Getty Images
Jamie Kellner, who rose to prominence as the only executive to create two broadcast networks — Fox and The WB (both of which also achieved profitability under his leadership), died Friday at his home in Montecito, Wash. California. He was 77 years old. He had a tremendous impact on the television industry in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. He was considered an entrepreneur at heart when he built Fox and The WB, then created independent the Acme Communications station group and for a time led Turner Broadcasting as president. and CEO (succeeding Ted Turner).
Kellner’s impact includes such landmark programs as “The Simpsons,” “Married… with Children,” “Cops,” “In Living Color” and “21 Jump Street” at Fox; The WB’s long series of pop cultural references like “Dawson’s Creek,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Gilmore Girls,” “7th Heaven” and “Felicity”; and he even worked with Lorne Michaels on the first syndicated sale of “Saturday Night Live” to Orion. He also played a key role in the early careers of creatives like Greg Berlanti, JJ Abrams, Kevin Williamson and Joss Whedon, and comedy stars like Jamie Foxx, Steve Harvey and The Wayans Bros.
“Jamie Kellner was a titan and a visionary in our industry and yet everyone who is lucky enough to work for him as a director or showrunner will remember him as a warm, funny, charismatic mentor, friend, husband and friend , creative and kind Dad,” said producer Greg Berlanti “He has dedicated his life in television to fostering and betting on generations of talent, in front of and behind the camera. others when I say my life was changed by the Camelot type home he created for all of us who worked at the WB. He will be greatly missed.
Kellner retired at age 57 – having owned a stake in The WB when it launched as a joint venture between himself, Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. But its legacy is still important today with Fox and The CW, the result of a 2006 merger between The WB and UPN.
The executive missed other opportunities to return to the corporate suite. Instead, he settled into his home base in the upscale Santa Barbara suburb of Montecito with his wife, Julie, while pursuing other passions, including sailing around the world on his ketch called “Irishman”, playing countless rounds of golf and starting a Santa winery. Ynez Valley, Cent’Anni. Passionate about architecture, Kellner also designed and built numerous homes.
Kellner still dabbled in the television business from time to time. Last year, he joined another Fox alum, Preston Padden, in sending a letter to the FCC, adding his voice to the petition to deny Fox’s renewal of the broadcast license of its Philadelphia station, WTXF .
“Unlike the news feeds provided today by Fox News Channel, our news feeds did not highlight advocates like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell telling absurd lies about a presidential election…If the character requirement of broadcast licensees must make sense, the FCC must designate the request for a hearing to evaluate the character qualifications of Murdoch and Fox to operate WTXF over the public airwaves,” he wrote at the time.
Kellner has always been a maverick in the television business. He had already been a syndication executive and formerly at CBS, Viacom and Orion when he was hired by Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller to help start what would become Fox. Kellner was named Fox Broadcasting Co.’s first president and chief operating officer in February 1986, a few months before “The Late Show with Joan Rivers” was announced and a year before the original series arrived on television. prime time (“21 Jump Street.”, “Married with Children”).
Kellner, along with lieutenants like Garth Ancier (who would also help him build The WB), used Fox’s then-recent purchase of Metromedia stations in major markets like New York and Los Angeles to pitch independent television networks to the whole country the idea of a fourth network.
“Jamie had a background in syndication that was invaluable in knowing which stations and alliances would make sense, and in making it all work,” Ancier once said. Variety. “He walked us all through it.”
The industry had many naysayers who claimed a fourth network would never work — and that included Kellner’s mother. “When I told my mother I was quitting my job to start the Fox network, she told me it could never succeed,” he once told Electronic Media magazine.
Kellner also launched the Fox Kids Network while there; he left in early 1993 and, after some time off, began discussions with Warner Bros. on the launch of a fifth network. He and Warner Bros. engaged in a battle with Paramount and the Chris-Craft Station Group (who were building UPN) over stations and programming, with both launching in 1995.
At first, it seemed like UPN had a lead, especially since it opened with a smash hit: the premiere of “Star Trek: Voyager.” But the WB benefited from strong Tribune stations and eventually found its voice, targeting teens and twenty-somethings with shows like “Dawson’s Creek,” “7th Heaven” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” This led to a watershed moment in 1997, when WB stole several major Sinclair Broadcasting affiliates from UPN.
As an icon from an era when broadcast executives displayed great showmanship, Kellner relished a good fight – for example, taking on TiVo, when that time-shifting technology threatened to have a impact on broadcasters’ advertising revenues. He was a strong believer in promoting the virtues of reuse, much to the chagrin of some advertisers. Even internally, he had difficulty convincing Warner Bros. TV to give some attention to WB and, at Turner, he had run-ins with Warner Bros. Distribution regarding the rebroadcast of WB shows on TNT. And in a major face-off with 20th Century Fox TV, he refused to pay big money to renew “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” – which was later picked up by UPN.
“I have a lot of ideas that some people buy into and some people don’t,” Kellner admitted. Variety in 2003. “If I believe something, I do it and I say it. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and if I’m right, I’m right.
He was also not afraid to take risks. Kellner moved to Atlanta with his family after the merger of AOL and Time Warner in 2001 at the request of then-COO Bob Pittman to take over Turner Broadcasting, including TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, TNT Sports, the Atlanta Braves and the Hawks. and the NHL Thrashers. He helped reshape CNN to compete with rivals Fox News and MSNBC. The Turner gig was a much different beast, as Kellner was forced for the first time to remodel already existing assets – and somewhat challenged.
Kellner returned to the Los Angeles area – and specifically Montecito – in 2003 and ended his career at The WB in 2004. “I think the fair thing to say is that I intend to put end my career at this point,” Kellner said. at the time. “I don’t think the WB will need me after 2004. There is a good management team there. It’s better for them, better for me.
He later added: “This is purely about a guy after 35 years of putting my ass in over and over again and now looking to spend more time with my family.”
This is what he did, after exercising his option to sell his stake in The WB to Warner Bros. and Tribune in November 2002. But Kellner continued to run the Acme group of stations, which he launched independently in 1997 and which at its peak had 12 stations, including in markets including St. Louis; Albuquerque-Santa Fe; Salem-Portland, Oregon; and Fort Myers-Naples, Florida. The company sold its last station in 2012.
Kellner was such a titan of television in the late 1990s and early 2000s that even his look was iconic. The executive, passionate about building brands, had his own: he wore the exact same outfit to work every day, without fail. Blue shirt, khaki pants.
“It’s consistent – and one of the qualities of having a brand is to be consistent,” says Kellner.
Kellner’s experience fighting for respect in the broadcast, Hollywood and advertising communities – first at Fox and later at the WB – gave him the kind of insight and admiration the part of others that few other television executives could boast of.
“Jamie was my mentor, my colleague and above all my friend – he loved his life, Julie and his children, and good food and wine,” said former WB president Ancier. Variety. “Jamie sparked my own interest in wine and even built his own winery near Santa Barbara, dedicated to the Italian varietals he loved so much. His contributions to the television industry are legendary. From founding Fox Broadcasting and The WB to leading Turner Broadcasting and CNN…he met every challenge with the same vigor he brought to his own life. I will miss him very much.
Another executive who worked with Kellner at Fox, The WB and Turner was Brad Turell, who ran advertising and corporate communications: “Jamie Kellner was a hero in my life whom I loved dearly as a mentor and friend close,” Turell said. “After being shaped by the exhilarating but challenging environment that was launching Fox, Kellner created a unique, supportive and creative home at The WB, where everyone who worked under his brilliant, stable and uplifting leadership style are considered the best workers. experience of their career. He has given you immense latitude as a boss and mentor, always empowering you to make bold and decisive decisions and to never settle for what has always been done, but rather to create innovative new paths, all guiding and rooting your success and always there, as he often said. , “keep the car on the road” if we ever have to swerve, as young executives are required to do. Jamie was simply a wonderful boss, person and lifelong friend.
Former WB CEO Jordan Levin, who assumed the title after Kellner retired, added: “It’s hard to believe. Jamie was forever young. He was one of the most insightful and enterprising people I have ever met,” said Levin, now a full-time professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “A true visionary who launched two of the five broadcast networks and revolutionized our profession. A self-made man who had fun every step of the way. A wonderful, passionate leader who was smart enough to know when to come out when things were going well. I am so lucky to have known him and shared so many laughs together. Truly a legend.
Kellner is survived by his wife of 38 years, Julie, his daughter Melissa, his son Christopher and three grandchildren, Jake, Scarlett and Oliver. In lieu of donations, Kellner’s family “asks that you open a large bottle of wine in his honor.” »