Dennis Hart Monitor collection

Monitor was an NBC network radio program that aired live on weekends from 1955 to 1975. Originally, the program was broadcast nationwide for 40 hours from 8 am Saturday to midnight on Sunday. Monitor was soon shortened to 32 hours every weekend (excluding overnight programming) and remained at that length through 1961. The program's marathon-length was a sharp departure from the usual 15- and 30-minute network radio programming. With a "magazine-of-the-air" format, Monitor offered various short segments, including news, sports, interviews, and music. Comedy segments incorporated what remained of NBC's long-running programs (such as Fibber McGee and Molly) and newer comedians (such as Mike Nichols and Elaine May).

This collection consists of copies of newspaper clippings, correspondence, memoranda, publicity announcements, transcripts, and photographs collected by broadcast journalism scholar Dennis Hart between 1955 and 1975. The collection also includes vinyl records and VHS tapes produced by Monitor as well as compilation CDs created by Dennis Hart. These materials were part of the research for his book, Monitor: The Last Great Radio Show (2002).