Hackes was for many years a leading news correspondent with the
National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the U.S. During his career he
was one of the "communicators" -- or hosts -- of the classic and
ground-breaking "Monitor" radio program, a 40-hour-straight live
weekend program of news, music and features, which aired from 1955 to
1975 from the NBC studios in New York. As an NBC newsman, he covered
every facet of American society, from politics to economics to the U.S.
space program, long after "Monitor" had left the air.