Roone

One of the faces behind the world of sports and news on national television wrote his own memoir, Roone, by Roone Arledge.  Arledge, a Columbia University alum, tells his story from starting out at the bottom rung of the hierarchy and then proceeding to climb all of the way to President of ABC Sports and the President of ABC News.  Arledge presents himself as a “wheel and deal” guy, always looking to enhance the low-rated ABC Network.  He first created the turn-around for the sports division by bringing in contracts to cover the Olympics, NCAA Football, and his claim to fame, Monday Night Football.  His deals brought ABC into first place against the ultra-rich competition, NBC and CBS.  Arledge shares stories on how he brought the talent of producers, production leadership, and of course, on-air talent.  His stories of how he kept Howard Cosell and Don Meredith in line, while on-air, are among the best, especially for someone like me who was growing up watching the NFL at that time.  After securing significant kudos and support from ownership, Arledge was given the chance to perform a similar turn-around of the news division.  First with ABC News, then Good Morning America, he added both Nightline, 20/20, and Prime Time Live.  Arledge shared many of his innovations for on-air changes that enhanced the productions.  Again, collected (stealing) talent from other networks helped him bring the third-rate shows into first place.  While he was terrible at responding to messages, he was good at selecting talent, especially if they were a team.  He brought Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Geraldo Rivera, David Brinkley, and Peter Jennings to ABC.  All of whom later made their mark in the industry under his tutelage.  Arledge shared many stories of the hard sell and the difficult internationally witnessed headlines of the day.  From the Iran Hostage Crisis (which started Nightline), to the Munich Olympic terrorist kidnapping.  The book is a “tell-all” on how the author experienced the ride to stardom in his field.  Thirty-seven Emmys for his work certainly illustrate his ability to be at the top of the industry.  This is a great read for those in the field of communications, especially network television.  It is a completely different world now with so many cable television channels, the internet, and social media changing the playing field.  If you aren’t interested in the field or not a fan of network news/sports, this may be a sleeper for you.