Robert E. Kintner

Robert Edmonds Kintner (September 12, 1909 – December 20, 1980) was an American journalist and television executive who served as president of both the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).

Early life The son of Albert H. Kintner and the former Lillian M. Stofflet, Robert grew up in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Stroudsburg High School in 1927. Kintner next attended Swarthmore College, where he served as editor of the college newspaper, the "Phoenix", during his senior year until graduating in 1931. Following his graduation, he spent the three months of the summer of 1931 doing publicity for the Buck Hill Falls, where he started a weekly newspaper called "The Breeze". The experience inspired him to forego his previous plans to attend law school and instead seek employment in news. In 1935, Kintner was transferred to the Washington bureau of the Herald Tribune.

From 1937 to 1941, he paired with Joseph Alsop to write a nationally syndicated column called "The Capital Parade". The Capital Parade first appeared in November 1937.

In 1941, after it had become clear that the United States would soon enter World War II, Alsop and Kintner suspended their column and volunteered for the armed forces; Alsop to the Navy, and Kintner the Army. In early 1945, Kintner was named vice president of news and news features. He rose rapidly at the then-small network, becoming an executive vice president in November 1946, and its president in 1949.

Kintner is credited with making ABC more competitive with the older and better-established networks NBC and CBS who also had radio networks. ABC forged partnerships with Warner Bros. Television and Walt Disney to offer a diverse range of programming to viewers. The network played a crucial role in broadcasting the Army-McCarthy hearings and showcased popular shows such as Disneyland, which featured a blockbuster hit with Davy Crockett. Another success was Cheyenne, the pioneering hour-long television Western that sparked a trend in Western-themed entertainment dominating the medium's lineup through 1963.

On February 16, 1956, Kintner resigned as president of ABC. He was forced out due to differences with Leonard H. Goldenson, who was president of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, the company formed when Paramount Theatres merged with ABC in February of 1953. Goldenson took oversight of the ABC network. In July 1958, NBC President Robert W. Sarnoff was elevated to chairman of the board, and Kintner replaced him as president.

Kintner then led NBC from 1958 to 1965. His NBC tenure was marked by his aggressive effort to push NBC News past CBS News in rankings and prestige. The news department was given more money, leading to notable coverage of the 1960 presidential election campaign and the prominence of the Huntley-Brinkley Report.

Quiz-show scandals Kintner was forced to defend NBC at the height of the late 1950s quiz show scandals, testifying to the United States Congress that NBC and the other networks were victims of the quiz-show rigging just as viewers were, and that the networks were working to wrest production control of programming from advertisers, whose pressure had been seen as a key influence driving the scandals.

Cabinet secretary Kintner returned to Washington, D.C. in 1966 after President Lyndon B. Johnson named him to be his White House Cabinet Secretary. However, Kintner's failing eyesight forced him to resign the following year.

Private life Kintner was married twice. He married Daisy Jean Nancy Andrews on January 20, 1934, but it ended in divorce in June 1939. On March 11, 1940, he married Jean Elaine Rodney, with whom he had three children: daughter Susan and sons Michael and Jeffrey. Kintner died from a heart ailment on December 20, 1980, in Washington, D.C.

Cultural references Kintner was portrayed by Allan Rich in Quiz Show, the 1994 film about the quiz-show scandal.