Bill Paley
| William S. Paley | |
|---|---|
New York, 1939
|
|
| Born |
September 28, 1901 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | October 26, 1990 (aged 89) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Renal failure |
| Resting place | Memorial Cemetery of Saint John's Church |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Western Military Academy |
| Alma mater | The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Television executive |
| Known for | President of CBS |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) |
Dorothy Hart Hearst (m. 1932; div. 1947) Barbara "Babe" Cushing Mortimer (m. 1947; d. 1978) |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent(s) | Samuel Paley Goldie Drell Paley |
William Samuel Paley (September 28, 1901 – October 26, 1990) was the chief executive who built the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States.
Paley was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Goldie (Drell) and Samuel Paley. His family was Jewish, and his father was an immigrant from Ukraine who ran a cigar company. As the company became increasingly successful, Paley became a millionaire, and moved his family to Philadelphia in the early 1920s. William Paley matriculated at Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois and later received his college degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in expectation that he would take an increasingly active role running the family cigar business.
In 1927, Paley's father, brother-in-law and some business partners bought a struggling Philadelphia-based radio network of 16 stations called the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System. Samuel Paley's intention was to use his acquisition as an advertising medium for promoting the family's cigar business, which included the La Palina brand. Within a year, under William's leadership, cigar sales had more than doubled, and, in 1928, the Paley family secured majority ownership of the network from their partners. Within a decade, William S. Paley had expanded the network to 114 affiliate stations.
Paley quickly grasped the earnings potential of radio and recognized that good programming was the key to selling advertising time and, in turn, bringing in profits to the network and to affiliate owners. Before Paley, most businessmen viewed stations as stand-alone local outlets or, in other words, as the broadcast equivalent of local newspapers. Individual stations originally bought programming from the network and, thus, were considered the network's clients.
Paley changed broadcasting's business model not only by developing successful and lucrative broadcast programming but also by viewing the advertisers (sponsors) as the most significant element of the broadcasting equation. Paley provided network programming to affiliate stations at a nominal cost, thereby ensuring the widest possible distribution for both the programming and the advertising. The advertisers then became the network's primary clients and, because of the wider distribution brought by the growing network, Paley was able to charge more for the ad time. Affiliates were required to carry programming offered by the network for part of the broadcast day, receiving a portion of the network's fees from advertising revenue. At other times in the broadcast day, affiliates were free to offer local programming and sell advertising time locally.
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