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News/Sports
Pioneer Roone Arledge Dies
Roone Arledge and Howard Cosell, from a 1974 appearance on The
Odd Couple.
(Photo Credit: ABC Photo Archives)
ABC
News reports that Roone Arledge, the chairman of ABC News, and longtime
president of ABC News and ABC Sports, died today, December 5th,
in New York City of complications from cancer at the age of 71.
Roone
Arledge was widely regarded as one of the most innovative people
ever to work in the television broadcast medium. As former president
of ABC News, and previously, as president of ABC Sports, Mr. Arledge
brought extraordinary advances and conceptual changes to the television
industry.
After nearly 20 years as its president, Mr. Arledge was promoted
to chairman of ABC News in March 1997.
"Roone
Arledge revolutionized television and, with it, the way people see
and understand the world," said ABC News president David L. Westin.
"A true creator, Roone invented many of television's most enduring
and important programs, all the while fostering the brilliant careers
of generations of the most talented men and women to work in front
of or behind a television camera. His ability to broadcast the essential
and unfolding drama in all human situations - from the gridiron
to the world's stage -- transformed not only sports and news but
all of us who watched. He was our leader and our friend, and we
will miss his passion and his will to make us all better than we
were."
In 1990 Life magazine asked historians, critics and scholars to
select the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century." Among
those named as Americans "who ought to be in the history books"
was Roone Arledge.
In
1994, when Sports Illustrated magazine selected its "40 for the
Ages" -- "the 40 individuals who have most significantly altered
or elevated the world of sports in the last four decades" -- Roone
Arledge ranked number three, behind only Muhammad Ali and Michael
Jordan.
Since
1977, when Mr. Arledge was named president, ABC News has become
broadcasting's most highly regarded news organization, through innovative
news programming and a bold commitment of resources to both domestic
and international news coverage.
In his nearly two decades at the helm of ABC News, Mr. Arledge created
some of the most critically acclaimed and enduring news programs
in television history.
Prior
to his appointment as head of the news division, Mr. Arledge was
president of ABC Sports from 1968 until 1986. During his tenure,
he introduced virtually all state-of-the-art technologies to sports
programming, including instant replays, slow motion, advanced graphics,
as well as the introduction of journalistic values and personalization
of athletes to sports broadcasting.
ABC Sports was synonymous with the Olympics under Mr. Arledge, who
personally produced all ten ABC Olympic broadcasts. He was the first
television executive and one of the very few Americans to receive
the Medal of the Olympic Order from the International Olympic Committee.
In 1989
he was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame.
Mr. Arledge was a dominant force in improving the substance and
direction of news and sports programming.
His
innovations include:
* "World News Tonight With Peter Jennings."
* "Nightline," the first network news program in the late-evening
time period and a testament to Mr. Arledge's belief that a demand
existed for late-evening news and information. In its 22-year history,
"Nightline," anchored by Ted Koppel, has won every major award in
broadcast journalism.
* "20/20," the popular newsmagazine program anchored by Barbara
Walters and John Miller, has flourished in primetime for 22 years
and received more than 200 journalism awards.
* "PrimeTime Live," the news division's second hour-long, primetime
news broadcast, then anchored by Diane Sawyer and Sam Donaldson
(now anchored by Sawyer and Charles Gibson), earned a reputation
for hard-hitting investigations -- garnering an unprecedented four
Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards for distinguished investigations.
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