Claim: The WCBW special report on December 7,1941, which lasted less than 90 minutes, pushed the limits of live television in 1941 and was described by CBS, an American commercial broadcast television and radio network, as the greatest advance of any single problem faced up to that time.
Evidence: When Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, WCBW (which was usually off the air on Sunday to give the engineers a day off), took to the air at 8:45 p.m. with an extensive special report. The WCBW special report that night lasted less than 90 minutes. But that special broadcast pushed the limits of live television in 1941 and opened up new possibilities for future broadcasts. As CBS wrote in a special report to the FCC, the unscheduled live news broadcast on December 7 "was unquestionably the most stimulating challenge and marked the greatest advance of any single problem faced up to that time." CBS is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network owned by ViacomCBS through its CBS Entertainment Group division.