Meet the Press, the Longest-Running TV Show, Debuted

On November 6, 1947, the public-affairs program Meet the Press made its television network debut on NBC, two years after starting life as a radio show. The format was deceptively simple: a single newsmaker fielding pointed questions from a panel of journalists, live and unscripted.

That formula proved remarkably durable. Co-created by Martha Rountree and Lawrence Spivak, the show turned the Sunday-morning interview into a fixture of American political life, putting presidents, senators, and foreign leaders on the spot before national audiences.

Decades after its premiere, it remains the longest-running program in the history of American television.

While newer shows came and went, Meet the Press kept airing week after week, accumulating a record no rival could match. Its longevity outpaced even broadcasting institutions like 60 Minutes, which arrived more than twenty years later, cementing the program’s status as a benchmark for endurance in the medium.