Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 - February 20, 1972) was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator. Winchell showed a particular talent for finding embarrassing stories about famous people by exploiting his exceptionally wide circle of contacts, and trading gossip, sometimes in return for his silence. His uniquely outspoken style made him both feared and admired, and his column was syndicated worldwide. In the 1930s, he attacked the appeasers of Nazism, and later aligned with Joseph McCarthy in his campaign against communists.
During the 1950s, Winchell supported Senator Joseph McCarthy's quest to identify Communists in the entertainment industry, but his popularity and influence began to decline as the public turned against McCarthy. His weekly radio broadcast was simulcast on ABC television until he ended that association because of a dispute with ABC executives in 1955. He starred in The Walter Winchell File, a television crime drama series that initially aired from 1957 to 1958, dramatizing cases from the New York City Police Department that were covered in the New York Daily Mirror. ABC re-hired him in 1959 to narrate The Untouchables for four seasons. In 1960, he signed with NBC to host a variety program called The Walter Winchell Show, which was canceled after only 13 weeks--a particularly bitter failure in view of the success of his longtime rival Ed Sullivan in a similar format with The Ed Sullivan Show. In the early 1960s, a public dispute with Jack Paar effectively ended Winchell's career--already in steep decline due to his association with McCarthy--signaling a shift in power from print to television. Winchell had angered Paar several years earlier when he refused to retract an item alleging that Paar was having marital difficulties. Biographer Neal Gabler described the exchange on Paar's show in 1961: Hostess Elsa Maxwell appeared on the program and began gibing at Walter, accusing him of hypocrisy for waving the flag while never having voted [which, incidentally, wasn't true; the show later issued a retraction]. Paar joined in. He said Walter's column was "written by a fly" and that his voice was so high because he wears "too-tight underwear" ... [H]e also told the story of the mistaken item about his marriage, and cracked that Walter had a "hole in his soul". On subsequent programs, Paar called Winchell a "silly old man" and cited other examples of his underhanded tactics. No one had previously dared to criticize Winchell publicly, but by then his influence had eroded to the point that he could not effectively respond. The New York Daily Mirror, his flagship newspaper for 34 years, closed in 1963; his readership dropped steadily, and he faded from the public eye.

Q: when did he go on television?
A: He starred in The Walter Winchell File, a television crime drama series that initially aired from 1957 to 1958,

Q: what was his show called?
A: The Walter Winchell File,
what was the dispute about?
In the early 1960s, a public dispute with Jack Paar effectively ended Winchell's career--already in steep decline due to his association with McCarthy Winchell had angered Paar several years earlier when he refused to retract an item alleging that Paar was having marital difficulties. Winchell supported Senator Joseph McCarthy's quest to identify Communists in the entertainment industry, but his popularity and influence began to decline as the public turned against McCarthy.
but his popularity and influence began to decline as the public turned against McCarthy.