Roone Arledge

Roone Arledge (July 8, 1931 – December 5, 2002) was an American sports broadcasting pioneer who was chairman of ABC News from 1977 until his death.

Flying high

Arledge had demolished the barrier between television cameras and subject material with his NCAA college football production values. And Ed Scherick had a problem. Scherick wanted a low-budget (as in inexpensive broadcasting rights) sports program that could attract and retain an audience. He hit upon the idea of broadcasting track and field events sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union. While Americans were not exactly fans of track and field events, Scherick figured Americans understood games.

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So in January 1961, Scherick called Arledge into his office, and asked him to attend the annual AAU board of governors meeting. While he was shaking hands, Scherick said, if the mood seemed right, might he cut a deal to broadcast AAU events on ABC? It seemed a tall assignment, but as Scherick said years later, "Roone was a gentile and I was not." Arledge came back with a deal for ABC to broadcast all AAU events for $50,000 a year.

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Next, Scherick and Arledge divided up their NCAA college football sponsor list. They then telephoned their sponsors and said in so many words, "Advertise on our new sports show coming up in April, or forget about buying commercials on NCAA college football this fall." The two persuaded enough sponsors to advertise, though it took them to the last day of a deadline imposed by ABC programming to do it.

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Wide World of Sports suited Scherick's plans exactly. By exploiting the speed of jet transportation and flexibility of videotape, Scherick was able to undercut NBC and CBS's advantages in broadcasting live sporting events. In that era, with communications nowhere nearly universal as they are today, ABC was able to safely record events on videotape for later broadcast without worrying about an audience finding out the results. Scherick only had one individual in mind to produce the show: Roone Arledge. Scherick stole host Jim McKay away from CBS.

Related Topics:
Wide World of Sports - Jim McKay

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Arledge, his colleague Chuck Howard, and McKay made up the show on a week-by-week basis the first year it was broadcast. In that era, the mere fact that an event was being covered on television gave Arledge and McKay breathing space television producers today can only dream about. Arledge had a genius for the dramatic story line that unfolded in the course of a game or event. McKay's honest curiosity and reporter's bluntness gave the show an emotional appeal which attracted viewers who might not otherwise watch a sporting event.

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He personally produced all ten ABC Olympic broadcasts, as well as creating the primetime Monday Night Football and coined ABC's famous "Thrill of victory, agony of defeat" tagline — although ABC insiders of that era attribute the authorship to legendary sports broadcaster Jim McKay.

Related Topics:
Monday Night Football - Jim McKay

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But more importantly from Arledge's perspective, Wide World of Sports allowed him to demonstrate his ability as an administrator as well as producer. Arledge did not gain a formal title as president of ABC Sports until 1968, even though Scherick left his position to assume a position of vice president for programming at ABC in 1964.

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