Ralph Renick

Infobox Person
name = Ralph Renick


caption =
birth_date = Birth date|1928|8|9
birth_place = New York City
death_date = Dda|1991|07|11|1928|08|09
death_place = Miami, Florida, United States
other_names =
known_for =
occupation = television news anchor, commentator
nationality = American

Ralph Apperson Renick (August 9, 1928 - July 11, 1991) was a television news broadcaster for Miami's WTVJ, channel 4 (now channel 6), Florida's first television stationcite news|title= Ralph Renick Is Dead; TV Newsman Was 62 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3DC123AF930A25754C0A967958260&scp=1&sq=Ralph%20Renick&st=cse |publisher=The New York Times|date=1991-07-13|accessdate=2008-06-06 ] . He was the driving force behind television news in South Florida from the station's inception in March of 1949 until his departure nearly 36 years later in 1985.

Career

Renick joined WTVJ as an intern in 1949 after graduation from the University of Miami, where he studied under an H.V. Kaltenborn Scholarship. Kaltenborn was an eminent CBS Radio commentator. Renick was the face of WTVJ, then channel 4, for the next 36 years.

Renick was unopposed as a South Florida anchor from 1949, when WTVJ aired programs from all networks via kinescopes, until it became exclusively a CBS affiliate in 1956. In that year, WCKT (now WSVN), channel 7 began broadcasting in Miami as an NBC affiliate station, followed in the late 1950s by WPST-TV (now WPLG-TV), channel 10, as ABC's outlet in Miami. Despite a strong attempt to challenge Renick and WTVJ over the years, he remained the dominant and number one rated news anchor for his entire 36 year run.

In 1957, Renick made history by broadcasting the first of nearly thirty years of nightly editorials on his 6PM newscast, 'The Ralph Renick Report'. Two years later, in 1959, he traveled to Cuba for an exclusive interview with the communist nation's newly minted dictator Fidel Castro, and later that same year to the Kremlin, to interview Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev. In 1960, Renick named Dr. Manolo Reyes, a former lawyer in Cuba, and a pioneering Spanish-language broadcaster, to launch South Florida's first Spanish-language newscast on WTVJ.He also opened the door to women in 1967 when he hired the nation's first female sportscaster, Jane Chastain. A year later, in 1968, Renick made history again by hiring South Florida's first Black reporter, C.T. Taylor.

Renick pushed WTVJ to pioneer video tape and ENG (Electronic News Gathering) in late 1974 and by November of 1975 had the state's first truly mobile live truck up and running. Shortly after 3:00 PM on November 30th, 1975, Renick broke into regular programming to report an attempted assassination on Ronald Reagan, in town for a speech at the Miami Airport Ramada Inn. Because WTVJ's live capability was in place, Renick was able to throw to reporter Bob Mayer for the station's first live mobile field report (See link below).

Renick, then a widower with six children, served on the board of directors of the Associated Press from October 1977 to May 1981. He also served as president of the Associated Press Broadcasters, an advisory group for the AP's news division. Additionally, Renick was also president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association.

Though he continued to dominate the news ratings through the mid 1980's, Renick's world began to unravel after the station's owner, Wometco Enterprises, Inc., sold off the Wometco empire following the death of founder and President Mitchell Wolfson, in 1983. The station was acquired by KKR (Kolberg, Kravitz and Roberts), an investment firm, in what was then the largest leveraged buyout in US history: one billion dollars.

Retirement

During the majority of his tenure at WTVJ, Renick reported only to the company's owner, Mitchell Wolfson. He was, in fact, believed to be the only News Director anywhere who did not report directly to a General Manager. As a result, Renick had unprecedented authority before Wolfson's death. After the acquisition, KKR slowly stripped Renick of that authority, making it more and more uncomfortable for him to continue in his triple role of anchor, News Director and Vice President for News. As a result, Renick finally made the decision to leave.

In March of 1985, Renick appeared for the last time on WTVJ, telling his audience "It is my decision, effective tonight, to step down as Vice President and News Director of WTVJ, and also relinquish my duties as newscaster editorialist on this program." At the time, he did not announce what his plans were. He simply told viewers "I thank YOU for being the most supportive TV news audience anyone could ever hope to have." But at the end of the newscast, his legendary nightly sign-off, "Good night and may the good news be yours," was altered slightly, when he added the words "... and hopefully mine."

Within six weeks, Renick announced he would be a candidate for Governor of Florida as a Democrat. He spent 100,000 dollars of his own money on his failed gubernatorial bid before quitting the race after 6 months.

In 1988, Renick returned to the air once again, after signing a multi-year contract with WCIX channel 6 (now WFOR-TV channel 4), in Miami to do a nightly commentary called "The Ralph Renick Report". As his health began to fail, Renick officially retired in September, 1990.

Death and legacy

After spending the last months of his life hospitalized, Renick died on July 11, 1991, at Cedars Medical Center in Miami, of complications from hepatitis and liver disease. He was 62 years old. His funeral mass at St. Mary's Cathedral was presided over by then Archbishop Edward McCarthy and was packed to standing room only. It was attended by hundreds of South Florida's movers and shakers, and was broadcast live in a two hour special report on WTVJ.News of Ralph Renick's death was the lead story on every Miami station and was the end of an era in television news.

References

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06U7uhK1YS4 Television obituary aired on WTVJ on July 12, 1991]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qJfpSQ8jjY 1st Live WTVJ ENG field report aired Nov. 20, 1975]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbPWkLsfumU 1st Woman Sportscaster in US - aired 1971]

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
before=originator
after=John Hambrick and Susan Lichtman Taylor
title=WTVJ anchor (as The Ralph Renick Report/News 4 With Ralph Renick)
years=with interim anchors Jim Brosemer and Ana Azcuy from March until August 1985 1949 – 1985|