Bill Downs

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William Randall "Bill" Downs (August 17, 1914 – May 3, 1978) was a Kansas City-born American broadcast journalist for CBS Radio from 1942 to 1962.

[edit] During the War

Downs was hired on at CBS by Edward R. Murrow and was one of Murrow's Boys, a team of correspondents who covered the war for CBS Radio. Before signing on with Murrow and CBS Downs worked for United Press, the same outfit that Murrow cohort Richard C. Hottelet worked at before joining CBS. He was not related to the later television broadcaster Hugh Downs.

In part, he covered paratroopers during World War II for CBS. According to Walter Cronkite's autobiography "A Reporter's Life", Cronkite and Downs once found themselves accidentally behind enemy lines during the war. They were separated in a dense forest, but did eventually find each other and make it back to Allied lines. Walter asked Downs why he didn't call out for him, and Downs replied: "Because I didn't want to be walking around behind German lines shouting "Cronkite!" ("Krankheit!" is German for "Sickness!").

[edit] After the War

In 1946, Downs covered the nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll for CBS, some of his reporting was carried across all networks.

[edit] References

Caskets on Parade
Time.com Program Preview
Lubertozzi, Alex, Bernstein, Mark, "World War II on the Air: Edward R. Murrow and the Broadcasts That Riveted a Nation," May 2003, Sourcebooks