R.I.P.: Robert Ferrante, Former NPR Executive

Robert Ferrante

Robert Ferrante, a broadcast executive who oversaw the overhaul and growth of National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” during the 1990s, bolstering its news operation and enlisting producer Ira Glass and humorist David Sedaris for commentary and features, died Sept. 15 at a hospital in Cambridge, Mass. He was 87.

The cause was complications from a stroke, reports The Washington Post.

In a journalism career that spanned more than five decades, Mr. Ferrante reported live from Dallas when nightclub owner Jack Ruby killed presumed presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963; directed TV coverage of the riots outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; and helped create innovative public affairs programs in the 1970s for Boston’s public television station, WGBH.

He achieved even greater prominence in the media in the 1980s — revamping the “CBS Morning News,” a ratings success, and creating the network’s overnight news program “Nightwatch.” When he jumped to NPR in 1989, he was tasked with performing the same magic.

“Morning Edition” had labored in the shadow of the network’s signature afternoon news program, “All Things Considered.” Ferrante is credited with transforming it over the next nine years into the most popular morning news magazine in public and commercial broadcasting.

At NPR, Ferrante made the aggressive pursuit of the news part of a program that, by many accounts, had spent a decade searching for an identity. Public radio had a reputation for being “late and long,” according to Ellen McDonnell, a senior producer who served as Mr. Ferrante’s second-in-command and succeeded him as executive producer when he left.

It was assumed that listeners got their hard news elsewhere and turned to NPR later for lengthy analysis. The network was widely perceived as stuffy and effete. Mr. Ferrante, with his commercial broadcast news background, brought a new sensibility, cultivating a blend of hard news and creative features. Among his staff, he was known for his booming Boston accent and his ability to connect effectively with the show’s reporters.

“He was an all-around smart news executive,” legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg said. “I hold him responsible for making ‘Morning Edition’ succeed and for becoming the program it ultimately remains today.”

The show, hosted by Bob Edwards, had producers coming and going while it struggled to get a foothold. The newsroom was chaotic, and morale was low.

“It’s hard for listeners to understand where we were then,” said Adam Clayton Powell III, the former vice president of news at NPR, who hired Mr. Ferrante. “When Bob arrived, it was considered an ancillary news service — something you’d go to if you already knew what had happened. We did features, but obviously we did not have the resources the major networks had.”

Under Mr. Ferrante, the “Morning Edition” audience jumped by 25 percent, and financial support from corporate underwriting soared. He increased airtime for emerging star reporters such as Totenberg, Cokie Roberts and Linda Wertheimer.

Robert Edward Ferrante was born in Boston on Oct. 6, 1934, and he grew up in Arlington, Mass. His father was a bank clerk, and his mother owned and operated a beauty salon. He received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University in 1957 before joining WNAC-TV, then the CBS affiliate in Boston.