Frederick Ziv

Frederick William Ziv (August 17, 1905 – October 13, 2001, Cincinnati, Ohio) was an American broadcasting producer and syndicator who was considered as the father of television first-run syndication and once operated the nation's largest independent television production company. An obituary in the Cincinnati Enquired noted that Ziv "was known throughout the television industry for pioneering production, sales, promotion andmarketing of TV series."

Frederick Ziv was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to William and Rose Ziv. His parents were Jewish immigrants: his father William, a manufacturer of button holes for overalls, came to the US in 1884 from Kelm, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire) and his mother Rose from Bessarabia three years later. He had a sister named Irma. He graduated from Hughes High School.

Although he earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1928, Ziv didn't practice law, but instead opened an advertising agency. His natal city Cincinnati was an important center for radio in the 1920s. The nation's largest radio sponsor, Procter & Gamble, and one of its most powerful radio stations, WLW, were based there. Ziv and writer John L. Sinn, who later became his business partner and son-in-law, founded the Frederick W. Ziv Company. They produced pre-recorded radio shows such as Boston Blackie and The Cisco Kid and occasionally bought old shows for new syndicated rerun broadcast. The best known was the serial comedy Easy Aces in 1945.

In preparation for providing programming for television syndication, Ziv began purchasing film libraries. By July 1948, the company had bought four such libraries -- General, Miles, Kinogram and Forster -- providing a total of more than 13 million feet of film.

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