Roone Arledge
Roone Arledge
Roone Pinckney Arledge, Jr.was an American sports and news broadcasting executive who was president of ABC Sports from 1968 until 1986 and ABC News from 1977 until 1998, and a key part of the company's rise to competition with the two other main television networks, NBC and CBS, in the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s. He created many programs still airing today, such as Monday Night Football, ABC World News Tonight, Primetime, Nightline and 20/20...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth8 July 1931
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I'm sensitive about my image of being hard to reach.
The current wisdom now is that if the three networks are covering the news the same way the difference is the anchor people. I think that won't be true in the future.
Most of what we report from Congress they don't care about unless it affects them directly.
I respect the game that goes on of putting this against that, but I don't respect, nor do I enjoy, an awful lot of the actual programs that go on the air.
People also don't care about the daily comings and goings of diplomats and yet we must report it.
I don't think the news department will have to lie down and play dead like it has in the past. By and large the network has been understanding, but then so have I.
But if you cover the World Series on the news or do a feature on an Ali boxing match then all of a sudden ears go up all over the place and people say what the hell are you doing. The reason for that is that we're doing something that people are really interested in.
But unlike the setup in most organizations, where there's an administrator on top and creative people or doers underneath, I'm basically a doer and I like to have administrative people underneath me.
I don't expect to win every battle but I think Fred Pierce has enough respect for me that I can go fight my battles and win my share.
Television is a powerful medium that has to be used for something better than sitcoms and police shows. On the other hand, if you don't recognize the forces that play on what people watch and what they don't then you're a fool and you should be in a different business.
People essentially like local news better than network news.
One of the towering people in this industry said, why don't you go and make a five-year contract with somebody, make yourself several million dollars and put it away, then go and do whatever you want, work for public TV if you want.
One of the reasons why when Elvis dies or the Son of Sam is captured ABC News' ratings go up is because people who don't normally watch news are watching then. The question is, do you want to attract people who don't watch network news or fight over the people who do?
In the past ABC has made half-hearted efforts or, worse, cosmetic efforts, to do something about news and I wasn't certain about what their real aim was - nor am I now.