On Oct. 7, C-SPAN celebrated the 25th anniversary of television’s first-ever regularly scheduled national call-in program. The network marked the occasion by taking phone calls for 25 consecutive hours at the National Press Club, just like in 1980.

It was from the NPC where C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb took a phone call from Yankton, S.D., on Oct. 7, 1980, kicking off a program style that has led to more than 46,000 call-in segments and a half-million phone calls.

Above, Lamb is pictured at right with (from left) Michael Kelly, Pat Gushman, Don West and Tack Nail. The four TV trade reporters joined Lamb for the first call-in show following a speech at the press club by then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Charles Ferris.