INSPIRATION

My dad loved listening to the radio while he worked. He would come home daily from his job with wonderful stories, celebrity anecdotes and the latest news. His heroes were Arthur Godfrey, Walter Cronkite and Jack Parr to name a few. As we sat around the dinner table, he would eagerly share what he had learned that day. He had a way of making every story seem so compelling and incredibly important. A large portion of what he believed in, his likes and dislikes and even the foods he loved were informed by what he saw on the Merv Griffin show, the Mike Douglas show, Dick Cavett, Steve Allen, and Jack Parr’s radio program.

My dad was not one to share his feelings with anyone, he held things “close to the vest”. I knew when he was a child, he had some tough times, but I never tried to open those old wounds. After all, the were too many great TV shows that we needed to watch together.

Dad was intensely loyal to his carefully curated selection of media. He rarely missed The CBS World Report with Walter Cronkite, the Sunday New York Times or The Boston Pops with Arthur Fiedler. They were more than just mentors, they were old friends he could count on. We watched thousands of hours of news on T.V. delivered by some of the most esteemed journalists in broadcasting like Mike Wallace and Dan Rather. He also relished detective series like Dragnet, Mannix, Baretta, Hawaii Five-0, The Streets of San Francisco and Kojak. Later on there were the landmark mini-series like Roots and Holocaust, the sitcoms of Norman Lear, Mash and The Odd Couple. A tapestry of different themes to be sure, but one consistent sensibility.

Today, my father would be considered a “survivor,” (as if he needed a label to explain the trauma he endured in life). He was a stoic man, somewhat sullen and often irritable, television was his primal escape.

He overcame hunger during the Great Depression, the loss of his mother to tuberculosis , the second world war and virulent anti-semitism. Over time, I came to understand who he was by his program choices (and the few comments he made during commercial breaks). Looking back now, they didn’t really represent his world views as much as explain the kind or person he was. His program choices created a narrative that I could use to understand him better.

While News emerged as an important part of the broadcasting day, one network above all else, nurtured the very best journalists and gave them greater freedom to search for the truth and report the news honestly and accurately. That network was CBS and it’s champion, William S. Paley, Chairman of the Board. Paley defended his news organization even during times when the network lost money within the division.

60 Minutes is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation.

Barbara Walters, first woman ever to anchor a Network News broadcast.