History Radio / Monitor

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Seriously, there were a '''lot''' of Communicators, although the number used each weekend was thinned out as ''Monitor''[='s=] hours were cut down. From Spring 1974 through the end, there were just ''two'' Communicators doing the 12 hours the show had been cut down to.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The show as a whole, compared to everything that had been on radio up to that point, but also because until the 1973 overhaul every hour had a plethora of stuff happening. The only constant was the ''NBC Monitor News On-The-Hour''.

* GenreBusting: It's hard to describe ''Montior'' simply because it did so much -- it had news, comedy, live interviews, music, and so much more.

In 1955, American network radio was in bad shape, as television had been stealing most of older medium's audience. The then-president of Creator/{{NBC}}, Sylvester L. "Pat" Weaver (who had already created ''Series/{{Today}}'' and ''[[Series/TheTonightShow Tonight]]''), came up with an idea to revitalize the network's radio division. On April 1, he took to the network's closed-circuit feed and over the course of about 40 minutes announced to the affiliates that something big was coming to NBC Radio: a "kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria" unlike anything that had been heard before... and, arguably, unlike anything that's been heard since.

In 1955, the networks' radio stations were in bad shape, as television had been stealing most of radio's audience. The then-president of Creator/{{NBC}}, Sylvester L. "Pat" Weaver (who had already created ''Series/{{Today}}'' and ''[[Series/TheTonightShow Tonight]]''), came up with an idea to revitalize the network's radio division. On April 1, he took to the network's closed-circuit feed and over the course of about 40 minutes announced to the affiliates that something big was coming to NBC Radio - a "kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria" unlike anything that had been heard before...and, arguably, unlike anything that's been heard since.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The show as a whole, compared to everything that had been on radio up to that point, but also because until the 1973 overhaul every hour had a plethora of stuff happening.

''Monitor'' ended on January 26, 1975 and was still heard on about 125 stations, although almost none were in major cities. A tribute site, with lots of background info, pictures, and [[ArchiveBinge a hell of a lot of audio spanning the entire run]] is [[http://www.monitorbeacon.net/index.html here]], run by Dennis and Bradley Hart. The name was also reused on NBC television in the 80s for a short-lived newsmagazine program (later retitled ''First Camera'') that was NBC's attempt to compete against ''Series/SixtyMinutes'' and ''Series/TwentyTwenty''; it failed and was gone within a year.

* MagazineShow: The show's format.

In 1955, the networks' radio stations were in bad shape, as television had been stealing most of radio's audience. The then-president of NBC, Sylvester L. "Pat" Weaver (who had already created ''Series/{{Today}}'' and ''[[Series/TheTonightShow Tonight]]''), came up with an idea to revitalize the network's radio division. On April 1, he took to the network's closed-circuit feed and over the course of about 40 minutes announced to the affiliates that something big was coming to NBC Radio - a "kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria" unlike anything that had been heard before...and, arguably, unlike anything that's been heard since.

''Monitor'' ended on January 26, 1975 and was still heard on about 125 stations, although almost none were in major cities. A tribute site, with lots of background info, pictures, and [[ArchiveBinge a hell of a lot of audio spanning the entire run]] is [[http://www.monitorbeacon.net/index.html here]], run by Dennis and Bradley Hart.

To NBC's credit, they tried to keep the show afloat - tweaking the music format, creating new musical [=IDs=], and in June 1973 started having Don Imus, Wolfman Jack, and Robert W. Morgan alternate hosting the Saturday-night portion of the schedule (which at this point had little to no sponsorship) in an attempt to get back some of the stations that had stopped airing ''Monitor''.

''Monitor'' was cut to 32 hours at the end of 1955 (no longer airing Midnight-8:00 AM Sundays), but this was compensated in 1957 by adding a two-hour block on Friday nights, which in turn expanded to a weeknight two-hour block in 1959.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Seriously, there were a '''lot''', although the number used each weekend was thinned out as ''Monitor''[='s=] hours were cut down. From Spring 1974 through the end, there were just ''two'' Communicators doing the 12 hours the show had been cut down to.

* [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of Communicators]]: Seriously, there were a '''lot''', although the number used each weekend was thinned out as ''Monitor''[='s=] hours were cut down. From Spring 1974 through the end, there were just ''two'' Communicators doing the 12 hours the show had been cut down to.

By 1961, however, the weeknight blocks were gone and weekend ''Monitor'' was cut to 16 hours. While the show remained in good spirits and was still as good as it had always been, by the 1970s NBC affiliates in the larger markets (including some of the network's O&O's!) began substituting local disc jockeys for ''Monitor'', and as a consequence national advertisers began leaving in droves.

''Monitor'' ended on January 26, 1975 and was still heard on about 125 stations, although almost none were in major cities. A tribute site, with lots of background info, pictures, and [[ArchiveBinge a hell of a lot of audio]] is [[http://www.monitorbeacon.net/index.html here]], run by Dennis and Bradley Hart.

* GrandFinale: ''Monitor''[='s=] last weekend was a retrospective of moments from the show's long run.

This is the story of that show.

* GrandFinale: ''Monitor''[='s=] last weekend was a retrospective of great moments over the show's long run.
* [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of Communicators]]: Seriously, there were a '''lot''', although the number used each weekend was thinned out as ''Monitor''[='s=] hours were cut down.

In 1955, the networks' radio stations were in bad shape, as television had been stealing most of radio's audience. Then-president of NBC, Sylvester L. "Pat" weaver (who had already created ''[[Series/{{Today}} The Today Show]]'' and ''Series/TheTonightShow''), came up with an idea to revitalize the network's radio division. On April 1, he took to the network's closed-circuit feed and over the course of about 40 minutes announced to the affiliates that something big was coming to NBC Radio - a "kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria" unlike anything that had been heard before...and, arguably, unlike anything that's been heard since.

* EditedForSyndication: The "Custom ''Monitor''" pre-feed.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Dozens and dozens.
* HeyItsThatSound: The ''Monitor'' Beacon, a combo of high-frequency tones dialed by an operator (to activate remote phone equipment in completing long-distance calls), rerecorded at higher and lower frequencies, put through several filters, mixed with a one-microsecond lag, and superimposed with an oscillator sending the Morse Code letter "M". Hard to create, but hard to forget.

In 1955, the networks' radio stations were in bad shape, as television had been stealing most of radio's audience. Then-president of NBC, Sylvester L. "Pat" weaver (who had already created ''[[Series/Today The Today Show]]'' and ''Series/TheTonightShow''), came up with an idea to revitalize the network's radio division. On April 1, he took to the network's closed-circuit feed and over the course of about 40 minutes announced to the affiliates that something big was coming to NBC Radio - a "kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria" unlike anything that had been heard before...and, arguably, unlike anything that's been heard since.