Alan Wagner

Alan Cyril Wagner (October 1, 1931 - December 18, 2007) was an American television executive, radio personality, writer, and opera historian and critic. He served as the East Coast vice president of programming at CBS from 1976 to 1982. After leaving CBS, he was the first president of the Disney Channel.

Born in Harlem, New York City, Wagner grew up in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Columbia University. He served in the United States Navy during the mid-1950s, notably appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 performing a stand-up comedy bit with a group of fellow seamen. A passionate advocate for opera, Wagner became the host of the WNYC radio program Living Opera in 1957 after his contract with the Navy came to an end. The program aired for two-hours every Sunday morning, featuring excerpts from opera recordings and interviews with performers and other personalities from the opera world. Wagner would also often relate humorous and interesting backstage stories that he had experienced or had heard about. He left Living Opera in 1968 after hosting the program for eleven years.

Wagner's contributions to the field of opera also extended to more scholarly activities. He was a frequent contributor to both the New York City Opera's radio broadcasts and the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, serving as a commentator, host, and a frequent intermission guest on those programs. Considered a knowledgeable opera historian, he gave popular lectures on opera for the Metropolitan Opera Guild's education department, was a guest lecturer at several universities, and wrote articles for many years for Opera News magazine. His first contribution to the magazine was the 1958 article "Tristan and God," an essay which "placed Tristan und Isolde in the tradition of Christian redemption drama". He continued to write articles for the magazine up into the 2000s (decade) with his more recent work including an interview with opera legend Judith Blegen. Wagner also contributed articles to Playbill, High Fidelity, Musical America, Stage Bill, and Reader's Digest. In 1961 he published a book of backstage anecdotes entitled, Prima Donnas and Other Wild Beasts.

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