H.V. KALTENBORN

Known as "The Dean of American Commentators," Hans von Kaltenborn was born July 9, 1878 and was a veteran columnist for The Brooklyn Eagle when he began his radio career at WEAF/New York in 1923.

One of the first newscasters to offer commentary rather than simply relaying the day's events, Kaltenborn joined the fledging CBS Network in 1927 and quickly proved his ability not only to talk extemporaneously but, in the words of CBS president William Paley, to "comment on and analyze what he had just said."

Kaltenborn's ability to speak thoughtfully at a moment's notice put him at the center of some of the biggest news stories of the 1930s and '40s. In 1936, he gave CBS listeners the first running account of war by broadcasting from a haystack in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. A few months later, Kaltenborn was in England for the first live broadcast of a king's coronation; in 1938, he stayed at CBS for 18 straight days to report on the Munich Crisis and the fate of Czechoslovakia.

Kaltenborn moved to NBC in 1940, where he offered news and commentary until 1951. He retired from NBC and radio in 1955.

H.V. Kaltenborn died on June 14, 1965.

He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2011.