Phil Beuth on News Channels, Entertainment and Good Morning America |
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OurBlook interview with Phil Beuth Editor's Note: Phil was president of ABC-TV's entertainment division for eight years, during which he ran the "Good Morning America" program.  The evening news shows of the three major networks CBS, NBC and ABC have suffered from declining audiences in recent years. Can you foresee a day when these shows will cease to exist, and if so, what would the impact be on our nation?PB: While there may be audience declines, I have not been involved enough to follow the numbers, which for years were part of my day ... I do believe, however, that the three networks still represent the largest combined early evening numbers, and remain way ahead of non-network competitive audiences. For advertisers, they still represent mass audience, and national coverage. The networks have huge investments in their news operations, and the evening news is their major golden goose ... they are never likely to stop those broadcasts, because they are the heavies which pay the bills ... in fact, they want an hour, but money rules ... stations want income from syndication from 7 to 8 ,,, that's big bread and butter for stations ... and they will not give the nets an extra half hour, for which the network pays peanuts. I think there would be a major impact on the national audience if the networks gave up on news. It is not going to happen, but it would be a major boost to cable. How do you assess the present importance and future outlook of CNN and Fox News? PB: I have little use for CNN, which might be a good second source for special events like elections, but for regular wide range news coverage, I think they are very weak ... just tune in on a Saturday, and see how much they repeat all day long. They do not devote much manpower to everyday events, or compilations of the previous week. Fox is worse, but has a following so politically motivated, I wonder if they would recognize the truth. Future of Fox and CNN ... they will survive ... audiences are far from sophisticated ... dumber and dumber seems to win. They are important, however, especially Fox, which attracts loyalty. How do you assess the present importance and future outlook of more investigatory news programs such as "Sixty Minutes" and "48 Hours"? PB: "Sixty Minutes" still does a job ... often good stuff, but they have to get younger. I watch each week. "48 Hours" is mixed, not newsworthy. Since I hired Charlie Gibson, I am prejudiced, but he is among the best ... and I have seen that up close. He has a high degree of integrity, and does what he has to do without bias. And I never fail to watch Charlie Rose. He will educate the viewer who gives him a chance. His show consistently delivers the best in all kinds of arenas. Curiously, he was always a potential backup for Gibson, and we spent some nice lunches discussing it ... seems like ages ago! You are known for presiding over ABC's "Good Morning America" for eight years during the 1980s and '90s. As you look back at it, what was it like to compete against NBC's "Today" show and did this competition result in better TV news? PB: I chose to run "Good Morning America" when my company bought the ABC-TV network in '86 because I had enough stripes to do so, and thought it would be fun. David Hartman literally ran the show and was quite good at it, but a little too hard for folks to work with. One of the first things I heard from staff was that he was so tough on people that they did not feel comfortable bringing ideas to him. While I am not sure that was seriously true, I felt that it was time for a change. I tried to keep him and have him accept my ideas, but that did not work. He was forever a gentleman, and we parted amicably. I convinced Charlie Gibson to replace him. We were a poor No. 2 in the ratings, but I had been there before in my career, and believed that if we approached the country a few markets at a time, with a few new personalities and ideas, we could win. So we started in strong markets where we were No. 2, worked with the affiliates on promotion and live visits to spots like Boston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Atlanta. We would win over audiences one or two markets at a time. We sent our new weatherman, Spencer Christian, to those markets, bringing the local man to NYC, and literally built a strong base. We then hit a home run when we decided to travel the whole show all over the world ... providing our viewers with live pictures from England, Spain, Alaska, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Austria, etc. ... gave them a vicarious thrill. It worked, and we became No. 1 ... staying that way until I retired after more than eight years as president. I do not think we created better news. But we certainly taught our audiences a lot about world culture ... besides, GMA was not a news division show, it was an entertainment division show. It became news after Disney bought the network. Who are some of the well-known news people you hired or dealt with and what were they like? PB: Ted Knight ... I was his first producer, director, comedy writer, etc. When our company started in Albany, N.Y., Ted did everything. When he died 40 years later, I was a partner in a small business. Not a better person anywhere. Barbara Walters ... hardest working person ever! Very easy to get along with. Tony Danza ... I approached Tony at Spago Restaurant in L.A. and told him he should do a talk show ... and we did together. Met Jack Hanna and his animals and was the first to put him on the air. Helped syndicate Wheel of Fortune ... started Wolfgang Puck, who calls me "the man who made him a star" ... Burt Reynolds has said that I was instrumental in saving his career, but that is a story for another time. Perhaps I am the proudest about maybe a couple of dozen local TV personalities who are household names in their markets all over the country ... talented people who I chose for positions and then left them alone! Is there anything else you'd like to say about the present status or future prospects of TV news? PB: As a famous man for whom I worked would say every night at the end of his CBS newscast: "So long until tomorrow!" Does anyone remember who that was? Mr. Beuth spent 42 years with Capital Cities Communications, starting off in 1955 as its first employee in Albany, N.Y., and including 11 years as general manager of Channel 7 in Buffalo ... and including a promotion stunt he engineered of having one of his TV anchormen remove his toupee on air for good. When Capital Cities bought ABC-TV in 1986 for $3.5 billion, Phil moved with it, retiring eight years later about the time Capital Cities sold it to Disney for $19 billion. The answer to Phil’s question at the end: Lowell Thomas.
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