Cronkite, Stanton to Advise Panel Seeking New Chairman for CBS

Frank Stanton, former president of CBS, and Walter Cronkite, the former network anchorman, will serve as consultants to a committee of CBS directors looking for a replacement for ousted Chairman and Chief Executive Thomas H. Wyman, the company said Friday.

Stanton, 78, was president and chief operating officer of CBS for 25 years during the chairmanship of William S. Paley, the 84-year-old CBS founder who has returned as acting chairman. The search committee said in a statement that the two men’s skills would be a “unique resource” for the committee.

The committee consists of directors Laurence A. Tisch, who has taken the position of acting chief executive, Paley, Michel Bergerac, James Wolfensohn, James Houghton, Harold Brown and Franklin Thomas. Brown, the former secretary of defense, is chairman of the panel.

The committee was formed Wednesday during the directors’ meeting at which Wyman was ousted. The search is expected to take three to six months.

Separately, sources said CBS directors approved at the same meeting the sale of the company’s music publishing division for nearly $85 million to Michael Steward, the unit’s current head. A company spokesman, Vice President Anne Luzzatto, said she would not confirm or deny the report.