Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Bryson Rash, 79, pioneer in broadcast journalism Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 15:11:15 EST Message-ID: \SE B;METROPOLITAN;OBITUARIES \HD Bryson Rash, 79, pioneer in broadcast journalism Bryson B. Rash, 79, a broadcast pioneer who started in radio at age 12 as the voice of Buster Brown, died of emphysema Nov. 10 at his home in Washington. Mr. Rash went on the air as the voice of Buster Brown on a program sponsored by the children's line of the Brown Shoe Co. He grew up in St. Louis, where he attended Washington University. He received a law degree from American University. He worked for the next 40 years as a broadcaster, interviewing dignitaries on the Mall and reporting from San Francisco on the founding of the United Nations. He also helped persuade President Harry Truman to make the first televised presidential address. In 1951, he returned to San Francisco to do the first coast-to-coast television broadcast on ABC, on the signing of the U.S.-Japanese peace treaty. Later that year, he accompanied Truman to Wake Island for the famous meeting in which the president fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur as commander in chief in the Far East. In 1951 and 1952, Mr. Rash reported on the hearings on organized crime conducted by Sen. Estes Kefauver and, in 1952, he was one of the three reporters who accompanied Truman on the first televised tour of the White House. Mr. Rash started in Washington with CBS. In the early '40s, he worked at WMAL and ABC. From 1956 to 1977 he worked at Channel 4 as a newscaster and later was in charge of editorials. "He was a man who said there were no rules in reporting the news," said Arch Campbell, a broadcaster at Channel 4. "He said they had no scripts in the early days of television." In 1977, Mr. Rash retired and devoted his time to his first love - local history. He served as a consultant on a show for WRC called "Washington Odyssey," which covered little-known historical facts about Washington, and later published a book on the subject. He received numerous awards, including a George Foster Peabody Award in 1973; three Emmys; the Governors' Award from the local chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; and membership in the Journalism Hall of Fame of Sigma Delta Chi, a professional journalism society. He was a member of the Washington Board of Trade, the American Cancer Society, the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Community Chest, a division of the United Way. Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Julie Jenkins Rash of Washington; two daughters, Brennan Rash of Washington and Julianne Rash Weir of Dickinson, N.D.; and two grandchildren. Services will be private, but a memorial service will be held at a later date. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM