Roone: A Memoir

by Roone Arledge

"He makes you see things differently. He makes you think differently. He makes you dream that you can do things you didn't know you could do. And he is the first person there when you have done something that honors the profession." This was Roone Arledge as seen by one of his more illustrious contemporaries, Diane Sawyer. His great career of more than a half century mirrored the history of the television industry he helped create, and now, in Roone, he has left us his pungent, up-close-and-personal account of both stories, of his own rise to fame and power as the head of ABC Sports and News -- Life magazine would call him one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century" -- and of the many people, foes as well as friends, whose paths he crossed. On Howard "In hindsight, I couldn't say which of them was the more insecure -- Richard Nixon, president of the United States, or Howard Cosell!" On Barbara Walters and the invention of 20/20: "I thought the program needed Barbara Walters. I also thought Barbara needed the program." On Peter "The whole world was his beat. He roamed the planet on the trail of great stories." Here are the celebrated figures of Roone's era, the famous and infamous whom he encountered, from Nixon to Boris Yeltsin to Muhammed Ali. Seen too are the lesser-known figures who made television what it is at the production end, like the man who invented Instant Replay. And the "founders" themselves who made the the "General," David Sarnoff, at NBC; the legendary Bill Paley at CBS; and even the bespectacled lawyer, Leonard Goldenson, who led a struggling distant-third network called ABC but had the nerve to give unknown youngsters their chance at the big time, young producers like . . . Roone Arledge. But, underlying all the anecdotes and the behind-the-scenes tales from the control room is the often poignant story of a changing industry, of what happened in the boardrooms of the 1980s and '90s when the era of the founders came to a close and corporate interests took over the networks, including ABC, and when the freewheeling, free-spending era of growth gave way to the far less glamorous struggle to make the business profitable. Roone Arledge himself never resorted to the cheap fix of tabloid journalism, and his visionary approach to television programming (which led, among other things, to his receiving more than thirty Emmy Awards), raised him head and shoulders above his competitors, but his assessment of what happened to the industry he loved is as nuanced and fascinating as it is trenchant. Roone Arledge had the keenest sense of story, of color, image, incident, humanity, and of what it took to bring millions of viewers to his programs -- and to hold them riveted to his screen. That same keen sense makes Roone a memorable reading experience. Roone Arledge lived in New York City until his death on December 5, 2002, at the age of seventy-one.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Sports, Tv

432 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2003

Reviews

[Len Knighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

ROONE was, for this reader, a wonderful trip down Memory Lane. Sixty years ago, approaching my teenage years, I lived in a divided household. My dad loved watching the evening news, specifically THE HUNTLEY-BRINKLEY REPORT on NBC. He also was a regular viewer of a Sunday evening program called THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, narrated by Walter Cronkite. When Chet Huntley retired, Dad switched his nightly news allegiance to CBS and Cronkite. Meanwhile, I was loyal to the “third” network, ABC, but not without an appreciation for the wit of David Brinkley.

My love for ABC was due to a few programs that appealed to my young mind, but primarily to ABC’s WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS. As ABC SPORTS grew, adding more events to their schedule, I became a fan of the faces and voices that became legendary: Jim McKay, Keith Jackson, Bill Fleming, Dick Button, Howard Cosell, Chris Schenkel. And so often, the last words you heard on an ABC SPORTS telecast were,
"THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF...IS ROONE ARLEDGE."

Reliving those years through his words was special, but it didn't stop with ABC SPORTS. Arledge became the president of ABC NEWS, bringing to the network in his twenty years such luminaries as Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Hughes Rudd, and, for me, most notably, David Brinkley.

This book brings to the reader the ins and outs of television; one might say the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is an honest and candid accounting of Arledge's successes and failures, personal and professional, almost to his death. Well worth reading.

Five stars

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A who's who of broadcasting giants now fading from collective memory, but more interestingly, a view of the major news and sporting events of the second half of the 20th century from the business perspective - the contract negotiations and resource management that ultimately resulted in ratings wins and historic broadcasts. Also, the balance of news and entertainment as required by an FCC license, a tension missing entirely on social media platforms; this founders' era is very different from the one that built network television.

[Leon Atterberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. It shows how dealing with big egos results in what we see on television.

Hr was a fixture at abc entertainment then news and was involved in producing some of the most famous events on tv.

[Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic journey through the life of a television pioneer.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who needs to know why ABC became the best source of news and sports during the 70s and 80s can get their answers from this book. Roone Arledge was fighter in his belief that television news and sports at ABC could compete with the NBC and CBS, then produced shows that put ABC at the top of the rankings.



It's also so amazing that Arledge accomplished so much, even with the world of television news changing with the onset of cable news services, media mergers, vanishing dollars and the "dot.com" era. He maintained his steadfast position that in the arena of reporting the news, the emphasis was THE NEWS.



Arledge held little back in this book -- he discussed the conflicts and disagreements with ABC management and the talent that America saw on a daily basis watching the network -- Reynolds, Smith, Cosell, Jennings, Walters and Brinkley. He told us what was bad about ABC and he explained how he and the ABC went about making things better or worse. He talked of successes and he highlighted handicaps that handcuffed his efforts during days of Capital Cities and of the disease that eventually took his life.



Today's news and sports coverage on television would not be same without Roone Arledge, making this book a must read for those in the news media profession.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book, especially if you grew up in the 1960s and '70s. Every chapter is filled with memories of those of us who lived through that period: the rise of ABC Sports, ABC's Wide World of Sports, the Munich Olympics, Howard Cosell and Muhammad Ali, Harry Reasoner and Barbara Walters, the creation of ABC's World News Tonight, Nightline, and a host of names you've probably forgotten but will fondly remember. Roone Arledge pioneered a new way of television, especially sports. He believed that sports (or news) need not be boring and set to make it exciting. Great book and well worth reading.

[Nick Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of gumption here! A pretty fascinating memoir from one hell of a Type A.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling life story from the man who invented ABC News/Sports. Cosell, Jennings, Walters, the typical network pricks - they're all discussed is in this first rate memoir.