12/11/2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hz0gqugq6I
37 Years Ago Today:
Here's a complete broadcast of 60 Minutes as aired on the CBS Network via KCBS Channel 2 in Los Angeles, CA. Hosted by Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Harry Reasoner, Ed Bradley and Diane Sawyer. No Andy Rooney this time, alas (and as we'll see, Morley is otherwise off outside of the open).
Includes:
Station ID / promo for Jim Lampley on Action News (voice over by Charlie Van D**e)
Preview of stories and hosts introducing themselves - oh yes, and that stopwatch
Commercials for:
Mazda MX-6 GT (voice over by James Garner)
Radio Shack - Christmas sale on Tandy 1000 computer system
Story 1: Diane anchors "To Have a Baby" (about couples' going to fertility clinics to try to have babies, and the clinics' track record) [full disclosure: about 1 minute and 45 seconds of the story was lost in the middle due to a tape dropout or a re-recording] Notorious Doctor Cecil Jacobson is mentioned.
Commercials for:
Volkswagen - "German Engineering, The Volkswagen Way"
McDonald's - "Oliver & Dodger Ornaments
Dimetapp Extentabs - 12-Hour Relief
Promo for TV 101 for Tuesday
CBS 'Eye-D' with lower-third local station ID
Story 2: Harry anchors "Maximum Morphonios" (about Dade County, Florida District Court Judge Ellen Morphonios, her reputation for toughness, and some of her cases)
Commercials for:
Cadillac Fleetwood
Sony Triniton XBR color TV
Sears Die Hard (voice over by Ernie Anderson)
Bumper (voice over by Bill Gilliand)
Promos for Almost Grown for Monday, and "Promise" for Tuesday
CBS 'Eye-D' (voice over by Alan Berns)
Commercials for:
Heineken beer
Alpha - from Bank of America
Station ID - promo for Geraldo with Jessica Hahn and John Fletcher for Monday at 4 PM
Story 3: Ed anchors "A False Sense of Security" (about private security firms and how they stack up against police in protecting the public - and the murder of a teenaged girl in Pacific Palisades)
Commercials for:
Wausau Insurance Companies (a 60 Minutes sponsor in the early to mid 1970's)
Lady Stetson - "The Fragrance of America"
Mercury Cougar (with cover of "Take My Breath Away")
Norelco Lift and Cut 600RX electric shaver
Mike reads mail from 60 Minutes viewers on "The Pollards" (Jonathan and Anne) - from James J. Melfi, Junior of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Ralph Huff of Ironton, Ohio; Saul Zimmerman of West Orange, New Jersey; and Irwin Perton of East Hampton, New York; then provides follow-up about another story, "Who Killed My Son?," and a report on Teamsters Local 560, before going back to the mail regarding "Bankers Away" - letters from Anne Collins Birch of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Kay Reiss of Somerville, New Jersey; on "They Call It Manslaughter," from Trudy Novack of Montreal, Quebec; and on "The Coach," from Frances M.K. Garmize of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, before closing this edition
Commercials for:
McDonald's - "New Driver"
Pentax IQZoom cameras
New Skil Super-Twist Power Screwdriver
All-New Mazda MPV (voice over by James Garner)
Promo for Kate & Allie and Murphy Brown
Closing credits with "Maximum Morphonios" excerpts (voiceover promo for "Glory Days," Kate & Allie and Murphy Brown, and plug for where to send for 60 Minutes transcripts by Bill Gilliand)
Promos for Newhart for Monday and A Charlie Brown Christmas for Wednesday
Promo for 48 Hours - "Inside the Vatican" for Thursday
CBS 'Eye-D' (voice over by Alan Berns)
Commercials for:
Prodigy personal computer service - with futurist and author Alvin Toffler
Kellogg's Nutri-Grain cereal (incomplete; recording ends midway)
This aired on December 11, 1988.
Here's a complete broadcast of 60 Minutes as aired on the CBS Network via KCBS Channel 2 in Los Angeles, CA. Hosted by Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Harry Reas...
