John Cameron Swayze, Journalist, Dead At 89

John Cameron Swayze, the early television newscaster and announcer who brought a smooth, light touch to the news then went on to become a pitchman for Timex watches, died on Tuesday at his home in Sarasota, Fla. He was 89.

Swayze, whose crisp but folksy voice made him one of the first popular personalities during television’s infancy, started his career as a journalist, first as a newspaper reporter, then a radio broadcaster. He reluctantly switched to television in 1949 as the host of the “Camel News Caravan,” a 15-minute broadcast on NBC.

The show, which was sponsored by Camel cigarettes, replaced a straight newsreel format and became the prototype of modern newscasts, with live pick-ups of news events, interviews with entertainers and officials, and roundups by commentators from cities along the route of television’s existing network.

Swayze, who grew up in Atchison, Kan., had wanted to be an actor. He became known for his familiar opening line of “hopscotching the world for headlines” and a carnation in his lapel, which viewers did not discover was red until the show was first broadcast in color in 1954.