Paley Had a Passion for Broadcasting

And now there is one.

The death of William S. Paley on Friday, at age 89, leaves Leonard Goldenson, 84, the founder of ABC, as the only remaining survivor of the three men who fathered network television.

With all their faults, the one thing that CBS’ Paley, ABC’s Goldenson and NBC’s David Sarnoff had in common was a passion for broadcasting--before corporate takeovers squeezed the grandness out of these freewheeling institutions.

With his giant ego and reluctance to surrender power--which may well have planted the seeds for CBS’ collapse in recent years--Paley was perhaps the most flawed and flamboyant of all the founders, and yet the most gifted at combining commerce and art.

In 1986, Kim LeMasters, newly appointed to the top rank of CBS Entertainment, was summoned, along with several other network colleagues, to Paley’s home on Long Island, where, he said, he was astonished when the founder, supposedly retired, picked apart the prime-time schedule at considerable length.

Not among those invited to that gathering was Thomas Wyman, chairman of CBS. Soon afterward, Wyman was ousted and, at age 85, Paley resumed the chairmanship again, although CBS’ real power now was the founder’s partner in the coup, Laurence Tisch, president and chief stockholder of the company.

Some regarded the handsome, social and culturally connected Paley as the Henry Ford of TV, the essence of its foibles and promise. In his latter years, he founded the Museum of Broadcasting in New York, a lasting monument to television and radio--the fields that occupied his life--as prime social forces of this century.

Periodically, stories would surface of attempted broadcasting gestures by Paley that reflected the earlier hopes of TV. Once, it was said, he suggested that each network contribute two hours of prime time every week to uplifting, non-competitive programming. Nothing came of the idea, but it enhanced Paley’s image.

It was also reported that Paley, in his late 80s, suggested a stylish, nightly 8 o’clock series called “What’s Happening,” which would cover current events in the manner of the late-hour “Nightwatch” series, then anchored by Charlie Rose. CBS brass supposedly rejected the idea, lest it wreck the network’s lineup.

Paley cast such a huge shadow that it sometimes obscured the fact that CBS’ reputation as the “Tiffany network” was crafted in great part by the former network president, Frank Stanton. For two decades, until the late 1970s when ABC finally took over first place with such shows as “Charlie’s Angels,” CBS was the undisputed leader of the airwaves.

No network has ever been so dominant for so long a period, with programs ranging from “Gunsmoke” to “I Love Lucy” to “All in the Family.”

And always, Paley’s presence hovered over the scene. Many think, for instance, that the 1978-79 series “The Paper Chase,” with John Houseman as a stern law professor, remained on the air despite low ratings because Paley saw something of himself in the character.

Paley had the gift of learning. He wasn’t so sure of TV at the start. He was slow to react to the potential of color TV, which quickly was dominated by NBC’s parent company, RCA.

If Paley enabled Edward R. Murrow to establish network news, he also sometimes differed sharply with him.

And Paley’s friendship with President Lyndon B. Johnson is believed to have had at least some effect on the network’s coverage of the Vietnam War, especially when hearings on the Southeast Asia conflict were preempted by reruns of “I Love Lucy,” prompting CBS News President Fred Friendly to resign.

Under Paley and Stanton, CBS was not only the leader in TV entertainment, but news as well, as anchorman Walter Cronkite became the nation’s most trusted person.

Like others, Paley once had doubts about casting Lucille Ball’s husband, Desi Arnaz, in “I Love Lucy.” But if problems arose with his performers, he at least knew what they were talking about. Yes, he was in business--but the business was broadcasting.