R.I.P.: Lawrence Grossman, Former Head of NBC News

Lawrence Grossman

Lawrence K. Grossman, who as president of PBS doubled the length of “the MacNeil/Lehrer Report,” its signature news program, then headed NBC News, where he dealt unhappily with budget austerity after it came under General Electric’s ownership, died on Friday at his home in Westport, Conn.

He was 86, according to The NY Times.

Grossman, a former advertising executive, transformed PBS over eight years. Despite his initial reluctance to spend the required money, PBS became the first broadcast network to deliver its programming by satellite.

He expanded the influence of the MacNeil/Lehrer program by lengthening it to an hour, from a half-hour, and started the “Frontline” documentary series as well as the 13-part series “Vietnam: A Television History” (1981).

Grossman joined NBC News a few months later and was faced with multiple challenges: Ratings for the “Today” show were slipping, “NBC Nightly News” was ranked far behind “CBS Evening News,” and the network was struggling to create a strong prime-time newsmagazine.

Soon after taking over, Mr. Grossman told The New York Times that his mandate was “not to make NBC News first in the ratings” but to build an organization “of which we can all be proud.”

He hired Tim Russert, then a political aide to Gov. Mario M. Cuomo of New York, as a vice president (before Mr. Russert became one of NBC News’s top on-air personalities as the moderator of “Meet the Press”). And he had some successes, including “Today’s” return as ratings leader among morning news programs and an increased regard for “NBC Nightly News,” which had risen briefly to No. 1 in the ratings in 1987 before falling to third place.


But after G.E.’s acquisition of RCA, NBC’s parent company, in 1986, Mr. Grossman fell out of favor with his new bosses — Jack Welch, G.E.’s chairman, and Robert C. Wright, NBC’s president, as well as with Tom Brokaw, the anchor of “NBC Nightly News.”

In an email on Friday, Mr. Brokaw wrote that NBC News had needed “an aggressive seasoned hand” with experience in journalism and production to “go against Roone Arledge,” the president of ABC News, “and the CBS veteran team.”

He added that Grossman had “failed to appreciate the change represented by the arrival of Jack Welch and G.E. Jack knew the department needed fresh ideas, but Larry failed to provide them.”