May 17, 2009, the program began airing in high-definition.

Format

Each episode begins with a short summary of national and world headlines, sports and a national weather forecast—which unlike most morning news programs does not allow a cue to affiliates to run a local weather insert. It then follows a story totem pole in the center of the CBS soundstage. Each story covered in a given episode has a glass plate with its headline on this pole, which the camera follows after Osgood's introductions. Music in the show is usually limited to the opening and closing title theme. Osgood introduces each story with a short monologue, then sends the show out to the pre-taped segment. The show usually ends with Osgood going to Washington D.C. to check in on Bob Schieffer who tells the viewers what is coming up on Face the Nation followed by a preview of next week's show. After the commercial break, there is a 60-second tranquil nature scene. After that, a subtle plug is delivered by Osgood for his weekday The Osgood File radio commentaries for CBS Radio News, with the closing "Until then, I'll see you on the radio."

The program follows a format similar to a Sunday newspaper, but presented in a television show. Notably, Sunday Morning includes significant coverage of the fine and performing arts, including coverage of topics usually not covered in network news, such as architecture, painting, ballet, opera, and classical music, though increasingly more popular forms of music have been included as well. The program correspondents tend to ask nontraditional questions of guests; for instance, actor Brad Pitt was asked about his love of architecture, and Grant Hill about his painting collection. Television essays similar to the kinds delivered on PBS also appear, and the program generally has a stable of equally positive and negative news stories to fill up the program when there is no breaking news of note. Story lengths are longer and the pace of the program is considerably quieter and more relaxed than the weekday CBS This Morning. Commentators Ben Stein and Nancy Giles appear in recurring segments, delivering their opinion, and correspondent Bill Geist also contributes human interest stories. The program ends with a nature scene, not given a formal title for most of the program's history, but since entitled "Moment of Nature" as it is now a sponsored element. Despite the stereotype of the program appealing primarily to senior citizens, the show actually placed first among its time slot in the key 25–54 demographic, beating all of the other Sunday morning talk shows.

On one occasion, the entire program served as a showcase for classical music. This took place in April 1986, when a live broadcast of Vladimir Horowitz's historic Moscow piano recital was aired. For that presentation only, the program departed from its usual newsmagazine format and devoted the entire ninety minutes to a complete presentation of the recital. Because the recital was given at 4:00 p.m. Moscow time, CBS was able to broadcast it at 9:00 a.m. EDT. The presentation was such a critical and popular success that it was repeated two months later, and was subsequently released on VHS and DVD.

Production

The program is marked by its distinctive "Sun" logo. In addition, in between some segments images of the sun in various forms also appear. The show's theme is the trumpet fanfare "Abblasen", attributed to Gottfried Reiche. A recording of the piece on a baroque trumpet by Don Smithers was used as the show's theme for many years, until producers decided to replace the vinyl recording with a digital of a piccolo trumpet by former Tonight Show musical director Doc Severinsen. The current version is played by Wynton Marsalis.

Anniversaries

On January 25, 2004, CBS News celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of Sunday Morning with clips and highlights from the show's first quarter-century. Host Charles Osgood showed clips from former host Charles Kuralt.

The February 1, 2009 show celebrated Sunday Morning's thirtieth anniversary. Segments examined how the world has changed in three decades, the history of Sundays in America and—as a tie-in to the show's logo—the physics of the sun. An artist was commissioned to create new sun logos for the program, which debuted on the February 1 edition and were used in future broadcasts. CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman periodically revisits some of Charles Kuralt's memorable personal profiles.

Correspondents

• Rita Braver
• Martha Teichner
• Bill Geist
• Serena Altschul
• Tracy Smith
• Tim Sample
• Erin Moriarty
• Anthony Mason
• Steve Hartman
• Mo Rocca
• Eugenia Zukerman (Classical Music)
• David Edelstein (Film and Television Critic)
• Bill Flanagan (Rock Music Critic)
• Faith Salie (Commentator)
• Nancy Giles (Commentator)
• Ben Stein (Commentator)

Previous correspondents

• Roger Welsch 1988–2003
• Faith Daniels 1988–1989
• Billy Taylor (Jazz and Modern Music) 1981–2010
• John Leonard (Film, Book, and Drama Reviews) 1988–2005
• Ron Powers (Film, Book, and Drama Reviews) 1979–1988
• Russ Mitchell
• Terence Smith

External links

• Official website
• CBS News Sunday Morning at the Internet Movie Database
• Booknotes interview with Kuralt on Charles Kuralt's America, December 31, 1995.
• Article by former contributor about how Sunday Morning needs to extend its brand past just its network TV timeslot