J
Joseph_Gallant
Guest
Longtime NBC News producer and later division President Reuven Frank has died.
Frank began at NBC in 1950, and in 1956 was assigned to serve as executive producer of NBC's evening newscast, at the time that John Cameron Swayze was dropped in favor of the time of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Under Frank's leadership, "The Huntley/Brinkley Report" would last nearly 14 years (until Huntley retired in 1970), and was the nation's most-watched network evening newscast for most of that time.
Frank was also involved in planning the network's coverage of political conventions (back when NBC, as well as CBS and ABC, would broadcast every session of both four-day conventions from start-to-finish, which became known in the business as "Gavel-To-Gavel") and election nights. He twice served as division president of NBC News.
The first was between 1968 and 1973, during which he had to deal with the retirement of Huntley and the elevation of John Chancellor to the anchor desk; the second was between 1982 and 1984, when Tom Brokaw was just getting started as "Nightly News" anchor.
In-between his stints as division President, he served as a senior executive producer for NBC News, creating and producing the fondly-remembered (if having a cult following) offbeat newsmagazine series "Weekend", hosted by Lloyd Dobyns (later, Dobyns was joined by Linda Ellerbee).
His book, "Out Of Thin Air", is probably the best account of what happened behind-the-scenes at NBC News during the years he was there.
This is an NBC press release on Frank's death, which includes a quote from former NBC anchor Brokaw.
Frank began at NBC in 1950, and in 1956 was assigned to serve as executive producer of NBC's evening newscast, at the time that John Cameron Swayze was dropped in favor of the time of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Under Frank's leadership, "The Huntley/Brinkley Report" would last nearly 14 years (until Huntley retired in 1970), and was the nation's most-watched network evening newscast for most of that time.
Frank was also involved in planning the network's coverage of political conventions (back when NBC, as well as CBS and ABC, would broadcast every session of both four-day conventions from start-to-finish, which became known in the business as "Gavel-To-Gavel") and election nights. He twice served as division president of NBC News.
The first was between 1968 and 1973, during which he had to deal with the retirement of Huntley and the elevation of John Chancellor to the anchor desk; the second was between 1982 and 1984, when Tom Brokaw was just getting started as "Nightly News" anchor.
In-between his stints as division President, he served as a senior executive producer for NBC News, creating and producing the fondly-remembered (if having a cult following) offbeat newsmagazine series "Weekend", hosted by Lloyd Dobyns (later, Dobyns was joined by Linda Ellerbee).
His book, "Out Of Thin Air", is probably the best account of what happened behind-the-scenes at NBC News during the years he was there.
This is an NBC press release on Frank's death, which includes a quote from former NBC anchor Brokaw.
