THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060070
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: 72 lines
IT WAS NOT long after Ted Koppel of ``Nightline'' had lunch with his boss. They had been discussing his new contract with ABC.
I got the impression that the negotiations were not going well.
``My contract is up in six months, and at the moment I don't know where I stand,'' Koppel said long-distance from Manhattan.
``I'm happy doing the program, but it shouldn't be taken for granted that I will be with `Nightline' or ABC for another run of the contract. We'll see what happens.''
When Koppel hinted in the past that he may leave ``Nightline,'' ABC reduced his work schedule from five nights to four, agreed to put on shows produced by Koppel's company, pressured more affiliates to clear time for the show at 11:35 p.m. and gave him enough money so he could build a pool at his home with the ``Nightline'' logo in it.
You must be one heck of a negotiator, Ted Koppel.
``Not really,'' he said. ``I'm a pussycat.''
Ted's tough.
What kind of an interviewee is Koppel, the master interviewer?
Ted's tough.
He won't let you get under his skin.
Question: People have been watching you on ``Nightline'' for 16 years. What's one thing the viewers would be surprised to learn about Ted Koppel?
``We don't talk about things like that,'' he answered.
The man who made his reputation grilling Jim and Tammy Bakker, George Bush, Ferdinand Marcos, Michael Dukakis and others doesn't like it when you get personal with him. I believe the only reason he's recently laid himself out for interviewers is because he is pushing a book.
And a curious book it is, this ``Nightline: History in the Making and the Making of Television.'' The book jacket suggests that Ted Koppel and former ABC producer Kyle Gibson wrote the book.
In fact, the book is not by Koppel. It is about him and his program. Koppel wrote the introduction and ``Final Thoughts.''
And he doesn't reveal much of himself in those parts of the book, except to remind us that he grew up in England after the Koppel family fled Nazi Germany.
The book does reveal one little-known fact about Koppel - he often disagrees with his producers about what ``Nightline'' is about. He doesn't care for fluff, but realizes that offbeat subjects bring in the viewers.
It wasn't soldiers or statesmen who gave Koppel his highest ratings ever. It was Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.
Koppel to Jim Bakker: How much money did you earn last year?
Bakker to Koppel: I don't have the exact figure.
``I'd like to do very serious programs night after night,'' said Koppel. ``If I did, we'd lose the audience, lose ratings and advertising revenue. Soon, ABC would come to us to say this is a business, not a hobby, and we'd be history.''
Of the hundreds of shows he's done as host of ``Nightline,'' which began on Nov. 8, 1979, when the U.S. embassy in Tehran was overrun, how many did Koppel do well?
His opinion: Only five percent of them.
Trivia note: It was Frank Reynolds, and not Koppel, who anchored that first broadcast. Koppel took over in March of 1980. He said back then that ``Nightline'' was a ``crappy'' name.
He doesn't allow a bad show to depress him. ``If we've done what we think is a good show, it's high fives all around, and then we go home and forget it.
``If it's been a disaster, we sit down and address the problem. Then we go home and forget it. It's the only way to survive in this business. I'm not the kind of a person who spends a lot of time lingering over successes and failures.''
What kind of a person are you, Ted Koppel?
We may never know until he writes a book by himself about himself. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Ted Koppel by CNB