Rich Cronin (executive)

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Richard Cronin has been a major force behind several cable television networks throughout the past two decades. He is also a member of the World Presidents Organization (WPO) and is on the board of CTAM, a central advertising service in the world of cable TV. Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, Cronin worked extensively in either launching, popularizing, or heavily advertising numerous Viacom cable networks. Among these networks: TV Land, a cable channel of his own creation which he founded and presided over, Nickelodeon(where he was head of marketing for five years), Nick & Nite where he was General Manager and Senior Vice President during the mid-90s, MTV as an affiliate sales executive in 1984, and FOX Family which saw its viewership skyrocket and its value and profits triple during Cronin's tenure as CEO (1998-2001) which thus prompted the network to sell its assets to ABC and the Walt Disney Company in exchange for a name change to ABC Family in 2001, when Cronin left the network. In April 2001, Cronin became CEO and president of the Game Show Network, which has grown into entering over 60 million homes and has expanded itself by adding several classic game shows to its lineup such as Super Password, the Ray Combs version of Family Feud, Press Your Luck, Who Wants to Be a Millioniare?, Let's Make a Deal, Greed, The Hollywood Squares, The Weakest Link, Love Connection, Win Ben Stein's Money, Street Smarts, and also paving the way for the most successful original programming the network has ever had such as the new I've Got a Secret, Extreme Dodgeball, PlayMania, Lingo and entirely reviving the network name to GSN - The Network for Games in order to fit in other game-related series such as Dog Eat Dog, The Amazing Race, World Series of Blackjack, and World Wide Web Games. Cronin has been praised by game show fans and experts for: a 2006 countdown of the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time, a 2003 day-long Match Game marathon commemorating the show's 30th anniversary, Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal which proved to be the network's highest-rated airing ever, a major revitalization of the channel's overnight black and white shows, and the foray into interactive play-along techonology using GSN's revamped website. He also received praise for increasing the daily airings of the hit 70s shows Match Game and Family Feud and immediately cancelling a small number of the network's bland and unsuccessful shows such as Lover's Lounge and Game Show Saturday Night upon his arrival. Although some game show experts and fans have been skeptical of a number of Cronin's decisions, including the controversial name change and the airing of the documentary series, Anything to Win, there is a general consensus that the network has overall gone on the correct path since Cronin took over.

[edit] Trivia

Rich Cronin was a contestant on an episode of the Allen Ludden-emceed Password Plus (1979-1982). This episode aired twice during the summer of 2006 on GSN, once during the regular rotation of Password Plus on the schedule and a second time when the episode aired during the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time to coincide with Password Plus being ranked at #25 on the countdown.