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Dec. 26, 2006 Dr. Frank Stanton is not a familiar name in many American households. But even if without that familiarity, most people are definitely familiar with the company he helped turn into an industry giant. Stanton joined the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1935, armed with a PhD in psychology from Ohio State , in its research department. He worked to develop a system by which the network, which at that time was involved with radio, could qualitatively measure audience appeal of various radio programs. At age 38, Stanton took over as president of the corporation and began guiding its expansion. He convinced CBS Chairman William S. Paley, who was reluctant to delve into television, to increase the corporation’s investment in that medium. He oversaw the construction of the corporation’s current New York headquarters, Black Rock, and CBS Television City , the network’s famed West Coast studio facility in Los Angeles . He was responsible for the proliferation of the CBS Eye, one of the most famous corporate symbols in the United States . He was a proponent of color television, despite the fact that the system CBS developed was not compatible with existing black-and-white television standards. (The system that rival NBC developed would eventually become the broadcast standard.) Stanton guided the network through the quiz-show rigging scandals that rocked network television in the 1950s. He was instrumental in orchestrating the famous presidential debate between candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960—a debate that proved pivotal in that year’s presidential campaign. He kept CBS News on the air for four straight days to cover the assassination and funeral of President Kennedy in 1963. He saw CBS through the success of its bloc of rural comedies, including The Andy Griffith Show, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies. He oversaw the corporation’s acquisition of the New York Yankees baseball team and the publishing firm of Holt, Rinehart and Winston. And he vigorously defended the First Amendment rights of the journalists at CBS News, going so far as risking jail time by refusing to turn over materials to a House committee investigating a scathing documentary on the Pentagon in 1971. Frank Stanton has long been considered the one of the greatest executives in the history of broadcasting. The fact that CBS dominated television during the medium’s early days and into its awkward early twenties certainly bears this out. Stanton died on Christmas Eve, at his home in Boston , at the age of 98. ------------ About the author: Claxton Graham has written over 100 articles for Useless Knowledge. He has also written the unpublished novels The Writer's Nightmare and Santa's Sleigh Is Missing. He works as a business analyst. Email: scifiwriter8502@email.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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