Museum of Broadcast Communications

05/29/2026

Make history part of your weekend plans!

Step inside The Evolution of Late Night Television and journey through more than 75 years of television history — from Steve Allen and Jack Paar to Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Joan Rivers, Arsenio Hall, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and more.
CBS announced yesterday that Colbert’s Late Show set will be donated to our museum. The set will be on the road, on its way to Chicago next week!
Celebrate the Centennial of Johnny Carson with featuring authentic artifacts and the chance to sit behind the iconic Tonight Show desk recreation and step onto television history.
Explore additional NEW exhibits and fan favorites including:
• Five Decades of The Loop celebrating Chicago radio rebels and rock history
• I Dream of Jeannie 60th Anniversary — and yes, you can sit inside Jeannie’s bottle!
• Bozo at 65 celebrating Chicago television history — and play the Grand Prize Game!
• See the final resting place of Svengoolie’s original set and coffin and more
From late night legends to classic TV favorites, there is something for every generation. For tickets, visit www.museum.tv

05/28/2026

Today we celebrate the birthday of actor and comedian Jack McBrayer, who was at the center of an unforgettable late-night moment when during Conan O'Brien’s 2012 Chicago shows. Conan sent Jack and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog to Chicago’s legendary The Wiener's Circle.

The segment instantly became late-night comedy history. Jack’s endlessly cheerful, polite Southern charm was dropped into one of Chicago’s most legendary hot dog stands — famous for its no-holds-barred humor and insults — while Triumph happily added fuel to the chaos. The contrast between Jack’s kindness and the Wiener Circle’s legendary attitude made for comedy gold and remains one of the most memorable remote pieces from Conan’s Chicago run.

See one of the original screen-used Triumph the Insult Comic Dog puppets — presented to the Museum by creator Robert Smigel — now on display in The Evolution of Late Night Television at The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, celebrating more than 75 years of late-night history.

For tickets and more, visit MUSEUM.TV!

CONAN highlight: Jack McBrayer & Triumph the Insult Comic Dog pay a visit to Chicago's infamously hostile hot dog stand.Subscribe to watch more Team Coco vid...

05/27/2026

32 years ago today, May 27, 1994, marked the final episode of The Arsenio Hall Show, ending one of the most groundbreaking chapters in late-night television history.

Debuting in 1989, Arsenio Hall changed late night forever. He brought a younger audience, hip-hop culture, music, politics, comedy and voices often overlooked by traditional television into America’s living rooms. Long before social media, Arsenio created a cultural conversation nightly.

“The Dog Pound” became iconic. The audience chant became legendary. And his stage welcomed everyone from musicians and comedians to presidents and future leaders.

The final broadcast closed with an unforgettable all-star hip-hop tribute featuring Yo-Yo, MC Lyte, KRS-One, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan members and more — a fitting farewell to a show that helped bring hip-hop into mainstream television.

Arsenio Hall didn’t just host late night. He reinvented it.

Experience his legacy inside The Evolution of Late Night Television exhibit at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, tracing more than 75 years of late-night history from Steve Allen and Jack Paar to Johnny Carson, Joan Rivers, David Letterman, Arsenio Hall, Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and more.

For tickets, visit MUSEUM.TV!

05/26/2026

As Pabst Brewing Company ends production of Schlitz, one of America’s most iconic beer brands is reportedly coming to a close after 177 years.

Founded in Milwaukee in 1849, Schlitz Brewing Company grew into the largest brewer in America and became deeply woven into Midwest history. Following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Schlitz famously sent train cars of beer to Chicago when clean drinking water was scarce, helping aid the city during recovery.

Schlitz also became a major force in broadcasting. In radio, Schlitz sponsored programs including The Schlitz Playhouse of Stars on Radio and became one of the many postwar advertisers helping fuel radio’s Golden Age through network entertainment and sponsored programming.
Its television legacy became even larger.

From 1951–1959, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars aired on CBS for eight seasons as one of television’s premier anthology series. Originally broadcast live from New York as Playhouse of the Stars, the Emmy-winning series later became Schlitz Playhouse and produced an impressive 347 episodes.

The series featured dramas and comedies, adaptations of classic stories, and appearances by entertainment legends including James Dean, Charlton Heston, Vincent Price, Lillian Gish, James Mason and Irene Dunne.

Long before product placement and streaming sponsorships, brands like Schlitz helped build both the Golden Age of Radio and the Golden Age of Television.

Today, Schlitz may be leaving store shelves, but its legacy lives on across American brewing and broadcast history.

Visit MUSEUM.TV.

05/26/2026

Behind every legendary late-night host stood visionary producers who helped define the genre we know and love today. Few were more influential than Fred de Cordova.

Long before becoming Johnny Carson’s legendary executive producer, de Cordova built one of television’s most diverse and accomplished careers. Beginning in Hollywood’s studio era, he worked as a director and producer at Universal Pictures during the 1940s and 1950s, directing films starring Abbott and Costello, Audie Murphy, Francis the Talking Mule, and working with stars including Ronald Reagan.

He also directed Rock Hudson, Errol Flynn, Tony Curtis, Audie Murphy, Yvonne de Carlo, Bob Hope, and Humphrey Bogart. His last film was Frankie and Johnny (1966) starring Elvis Presley.

He later transitioned to television, producing programs including The Jack Benny Program and collaborating with many of entertainment’s biggest names. Carson was an occasional guest on the series, giving the two an early opportunity to meet (pictured below).

Other TV programs he directed include The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Bob Cummings Show, The George Gobel Show, December Bride, Leave It to Beaver, My Three Sons (108 episodes), and The Smothers Brothers Show. He directed and/or produced more than 500 TV series or segments.

In 1970, de Cordova joined The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as executive producer, launching one of the most important creative partnerships in television history. For more than two decades, until Carson’s retirement in 1992, he helped shape the modern late-night format—refining the show’s pacing, celebrity bookings, comedy segments, and the effortless rhythm that made The Tonight Show an American institution.

In 1995 and 1998, respectively, de Cordova appeared as himself on The Larry Sanders Show in the fourth-season episode, "Eight," and in the sixth-season episode, "As My Career Lay Dying." The show's character "Artie", a talk show executive producer played by Rip Torn, is largely based on de Cordova.

More than a producer, Fred was Johnny’s trusted creative partner, helping guide a program that defined late-night television for generations.

Explore our newest exhibits, Johnny Carson: The Centennial and The Evolution of Late Night Television, at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. Open Wednesday through Sunday. Tickets and information at MUSEUM.TV

05/24/2026

Dave Plier, WGN Radio host and Museum of Broadcast Communications Chairman, President & CEO, joins WGN’s Wendy Snyder to discuss some big news for the museum. The entire set from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, along with archives and other items, will arrive at the museum within a week. Dave highlights ‘The Evolution of Late Night Television’ exhibit, and comments on whether younger people watch late-night television.

Dave Plier, WGN Radio host and Museum of Broadcast Communications Chairman, President & CEO, joins Wendy Snyder, in for Bob Sirott, to discuss some big news for the museum. The entire set from …

05/24/2026

Late-night television finales have always been major television events, but comparing audiences across eras also tells the story of how viewing habits have changed.

Stephen Colbert’s series finale on May 21, 2026, drew 6.74 million live viewers, making it the most-watched weeknight episode of his eleven-year tenure on CBS.

Johnny Carson signed off in an era of limited channels and appointment television, while today’s audiences are spread across hundreds of networks, streaming platforms, digital clips, social media, and on-demand viewing. Television audiences are far more divided than in previous decades, making direct comparisons across generations difficult.

Finale audiences:
1. Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show (1992): 55 million viewers
2. Jay Leno, The Tonight Show (2014): 14.6 million viewers
3. David Letterman, The Late Show (2015): 13.8 million viewers
4. Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show (2010): 10.3 million viewers
5. Stephen Colbert, The Late Show (2026): 6.74 million viewers

Experience new exhibits: The Evolution of Late Night Television and Johnny Carson: The Centennial. The museum is located at 440 W. Randolph Street in Chicago. For tickets visit MUSEUM.TV.

05/23/2026

The Late Show is officially over, but Stephen Colbert's set will have a new home. The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago will get the just-wrapped show's backdrop, CBS News reported.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications currently has a prominent focus on late-night television, with an exhibition dedicated to Johnny Carson's run on The Tonight Show as well as an exhibition titled "The Evolution of Late-Night Television" that features one of Jimmy Fallon's desks from his time hosting the NBC series.

Visit MUSEUM.TV!

Here's what will happen to the set of 'The Late Show' now that Stephen Colbert's CBS run has ended.

05/23/2026

As CBS transitions from The Late Show franchise, the network enters a new chapter with Comic Unleashed with Byron Allen moving into the time period under a one-year agreement.

But long before becoming a media entrepreneur, Byron Allen made late-night history of his own. In 1979, at just 18 years old, Allen made his national television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, becoming the youngest comedian ever to perform on the program — a milestone moment in late-night history. His appearance helped launch a career that quickly led to NBC’s Real People and, decades later, one of the industry’s largest media companies.

From Carson’s stage in 1979 to a new late-night chapter at CBS, Byron Allen’s story is now part of the continuing evolution of late-night television.

Explore more than 75 years of late-night history at the Museum of Broadcast Communications’ The Evolution of Late Night Television exhibit — featuring the worlds of Carson, Letterman, Arsenio, Fallon, Colbert and more. Visit MUSEUM.TV.

05/22/2026

Today, Friday, May 22, 2026 marks the end of an era in American broadcasting as CBS Radio News signs off after more than a century on the air. Today will also end “World News Roundup,” considered the longest-running network radio newscast in America.

For generations, CBS Radio News was the soundtrack of breaking news in America. Long before smartphones, cable news, and social media alerts, millions turned to radio for immediate information, trusted reporting, and voices that connected the nation.

CBS Radio News helped define broadcast journalism through wars, presidential elections, moon landings, national triumphs, and moments of crisis. Its airwaves carried legendary journalists and correspondents whose reporting brought history directly into homes, cars, workplaces, and transistor radios across the nation.

The network traces its roots back to the earliest days of network broadcasting and became home to some of the most influential names in radio news history including Edward R. Murrow, whose reporting during World War II transformed broadcast journalism.

For more than 100 years, CBS Radio News reminded America of radio’s extraordinary power: immediate, intimate, and everywhere.

As this historic chapter closes, we celebrate the journalists, anchors, producers, engineers, affiliates, and storytellers who informed generations.

05/22/2026

34 years ago today, television history was made. On May 22, 1992. The final episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson closed a landmark 30-year run that transformed late-night television and cemented Carson as one of the defining figures in American broadcasting.

It a true farewell true to Carson’s understated style. There were no celebrity guests. Instead, Carson sat quietly before an invitation-only audience of family, friends, and longtime staff, presenting a retrospective celebrating three decades of unforgettable moments, interviews, and laughter.

The evening prior, Carson welcomed his final guest, Bette Midler, who delivered an emotional rendition of “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)” in one of late night television’s most memorable goodbyes.

Carson closed his final broadcast with words that remain etched into television history:
“I bid you a very heartfelt good night.”

More than three decades later, Johnny Carson’s influence still lives on across every monologue, desk, and late-night stage that followed.

Sit behind Johnnys desk and
experience that legacy at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago through Johnny Carson: The Centennial and The Evolution of Late Night Television exhibitions. For tickets and more visit museum.tv!