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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1975)
1 3 OrTJ T.'JTTTt'TSiS' 111 "" " """"tI ji II mm . . im ttd u BOB B IBB Photo courtesy of KETV, Omaha "It's not at all like the Tonight Show. "It's more like the Tomorrow show, except that, hopefully, it's broader-based than that, because we use a lot more location stuff. "It's not a talk show. "It's not strictly a 60 Minutes type program either. "It's a combination of those things with something of the old American dream machine thrown in." It is Good Night America, the serious talk show that started as an occasional feature of ABC's Wide World of Entertainment and that has ABC executives wanting to air it more regularly. The talk show with pronounced informality. The show that fares well in the Nielsen ratings. Geraldo Rivera The person describing Good Night America is Geraldo Rivera, the show's host and the man whose "own little production company" puts the show together. The man who was born of a Jewish mother and a Puerto Rican father, and who, 2,000 local broadcasts ago, was hired as the token Puerto Rican by WABC Eyewitness News in New York. The man who has five radio commentaries to write and a local news story to do that day, but who still takes a few minutes of his time to explain how Good Night America operates, what philosophy he and his staff try to follow and why he devoted an entire 90-minute show to argue the need to reopen the investigation into the assassination of President John Kennedy. News magazine In the opening of his show, Rivera calls Good Night America a "second-generation news magazine." But, on the other end of the telephone wire, in his basement office at the ABC News building in New York, Rivera says he is not quite sure what kind of show Good Night America is, except that maybe it is a "conglomeration that we kind of invented. . it's terribly free-wheeling." Free-wheeling means considering whatever topics he and his staff of "about half a dozen people," all younger than the 31 -year-old Rivera, 1 consider interesting. Free-wheeling enough to make ABC executives "curiously schizophrenic" about some of the potentially controversial subjects the show presents: schizophrenic because they like the success of the show, but worry about the possibility of law suits. Goes places "They realize that the reason people watch Good Night America is because it goes places where other shows haven't gone before, so they like that," Rivera says. "But then, on the other hand, as soon as you get into something controversial, they always assign a dozen lawyers to make sure thursday, may 1, 1075 you're not hing to get sued." For example, he says, he ran a great risk of being sued by the family of Abraham Zapruder for showing a copy of the Zapruder's home movies showing the assassination of President Kennedy. Rivera says he got the film from Robert Groden, who "got -it from a film laboratory in Los Angeles. I think he1 said he originally printed it from Time-life. I'm not sure where he got it." In a show devoted entirely to arguing the need to dismiss the Warren Commission report on the assassination, Rivera showed the film, but not before ABC made him sign a, paper indemnifying them in case of a law suit, he says. Public domain N "Our position was that that film was, and certainly should be, in the public domain," he says. "That a film, probably the most significant historical document of this century, certainly the most significant historical film of this century, can't be copyrighted and it can't be withheld from the public. So we showed the film." The discussion resulted in a Hood of letters from viewers, Rivera says, which resulted in the decision to do the show. Continued on p. 6 By Rex Seline "Good morning everybody," and the Tomorrow Show begins. For more than one and one -half years, host Tom Snyder has been the greeting insomniacs and late-night people of America with an offering of programs ranging from a look at the circus to an examination of the Warren Commission's one-bullet theory in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Four nights a week, Snyder follows Johnny Carson into the homes of NBC television viewers with programs geared both for entertainment and greater impact, such as the Kennedy assassination programs. In fact, in the Kennedy shows, the impact has been so great as to change Snyder's own mind about the alleged guilt of Lee Harvey Oswald. Five nights a week Snyder co-anchors the nightly news for New York City's WNBC, a time-consuming program that Snyder said is "too structured" to allow him to practice any form of advocacy journalism, which is designed to promote a cause. One night a week, Sunday, he broadcasts the national Nightly News program for the network. 'A bit worn out' It totals nine and one-half hours of weekly "on-the-air" programming, according to Hal Bender of the NBC public relations department; enough to prompt Playboy to comment that it's "understandable" if he seems to be a bit worn out at the end of the week. One is compelled to ask if he gets a chance to rest "on the seventh day." It would seem that, for the nearly twenty years Tom Snyder has been in the business, he hasn't had a day of rest. He worked in Wisconsin and Georgia before making two trips to Los Angeles, split by time in Philadelphia. He began his career even before dropping out of Milwaukee's Marquette University. He was unable to name a specific break leading to his success. "It's difficult for me to find one big break." Snyder said. "I've just been working at this business for a long time. I'm coining up on twenty years in the business and I've had a lot of small breaks." One of them, he said, was the "success I had in Philadelphia and being hired there. Another was being at KNBC in Los Angeles when the JAf f Ax ..9 V r.'S-r. ..- f "a fj ' - r (v Cr: I'fiTv - 1 f .f A I Tomorrow Show was beginning." Move 'no upset' His latest move, from Los Angeles to New York, did not "upset" him, but he said "it was a personal wrench to leave; I had some personal ties in California. It was home to me for the better part of twelve years. "It wasn't a move that was forced at all. It was a process of evolution. The network felt that this program could perform better from New York City and we are now in New York." Snyder, at 38, could not think of any specific influence that has affected his journalistic style, but admitted that today's broadcast personalities have built upon what had preceded them in. the early days of the media. "We owe a great deal to those who went before us," Snyder said. "Just as, hopefully, those who follow us will say that we did something right also." Having NBCs vast resources at hand has not always guaranteed success for Snyder and the Tomorrow Show, he said. , - "I know that a lot of people think that the NBC Television Network, with its immense profit resources on hand, can buy anything it wants," V t i SJ Sir. Snyder said. "I think that way too. But unfortunately, each show has its own separate department with a budget assigned to it by the bookkeepers of the network." For want of $5000 For want of $5000, the program has been unable to purchase the controversial Abraham Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination. According to Snyder, the network had offered the Zapruder family (Zapruder, family patriarch and cameraman, died several years ago) $1000 to broadcast the film. It shows Kennedy being shot as his motorcade passed beneath the Texas School Book Depository Building, from, which Oswald allegedly fired the fatal shot. Until now, Snyder's assassination programs have dealt with the Warren Commission report and the related multiple assassin theories. Isolated slides from the Zapruder film have been shown to illustrate theories, but a copy of the film still proves to be elusive. "I think it's reprehensible to ask $5000 for the film," Snyder said. "I don't think anybody should own it." Warren Commission lawyer Arlan Specter, a personal friend of Snyder's from his Philadelphia days, appeared on. Tomorrow in support of the one-bullet theory he constructed. Serious shortcomings Nonetheless, Snyder now believes there are serious shortcomings in the Commission's report. "My beliefs have always been rooted in skepticism. I know that there are all kinds of theories around about who shot John F. Kennedy. I would like to see some evidence the other way, and I guess all of us intend to look for the smoking pistol," Snyder said. Continued on p. 1 8 p332 3 daily ncbraskan
