WDAF Kansas City, Mo.
1947-65

“Insight”

Insight, co-hosted with WDAF news anchor Bill Leeds, was broadcast on TV and radio simultaneously.

We patterned it on a British show, whose creator told us that American interviews were usually dull because the interviewer spent too much time getting chummy with the guest and forgetting about the audience.
(Walt Bodine, My Times, My Town)

To address this, the Insight set featured a long coffee table with Walt and Bill Leeds at one end and the guest at the other.

The camera often looked over our shoulders at the guest, so the viewers could feel they were among the questioners.
(MTMT)

Over the years, the show featured many prominent guests.

Listen: Clips from “Insight” on WDAF
(Provided by the Marr Sound Archive, UMKC)

Dean Acheson — Secretary of State under Harry Truman discusses Russian diplomacy.
> More information on Acheson

Thomas Hart Benton — Artist, muralist, sculptor. In this clip he pans Russian art, a sound bite that was picked up and reprinted in Time.
> More information on Benton

Chester Bowles — Diplomat and economist on America’s place in history.
> More information on Bowles

Chet Huntley — NBC anchorman reflects on “overexposure”.
> More information on Huntley