WCVB-TV Boston by Bennett, Robert -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Foreword Preface Introduction 1 Beginnings

A Kid from Altoona, PA Life at Staunton Military School Life in the Military Life in California My Own Little Marjie George Fisher’s Gossip Show The Age of Television My Sales Career Takes Off “Bobby,” She Used to Say

2 Life in the Golden Age of Television

Time to Get into Television—KTTV, Los Angeles Making the Pitch of My Life The Joe Pine Show And In Walks John Kluge Running My First Television Station, WTTG, Washington, D.C. Who’s Going to Cut the Grass? No Better Job in the World than Running a Television Station My Boss Al Krivin Living Through an American Race Riot A Telephone Call from Ethel Kennedy Perry Mason, McHale’s Navy and H.L. Hunt The Move to New York City and WNEW-TV Surprise: A Memo Signed by Every Person on the News Staff The Labor Strike that Shook the Walls Sticking My Neck Out Just to Play a Game of Golf Looking for Some New Challenges Enter Now the Boys from Boston My Job Interview The Legal Battle for WHDH-TV John and I Say Goodbye

3 Under Judicial Review

How Do You Lose a Television License? The Battle between Two Strong Opponents The Reopening of the Case Oral Argument before the Commission The Infamous Hearing Time Now for Oral Arguments before the Court of Appeals Clancy’s Blockbuster Petition against BBI My Arrival in Boston WHDH Petition Is Denied We’re Building, But There’s No Start Date Finally Our Call Letters and Construction Permit Bob, Can You Come Over to My Hotel Room? Bad News for Us from CBS Sweating Bullets at Boston Broadcasters, Inc. (BBI) The Supreme Court Comes to Our Rescue Finally, the Finality of the FCC’s Order Permission Granted to Sign On as WCVB-TV, Channel 5 One Last Gasp of Air from Clancy And Now the Waiting Game

4 We’re On the Air

March of 1972 Life at the Station The Challenge to become an ABC Affiliate WCVB-TV: First and Foremost about People A Very Special Television Program: Chronicle Teaming Chet Curtis Up with Natalie Jacobson WCVB-TV Programming The Great Trip to China Ronald Reagan in My Office Our Own Situation Comedy: Park Street Under Norman Lear Comes to Town Our Own Movie: Summer Solstice Highlights from Our Fall 1972 Program Schedule My Strong Relationship with the BBI Board Meeting with Leonard Goldenson WCVB-TV is the First Station to Carry CNN Leonard Goldenson Offers Me the Job of President of ABC Time to Think About Selling WCVB-TV Now Who Would I Know Who Would Love to Buy WCVB-TV? A Sheet of Paper with the Magic Number Riding My Bicycle Backwards The Search for My Successor

5 Back at Metromedia Again

My Two Conditions for Taking the Metromedia Job The Idea of a Fourth Network Issues with The Merv Griffin Show The Fourth Television Network: The New Program Group Metromedia Stock Hits a High of $585 a Share When He Takes the Cigar Out of His Mouth, You Ask, “How Much?” and Then You Shake His Hand Television History Was About to Be Made—Again John Meets Rupert Who Me? Play Golf for the Rest of My Life? Ted Turner Calling Again New World Entertainment Reunion Dinner for Metromedia The $98,000 Dinner Tab (All for a Great Cause)

6 Returning to My Roots and the Art of Reflection

The Kid from Altoona Returns to Altoona The Altoona Railroader’s Memorial Museum Scrambling in the Early Days of Television Some Magic Dust Must Have Been Sprinkled on Me

Acknowledgments About the Authors

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