Gabriel Heatter, a renowned radio journalist of his time, rivaled only by Walter Winchell and Edward R. Murrow, was born on September 17, 1890, to immigrant parents on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
The family soon relocated to Brooklyn, where Heatter attended school. Despite being a struggling student and finding his high school studies particularly frustrating, he was well-spoken, well-read, and had a lively interest in current events.
At the age of 16, Heatter harnessed his gift for communication and hit the campaign trail as a sidewalk campaigner for media baron and Congressman William Randolph Hearst's unsuccessful 1906 run for mayor of New York City. Although Hearst lost the race, his example as a progressive tribune of the people influenced the young Heatter to pursue a career in journalism.
After graduating from high school, Heatter began working at the "East New York Record," a weekly paper where he reported on social functions. He then moved on to the "Brooklyn Times" and later accepted a position as the Brooklyn reporter for The "New York Evening Journal," Hearst's flagship paper.
Heatter gained widespread recognition due to a 1931 article published by the liberal weekly "The Nation," in which he argued against the legality of the U.S. Socialist Party. New York radio station WMCA set up an on-air debate between Heatter and a prominent Socialist, and when his opponent failed to show up, Heatter went on the air and discussed his article in greater depth.
The response was overwhelmingly positive, and Mutual Broadcasting's WOR offered him a job as a commentator and reporter. From then on, his career was centered in radio news.
In 1933, Heatter became a prominent radio newsman when he covered the "Trial of the Century," the trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, the German immigrant accused of kidnapping and murdering the child of American hero Charles A. Lindbergh. Now nationally famous, Heatter's commentary began to have a significant influence on public opinion, and he became a peer and competitor of powerful radio newsman Walter Winchell.
Heatter's heyday was World War II, when his upbeat reporting and commentary were popular with American audiences struggling to cope with the reversals of fortune in the immediate post-Pearl Harbor period.
In the first half of 1942, the news from the Pacific War was bleak. One evening, after the U.S. Navy successfully sank a Japanese destroyer, Heatter came on the air declaring, "There is good news tonight." This became his catchphrase, and one he used throughout his career.
He was seen as a morale booster, looking for blue skies and silver linings in the dark clouds that comprised much of the news in those days. This optimism and lack of objectivity may be one reason why he is largely forgotten today, whereas the highly opinionated Winchell and the coldly objective-seeming Murrow continue to be remembered.
