Dallas Townsend; CBS Newscaster
Dallas Townsend, the longtime CBS newscaster with the sonorous voice, who covered every presidential convention and campaign from 1948 through 1980, died Thursday of injuries suffered in a recent fall. He was 76.
Townsend, who retired in 1985, was at his daughter’s home in Montclair, N.J., when the accident occurred. He and his wife were visiting from their Florida home.
Known for his deep, booming voice, the journalist worked at CBS from 1941 to 1985, writing and anchoring “World News Roundup” on the CBS Radio Network for 25 years. He anchored its evening counterpart, “The World Tonight,” for two years and briefly worked for CBS-TV before his retirement.
“No other newsman of our day has had a broader acquaintance with news nor communicated it with more economy and precision,” said jurors who awarded him the duPont-Columbia University broadcast journalism award in 1983.
Townsend covered every Republican and Democratic convention from 1948 to 1980, including the nominations of Harry S. Truman, Thomas Dewey, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
He also covered every space launch from 1962 to 1980, the Vietnam peace talks in Paris in 1968 and numerous U.N. sessions.
In addition to the duPont-Columbia award for his work on “Roundup,” the nation’s longest-running radio news broadcast, Townsend received a Peabody award and an Armstrong Radio Pioneer award. His career achievements earned him a Lowell Thomas award in 1992.
Townsend started with CBS as a news writer. After serving in the Army during World War II, he returned to CBS as a news editor in 1946.
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