January 14, 1952: "The Today Show" Premieres

Dave Garroway. He's not wearing a regular tie and a bow tie:

He's wearing a bow tie and one of the large microphones of the era.

January 14, 1952: Today -- or, as it's better known, The Today Show -- premieres on NBC. It is the 1st nationally-broadcast morning news program. It has become the 2nd-longest continuously-running show in the history of American television, trailing only another NBC News show, Meet the Press. (Other shows have run longer, but not continuously, having been canceled and re-started.)

It was created by NBC executive Sylvester Weaver, who is now best known as the father of actress Sigourney Weaver. Originally a 2-hour program airing weekdays from 7:00 to 9:00 AM, it expanded to Sundays in 1987 and Saturdays in 1992. The weekday broadcast expanded to 3 hours in 2000, and to 4 hours in 2007.

The other networks eventually copied it: ABC started Good Morning America in 1975, and CBS This Morning debuted in 1987.

The original host was Dave Garroway, who anchored until 1961. Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters co-hosted from 1966 to 1971, a few years before they were paired up again on ABC's show 20/20. John Chancellor (1961-62) and Tom Brokaw (1976-81) hosted or co-hosted before becoming the anchors of The NBC Nightly News; while Katie Couric (1991-2006) co-hosted before becoming the anchor of The CBS Evening News.

Other notable co-hosts have included Jane Pauley, Bryant Gumbel, and, for 20 years, 1997 to 2017, Matt Lauer, before he was fired in a sexual-harassment scandal. Since 2012, Savannath Guthrie has been one of the co-hosts; since 2018, Hoda Kotb has been the other.

The show is known for its national weather forecasts, including by Willard Scott, who would famously issue birthday wishes for people age 100 and up. Al Roker began substituting for him in 1990, and has been the regular weatherman since 1995.

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January 14, 1952 was a Monday. Baseball and football were out of season. And no games were scheduled for the NBA or the NHL. So there were no scores on this historic day.