Arnold Zenker

Last updated

Arnold Zenker is a retired media broadcaster and public appearance counselor, who gained national attention as a 28 year old CBS News executive by sitting in for Walter Cronkite on the nightly Evening News during an AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) strike in April, 1967. Newsweek hailed his performance as "the smash hit of the strike fill-in." When the walkout ended thirteen days later, Cronkite returned with the words "Good Evening. This is Walter Cronkite sitting in for Arnold Zenker. It's good to be back," becoming the Quote of the Day in the NY Times. Zenker then resumed his regular position as Manager of News Programming.

Five months later, Zenker left CBS to become the anchor of the 6 p.m. newscast at WBZ-TV in Boston. In 1969, he became host of a live hour long daily talk-variety program at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, which became the highest rated show in its time slot. During that period, he also did a four hour a day talk stint on WAYE Radio. In 1972, he returned to Boston to host a daily day time program, and a weekly prime time show called The Zenker Hearings. on WCVB-TV.

In 1974, Zenker founded one of the first media consulting firms in the country, coaching corporate executives, government officials and political candidates how to best manage their public appearances. Becoming Zenkerized became a familiar slogan in the business world. Among company clients were behemoths like Fidelity Investments, CSX Corporation, Sun Oil. the National Federation of Independent Business and organizations in Great Britain, Mexico, Canada and Israel. Mike Wallace profiled Zenker on 60 Minutes as the man who helps business put "a good face on bad facts,"and Dodd-Mead published his book Mastering the Public Spotlight. In 2017, a feature ran on the CBS Evening News recapping his career.

Zenker received both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and was a member of both the Massachusetts and New York Bars.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward R. Murrow</span> American broadcast journalist (1908–1965)

Edward Roscoe Murrow was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe for the news division of CBS. During the war he recruited and worked closely with a team of war correspondents who came to be known as the Murrow Boys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">News presenter</span> Person who presents news during a news program

A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster, anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. They may also be a working journalist, assisting in the collection of news material and may, in addition, provide commentary during the program. News presenters most often work from a television studio or radio studio, but may also present the news from remote locations in the field related to a particular major news event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Cronkite</span> American broadcast journalist (1916–2009)

Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years, from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll. Cronkite received numerous honors including two Peabody Awards, a George Polk Award, an Emmy Award and in 1981 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter.

<i>The Huntley–Brinkley Report</i> American news program aired on NBC (1956–1970) by Chet Huntley and David Brinkley

The Huntley–Brinkley Report is an American television broadcasting show broadcast by NBC. Anchored by Chet Huntley in New York City, and David Brinkley in Washington, D.C. It aired from October 29, 1956 to July 31, 1970, replacing Camel News Caravan and was replaced by NBC Nightly News. The program ran for 15 minutes at its inception but expanded to 30 minutes on September 9, 1963, exactly a week after the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite did so. It was developed and produced initially by Reuven Frank. Frank left the program in 1962 to produce documentaries but returned to the program the following year when it expanded to 30 minutes. He was succeeded as executive producer in 1965 by Robert "Shad" Northshield and by Wallace Westfeldt in 1969.

The CBS Evening News is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The CBS Evening News is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature stories and interviews by CBS News correspondents and reporters covering events around the world. The program has been broadcast since July 1, 1941, under the original title CBS Television News, eventually adopting its current title in 1963.

<i>The Early Show</i> American breakfast television program

The Early Show is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, replacing the original incarnation of CBS This Morning, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network since 1954. The program originally broadcast from the General Motors Building in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Pauley</span> American journalist

Margaret Jane Pauley is an American television host and author, active in news reporting since 1972. She first became widely known as Barbara Walters's successor on the NBC morning show Today, beginning at the age of 25, where she was a co-anchor from 1976 to 1989, at first with Tom Brokaw, and later with Bryant Gumbel; for a short while in the late 1980s she and Gumbel worked with Deborah Norville. In 1989, with her job apparently threatened by Norville's addition to the program, she asked to be released from her contract, but her request was denied. Her next regular anchor position was at the network's newsmagazine Dateline NBC from 1992 to 2003, where she teamed with Stone Phillips.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Couric</span> American journalist (born 1957)

Katherine Anne Couric is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, Wake Up Call. From 2013 to 2017, she was Yahoo's Global News Anchor. Couric has been a television host at all of the Big Three television networks in the United States, and in her early career she was an assignment editor for CNN. She worked for NBC News from 1989 to 2006, CBS News from 2006 to 2011, and ABC News from 2011 to 2014. She was the first solo female anchor of a major network (CBS) evening news program. In 2021, she appeared as a guest host for the game show Jeopardy!, the first woman to host the flagship American version of the show in its history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television news in the United States</span> Aspect of news broadcasting

Television news in the United States has evolved over many years. It has gone from a simple 10- to 15-minute format in the evenings, to a variety of programs and channels. Today, viewers can watch local, regional and national news programming, in many different ways, any time of the day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WBZ (AM)</span> American radio station in Boston

WBZ is a commercial AM radio station, licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, and owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. Its studios and offices are located on Cabot Road in the Boston suburb of Medford.

KIRO-TV is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with CBS and Telemundo. Owned by Cox Media Group, the station maintains studios on Third Avenue in the Belltown section of Downtown Seattle, and its transmitter is located in the city's Queen Anne neighborhood, adjacent to the station's original studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Stanton (executive)</span> American broadcasting executive (1908–2006)

Frank Nicholas Stanton was an American broadcasting executive who served as the president of CBS between 1946 and 1971 and then as vice chairman until 1973. He also served as the chairman of the Rand Corporation from 1961 until 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Reasoner</span> American journalist (1923–1991)

Harry Reasoner was an American journalist for CBS and ABC News, known for his adroit use of language as a television commentator and as one of the original hosts of the news magazine 60 Minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Schieffer</span> American television journalist

Bob Lloyd Schieffer is an American television journalist. He is known for his moderation of presidential debates, where he has been praised for his capability. Schieffer is one of the few journalists to have covered all four of the major Washington national assignments: the White House, the Pentagon, United States Department of State, and United States Congress. His career with CBS has almost exclusively dealt with national politics. He has interviewed every United States President since Richard Nixon, as well as most of those who sought the office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Mudd</span> American broadcast journalist (1928–2021)

Roger Harrison Mudd was an American broadcast journalist who was a correspondent and anchor for CBS News and NBC News. He also worked as the primary anchor for The History Channel. Previously, Mudd was weekend and weekday substitute anchor for the CBS Evening News, the co-anchor of the weekday NBC Nightly News, and the host of the NBC-TV Meet the Press and American Almanac TV programs. Mudd was the recipient of the Peabody Award, the Joan Shorenstein Award for Distinguished Washington Reporting, and five Emmy Awards.

Richard N. Kaplan is an American network television producer. He has worked for CBS, ABC, CNN and MSNBC. Kaplan has also served as executive producer for some of the biggest names in television news journalism, including Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, and Christiane Amanpour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Hewitt</span> American television news producer (1922–2009)

Donald Shepard Hewitt was an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating the CBS television news magazine 60 Minutes in 1968, which at the time of his death was the longest-running prime-time broadcast on American television. Under Hewitt's leadership, 60 Minutes was the only news program ever rated as the nation's top-ranked television program, an achievement it accomplished five times. Hewitt produced the first televised presidential debate in 1960.

The Yankee Network was an American radio network, based in Boston, Massachusetts, with affiliate radio stations throughout New England. At the height of its influence, the Yankee Network had as many as twenty-four affiliated radio stations. The network was co-founded by John Shepard III and his brother Robert, in 1929–1930. The beginnings of what became the Yankee Network occurred in the mid-1920s, when John Shepard's Boston station WNAC linked by telephone land lines with Robert Shepard's station in Providence, Rhode Island, WEAN, so that the two stations could share or exchange programming. Those two stations became the first two Yankee Network stations. In 1930, they were joined by the first affiliated radio stations, including WLBZ in Bangor, Maine; WORC in Worcester, Massachusetts; WNBH in New Bedford, Massachusetts; and WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut. During the 1930s, the network became known for developing its own local and regional news bureau, the Yankee News Service. The Yankee Network and the Yankee News Service operated until February 1967.

Ernest Leiser was an American executive producer of The CBS Evening News. He was recognized with Emmy and Peabody awards for coverage of post-war Europe, civil rights, and Vietnam. He was in charge of transitioning CBS News from radio to primarily television.

Sanford Socolow was an American broadcast journalist who worked at CBS News from 1956 to 1988. He was executive producer of The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite from 1978 to 1981.

References