The Memoirs of Frank Stanton
Narrated by CBS correspondent Mike Wallace, this program features Frank Stanton's remembrances of his life and career, as told to the Oral History Department of Columbia University in a series of interviews spanning ten years.
This program contains adult language, so listener discretion is advised.
Stanton -- who has been called "the conscience of broadcasting" and the "greatest broadcast executive of all time" was also a confidante of U.S. presidents from Harry S. Truman to Lyndon B. Johnson. He was the driving force behind the formulation of televised debates between presidential candidates, starting with the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960. Stanton made his greatest mark on the broadcasting field when he refused a Congressional subpoena to release non-air notes and tapes relating to the 1973 CBS Reports documentary, "The Selling of the Pentagon." The ensuing vote by the U.S. House to hold Stanton in contempt of Congress - and Stanton's victory - helped lay the groundwork for the Constitutional protections broadcast journalists enjoy to the present day.
"The Memoirs of Frank Stanton" is written by Perry Wolff, produced by PattiRai Rudolph and narrated by Mike Wallace. Executive Producer is Bill Buzenberg. Technical direction by Michael Osborne, with assistance from Michael Demark, Lachlan Rorie and Rick Hebzynski. Online editor is Melanie Sommer. Archival resources provided by Perry Wolff, with Mary Marshall Clark and the Oral History Department of Columbia University.
