For most youngsters, the glamour of TV is theoretical. But, for Mike Weisman, whose father, Edward, was a publicist at ABC and then at NBC Sports, it was reality. He wasn\u2019t growing up on TV sets, but he did have the chance to be part of publicity shots for TV stars and even a publicity stunt at Madison Square Garden for Batman (along with his little brother, who played Robin).<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew from my early ages that being in television was glamorous and exciting,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThat was something that appealed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It may have appealed to him, but it didn\u2019t stop him from leaving a home within shouting distance of that glamour to head to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and find out what he wanted to do with his life. During his sophomore year, though, his life course changed abruptly: his father died of a massive heart attack at the age of 44, and Weisman returned home immediately and stayed there to be with his mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her I decided that I\u2019m not going back to college,\u201d he recalls. \u201c\u2018I\u2019ll transfer to Queens College so I can be here with you and help you.\u2019 My mother started crying. I said, \u2018What are you upset for, Mom?\u2019 And she said, \u2018Because your brother came to me yesterday and he said the same thing.\u2019 And then we decided, between the three of us, that my brother should have the experience of going away; since I\u2019d been a way a couple years, I\u2019d come home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back home, Weisman had a couple of part-time jobs and finished his education at Queens College. Wondering what to do next he called up some of the people at NBC who knew his father. Their advice? Try the guest-relations program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t realize it at the time, but somebody said guest relations at NBC is harder to get into than Harvard,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, instead of being in Carolina, I was in New York and able to get the job at 30 Rock.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was there that his education in TV began: if he wasn\u2019t assigned to do anything as a page, he could sit in the audience at the\u00a0Tonight Show With Johnny Carson<\/i>, watch the musical acts rehearse, and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a page, you wore a uniform, and you were invisible to most of the executives at NBC,\u201d he recalls. \u201cBut the producer, Fred de Cordova, would see you, look at your name tag, and say, \u2018Hello, Mr. Weisman, and how are you today?\u2019 He treated us with respect and dignity, and, of course, I felt, like many others at the time, if I ever get into a position of import, I\u2019m gonna be like this guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
With his 13 months as a page ending, he planned to attend St. John\u2019s University and take courses to become a teacher. TV was simply not in the plan.<\/p>\n
But, before leaving NBC, he stopped by to see\u00a0Chet Simmons, who had hired his father to be publicist. His mother had told him that stopping by to say hello was the right thing to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said he doesn\u2019t know me from Adam,\u201d Weisman recalls. \u201cI\u2019ll go up to his office and just say, Hey, I\u2019ve been a page here, I just want to say goodbye, you knew my dad, whatever. I go up to the fifth floor, and Chet Simmons, who I recognized from pictures, is standing by the elevator on a Friday at 5:00 with his luggage. And I said, \u2018Mr. Simmons, I\u2019m Mike Weisman, Eddie Weisman\u2019s son.\u2019 He said, \u2018I heard you were working here. How\u2019s it going?\u2019 I said, \u2018Well, frankly, I\u2019ve been here 13 months; there\u2019s nothing going on. I\u2019m gonna start on Monday at St. John\u2019s to get a teaching license, take a few credits.\u201d<\/p>\n
The elevator came, but Simmons didn\u2019t get on. He asked Weisman what he wanted to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Sports has always appealed to me,\u2019 and he said, \u2018Would you be interested in working in sports? We\u2019re getting ready to expand. Call [Executive Producer] Scotty [Connal] on Monday and tell him I told you to call.\u2019 Fast forward, I got the job and became the first assistant producer at NBC Sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
In at the Beginning<\/b>
\nNow, Weisman might have been drawn to the glamour of TV, but he is also the first to admit that he was not a sophisticated kid and was intimidated by his new role. He had flown on a plane only twice: going to North Carolina as a freshman and then flying home in 1969.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now, as the first assistant to the producer, I am assigned to every telecast on every game: Saturday baseball, Sunday football, and\u00a0Monday Night Baseball<\/i>,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m working with all these producers\u2026and I watched, I learned. That was the start.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to note that he was not the assistant to the producer. He was assistant to the producers \u2014 plural, three of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned different things from different people,\u201d he notes of that time. \u201cRoy Hammerman had such an engaging personality, and he was so warm, he made his meetings fun. Don Ellis was extremely creative and wanted to try things. They didn\u2019t all work, but Don said, Let\u2019s do it this way. I liked that about him. And Dick Auerbach was buttoned up. He knew all the equipment, he knew all the technology. And I worked with the different regional producers and the freelance producers. You learn from all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an assistant to the producer in 1975, Weisman had a front-row seat for arguably one of the most important moments in televised sports: Game 6 of the World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox. It was one of the first night games ever in a World Series, and baseball had been struggling to the point where it was no longer a primetime event.<\/p>\n
It was a do-or-die game for the Red Sox, and it featured plenty of drama within its official nine innings of play. But it was in the 12th inning, with the game tied at 6 when a singular moment changed sports production. Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hit a game-winning home run over the Green Monster, and, in the four minutes of coverage following the hit, an isolated camera shot showing Fisk waving his arms to seemingly will the ball to stay fair demonstrated the power of reaction shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat game changed baseball, and it changed Madison Avenue,\u201d Weisman explains. \u201cIt\u2019s just such pure joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
A couple of years later, Weisman was promoted to associate producer and then, at age 27, was named producer. That move was the result of\u00a0Ted Nathanson\u2019s wanting to be producer and director rather than just director.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce Teddy was onsite, he couldn\u2019t sit in both the producer chair and the director chair, so they said to Teddy, \u2018If you want to be the boss, you need somebody to sit next to you to act as the producer and do replays, talk to talent, coordinate.\u2019 And he said, \u2018I\u2019ll take that kid Weisman.\u2019 So, suddenly, I\u2019m doing Super Bowls and national telecasts. It was tremendous.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then there was his time working with the legendary\u00a0Don Ohlmeyer, who had joined NBC Sports as executive producer to do the Olympics. Weisman\u2019s first chance to work with him closely was for the Junior Olympics in Lincoln, NE, in 1978. Ohlmeyer helped him take storytelling to a new level and, at the Olympics, told him to focus on one young gymnast and follow her story, even though she was not a favorite.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I called my new wife and asked what did she think, she said, \u2018It was so great, Mike. I love that little Pammy Lee; I felt so bad for her.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Son of a gun, Don made it a memorable event.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The Youngest EP<\/b>
\nWhen the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Ohlmeyer, devastated, left NBC Sports. Weisman, then 32, was named executive producer. He was only the third ever to hold that post at NBC Sports and was also the youngest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a bit of a surprise because, after Don left ,we just had coordinating producers for a while,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThat was 1982, and I held that position until 1989. Those were some exciting years.\u201d<\/p>\n
They were also challenging. Weisman found himself in charge of the legends who had taught him everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeddy, for example, was my mentor, because I got to do all the big games and sit with him and he gave me more and more responsibility,\u201d he says. \u201cHe is probably the most important figure in my life in the business for one reason: he indirectly introduced me to my wife. And now I was his boss. I went from being the assistant to the producer, the kid, to now the boss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weisman wanted to recapture a bit of the spirit that had existed in the 1970s, when experimentation and trying things out was not only accepted but expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did the first SkyCam, and we were doing things all the time as we didn\u2019t want rules when we were doing the game,\u201d he recalls. \u201cWe started doing things like a 10-minute ticker on football games because the scores used to be given inconsistently. That was the precursor to continuously running scores.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ken Aagaard, current CBS Sports, EVP of innovation, research and development, worked closely with Weisman at NBC and says that whenever he would come up with a technical innovation like the first high frame camera that was used at low home for MLB coverage Weisman would use it to the fullest.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always interested in applying new technologies into his shows,\u201d says Aagaard. \u201cAnd more importantly he used these technologies at the right time for the right reasons. I was lucky to have worked with Mike.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trying this out also lead him to hire\u00a0Bob Costas. to host NBC\u2019s Sunday NFL pre-game show. Bryant Gumbel had just left to do the\u00a0Today<\/i> show, and Weisman tapped Costas who was known for being a solid regional play-by-play announcer. But Weisman saw something in him and, despite Costas\u2019s saying he wanted to do only play-by-play, persuaded him to take the assignment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a few weeks of rehearsal, and, before the first show, Costas seemed nervous. I had never seen him nervous,\u201d says Weisman. \u201cI told him to relax and approach it just like he was doing a studio show in St. Louis or Syracuse. But Bob said, \u2018Mike, perhaps you never gave this serious consideration, but I\u2019ve never done a studio show before. And I said, \u2018Well, Bob, now I\u2019m nervous.\u2019 But the rest, as I am fond of saying, is history. He was a natural.\u201d<\/p>\n
Costas says that, from the beginning of his working at NBC, Weisman was among those who believed in him. \u201cHe gave me a chance to prove myself on big assignments. I hope I made him proud, because I am proud to have worked with him and to have been his friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds that Weisman was one of the most creative people he ever worked with. \u201cHe loved trying new things and, more often than not, hit the bull\u2019s-eye with them. Mike trusted the broadcasters he worked with. If he felt you had talent, he gave you the space and the independence to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weisman also hired\u00a0Marty Glickman\u00a0\u2014 the famous radio broadcaster who covered the New York Knicks, New York Jets, and New York Giants \u2014 to serve as an announcer coach for ex-football players. Announcer\u00a0Merlin Olson, a former NFL player, told Weisman that ex-players would welcome a coach because they were used to getting feedback on their performance.<\/p>\n
Weisman recalls, \u201cI said, \u2018Marty, I want you to meet with these announcers on a regular basis and review their games, sit with them, call them, tell them what\u2019s wrong. It was a tremendous boon to all announcers.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Move Into Entertainment<\/b>
\nAfter the 1988 Olympics, Weisman went out west to try his hand at CBS Entertainment and tap into some of the things he learned as a page at NBC. His challenge? To somehow turn\u00a0The Pat Sajak Show<\/i> around.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go out to L.A. with my wife and our young kids, and\u00a0Sajak<\/i> was canceled after a few months. Then we did other shows with Joy Behar, Bill Maher, and all these great people,\u201d he says. \u201cEvery two weeks, we would have a different host, and we had no routines, which was something I learned from Roone Arledge: if a segment was going well, blow off the next guest; if it stunk, end the segment and bring out the next guest.\u201d<\/p>\n
That led to the decision to have all the guests on the couch to begin the show, a template that shows like\u00a0Politically Incorrect<\/i> and\u00a0The View<\/i> turned into a real format.<\/p>\n
Weisman spent a couple of years as president of NMT Productions in Beverly Hills. After it was sold, he got back to his true love, big-time sports production, with Fox Sports\u2019 MLB coverage. He worked two memorable baseball broadcasts: the 1999 MLB All-Star Game at Fenway Park, highlighted by Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams\u2019s throwing out the first pitch, and the World Series in New York City following the 9\/11 attacks.<\/p>\n
The MLB All-Star Game coverage managed to take home an Emmy for Best Live Sports Event, no small feat for a game that is nothing more than an exhibition contest. But the 1999 version was special, assembling 50 living legends for the pregame festivities. The original plan called for the players to remain along the foul lines while Williams threw out the first pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to see what would happen if the players broke from the foul lines and instead came to the middle of the field and huddled around Ted,\u201d recalls Weisman. \u201cThe current heroes acted like little boys, approaching Ted gingerly like an autograph seeker. And, for four or five minutes, we just eavesdropped on their conversation. It was a lovely, great moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twelve years later, the game of baseball would offer another great moment that was a touching tribute to the resolve of a nation and a city that had suffered a major terrorist attack. It again involved a first pitch, by President George W. Bush, but also a seventh-inning stretch highlighted by 50,000 fans\u2019 joining together to sing \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat World Series was emotional times, and we had the fans, the survivors, the color guard,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe story of that Series was that New Yorkers never give up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weisman\u2019s role at Fox was not full-time, giving him the opportunity to tackle other challenges as well. In 2001, he reached out to NBC Olympics icon\u00a0Dick Ebersol\u00a0and worked on three Olympic Games: Salt Lake City, Torino, and Beijing. In 2004, he helped\u00a0Jane Pauley\u00a0launch her daily talk show and\u00a0Jim Bell\u00a0transition into the role of producer of the\u00a0Today<\/i> show. He was also involved in getting\u00a0NBC Sunday Night Football<\/i> off the ground and, more recently, spent a year as executive producer for\u00a0Morning Joe<\/i> on MSNBC.<\/p>\n
That career arch encapsulates a bit of everything: major sports events, network late-night entertainment, network daytime TV, and even morning and cable news. Suffice it to say, Weisman may stand alone as having executive-producer experience in all those areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always thought I have an ability to work well with others and adapt to the skill set of the people I am working with,\u201d he says. \u201cI also recognize and accept what I don\u2019t know and collaborate with others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Costas says that Weisman has a great sense of humor and communicated that a broadcast should be fun as well as dramatic and journalistically sound.<\/p>\n
\u201cMike has that great combination of belief in his own abilities but deep respect for the abilities of others,\u201d he says. \u201cHe revels in your success as well as his own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adds Aagaard:\u00a0\u201cMike Weisman was as the best line producer you could ever work with. He knew how to tell a story and saw stories where no one else did. He made every show a fun watch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":748,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[20],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductees\/557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductees"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/inductees"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}