Charles W. Henderson is an American media executive, technology executive and journalist. He is the president of media and technology companies NewsRx LLC and ScholarlyMedia LLC. [1] He was the co-founder of Video Concert Hall the first nationwide music video TV network. [2] A USA Today cover story named him one of “6 Who Made a Difference.” [3] He has also been on the cover of Billboard magazine. [4]
Henderson was born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, beginning his media career at eleven years old as a paperboy for the Daily Tifton Gazette . [1] In 1964, the campaign manager for the Lyndon Johnson-Hubert Humphrey presidential election heard from a Democratic Party official about fifteen-year-old Henderson's involvement in civil rights and contacted him to arrange a meeting with Humphrey in Tifton; this led to Henderson's selection as an inaugural staffer with the federal Project Head Start, which began in 1965. [5]
At 18, he enrolled in the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, [1] where he wrote news releases at the university's News Bureau, the university's Office of Public Relations, and, over the summers, the Georgia Regional Hospital at Atlanta. [6]
While an undergraduate at University of Georgia, he also attended Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, as a grant-funded special student where he first encountered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) located on the Emory campus. [1] [7] An Emory researcher took Henderson to the CDC, where he participated in meetings concerning the center's activities.[ citation needed ]
In addition to his 1971 undergraduate BA in Journalism, Henderson holds a 2006 MFA in English (Creative and Professional Writing) from Western Connecticut State University, Danbury. [8] He was selected for the first week-long Yale Publishing Course. [9] He started working on a doctorate in education at the University of Sussex,[ citation needed ] and in 2014 completed his PhD in creative writing at University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, UK, studying under British playwright Dic Edwards.[ citation needed ]
In 1971, Henderson launched a magazine, Real Estate Atlanta, renamed Business Atlanta. [10] Henderson later published an urban community weekly newspaper, Buckhead Atlanta.
Henderson served as press spokesman for the Atlanta city government as director of the Community Affairs Division in the Department of Community and Human Development. [1] Subsequently, Bert Lance, then president of The National Bank of Georgia (part of Bank of Credit and Commerce International), appointed him the bank's first director of public relations and communications. [6] He coordinated press activities while Lance moved to President Carter's cabinet as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. [10] Henderson left the National Bank of Georgia when Lance left the White House in 1977. [6] He then contributed to Atlanta magazine. [6] His bylined articles appeared on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s front page. [11] In 1978, Henderson was selected “Atlantan of the Week” by the Atlanta Gazette. [6] He moved to Washington, D.C. to be staff correspondent for Bloomberg BNA for two years, reporting for Washington Financial Reports and Daily Report for Executives. [1]
TriStar Pictures, shortly after it was created as an independent motion picture company, hired Henderson as its National Publicist, and then as vice president of TriStar Studios. [6] [12] While at TriStar, he was one of three PR professionals selected in 1979 by the News Analysis Institute to receive membership in the “Over-100 Club.” [13] [14] Henderson was said to represent “outstanding accomplishment…and his leadership in the creation, preparation and communication of public relations news.” [14]
Shortly before TriStar was sold to Columbia Pictures and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola in 1982, Henderson left to expand his own media company, Henderson-Crowe Communications, Inc., which founded and produced Video Concert Hall on November 1, 1979. [15] [16] This was the first nationwide music video television network, referred to as the precursor to MTV and VH1. [2] [15] [17] Before then, it was too expensive to secure copyright privileges to air productions. Record labels featured music videos as “promotional ventures” for new albums, and Henderson secured rights to air them on national cable television. [2] It was understood that the airing would help record companies show viewers popular records in order to increase album sales. [2] [15] Content on the TV network included concert footage, studio productions, and guest artists. [15]
According to media reports, by May 1980, the show appeared on more than 400 cable TV systems in 48 states, accessing about 2.5 million homes. [2] [18] While with Video Concert Hall, Henderson was executive producer and writer for the nationwide broadcast TV premiere of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album's first video, Billie Jean . [12] The company also produced the syndicated broadcast TV show Pre-Awards Special, an annual video show concerning the Grammy Awards. [19] After the sale of Pre-Awards Special TV programming to Metromedia, the remaining assets of Video Concert Hall were sold to Georgia Public Television, including the studio equipment at Henderson-Crowe Productions in Atlanta. [19] [20]
In 1984, Henderson returned to news media and created a series of newsweeklies based on the CDC. [7] [21] NewsRx, Henderson's medical newsweekly publishing company, began with the production of AIDS Weekly in 1985. [10] [22] [23] In 2008, Henderson added VerticalNews, a division of newsweeklies that covers non-health related fields. [24] As of 2011 [update] , NewsRx publishes 194 newsweeklies on topics including education, finance, aerospace and science. [25] [26] Henderson is the executive editor of the aforementioned 194 newsweeklies. [27] In 2011, Henderson started book publisher, ScholarlyMedia, and its imprint, ScholarlyEditions, which published 3,500 reference book titles in 2011. [28] [29]
In 1984, Henderson was co-executive producer of Halloween Thriller,[ citation needed ] taped in Hollywood and Atlanta. The TV special aired in the top 20 TV markets and much of the U.S. in October 1984, including TV stations WNEW (New York), WFLD (Chicago), KTTV (Los Angeles), WPLG (Miami), WQTV (Boston), and WXIA (Atlanta), for a total of 150 TV stations.[ citation needed ] Some disagreed with Henderson’s claim that the TV special contained no violence and no offensive clips, even though it targeted a mature, audience, specifically 18- to 49-year-olds. Henderson’s promotional literature claimed, “Elements include video music of the spirit of Halloween – no violence and no Satanic clips.” [30] The one-hour television special was the national broadcast TV premiere of Thriller album's first video hosted by Thriller album voice, Vincent Price. [31] [32] The showing incorporated the “Billie Jean” cut from Thriller and an appearance by the original cast of the cult-movie classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show , who performed the song, “Time Warp.” Ozzy Osbourne also performed “Bark at the Moon” on the national broadcast.
Henderson was criticized for starting the AIDS Weekly newsweekly because the non-governmental publication included policy, research, and statistics that some considered exclusive to the government. [33] Also, the publishing staff included journalists rather than medical professionals. [10] [34] Others praised Henderson for being what the Boston Globe called a necessary “watchdog” publication providing needed information to the public. [26] Henderson strongly opposed influence by pharmaceutical companies and stood against premature reporting of experiments. [35]
In 2010, Henderson's NewsRx branch, VerticalNews China was the subject of a denial of service cyber attack as a result of controversial news that had been reported in the publications. [36] The cyber attack was halted when the company's IP service identified the source and blocked it. [33]
Henderson was press spokesman for Kalani Rosell and his family during a Hawaii school admissions policy controversy, [12] in which Hawaii's Kamehameha Schools, founded to provide education with preference to students of native Hawaiian ancestry, admitted a non-Hawaiian student (that being Kalani Rosell) in 2002 for the first time in 40 years. [37]
Thriller is the sixth studio album by the American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, released on November 29, 1982, by Epic Records. It was produced by Quincy Jones, who previously worked with Jackson on his album Off the Wall (1979). Jackson wanted to create an album where "every song was a killer". With the ongoing backlash against disco music at the time, he moved in a new musical direction, resulting in a mix of pop, post-disco, rock, funk, synth-pop, and R&B sounds, and darker themes. Paul McCartney is the first credited appearance of a featured artist on a Jackson album. Recording took place from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a budget of $750,000.
Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy is an American comedian, actor, author, radio and television host, and writer. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, with Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and formerly Ron White. Known for his "You might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy has released six major-label comedy albums. His first two albums were each certified triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. He has written several books based on his redneck jokes, as well as an autobiography entitled No Shirt, No Shoes... No Problem!
WPXA-TV is a television station licensed to Rome, Georgia, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Atlanta area. The station is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, and maintains offices on North Cobb Parkway in Marietta; its transmitter is located on Bear Mountain, near the Cherokee–Bartow county line.
Scientific Atlanta, Inc. was a Georgia, United States–based manufacturer of cable television, telecommunications, and broadband equipment. Scientific Atlanta was founded in 1951 by a group of engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and was purchased by Cisco Systems in 2005 for $6.9 billion after Cisco received antitrust clearance for the purchase. The Cisco acquisition of Scientific Atlanta was ranked in the top 10 of largest technology acquisitions in history and was Cisco's largest acquisition to date. Prior to the purchase, Scientific Atlanta had been a Fortune 500 company and was one of the top 25 largest corporations in Georgia.
The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, houses U.S. President Jimmy Carter's papers and other material relating to the Carter administration and the Carter family's life. The library also hosts special exhibits, such as Carter's Nobel Peace Prize and a full-scale replica of the Oval Office as it was during the Carter Administration, including a reproduction of the Resolute desk.
Frederick R. Newman is an American actor, comedian, composer, sound effects artist both in person and for film, singer and former talk show host. Newman is known for his ability to make ‘mouthsounds’ and is not a traditional Foley artist.
WFOM is an Atlanta-area radio station broadcasting on a frequency of 1230 kHz. The radio station is licensed to the city of Marietta, Georgia. WFOM, along with WCNN and WIFN, are owned by Dickey Broadcasting. The broadcast facilities are in The Battery Atlanta.
Frederick Hickman was an American sports broadcaster with CNN, TBS, YES Network, and ESPN. He was later an anchor and managing editor for the evening newscast of the African-American cable news channel Black News Channel. Hickman was an original co-host of the CNN show Sports Tonight in 1980. He received CableACE awards in 1989 and 1993, and was a New York Sports Emmy Award Winner in 2004.
WPCH-TV, branded as Peachtree TV, is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by locally based Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate and company flagship WANF, and low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate WKTB-CD. WPCH-TV and WANF share studios on 14th Street Northwest in Atlanta's Home Park neighborhood; WPCH-TV's transmitter is located in the Woodland Hills section of northeastern Atlanta.
James Edward Barnett was an American professional wrestling promoter and executive. During his career, he was at times one of the owners of the Indianapolis National Wrestling Alliance promotion, Australia's World Championship Wrestling, and Georgia Championship Wrestling, as well as serving as an executive with the World Wrestling Federation and Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling. He also served as a member of the National Council on the Arts during the Presidency of Jimmy Carter. Barnett was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996, the NWA Hall of Fame in 2005, and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.
Rhodes Memorial Hall, commonly known as Rhodes Hall, is a historic house located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was built as the home of furniture magnate Amos Giles Rhodes, proprietor of Atlanta-based Rhodes Furniture. The Romanesque Revival house occupies a prominent location on Peachtree Street, the main street of Atlanta, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is open to the public and has been the home of The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation since 1983.
Video Concert Hall (VCH) is a television program that debuted in 1978 or 1979 on the USA Network and on Showtime, featuring an unhosted rotation of music videos. The show was often credited as being the precursor to MTV, Video Concert Hall was reportedly the most popular programming on the cable syQUBE, a cable television unit of Warner Communications. VCH, as it was often called, was created by radio and cable television executive Lloyd G. Crowe and Charles W. Henderson, a journalist who would later work for TriStar Pictures. Video Concert Hall was produced by Henderson-Crowe Productions and the company Video Concert Hall, Ltd. at studios in Atlanta, Georgia. Crowe and Henderson served as executive producers of Video Concert Hall, as well as other top-rated syndicated musical variety TV specials. It is also where artists such as The Police, Split Enz, and Gary Numan were first introduced to the American audience en masse.
The following is a list of media in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
Clarke Central High School (CCHS) is located in Athens, Georgia, United States. In 1970, Clarke County schools were desegregated, and the high school for black children, Burney-Harris High School, and the high school for white children, Athens High, merged to establish Clarke Central. Classes in the newly formed school began in the 1970–1971 school year.
Chiller was an American cable and satellite television network that was owned by NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal, all owned by Comcast. It later opened its own film production company as well. Chiller specialized in horror, thriller and suspense programming, mainly films.
Kerwin Swint is an American political scientist and author, known for his research and writing in the fields of political campaigns, mass media, and political history. He or his work has appeared in a number of national and international media, including CNN, FOX News, the BBC, the ABC program The View, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NPR, The Toronto Star, The Daily Mail (UK), The Guardian (UK), National Journal, Mental Floss, Publishers Weekly, Salon, Slate, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and numerous other media.
NewsRx is a media and technology company focusing on digital media, print media, news services, and knowledge discovery through its BUTTER platform. In 1995, the company was the world's largest producer of health news.
Center Stage is a mid-sized concert complex comprising three separate venues located in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally known as Theatre Atlanta, the concert hall was built in memorial to a young theater enthusiast. Upon its opening in the fall of 1966, the building functioned as a performing arts theater, but has since become primarily music-focused.
Michael Jackson's Halloween is a one-hour animated television special that premiered on CBS on October 27, 2017. It was produced by Splash Entertainment.
John S. James, born in Brooklyn, New York in 1941, is a pioneering US LGBT rights activist and the writer and editor of AIDS Treatment News, one of the first and the most influential publications focused on documenting cutting-edge, science-based AIDS research and treatment. AIDS Treatment News was founded in 1986 and published until 2007. It was widely read by people living with HIV/AIDS, policymakers, clinicians, researchers, and activists. The newsletters were later collected into two volumes and published by Celestial Arts Press in Berkeley, California. A selection of the newsletters is available in the archive of the University of California San Francisco.