Paley, William S.

Paley, William S.

▪ American executive
born Sept. 28, 1901, Chicago, Ill., U.S.
died Oct. 26, 1990, New York, N.Y.
 American broadcaster who served as the Columbia Broadcasting System's (CBS Corporation) president (1928–46), chairman of the board (1946–83), founder chairman (1983–86), acting chairman (1986–87), and chairman (1987–90). For more than half a century he personified the power and influence of CBS.

      Paley was the son of immigrant Ukrainian Jews who conducted a thriving cigar business in Chicago. (At age 12 he added a middle initial to his name, the S.) The family moved to Philadelphia when Paley was ready for college, and he attended the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania (B.S., 1922). After entering the family's new cigar business, he became vice president and eventually signed an early radio advertising contract for the firm's products. The commercials boosted business, making Paley aware of the power of radio as an advertising medium, and in 1927 he invested in a relative's small radio network, the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System; Paley became president of Columbia on Sept. 26, 1928, moved to New York City, and quickly signed up 49 radio stations. (CBS dropped the word Phonographic from its name in 1929.) In the subsequent decades Paley built CBS into one of the world's leading radio and television networks, hiring such entertainment stars as Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, George Burns and Gracie Allen, the Mills Brothers, Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor, Bob Hope, and Jack Benny, luring some of them from rival networks.

      During World War II Paley served the U.S. government as supervisor of the Office of War Information (OWI) in the Mediterranean, and later as chief of radio in the OWI's Psychological Warfare Division (1944–45), finally becoming deputy chief of the Psychological Warfare Division.

      During and after the war Paley supported and encouraged Edward R. Murrow in building an outstanding news staff for CBS. Also in the postwar era Paley built CBS studios on both the east and west coasts and produced several successful television game shows, comedies, and westerns, including I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke, and Arthur Godfrey's and Ed Sullivan's variety shows. Paley exercised firm control over major programming and, in 1966, waived the CBS mandatory retirement rule so that he could remain active as chairman of the board. He remained chairman until 1983 and, after some CBS infighting, returned in 1987.

      Paley and his second wife, Barbara (“Babe”) Paley (née Cushing), whom he married in 1947, became a centre of New York society, giving lavish parties and holding important philanthropic positions. Paley was a longtime president and trustee of the Museum of Modern Art (Modern Art, Museum of) and also built a large art collection of his own, ranging from Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso to Jackson Pollock.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • PALEY, WILLIAM SAMUEL — (1901–1990), U.S. radio and television executive. Born in Chicago, Paley joined his father Samuel Paley s cigar manufacturing business, in which he served as vice president from 1922 to 1928. In the course of advertising cigars over the airwaves… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Paley, William — (1743 1805)    An Anglican bishop and apologist, Paley, while not an original thinker, was gifted in the art of writing popular presentations of apologetics, as in A View of the Evidence of Christianity (1794), which was required reading at… …   Christian Philosophy

  • Paley, William — ▪ British philosopher and priest born July 1743, Peterborough, Northamptonshire [now in Cambridgeshire], Eng. died May 25, 1805, Lincoln, Lincolnshire       English Anglican priest, Utilitarian philosopher, and author of influential works on… …   Universalium

  • Paley, William — (1743–1805) English theologian and moral philosopher. Paley is remembered for two contributions to natural theology. The first is the sustained defence of the argument to design for the existence of God, in his Natural Theology (1802). Paley… …   Philosophy dictionary

  • PALEY, William — (1743 1805)    English theologian and UTILITARIAN philosopher who was Archdeacon of Carlisle. His book The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy became the ethics text at the University of Cambridge while his attacks on DEISM in A View of… …   Concise dictionary of Religion

  • Paley, William — (1743–1805)    Philosopher and Theologian.    For much of his early career Paley taught at the University of Cambridge. Subsequently he served a parish in Cumbria and he was appointed Archdeacon of Carlisle in 1782. He is remembered for his works …   Who’s Who in Christianity

  • Paley,William S. — Pa·ley (pāʹlē), William S. 1901 1990. American broadcasting executive who founded the Columbia Broadcasting System (1929). * * * …   Universalium

  • Paley, William S(amuel) — (28 sep. 1901, Chicago, Ill., EE.UU.–26 oct. 1990, Nueva York, N.Y.). Empresario de la industria de la radio y la televisión. En 1922 comenzó a trabajar en el negocio familiar de puros, que tuvo gran éxito al aumentar las ventas mediante la… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Paley, William — (1901 90)    American media executive. Born in Chicago to immigrants from the Ukraine, he studied at the University of Pennsylvania and joined his father s cigar manufac turing company. Later he became president of the Columbia Broadcasting… …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Paley, William — ► (1743 1805) Filósofo y teólogo protestante británico. Autor de Principios de moral y filosofía política …   Enciclopedia Universal

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”