Broadcasting pioneer Robert M. Bennett, who launched WCVB-TV in 1972 out of an old farm equipment sales building and turned it one of the country’s top television stations, once bet his sales staff he could ride a bicycle while sitting backward on the handle bars.
With a pot of $350 at stake, Mr. Bennett first took a warm-up ride in the Needham parking lot the traditional way, wobbling a bit like a kid on training wheels, according to several accounts. Then he turned a corner and disappeared behind the building.
Mr. Bennett reappeared minutes later, pedaling confidently as he sat backward on the bars. It was a skill he had perfected while growing in up in Altoona, Pa.
“We never made a bet with him again after that,’’ said Sherman Spritz, who worked at WCVB-TV then and is now an account executive at WBZ. “He always had that magnetism and he could back it up,’’ Spritz said.
Mr. Bennett, who orchestrated the sale of WCVB-TV for $220 million in 1981 to Metromedia, died Nov. 29 at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, Calif., after suffering from heart disease, according to his family. He was 89 and lived in Newport Beach.
The record-breaking deal for WCVB-TV cemented Mr. Bennett’s reputation as a brilliant businessman and risk taker. He and his investors had battled fiercely for an FCC license and turned a new station started inside an old warehouse into what some critics called the best station in America.
After the sale, the new owners from Metromedia named Mr. Bennett their company president. Mr. Bennett then arranged the sale of WCVB-TV again. This time, the price in 1986 was $450 million, paid by the Hearst Corp., which still owns it today.
“He was a genuine broadcasting pioneer and legend, respected equally by his staff and competitors. His impact on local broadcasting, nationwide, is his legacy,’’ said Bill Fine, WCVB-TV president and general manager, in a statement.
Among Mr. Bennett’s achievements at WCVB-TV was creating more local programming in the market than ever before. He also put Natalie Jacobson on the anchor desk soon after she started as a WCVB-TV reporter in 1972. Jacobson became a star in New England news who was popular for decades.
“Besides being a leader of people, he understood the industry. That meant innovation, that meant imagination, that meant trying things and failing, and trying again. He was the perfect leader for that. He brought out the best in people,’’ Jacobson said in an interview on WCVB-TV.
Among the shows Mr. Bennett launched was “The Baxters,’’ which depicted a middle-class family from a St. Louis suburb; each episode closed with audience reaction and discussion of issues on the show. Producer Norman Lear later took over the production.
He also backed a short-lived sitcom called “Park Street Under,’’ set in a Boston bar where a retired Red Sox pitcher made the drinks and sparred with a scrappy waitress. It first aired in 1980.
Two years later, NBC’s sitcom “Cheers’’ surfaced with blatant similarities. Mr. Bennett wanted to sue, but his lawyers advised against a long costly court fight.
“In the end, I decided not to do it but it sure put a bitter taste in my mouth,’’ he wrote in his memoir, “WCVB-TV Boston: How We Built the Greatest Television Station in America.’’
Cathy Perron, who worked on “Park Street Under’’ and now teaches at the Boston University College of Communication, called Mr. Bennett a gifted leader.
“Those projects, and so many more, are unprecedented in local television, and would not have happened without Bob Bennett’s commitment to his talented staff, and his unwavering support of local programming,’’ she said.
Another show on WCVB-TV, “Good Day!,’’ which ran from 1973 to 1991, created the template for modern morning television. Mr. Bennett also gave the green light to the newsmagazine “Chronicle,’’ which premiered in 1982 and continues today.
One of his most ambitious projects was a full-length feature film, “Summer Solstice,’’ starring Henry Fonda in his last role. The station chose the script from a contest for submissions sent to the station.
Television critic Terry Ann Knopf, author of “The Golden Age of Boston Television’’ scheduled for publication next year, said Mr. Bennett was a much beloved figure even among his rivals. She found him “just as charming and charismatic as I remembered him’’ when she interviewed him last year, she said.
Mr. Bennett built into WCVB-TV’s success a sense of public service and community interaction, she noted. “He not only had a desire to make money, he also understood the FCC mandate to give back,’’ she said.
In his memoir, Mr. Bennett attributed his success to luck and good co-workers. “I always had good people around me who were dedicated to working hard and had a great deal of pride in their jobs,’’ he wrote.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1927, Mr. Bennett was the son of Elma Bennett, who was 18 when he was born. He had no relationship with his father while growing up and lived with his grandparents. His mother later married a doctor.
When he was a boy and was bullied at school, his mother and stepfather thought his black eyes and bruises were the signs of a troublemaker. In 1941, they sent him to Staunton Military Academy, where he learned to box. He was All-State Boxing Champion for four years, according to his memoir.
Mr. Bennett started at the bottom in broadcasting. He was an usher at CBS in Los Angeles in the late 1940s. He also worked as a chauffeur for Edgar Bergen and carried Bergen’s puppet, Charlie McCarthy, in a box to his shows.
While at CBS in Los Angeles, he met a South Dakota native named Marjie Albright who worked on the switchboard. They were married for more than 60 years.
He decided to become a broadcasting salesman when he realized the writers at CBS drove junk heaps while the salesmen drove new cars. He started his sales career in 1952 and rose through the ranks of Metromedia to become general manager at WNEW-TV in New York from 1968 to 1971.
In addition to his wife, Marjie, Mr. Bennett leaves a daughter, Kelly of Santa Monica, Calif.; a son, Casey of Marina del Rey, Calif.; and a grandson. A celebration of his life is planned for January in Newport Beach, according to his family. No date has been announced. Burial will be private.
“He was a great dad,’’ said his son, who is a television producer, cinematographer, and founder of a company called EDGEtv. “He was nice guy, but he was tough. A lot of kids talk back to their dad. I didn’t do that much.’’
In his memoir, Mr. Bennett, who was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 1984, lamented a constant drive to increase owners’ stock prices in the industry today.
“To me, television is still the kind of miracle that we should never take for granted. It is hard to believe that long ago . . . there was once a new and emerging medium called television. I have been very fortunate to have been a part of it all. I guess a magic dust of some kind was sprinkled on me. For that I am forever grateful,’’ he said.
J.M. Lawrence can be reached at jmlawrence@me.com.
