August 9, 1974, was a momentous day in American history, not just because my first child, Rachel Tiven, was born in Atlanta that morning but also because a resigned President Richard Nixon left the White House in disgrace at lunchtime headed for political oblivion in California.
Marjorie Tiven and I had moved to Atlanta for my work at WSB television as Jimmy Carter was wrapping el that fits your up the third year as the progressive, modern governor of Georgia. Speculation about which Democrat might run for president in the 1976 election was in full swing with as many as 30 names discussed.
Carter was not on any list!
None of this discouraged Carter and his Georgia brain trust, including Hamilton Jordan, Jody Powell, and Stuart Eizenstat.
Carter was perhaps the smartest as well as the most decent human to consider the presidency, let alone get elected. His science and military schooling—at Annapolis Naval Academy—allowed him to comprehend environmental as well as societal issues looming ahead. However, economic issues spawned by the 1973 oil embargo continued to hurt the economy. Republicans naturally blamed Carter.
Carter signed into law the creation of the Energy Department, provided incentives for renewables, deregulated oil and natural gas prices, and banned new power plants from using gas or oil. Some of these policies have had a lasting effect. Others drew criticism and were ultimately repealed. He put early versions of solar panels on the White House roof. Republicans mocked his environmental concerns and President Ronald Reagan had them removed.
In November 1979 Iranian students held 53 American hostages after invading our embassy in Tehran. This destabilized political life in the USA and the globe. It became a 444 nightmare of bad treatment for the hostages. Iranian demands were impossible to accept and a risky rescue mission was aborted. Machiavellian behavior of Republicans further delayed any negotiated release as Reagan’s campaign secretly promised Iran it a better deal by holding the hostages until his election. The self-serving logic was disgraceful but effective. The lack of a release cost Carter votes. On Inauguration Day the hostages were released with Reagan getting more credit than he was due. (This was a repetitive aspect of his entire life.)
There were high points as well. I admired President Carter’s effort in brokering a Middle East peace deal that worked to benefit Egypt and Israel but without wider impact, because related issues were not agreed Carter’s entire life reflects his humility: he remembered where he came from, believed in people, and practiced his Christianity.
Two television news anecdotes involving me relate directly to President Carter.
I had produced live coverage at both 1972 political conventions in Miami as well as anti-war demonstrations in Washington, all with old-style analog TV equipment. Live overage daily was a media dream then. Portable video cameras with miniaturized microwave transmitters arrived but most senior television engineers dismissed these as “toys.” I was convinced that this was the future. In mid-1974, promoted to news director at WSB TV, I convinced the general manager that $250,000 would ensure the channel's reputation as a leader in Atlanta with daily live coverage using a minicam truck I was designing.
Atlanta’s first television station would be first again. “Go see Miss Alice in purchasing and she’ll sign for what you need,” he said, to the dismay of an elderly chief engineer who had argued it was a premature effort.
When Carter scheduled December 12, 1974, for his announcement to seek the nomination. Big news perfect for the truck’s debut BUT what a shame as the truck was not ready to use for live coverage. This was a top-secret project built by a select team. Seeing my pessimism they offered a plan, but first needed to check that a portable microwave signal was possible between the Civic Center in downtown Atlanta and the TV station’s microwave receiver installed on a short tower in the WSB backyard.
One morning with the gear in the bed of a pickup truck they tested it. On the day of Carter’s announcement, they went early and parked the truck exactly where they had for the test. Closer to the speech time they set up the dish, ran cables into the auditorium, and finally set up a brand new Ikegami HL-33 video camera unlike any of the film cameras being used by local channels and US TV networks. It was momentous for us to broadcast LIVE when everyone else was offering film 90 minutes after the event. We had the same edge in March 1975 when a tornado did major damage to the governor’s mansion in Atlanta. Reporter Jim Hickey was live on the scene for minutes.
Understanding the post-Nixon mood, Carter leaned on his reputation for political integrity, declaring: “Being President is not the most important thing in the world to me. There are a lot of things I would not do for an office or honor in the world.” Hard to imagine anyone talking like that today, as unreal as Governor Carter’s desire then to be elected nationally.
Our new technology caught on triggering a national revolution in television news and production. Today’s Internet connectivity makes live video practical for phone calls but fifty years ago this shift to live news coverage and videotape was a “big deal.” As was Carter’s campaign was perfectly crafted for the emotional anxieties that followed the painful Nixon years.
My career moved on and in November 1979 I was both Chicago bureau chief and a senior producer for the ABC World News Tonight with Max Robinson anchoring national segments of that program. The Iranian hostage-taking was on Sunday. By Monday morning’s conference call, it was clear from hours of midwestern phone calls that people were outraged by the embassy assault. The daily news conference call connected about 20 people globally and helped decide the day’s story selection. It happened to be a week when the news division also had an 11:30 pm Eastern time commitment for a show on politics.
Executive producer Jeff Gralnick in New York City ran the daily meeting in his well-known acerbic and demeaning style. I was six weeks into these jobs, having edged out his favored choices for both Chicago positions. I explained the emotional temperature in the Midwest and suggested dropping politics on Tuesday night for the Iran story, but also we should do a special that Monday evening. This was six months before CNN launched, redefining television news, where I would eventually be vice president for television systems
In his condescending tone, Gralnick said, ’’Mr, Tiven, you worry about the Midwest. I’ll worry about the world.” On Tuesday night, the politics show flopped in the ratings because both CBS and NBC broadcast Iran specials at 11:30 PM. ABC News President Roone Arledge, legendary for his competitiveness, was angry. To claim media leadership the next night ABC did a special show called “America Held Hostage” with anchor Frank Reynolds promising it would be broadcast nightly until the hostages were released.
That program morphed into “Nightline anchored by Ted Koppel and remains on the ABC schedule to this day. There is a back story to one of its current anchors, JuJu Chang. When she was seeking her first ABC deal she wanted to record a special audition tape, impossible at her current employer. She is married to Neal Shapiro a broadcast executive and a friend. Neal asked if WQEX, a small public TV station I then ran in Pittsburgh could help. Of course, she was hired by ABC.
A clarification: Many of us who worked with Jeff Gralnick understood him as a genius television producer who was a malicious dictator to anyone who worked with him.
Kenneth Tiven