ast Wednesday morning, far too long in the coming, Hollywood honored one of its legendary pioneers. Leonard Goldenson was truly the father of ABC, radio and television. In many ways he has been one of television's unsung heroes. He took a failing collection of five, almost decrepit, television stations and under his leadership ABC became one this country's most influential and profitable communications enterprises. I worked for him for 32 years at KABC.
In 1954 Mr. Goldenson defied many skeptics who believed that movie studios could not be lured into television. Along came Walt Disney, seeking capital to finance his dream - which was to build Disneyland. Turned down by every network, studio and bank, Disney's dream resonated with Leonard Goldenson and they struck a deal: in exchange for financing, the studio provided ABC with a weekly series, The Wonderful World of Disney, as well as access to its superb animated film library. Goldenson's alliance with Disney opened doors to his initiating deals with other studios, including Warner Brothers and Hollywood soon embraced, eagerly, the upstart medium of television.
The honoree's credits and achievements are almost without end. He transformed sports into primetime fare with Monday Night Football and international, live coverage of the Olympic Games. In the late 1970's he led the networks into the made-for- tv movies era. The Thorn Birds, The Winds of War and miniseries such as Alex Haley's Roots, a 12 hour drama, garnered record ratings. Goldenson was responsible for many other "firsts": ABC was the first network to close caption; to air in prime time: serials, soap operas and animation; and to franchise westerns, doctor, detective, and action series. ABC was the only network to carry the McCarthy hearings from gavel-to-gavel, (a fact I learned at the ceremony on Hollywood Blvd. from his multi talented daughter, Loreen Arbus).
In 1985 the CEO of ABC orchestrated the largest, unprecedented corporate media merger in U.S history, when he sold ABC to Cap Cities. Ten years later, Disney acquired ABC, reuniting the two pioneers-turned-giants.
I seldom use the accolade "great", but it surely appropriate to use the word when describing the man and his accomplishments, Leonard Goldenson.



As a side-bar. Being a radio man I was not just on-time for the event, I was early. It's a compulsion that my wife has put up with for decades. So I decided to pay a visit to the star awarded to me several years ago. I hadn't made a special visit since the day of its unveiling. To my delight, when I arrived at the spot, right near the corner of Hollywood and Vine, there were people posing for photographs, right there! I asked a couple of young ladies from Wheeling, West Virginia why they selected this particular star at which to have their picture taken. They replied, "Because this is Michael Jackson's star, and we love his music!"
Fame is fleeting ~