For the last four years of a career that spanned seven decades, Trout offered commentary and vivid recollections of his career for NPR listeners. A selection follows. After the war, it was learned that on this date Adolf Hitler decided to abandon plans to take over England. Trout narrates a story about anchoring CBS Radio Network News during this period. We hear his colleague in London, Edward R. Murrow reporting on the air raids, Trout's own broadcasts, and the voice of Winston Churchill after the war.
Trout tells how the addition of an evening newscast in radio prime time angered advertisers.
Robert Trout recalls this day sixty years ago when France surrendered to Nazi Germany. At the time, the Allies feared Germany was unbeatable, and the fall of France cast a pall over the free world. Trout uses the voices of his colleagues Eric Sevareid, William Shirer, and others to illustrate the approach and victory of Germany in the spring of 1940. Nazi troops circumvented the defense line France built on its northern border. We hear a recording made inside the railway car where the terms of surrender were debated and signed.