Ted Koppel

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Edward James "Ted" Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is an American journalist, best known as the former anchorman for the American Broadcasting Company's Nightline.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Koppel, an only child, was born in Lancashire, England, after his German-Jewish parents fled Germany due to the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. His family came to the United States in 1953. He graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science degree and from Stanford University with a Master of Arts degree in mass communications research and political science. He is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. In 1963, he became a naturalized citizen of the U.S.

[edit] Career

Koppel began his broadcasting career at WMCA Radio in New York. In June 1963, he joined ABC Radio News as a correspondent for its daily Flair Reports program. He moved to television in 1966 when reporting on the Vietnam War. In time, he distinguished himself as a foreign correspondent for ABC. Eventually, he became more widely known as the long-time lead anchorman for Nightline, a position he held when the program began on March 24, 1980. Koppel gave up that position on November 22, 2005.

Following Nightline Koppel has taken on a number of roles which span various formats of news media:

[edit] Departure from Nightline

On November 22, 2005, Koppel stepped down from Nightline after 25 years with the program and left ABC after 42 years with the network. His final Nightline broadcast did not feature clips highlighting memorable interviews and famous moments from his tenure as host, as is typical when an anchor retires. Instead, the show recalled Koppel's 1995 interviews with retired Brandeis University sociology professor Morrie Schwartz, who was dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease). For this broadcast, Koppel interviewed sports journalist Mitch Albom, who had been a student of Schwartz. Albom talked about how the Nightline interviews led to him contacting Schwartz personally, visiting him weekly and eventually publishing the book Tuesdays with Morrie, chronicling lessons about life learned from Schwartz.

After the show's last commercial break, Koppel made his final remarks prior to signing off:

“ There's this quiz I give to some of our young interns when they first arrive at Nightline. I didn't do it with the last batch; it's a little too close to home. "How many of you", I'll ask, "can tell me anything about Eric Sevareid?" Blank stares. "How about Howard K. Smith or Frank Reynolds?" Not a twitch of recognition. "Chet Huntley? Jack Chancellor?" Still nothing. "David Brinkley" sometimes causes a hand or two to be raised, and Walter Cronkite may be glad to learn that a lot of young people still have a vague recollection that he once worked in television news. What none of these young men and women in their late teens and early 20s appreciates, until I point it out to them, is that they have just heard the names of seven anchormen or commentators who were once so famous that everyone in the country knew their names. Everybody. Trust me, the transition from one anchor to another is not that big a deal. Cronkite begat Rather, Chancellor begat Brokaw, Reynolds begat Jennings. And each of them did a pretty fair job in his own right. You've always been very nice to me, so give this new anchor team for Nightline a fair break. If you don't, I promise you the network will just put another comedy show in this time slot. Then you'll be sorry. And that's our report for tonight, I'm Ted Koppel in Washington and from all of us here at ABC News, good night. ”

[edit] Trivia

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Koppel is an old friend of Henry Kissinger. Both Kissinger and Koppel come from European Jewish families; both moved to the United States as children. As Secretary of State, Kissinger once offered Koppel a job as his spokesman, but Koppel declined.
  • Koppel guest appears from time to time on "The Daily Show" appearing in extreme close-up and disembodied, usually acting as Jon Stewart's journalistic conscience, sometimes as the replacement for the so-called "Giant Head of Brian Williams" projected on the screen behind Stewart (although, unlike Williams, Koppel has insisted that "this is the actual size of [his] head").
  • Koppel is referenced in Rent (film).("Smile for Ted Koppel officers")
  • Koppel is referenced in The Simpsons in Episode 1F14 (Homer Loves Flanders), when Homer wakes up in the middle of the night and says, "Marge, I think I hate Ted Koppel. No wait, I find him informative and witty."

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


Preceded by
Frank Reynolds		 Nightline anchor
March 24, 1980 – November 22, 2005		 Succeeded by
Terry Moran, Cynthia McFadden, and Martin Bashir