In a journalism profession that spanned greater than 5 a long time, Mr. Ferrante reported reside from Dallas when nightclub proprietor Jack Ruby killed presumed presidential murderer Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963; directed TV protection of the riots outdoors the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; and helped create modern public affairs packages within the Nineteen Seventies for Boston’s public tv station, WGBH.
He achieved even better prominence within the media within the Eighties — revamping the “CBS Morning News,” a scores success, and creating the community’s in a single day news program “Nightwatch.” When he jumped to NPR in 1989, he was tasked with performing the identical magic.
“Morning Edition” had labored within the shadow of the community’s signature afternoon news program, “All Things Considered.” Mr. Ferrante is credited with remodeling it over the subsequent 9 years into the preferred morning news journal in public and industrial broadcasting.
At NPR, Mr. Ferrante made the aggressive pursuit of the news a part of a program that, by many accounts, had spent a decade trying to find an identification. Public radio had a popularity for being “late and long,” in keeping with Ellen McDonnell, a senior producer who served as Mr. Ferrante’s second-in-command and succeeded him as government producer when he left.
It was assumed that listeners received their exhausting news elsewhere and turned to NPR later for prolonged evaluation. The community was broadly perceived as stuffy and effete. Mr. Ferrante, along with his industrial broadcast news background, introduced a brand new sensibility, cultivating a mix of exhausting news and artistic options. Among his employees, he was recognized for his booming Boston accent and his capacity to attach successfully with the present’s reporters.
“He was an all-around smart news executive,” authorized affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg mentioned. “I hold him responsible for making ‘Morning Edition’ succeed and for becoming the program it ultimately remains today.”
The present, hosted by Bob (*87*), had producers coming and going whereas 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,” mentioned Adam Clayton Powell III, the previous vice chairman of news at NPR, who employed 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” viewers jumped by 25 p.c, and monetary help from company underwriting soared. He elevated airtime for rising star reporters corresponding to Totenberg, Cokie Roberts and Linda Wertheimer.
He additionally was open to new characteristic segments. In 1992, Mr. Ferrante was approached by Ira Glass, then a comparatively unknown unbiased producer, who had seen David Sedaris, knowledgeable home cleaner and struggling author, carry out in a Chicago membership. Glass recommended airing offbeat commentary by Sedaris, which Mr. Ferrante enthusiastically authorised.
Sedaris’s quirky tackle his experiences as Crumpet, the division retailer Christmas elf, in a spot referred to as “The Santaland Diaries” was a direct hit. Sedaris grew to become a month-to-month contributor to “Morning Edition,” which launched his profession as a preferred speaker and best-selling writer.
Mr. Ferrante’s encouragement additionally brought about an abrupt change in Glass’s profession. “He let me get my little radio experiments on their feet and in front of millions of people,” Glass mentioned. “In fact, he egged me on to do more. He called them ‘ornaments,’ which he pronounced ‘ahnaments,’ and he told me more than once: ‘Ira, I’ve got great news coverage. But I need more than that. I need ahnaments! Give me more of those ahnaments!’ ”
The ornaments fashioned the muse of “This American Life,” a weekly story-driven present that Glass created in 1995. The present went on to win a Pulitzer Prize and a number of Peabody Awards and have become one of the fashionable choices on public radio.
In 1999, “Morning Edition” had practically 9 million each day listeners, whereas two industrial community TV stalwarts — NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” — every had fewer than 5 million viewers, the Christian Science Monitor reported, citing Arbitron and Nielsen Media information.
Mr. Ferrante had left NPR a 12 months earlier to turn into government producer in Boston of the nascent world news present “The World,” produced by Public Radio International, Britain’s BBC and Boston public radio affiliate WGBH.
When he arrived, “The World” was carried by 70 stations nationwide. By the time he retired in 2010, this system aired on 300 stations with a each day viewers of three.2 million listeners.
“He brought the highest journalistic standards,” mentioned Lisa Mullins, who anchored “The World” throughout Mr. Ferrante’s tenure, “but he also had a common touch that attracted American listeners who didn’t have the international news exposure that a BBC audience had. He let us loosen up and take more chances. He urged us to bring a conversational touch to a kind of news that could be remote and obscure and difficult.”
Robert Edward Ferrante was born in Boston on Oct. 6, 1934, and he grew up in Arlington, Mass. His father was a financial institution clerk, and his mom owned and operated a magnificence salon. He acquired a bachelor’s diploma in journalism from Boston University in 1957 earlier than becoming a member of WNAC-TV, then the CBS affiliate in Boston.
He was the station’s news director in November 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He flew to Dallas to cowl the aftermath and was amongst a throng of reporters within the close by press room when, two days after the assassination, Ruby lunged ahead and fatally shot Oswald in entrance of a surprised nation watching on reside tv. Mr. Ferrante instantly went on the air to report on the chaotic scene.
After later stops — at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh and WBBM-TV in Chicago — Mr. Ferrante oversaw the creation of public affairs packages at WGBH, together with the Emmy Award-winning “Ten O’Clock News.” He subsequently went to CBS News.
Mr. Ferrante’s first marriage, to Anne Basti, resulted in divorce. In 1998, he married Pamela Post. In addition to his spouse, of Cambridge, and daughter Donna, from his first marriage, of Taunton, Mass., survivors embrace two stepchildren, Tyler Post of Hingham, Mass., and Whitney Otto of Cambridge; and eight grandchildren.
In the cutthroat media enterprise, Mr. Ferrante earned a popularity for main a collegial news operation with out pretension, the place his booming snigger was an indication of final approval. According to Mullins, after a profitable present, the news staff welcomed his signature Boston-inflected declaration, “That’s a KEEPAH!”
