Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 20, 1991                   TAG: 9103190234
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TOM SHALES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

ABC'S GOLDENSON IS LAST OF A RARE BREED

NBC founder David Sarnoff died in 1971. CBS founder William S. Paley died last year. That leaves Goldenson, at 84, last of the big three. In 1953, he presided over the merger of United Paramount Theaters and a small radio network, and ABC was born.

That historic moment occurs on page 115 of "Beating the Odds," the autobiography Goldenson has written with Marvin J. Wolf. The title is aptly chosen, since in its first decade, ABC failed to return a profit, instead piling up losses in the neighborhood of $100 million. Its demise was predicted often.

But in the mid '70's came "Happy Days" and a slew of other smash hits that helped put ABC in the black and make it, for a time, No. 1 in ratings. Goldenson beat other odds, fending off takeover attempts from Howard Hughes, Norton Simon and Laurence Tisch, the man who later acquired CBS.

Finally, in 1985, Goldenson agreed to a merger with Capital Cities Communications and stepped down as ABC chairman. One of the things a retired pioneer does is write a book, though Goldenson, never the public celebrity that Paley and Sarnoff were, initially balked at the idea.

"I read Paley's book, I read Sarnoff's book," he says. "They were both ego trips, and I wasn't going to get involved in that." In an attempt to make his book more evenhanded, the remembrances of other colleagues are interjected as "Other Recollections" throughout the book.

Proceeds go to United Cerebral Palsy, the charity Goldenson co-founded after the death of his daughter, Cookie, a victim of the disease, in 1973. Goldenson and wife, Isabelle, now live in Florida.

ABC was always known more as a scrappy network than a classy one. Once it became enormously profitable, however, ABC began contributing to the roster of TV's nobler moments with epochal productions like "Roots," "The Day After" and "The Winds of War."

Of all the hundreds of series ABC put on over the years, from "Disneyland" to "Roseanne" to "Dynasty" to "Taxi," which are Goldenson's personal favorites? "I loved," he says with a grin, "the shows that were hits."

Goldenson's backstage life wasn't entirely concerned with fighting takeover attempts. He swam naked in the White House pool with Lyndon B. Johnson and got into feuds with Frank Sinatra, Orson Welles and Jerry Lewis.

But mostly in the book, one encounters people whom Goldenson remembers fondly, and vice versa.

Clearly, Goldenson is business through and through. He recalls in the book how he canceled Lawrence Welk's high-rated series after 16 bubbly years simply because "we changed our network strategy to go after younger audiences." How cruel!

"It may be heartless," Goldenson says, "but the question is, who are you trying to reach?"

Told that some people's mothers never forgave him for that decision, Goldenson says, "Mine either!" He is asked how he felt when he turned 50 or 60 and learned he was no longer demographically desirable to the TV networks. His answer: "I can't remember that far back."

Among the dramatic improvements at ABC over the years has been its news division, a doormat in the '50s and '60s but now thriving thanks to news and sports boss Roone Arledge. Goldenson praises ABC's recent coverage of the Gulf War. He is aware, however, of the charge that ABC anchor Peter Jennings sometimes seems anti-Israel in reporting Mideast issues.

"Oh yes, I've heard it, and I've had letters and calls to that effect, and I've talked with Peter about it," Goldenson says. "I do not agree with it. I think he's trying to be as objective as anybody can be."

As for network TV in general, Goldenson may have gotten out just in time. The network slice of the viewing pie has shrunk from 92 percent to around 63 percent, and the sooth favored by some sayers is that one of the big three will die out by the end of the decade.

"I'd be amazed if that were the case," Goldenson says. "We may get down to 58 to 60 percent of the audience in prime time, but don't forget, audience homes are increasing somewhere around one percent a year, and by the year 2000, we'll have 100 million TV homes compared to 89 million now. And if you reach 60 percent of that, you're going to be in 60 million homes.

"This is still the greatest audience that anyone can amass," says Leonard Goldenson with a satisfied and confident smile. Washington Post Writers Group