Mark R. McDermott www.markmcdermott.com
[email protected] EBERSOL, DICK U.S. Media Executive n his various executive positions Duncan Dickie I Ebersol has contributed several innovations to the NBC television network. He shepherded Saturday Night Live onto the air, then returned as producer to “rescue” the show in the early 1980s. As president of NBC Sports, he pursued several inventive and sometimes risky program- ming packages such as the Olympics Triple-Cast and the Baseball Network. Throughout his career he has been recognized as one of television’s more creative programmers. Ebersol became hooked on television sports when he saw the debut of ABC’s Wide World of Sports in 1963. Later, when that show was shooting in his area, he got errand jobs with the crew. By the winter of 1968 he was working as a research assistant for ABC’s coverage of the Winter Olym- pics in Grenoble, France, and while finishing his studies at Yale, he worked full-time as a segment producer. In 1971, Dick Ebersol following graduation, he became an executive assistant and Photo courtesy of Dick Ebersol producer with Roone Arledge, vice president of ABC Sports and creator of Wide World of Sports. NBC tried to hire Ebersol in 1974 by offering to name dent of Late-Night Programs, with an office in Burbank and him president of their sports division, but at the age of 27 responsibility over every late show that did not belong to he decided he wasn’t ready to compete against Arledge. Johnny Carson. Ebersol had become, at 28, the youngest Instead, he moved to NBC with a new title: director of vice president in NBC history.