List of presidents of Nickelodeon

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The following is a list of presidents of the children's cable television network Nickelodeon.

Contents

Dr. Vivian Horner (1977–1979)

Dr. Vivian Horner was in charge of operations at Nickelodeon's predecessor, the "C-3" children's channel on QUBE. She created the first program on Nickelodeon, Pinwheel , and conceived the idea for the Nickelodeon channel itself. [1] As the role of "Nickelodeon president" did not exist yet, Horner's official titles were "vice president for education and children's programming" [2] and "head of program development" for Warner-Amex (Nickelodeon's original parent company). [3] She worked at Nickelodeon until 1983. [4]

Cyril Schneider (1980–1984)

In 1980, Warner-Amex hired Cyril M. Schneider to be the president of the Nickelodeon network, which made its national debut less than a year earlier. Despite introducing popular programs such as You Can't Do That on Television to the lineup in 1981, Nickelodeon operated at a loss of $10 million dollars, and at one point had the lowest number of viewers compared to other cable channels by 1984. In 1983, Bob Pittman was made head of MTV Networks and Schneider was not comfortable with his "idiotic" approach to "home-based" television. As a result, Schneider left the network in early 1984. [5]

Geraldine Laybourne (1984–1996)

In 1980, Laybourne was hired as a program manager at Nickelodeon, a year-old network, where she initiated the focus-group approach to programming.

Laybourne was one of the first people to focus on television programming for kids. She spent 15 years at Nickelodeon, taking over the management of the network, and started accepting advertising for the network, in 1984. [6]

Laybourne and her team were responsible for creating and building the Nickelodeon brand, launching Nick at Nite and expanding the network by establishing it in other countries, developing theme parks and creating Nickelodeon magazine, movie, toy and publishing divisions.[ citation needed ]

Under her leadership, Nickelodeon became the top-rated 24-hour cable programming service and won Emmy Awards, Peabody Awards, CableACE Awards and Parents' Choice Awards. The network had a 40% profit margin and explosive growth every year. [7]

Laybourne built Nickelodeon into the first global television network to profit from selling advertising targeted towards children. Her programming approach, which made a point of talking to children as equals, built the tiny cable network, which had only five employees in 1980, into an $8 billion business. [8]

Herb Scannell (1996–2006)

In February 1996, Scannell was named President of Nickelodeon and TV Land, succeeding Geraldine Laybourne. Under his leadership, Nickelodeon (which, under his watch, included such animated series as SpongeBob SquarePants , Danny Phantom , The Fairly OddParents , Avatar: The Last Airbender , The Angry Beavers , Catscratch , and Hey Arnold! ) and TV Land became the highest rated cable networks launched within the past seven years. Nickelodeon also expanded to other areas such as live theatrical shows, magazines and feature films. He was also responsible for launching Dora the Explorer , The Brothers Garcia (which is based on Los Garcia, a show he used to watch in Puerto Rico) and Taina . [9]

Cyma Zarghami (2006–2018)

Zarghami joined Nickelodeon as a scheduling clerk in 1985. She moved up through the programming department and became the channel's general manager in 1996, overseeing programming, scheduling, acquisitions, marketing, and day-to-day management of the network. Zarghami was promoted to general manager and executive vice-president in 1997. [10]

In 2004, the position of president of Nickelodeon Television was created for Zarghami, where she oversaw production and development for the network, along with marketing, programming and creativity. [11] After the resignation of Herb Scannell on January 5, 2006, Zarghami became president of the newly formed Kids & Family Group, which included Nickelodeon, Nick@Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, TV Land, CMT, and CMT Pure Country. [12]

On June 4, 2018, Zarghami resigned as president of Nickelodeon and retired, after being with the network for 33 years. [13]

Brian Robbins (2018–present)

On October 1, 2018, Brian Robbins left his position as the president of Paramount Players after Viacom tapped him to be the president of Nickelodeon, ending his 16–month run at the studio. Despite leaving the studio, he remained involved with some of Paramount Players' films. [14]

See also

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Nick at Nite is an American night time programming block broadcast by the American basic cable channel Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Saturday nights from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. ET/PT, and Sunday nights from 8 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. ET/PT. The block is similar to Adult Swim, the programming block that shares channel space with Nickelodeon's rival Cartoon Network.

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Pinwheel is an American children's television show and the first to air on Nickelodeon, as well as the first to appear on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block. The show was aimed at preschoolers aged 3–5. It was created by Vivian Horner, an educator who spent her earlier career at the Children's Television Workshop, the company behind Sesame Street. The show was geared to the "short attention span of preschoolers," with each episode divided into short, self-contained segments including songs, skits, and animations.

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Geraldine Laybourne is an American entrepreneur and former TV executive. She worked at Nickelodeon from 1980 until 1996, when she became the president of Disney-ABC Cable Networks. She is also the co-founder of Oxygen Media and a tech startup called Katapult. In 2020, she was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herb Scannell</span> American media executive and businessman (born 1957)

Herb Scannell is an American media executive and businessman. He served as the president of Nickelodeon and TV Land from 1996 to 2006, was the founding CEO of Next New Networks, and the president of BBC Worldwide America. He served as the CEO of the Mitú Network until the Summer 2018. He became the president and chief executive officer of KPCC-FM in January 2019.

<i>Nick Rocks</i> American TV series or program

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyma Zarghami</span> American television executive

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References

  1. ↑ Marks, Jill (1983). "Warner Communications". Cable Television Business. Vol. 20. Cardiff Publishing Company. Nickelodeon was the brainchild of Dr. Vivian Horner of WACCI, who created 'Pinwheel' for pre-schoolers while at the MSO's Qube system in Columbus, Ohio.
  2. ↑ Higher Education and National Affairs. American Council on Education. 1978.
  3. ↑ Cable Vision. Cahners Business Information. 1982.
  4. ↑ "Forgotten founders". Forbes.
  5. ↑ Hendershot, Heather (2004). Nickelodeon Nation: The History, Politics, and Economics of America's Only TV Channel for Kids. NYU Press. ISBN   9780814736517.
  6. ↑ Poniewozik, James (31 January 2000). "Television: Will Women Take A Breath Of Oxygen?". Time .
  7. ↑ "World According to...Geraldine Laybourne". Business Journals. 24 January 2008.
  8. ↑ "Geraldine Laybourne". Biography.com . 2010. Archived from the original on 29 August 2010.
  9. ↑ "Corporate Bio". Archived from the original on October 15, 2007.
  10. ↑ "Nick ups four to exec VP posts". Variety . November 5, 1997. Retrieved November 23, 2008.
  11. ↑ Oei, Lily (January 6, 2004). "Zarghami named Nick TV prez". Variety . Retrieved November 23, 2008.
  12. ↑ Dempsey, John (January 4, 2006). "Scannell changes channel". Variety . Retrieved November 23, 2008.
  13. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (June 4, 2018). "Cyma Zarghami Stepping Down As President Of Nickelodeon Group". Deadline . Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  14. ↑ Sandberg, Bryn Elise (October 1, 2018). "Viacom Names Brian Robbins President of Nickelodeon". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
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