NEW YORK, NY, May 09, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Herbert Schlosser has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Herbert S. Schlosser spent 30 years at NBC and RCA in a career that spanned many areas of broadcasting, cable, home video, and the record industry in both business and programming positions.
He was President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Broadcasting Company in the 1970s, and, after that, Executive Vice President of RCA Corporation in charge of its entertainment group of activities other than NBC.
He joined NBC as counsel, and then became Vice President of NBC, and chief operating officer, of California National Productions, a subsidiary of NBC engaged in the production and syndication of television film series through its NBC Films Division, which produced the highly rated television series, "Bonanza", and other television series for network and syndication distribution. The company also owned the children's program "Howdy Doody" and the merchandising division of NBC.
Subsequent to that, from 1960 to 1966, he served as Vice President in charge of the business affairs department of the NBC Television Network, which negotiated agreements for all the network's programs and talent in entertainment, news, and sports. As head of this department, he personally negotiated the agreement with Johnny Carson in 1962, which brought Carson from ABC to NBC, to become the host of "The Tonight Show", where he remained for thirty years. In 1963, Schlosser went to Tokyo and negotiated the agreement with NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) to acquire the 1964 Summer Olympics, the first Summer Olympics ever broadcast by NBC. The license fee was $1 million. He negotiated with Pete Rozelle for NFL Football and with Bowie Kuhn for Major League Baseball. He negotiated the agreements with Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Perry Como, and the agreements that tied Chet Huntley and David Brinkley to NBC for ten years. He negotiated for most of the television series broadcast on NBC, including "Star Trek" and "I Spy", co-starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby.
In 1963, he negotiated the first agreement ever made for the production of made-for-television motion pictures (between NBC and Universal Pictures).
He then became head of the network's program department, in Burbank, California from 1966 to 1972, and was involved in the development of such programs as "Laugh-In," "The Bill Cosby Show" (Cosby's first half-hour series), "Flip Wilson", "Ironside," "Julia", "Name of the Game," "Sanford and Son," "Columbo," "McCloud," and "McMillan and Wife". He was also involved in the development of many of NBC's made-for-television motion pictures broadcast under the title of "World Premiere". NBC was the first network to broadcast made-for-television movies.
In 1972 he returned to New York City to become Executive Vice President of the NBC Television Network, a division of the National Broadcasting Company, with all units of the Network reporting to him. In 1973 he became President of the Network, and in 1974, he became President of the company.
When he was President of NBC he was responsible for putting "Saturday Night Live" on the air. He played the crucial role in deciding that a new live entertainment program emanating from the famous Studio 8H, in the RCA building in New York City, would go on the NBC Television Network in 1975. That show was "Saturday Night Live". He insisted that it be "live". Lorne Michaels was hired to be Executive Producer and the program went on the air on October 11, 1975. Mr. Schlosser strongly supported it when it went on the air and thereafter. Mr. Michaels created a new kind of bright, fresh, innovative comedy program that to this date is the longest running once-a-week comedy program in the history of television.
At the recommendation of the then head of the Program Department at NBC, Paul Klein, Mr. Schlosser commissioned the award winning mini-series, "Holocaust," produced by Herbert Brodkin. When "Holocaust" was broadcast in West Germany, it was watched by well over half the population of the country. The mini-series is credited as having had an enormous impact on viewers and with helping German citizens come to terms with the Holocaust. During his Presidency, NBC broadcast two of the ten highest rated mini-series in the history of network broadcasting "Holocaust" and "Jesus of Nazareth".
The NBC Television Network, the NBC Radio Network and Radio Stations, the NBC News Division and the NBC Television Stations Division all reported to him as President of NBC.
After leaving NBC, he joined RCA, NBC's parent company, as Executive Vice President. Reporting to him at RCA were the RCA Records Company and RCA's software operations in video cassettes, video discs and cable. He was responsible for creating RCA's partnership with Columbia Pictures, in "RCA/Columbia Home Video", which became one of the major world-wide home video companies, with branches in Great Britain, France, and Germany.
He negotiated with Herbert Granath of Capital Cities/ABC and Raymond Joslin of the Hearst Corporation to create the Arts & Entertainment Network, the cable program service, in which ABC, Hearst and RCA were partners.
After retirement from the world of NBC/RCA, he became a Senior Advisor to the Schroders Investment Bank in the area of global media. When Schroders was acquired by CitiGroup, he became a Senior Advisor there to the Communications Group in Global Investment Banking. He retired from CitiGroup at the end of 2011.
Mr. Schlosser was, for thirty years, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the Moving Image. He was Chairman in 1988 when the Museum first opened to the public and during a major renovation and expansion project in which the facility doubled in size. The expanded Museum opened to the public in 2011. It is the only one of its kind in the United States and has secured an international reputation for its groundbreaking film screenings, exhibitions and education programs. He became Chairman Emeritus in 2015. He is also a member of the Board of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2000. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Princeton University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
About Marquis Who's Who :
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America , Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America , Who's Who in the World , Who's Who in American Law , Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare , Who's Who in Science and Engineering , and Who's Who in Asia . Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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