Out of thin air : the brief wonderful life of network news /

Frank joined NBC-TV in 1950 after three years in print journalism. Network news was then in its infancy, sponsors were rare and top radio newscasters, doubtful of the new medium, were reluctant to get involved. When Frank retired 38 years later, he had been a producer of many programs, including the fabulously successful Huntley-Brinkley evening news; the creator of award-winning documentaries; and ultimately the president of the NBC news division. During the early 1950s, the philosophy of evening news was that viewers already knew about the headline stories and should merely be shown pictures about them; then came the era when the medium presented the news; now, in Frank's view, network coverage is back where it started. The book's revelations about executive maneuverings, hirings and firings will likely interest only insiders, while Frank's observations about some of the stars of TV news are courteous albeit candid, involving and meaty. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

``Insider'' is the operable word here. And no one could have been more inside in the growth of TV news than author Frank: producer of the Huntley-Brinkley news, award-winning documentarian, twice president of NBC News. A cautionary word--his book is not a history of all network news; he concentrates on NBC. In that context, though, his tale is fascinating. Through anecdotes, Frank tells how NBC News prospered under strong executive nurturing and how it has declined under newer executives with bottom-line priorities. Covering the period from 1950 to the present, he touches on all the major news development of that period. A key revelation tells of State Department interference that nearly scuttled the classic documentary, The Tunnel . Strongly recommended.-- Chet Hagan, Berks Cty. P.L. System, Pa. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Agreeably sardonic reflections and recollections from a top broadcaster whose career in TV coincided with its emergence as a preeminent news medium. At the behest of a boyhood pal (novelist Gerald Green), Frank quit his job as night city editor of the Newark Evening News and joined NBC TV in 1950. During his 38 globe-trotting years with the network, he wrote as well as produced a variety of news programs, including the Huntley-Brinkley Report, so-called instant specials, and a flock of prize-winning documentaries. Among other accomplishments, the author claims complete credit for the following lines: ``Goodnight, David. Goodnight, Chet. And Goodnight for NBC News.'' Somewhat reluctantly, he climbed the corporate ladder, becoming president of NBC News, from 1968 to 1973 and then again from 1982 to 1984. In recounting the swift rise and subsequent fall of broadcast news in the context of his own experiences at NBC, Frank offers the equivalent of an anecdotal history of the post-WW II era. During its heyday, he argues, TV not only covered but also helped shape great events. Cases in point range from presidential nominating conventions through the civil- rights movement, JFK's assassination, space exploration, the Vietnam War, and Watergate. With trashy infotainment shows now crowding the airwaves, the author concludes that TV has sold its birthright for a mess of pottage. Program content apart, he laments that latter-day producers forget that TV is a visual as well as narrative medium, albeit one ill-equipped to handle exposition. Nor does Frank neglect to provide adroitly acerbic perspectives on colleagues, superiors, celebrities, rivals, and other notables, including sponsors. A witty, illuminating memoir of the years when TV news was a hit-or-miss proposition.