Jake Keever, who reigned for 13 years as executive VP in charge of advertising sales at ABC, primarily during the 1980s, died of cancer on Thanksgiving Day. Mr. Keever, whose real name was H. Weller Keever, was 75. “Jake was…
Hearst-Argyle CEO David Barrett wants ABC to hand over the 10 p.m.-to-11 p.m. hour to its stations, a move that would shake up the very definition of prime time. But as radical as his suggestion may be, it is worth…
Monday, Dec. 9 Arledge remembered by colleagues Roone Arledge could not have asked for a better production in his honor than the Monday morning funeral service attended by hundreds of those who worked for him over the course of four…
“Making available more local time to run ad inventory is a good move. Sinclair’s recent Fox affiliate buyback agreement is such a move. I think that local broadcasters ought to take back lost ground with cable.” Mark Aitken, director, advanced…
Other than my parents, Roone Arledge was the most important person in my life.When I dropped out of Yale in July 1967 to take this incredible opportunity-the newly created position of Olympics researcher for ABC Sports in preparation for the…
Despite the growing strength of the CBS prime-time lineup, NBC’s affiliates still claimed the late local news crown in many markets in the November sweeps. NBC’s owned-and-operated stations finished first in late local news in 11 of 14 markets.In the…
Award-winning entertainment journalist Alex Ben Block has been appointed editor of Electronic Media. Mr. Block, who has served as editor of The Hollywood Reporter and associate editor at Forbes Magazine, will join the team at EM on Jan. 6. He…
A long-pending affiliate request that the Federal Communications Commission crack down on alleged network abuse could finally be resolved now that Jonathan Adelstein has stepped in as the agency’s fifth commissioner, breaking an impasse.The agency’s other four commissioners have been…
Hold on to your hats.A new news breeze swept through the Windy City in the recently concluded November late-news sweeps, with WMAQ, the NBC owned-and-operated station, dethroning WLS, the perennial late-news leader in the Chicago market, for the first time…
In this era of rampant corporate greed and malfeasance, I’d like to congratulate CBS for having the courage to put its values ahead of profit.I’m referring, of course, to the Masters golf tournament, a broadcast that will likely lose at…